--- Delirium <delirium(a)hackish.org> wrote:
I obviously speak only for myself here, not Jimbo, but
IMO promoting
minority languages is separate from the main goal. The goal of creating
an *encyclopedia* is to get information to people, in a language-neutral
way. The only importance of any language in that context is that the
encyclopedia needs to be available in enough languages so that everyone,
or at least as many people as possible, can access information in a
language they feel comfortable using---only creating an English
encyclopedia, for example, would leave out in the cold people who don't
understand English well enough to make good use of it.
Let�s not forget that language is not only a means by which information is
presented, it is also part of the human experience we are documenting. One of
the main reasons why many schools require students to learn a second language
is to expose students to a different culture and way of codifying thought (this
contrast is often very instructive in showing the student how their own
language works).
Thus helping to preserve an endangered language by hosting an encyclopedia in
it also directly furthers our goal. This would not include non-famous conlangs
since those are largely original research.
-- mav
__________________________________
Celebrate Yahoo!'s 10th Birthday!
Yahoo! Netrospective: 100 Moments of the Web
http://birthday.yahoo.com/netrospective/