From: "Jimmy Wales" jwales@bomis.com

Given that we already *have* Toki Pona, my main interest is that we all understand that whatever we end up doing with it, it is an historical anomoly that should not be viewed as precedent setting for the future.

Hi Jimbo, I'm not very familiar with the details on Toki-Pona, but if it does have some active users, and a supportive community of folks who are willing to contribute articles then what makes this language less worthy of inclusion than some minority natural languages?

I believe the precedent will be established. Whether it is viewed as a precedent or a loosely put together guideline of what to accept for inclusion and what to exclude. The goal, I'm sure you'd agree would be to respect the community of active users. If they are actively working with the language then one can say that a culture building process is taking place. To deny inclusion would actually deny recognition for a culture, a community and a different take on the world we all share. I've never met an active user of Toki-Pona, although I did visit their webpage a long while ago when it first appeared on the web and it was mentioned in linguistic circles I frequent. However, I have met some folks who use Klingon, and are devoted to its development and active practice. And they're take on life and the world is, shall we say, a bit different than mine. But I respect their point of view even if different from mine.

(But then again Sapir and Whorf would have probably fit in as Klingon-lubbers... wasn't Whorf the security officer in the NG trek series :-)

Culture and language go hand in hand. To exclude a language is the same as not including a certain culture or a community's point of view. I'd support the right of a minority community to be recognized as worthy of having their own language namespace in the Wikipedia project.

with regards, Jay B. [[User:ILVI]]