Jim Breen wrote:
Greetings,
[Gerard Meijssen (Re: [Wiktionary-l] English orthographies) writes:]
>In the database design,
>http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_Wiktionary_data_design , an
>Expression is a number of characters that make up a valid occurrence in
>a language. Therefore every spelling IS a different Expression.
>
>
OK, so the short answer is that the UW database was designed that way.
I predict it will be a mess. It is also at variance with all the
lexicographical databases I have seen.
I largely share your prediction. It's trying to be too many things for
too many people. That has some merit in an ideal world. At this point
the UW software has not been made public, and we have not yet had the
opportunity to poke at it. Seeking to solve these problems before it is
made public is likely to make the result brittle.
The aikido master lets the dance evolve.
>The English
used in Britain, the United States, Australia etc is
>significantly different.
>
>
Nonsense.
The dedicated nationalists would disagree.
To be blunt, it sounds like the UW database design was
done with one
or a few languages in mind, and the others are being told to fall into
line.
This is reminiscent of the classics movement of a few centuries ago that
considered Greek and Latin as the standard for evaluating all languages.
Ec