Dear Sirs,
Regarding the legibility of the Luri Wikipedia, you are kindly requested to
pay attention to the following issues.
First of all, this Wikipedia is written in the Paperik Luri script that is
new to the Luri soceity. During the three last decades, some scripts based
on Arabic alphabets prevalent in Iran have been developed in oreder to
write Luri. Some of them are Lur, Zagros and Paperic. Among these scripts
only Paprik has been taught to thousands of Luri youth via virtual or real
classes. Hundreds of Luri educated people are using it in the virtual
space, newspapers, books etc.The number of learners and users of this
script is increasing growing. Since this script is new to the Lurish
people, it is natural that there are so many Lurs who have difficulty in
reading it.The population of Lurs is at least 8 million. They don't possess
any educational programs in their own language in the Iranian schools or
big medias run by the government. More than 80 percent of Luri families
don't teach and speak Luri to their young children during the two recent
decades Luri is an endangered language. It needs our support urgently.
Thus, it is expected that international entities help the Luri language
survive not to impede its progress.
Secondly, there are various dialects among Lurs with considerable
differences. As linguists like Erik Anonby say Luri is a linguistic
continuum not a monolithic language like Persian. It is quite natural that
within a linguist continnum like Kurdish and Luri there is a high level of
language variation so that the speakers of some dialects or varities have
difficulties understanding the others.Of course with the advent of new
technologies and social networks, Lurs are beginning to learn or at least
get acquainted with each other's language.
The third point that should be considered is that in all the societies that
are historically deprived of education and writing in their own mother
tongue, reading comprehension is a problem at the beginning of their
efforts to read and write in their own language. If you give them a piece
of writing specially prose in their own language it may be so difficult for
them to read or understand it easily but when you present it to them , for
instance, though sound files they under it easily because listening
comprehension is very easy to them, they have practiced and used it through
their lives. Basically they have learned and develpoed their knowledge and
skill in their mother tongue through conversation and listening. In such
situation all of us should help the speakers of such language develop the
habit of reading and writing in their own language not preventing and
choking their new_fledgling writing system accusing it of unreadability or
illigibility. For sure, with the efforts made up to know, thousands of Luri
people can easily read and understand the Luri Wikipedia very easiky and
the number will increase and increase in the future. This should be our
target and our evaluation population not the majority that is still
uneducated in Luri writing system and reading comprehension.
The fourth point is that the Luri of dwellers in cities has been greatly
influenced by Persian because of the monolingual education system and the
precedence of Persian during the recent decades. Many, but not all, urban
Luri speakers prefer to use many Persian words, structures and idioms
instead of original Luri ones in their Luri speech.
So, Luri in cities has become mainly weak and close to Persian in urban
areas. Many Luri urban young dwellers in cities are weak in speaking
original Luri .On the other hand Luri it is still original and ful of
Lurish words in rural areas and a smaller fraction of cities.
The Luri Wikipedia is written in very original Luri. As linguists say
according to the NORMS paradigm, the original dialect of each region should
be sought in rural areas among . NORMS stands for Non-mobile Old Rural
Male Speakers.
Because of the advent of Luri cultural movement in Iran during the recent
years, there is a growing demand and interest among the Luri urban youth
to improve and strengthen their Luri language, including vocabularies.
Thus, we urgently require writing in original Luri not the version of Luri
that are approaching Persian, as Erik Anonby describes Luri is under
overhelming pressure to approach Persian. We need to save the Luri language.
Wikipedia is always considered as an organization that advocates the
linguistic diversity in the world, and allows them to have their own voice
heard. Thus we kindly request the Committee to prevent the removal of
Northern Luri Wikipedia. Surely, your kind support will be greatly thanked
and appreciated by the Luri community in Iran.
Regards,
Mehdi Moshkriz