[Wikipedia-l] Re: Why do we have them??

[Tim Starling]

Mark Williamson wrote:
> Hi all,
> I have a question: why do we have separate Wikipedias for Malay and Indonesian?

I've often asked the same question, this is my personal favourite
linguistic hobby horse. Presumably any merge would have to occur with
much input and help from the editor communities on each wiki, and I'm
yet to make contact with any of them. They don't seem to be too
concerned about the issue themselves, judging by the fact that none of
them has brought a merge proposal to the Board, the developers or this
list.

James R. Johnson wrote:
> Not to start up another argument (I remember the last ones), but this sounds
> like the same thing betweek Bokmal and Nynorsk.

In Bokmål and Nyorsk are said to be barely mutually intelligible. The
distinction between Indonesian and Malaysian was only made in 1945, both
national languages are based on the standardised trading language. Even
since 1945 there has been standardisation of the written language with
cooperation from both countries, particularly the EYD spelling reform.

I think we can put the blame on our use of language code lists which are
biased towards political rather than linguistic divisions.

-- Tim Starling