Language is identity! Would you like to tell those People that it is not bad when they lose their language. As I mentioned, I am a member of a linguistic minority, too, and I would feel like my human rights where taken if someone tells me I should learn another language because mine is not so much worth. Language is culture and is human right, everybody has the right for his language.
What is your mother tongue? If it is English it is easy for you to tell the world to give up their languages in favor of English. And besides, supporting minor languages mostly always supports bi- or trilinguism because you speak the majority and minorty language(s). Multilinguism is very beneficial for children. They can learn much easier new languages when they have two mother tongues. And in a world where multilinguism is getting more important this might be a real useful side effect.
And what do you mean by “have so little information stored in them”? Just because they are not as far developped as the main languages doesn’t mean they carry zero information. In America there are Indian languages that have more names for the flowers in their environment and whether they are toxic or not than the biologist can’t give latin names for them. As language minorities mostly live in rural areas they are perfectly adapted to their environment and in their linguistic world/lexicon there are more concepts and ideas than people from the cities have. It’s big culture goods we can’t risk to lose.
Von: geni Gesendet: 18. Februar 2013 22:58 An: Wikimedia Mailing List Betreff: Re: [Wikimedia-l] New proposal for a wiki Project!
On 18 February 2013 16:33, Kevin Behrens kevin_behrens@hotmail.de wrote:
Hello!
I have started a proposal for a new wiki project: WikiLang (meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiLang). It is about endangered languages and >language documentation/decipherment. It is a very important step in order to save our linguistic diversity which is ongoing faster than >the extinction of animals.
Why? Most of the languages in question have so little information stored in them that even if we assume a total loss of that information (which is unlikely) that downside will be massively outweighed by the upside of easier communication between people.
On Feb 18, 2013 10:27 PM, "Kevin Behrens" kevin_behrens@hotmail.de wrote:
Language is identity! Would you like to tell those People that it is not
bad when they lose their language. As I mentioned, I am a member of a linguistic minority, too, and I would feel like my human rights where taken if someone tells me I should learn another language because mine is not so much worth. Language is culture and is human right, everybody has the right for his language.
What people are you talking about? While there have been cases of languages being forcefully suppressed, generally speaking they die because no-one wants to speak them any more (because they aren't useful for communicating any more, which is the primary purpose of a language). Whether or not you speak a language is entirely up to you. Whose rights are being violated when it's just a matter of individual choice?
Hoi, This does not negate the relevance of maintaining information about the languages and the cultures reflected by them.
A new project has to be relevant for its own reasons. It has to be relevant to the people who will care for it. Thanks, GerardM
On 18 February 2013 23:35, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
On Feb 18, 2013 10:27 PM, "Kevin Behrens" kevin_behrens@hotmail.de wrote:
Language is identity! Would you like to tell those People that it is not
bad when they lose their language. As I mentioned, I am a member of a linguistic minority, too, and I would feel like my human rights where taken if someone tells me I should learn another language because mine is not so much worth. Language is culture and is human right, everybody has the right for his language.
What people are you talking about? While there have been cases of languages being forcefully suppressed, generally speaking they die because no-one wants to speak them any more (because they aren't useful for communicating any more, which is the primary purpose of a language). Whether or not you speak a language is entirely up to you. Whose rights are being violated when it's just a matter of individual choice? _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
On 18 February 2013 22:27, Kevin Behrens kevin_behrens@hotmail.de wrote:
Language is identity! Would you like to tell those People that it is not bad when they lose their language. As I mentioned, I am a >member of a linguistic minority, too, and I would feel like my human rights where taken if someone tells me I should learn another >language because mine is not so much worth. Language is culture and is human right, everybody has the right for his language.
That doesn't mean that such languages should be actively be supported.
What is your mother tongue? If it is English it is easy for you to tell the world to give up their languages in favor of English. And besides, supporting minor languages mostly always supports bi- or trilinguism because you speak the majority and minorty >language(s). Multilinguism is very beneficial for children. They can learn much easier new languages when they have two mother >tongues. And in a world where multilinguism is getting more important this might be a real useful side effect.
Questionable. You don't have to go back that far and I'd need latin and probably German to get by in chemistry.
And what do you mean by “have so little information stored in them”? Just because they are not as far developped as the main >languages doesn’t mean they carry zero information.
There is a difference between zero and little. Still if we compare the number of scientific papers written in say russian last year to the total amount of information in the Fayu language its pretty one sided.
In America there are Indian languages that have more names for the flowers in their environment and whether they are toxic or not >than the biologist can’t give latin names for them.
Given that we currently have 1.2 million species currently catalogued that seems unlikely.
As language minorities mostly live in rural areas they are perfectly adapted to their environment and in their linguistic world/lexicon >there are more concepts and ideas than people from the cities have.
English can deal with concepts ranging from the Australian outback to the housing projects of Detroit to CERN. Minority languages can only be compared logarithmically (assuming they have the concept of logarithms).
It’s big culture goods we can’t risk to lose.
What are you proposing will happen if it does?
Does language constrain our thinking? I think it does. I don't want a world where people are limited in their thinking because there are only so many languages available to them.
On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 5:23 PM, geni geniice@gmail.com wrote:
On 18 February 2013 22:27, Kevin Behrens kevin_behrens@hotmail.de wrote:
Language is identity! Would you like to tell those People that it is not
bad when they lose their language. As I mentioned, I am a >member of a linguistic minority, too, and I would feel like my human rights where taken if someone tells me I should learn another >language because mine is not so much worth. Language is culture and is human right, everybody has the right for his language.
That doesn't mean that such languages should be actively be supported.
What is your mother tongue? If it is English it is easy for you to tell
the world to give up their languages in favor of English.
And besides, supporting minor languages mostly always supports bi- or
trilinguism because you speak the majority and minorty >language(s). Multilinguism is very beneficial for children. They can learn much easier new languages when they have two mother >tongues. And in a world where multilinguism is getting more important this might be a real useful side effect.
Questionable. You don't have to go back that far and I'd need latin and probably German to get by in chemistry.
And what do you mean by “have so little information stored in them”?
Just because they are not as far developped as the main >languages doesn’t mean they carry zero information.
There is a difference between zero and little. Still if we compare the number of scientific papers written in say russian last year to the total amount of information in the Fayu language its pretty one sided.
In America there are Indian languages that have more names for the
flowers in their environment and whether they are toxic or not >than the biologist can’t give latin names for them.
Given that we currently have 1.2 million species currently catalogued that seems unlikely.
As language minorities mostly live in rural areas they are perfectly
adapted to their environment and in their linguistic world/lexicon >there are more concepts and ideas than people from the cities have.
English can deal with concepts ranging from the Australian outback to the housing projects of Detroit to CERN. Minority languages can only be compared logarithmically (assuming they have the concept of logarithms).
It’s big culture goods we can’t risk to lose.
What are you proposing will happen if it does?
geni
Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org