Ziko van Dijk hett schreven:
Maybe we should drop the "computer-world-based" criteria like the ISO-code and introduce more "real-life" criteria when accepting a new language ("new" even if ancient): *The language is taught at a university *There is a journal or newspaper in or about that language *20 or more speakers or scholars (with a certificate or some prove that they can at least write in that language) endorse the project
I read much about "notable literature", "taught at university level", "scholars" and all this in the posts here on the list (I don't address only you, Ziko van Dijk, I only quoted you, cause you name a whole row of that points). Please keep in mind, that the mission of the Wikimedia Foundation is to bring knowledge to the people. Knowledge which was previously not available to them (if it would have been available, Wikipedia and the other projects would have been pointless). Not available cause companies/publishers wanted to/had to make money with it and they couldn't afford it. Or not available cause they spoke the wrong language or their society not being wealthy enough, so that no publisher even tried to publish works providing this knowledge. Wikimedia wants to include them, give them the opportunity to aquire knowledge. Wikimedia wants to give. Without requiring. In the past it was like: "You want to aquire knowledge? Well, then learn English/German/Russian/French/Chinese/Spanish/Portuguese/whatever may be the dominant language in your country!" Wikimedia aims to overcome this barrier. "You want to aquire knowledge? Here's the material, start right away!" Without forcing the people to first spend a year on learning how to read the material.
This should be done for every language. Regardless of whether there already is scholarly work in the language. If _we_ aim at providing knowledge to them, why should we demand existing "knowledge providers" like universities or newspapers? "You want to aquire knowledge? Okay, please furnish proof that you have enough knowledge first!"
Ten enthusiasts in a language cannot build a university. They perhaps can write a newspaper or a batch of novels, fiction and textbooks, but if their language's society is poor, who will buy the newspaper, who will buy their textbooks and novels? But ten enthusiasts can create a good start in a Wikipedia and provide knowledge to the whole language community. Wikipedia is the easiest, the most efficient way to start the business of providing knowledge. There are many languages with no knowledge providers at all, but who have a language community large enough to be able to form an own Ausbausprache.Don't put obstacles in their way.
Marcus Buck