I'm making a request that Jèrriais (Jersey Norman) be created for the list of Wikipedias (and a wiki thus be created). I couldn't find any protocol for making such requests, but I expect reasons should be given, so I'll list several here. I apologize if this is unnecessary (and if so, feel free to ignore the following). Norman as a language is native to Normandy and the Channel Islands. Jersey Norman, or Jèrriais, is the most-spoken, highest-profile, and most literarily accomplished of the Insular Norman dialects. Much more information appears to be available in and about it on the web (in part thanks to *Les Pages Jèrriaises* and the *Section de la Langue Jèrriaise de la Société Jersiaise*) than Continental Norman, as well. I am unaware of the speakership of Continental Norman (last I checked, a survey had not been done), but Jèrriais has thousands of speakers, and is generally considered the dominant dialect of Norman. Jèrriais has a comprehensive Jèrriais-French dictionary, and an English-Jèrriais dictionary is in the works. Software, books, and cassettes are available to teach and learn the language, and it is being taught in Schools in Jersey. (I know that Continental Norman is being taught [often as a dead language] in some universities in Normandy, but I am unaware of other educational activity among the dialects). Jèrriais has an ongoing radio program(me), and several books have been published in and on the language, including *Jèrri Jadis* and *Histouaithes et Gens d'Jèrri*. Linguistically, Norman is one of the *langues d'oïl*, closely related to French, but with its own history reaching back hundreds of years (notably marked by the writings of Wace in the twelfth century, who may be considered the earliest Norman—indeed, Jèrriais, for he was from Jersey—writer), as well as its own idioms, grammar, and vocabulary. Major dialectal groups of Norman include Old Norman*, the Insular dialects (two to four major living dialects, depending where one draws the line, and one dead), Continental Norman, and Anglo-Norman* (the ruling language of England for a few centuries). Unfortunately, as Jersey Norman has not yet been adopted as an official language (previously, this was felt unnecessary—the two political languages, English and Jersey French, have been Jersey's official languages), but work is being done on a GCSE program in Jèrriais, and extensive efforts are being made to revive the language. However, it is because of Jèrriais' lack of official status that it, currently, has no language code. I propose the code "jer" be used, and that Jèrriais be adopted as the official Norman dialect used for Wikipedia. More reasons could be listed, but I feel this will suffice. Thank you, Miché-Forêt Mêssèrvy _______________________________________________ Wikipedia-l mailing list Wikipedia-l(a)Wikimedia.org http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikipedia-l