[Foundation-l] Signal languages Wikimedia projects

[Marcus Buck]

Chad hett schreven:
> However, we do have a policy (for better or worse) that currently states
> that:
> "The proposal has a sufficient number of living native speakers to form a
> viable
> community and audience." [1]
>
> I've yet to see any information indicating that SignWriting is a primary
> mode
> of communication for large groups of people, much less their native method
> of communication.
>
> -Chad
>   
That sentence refers to the language. The language has to have a 
sufficient number of oral speakers (or signers). It doesn't say anything 
about the the number of people actually able to read and write in that 
language. And this configuration does make sense, in my opinion. If we 
have a hypothetical language with one million oral speakers, but only a 
handful of people able to write, it will still be useful to create a 
written encyclopedia. Cause if you start to teach the one million 
analphabets how to read, they immediately have written content 
available. If there is no written content available, there is no 
incentive to learn to read. It's a chicken or egg dilemma. Why are there 
so few books in Breton? Cause there are so few people able to read 
Breton. Why are there so few people able to read Breton? Cause there is 
so few content available. (among other reasons) It's a self-energizing 
effect. The more content there is, the more interest there will be.

Marcus Buck