[Foundation-l] "Historical" languages and constructed languages

[Jesse Martin (Pathoschild)]

Hoi,
GerardM is mistaken. There is majority subcommittee agreement that
this requirement (as an exception) is vague and unacceptable, and
should be replaced.

He is also misusing it as an exception, as I explained below in an
email I sent to a different thread (which GerardM conveniently
ignored).

------------
The exception for constructed languages that GerardM mentions is not
an exception at all.

...

That phrase has been in the policy since the very beginning, before
there was a requirement for native speakers. You can see this in the
very first draft written on 11 November 2006, at <
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meta:Language_proposal_policy?oldid=466496
>. (This draft predates my joining the subcommittee, so no
subcommittee discussion shaped it.)

That original draft reads as such: "The proposal has a sufficient
number of speakers to form a viable community and audience. If the
proposal is for an artificial language such as Esperanto, it must have
a reasonable degree of recognition as determined by discussion."

It was then intended not as an exception, but as an _additional
requirement_. The requirement for native speakers was introduced
nearly a year later on 17 October 2007 (see <
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meta:Language_proposal_policy?diff=711692
>). The _extra requirement_ for constructed languages did not then
exempt them from the new requirement; it was simply left behind by
accident, and only noticed recently and misinterpreted.

As such, the current policy prohibits constructed languages *and* has
a special requirement for them (which is contradictory, but that's
because it's just an omission), it does *not* exempt them from needing
native speakers.

This is the current matter of discussion: should we have an exception
for constructed languages after all? If we exempt them from needing
native languages, do we apply a special requirement for them or not?
------------

-- 
Yours cordially,
Jesse Martin (Pathoschild)