Talk:Missing languages

Discussions about changes, names and necessity

Please more input...

Mandarin aka Chinese (Traditional)

older discussion input, moved from main page:

• Chinese (Mandarin) should be Chinese (Traditional) (See [1]) (this only should apply to the page translation since it is a written distinction. for spoken, mandarin should left as is. -kellenparker)

Sign Language

My current position is: Keep it basic. As I was told by people who do Sign, the practical, colloquial part of Signing (in contrast to the defined, official part) is a very inventive, spontaneous, consentual and pragmatic "tribe lingo". Meanung that two persons with different signing systems can easily either develop a common vocabular or learn each other's idiom within a very short time incomparable to the time it takes to pick up a spoken language. With this in mind, I'd rather not clog the DB with dozens of dialects which would lead to a language barrier warning where there is actually just a thin paper wall. I suggest Singning CSers just choose the general Sing Language and specify in their profile which particular system they use.--Kaoxoni 10:20, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

older discussion input, moved from main page (authors=??)

• International Sign Language does not exist. There are 100s of sign languages. Just use a generic Sign Language. Keeping it simple is good.
• "International Sign Language" does in fact [exist], however uncommon it may be. It is used for global conferences for the Deaf primarily. Keeping it simple is good - I agree. But French Deaf do not use ASL, British Deaf use British Sign Language, African Deaf - you get the idea. Simplicity is good, but neither American Sign Language nor International Sign Language are universal. Many signed languages are less common than others and accordingly would only, for lack of better terms, clog up the language list since there are [many more than people commonly hear about] - honestly, in that list I, a student of Deaf Education, haven't heard of many of them. But there are some that are very important to have on the list - and I will add them above.

thread in Q vs Q

Changing West Frisian (resolved)

• okay I just changed the existing db entry from West Frisian to Frisian, by the way I recently met a native Frys speaker who explained to me that it is even another official language in her home region. Thanks Metal_lunchbox for the evaluation! --Kaoxoni 07:46, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

--- There was some discussion about this confusing name (West Frisian v. Frisian):

• West Frisian does not exist. It should be just Frisian. Wikipedia: West Frisian is the name by which this language is usually known outside of the Netherlands.

• • The difficulty with this one is that the Dutch people refer to the language of Friesland as "Fries" in Dutch and as "Frisian" in english. Outside of the Netherlands it is refered to as "West Frisian" to distinguish it from the all but extinct "East Frisian" spoken in lower saxony. Given the comparatively minor significance of this eastern Frisian group most people simply use the word "Frisian" and are referring to the language that is widely spoken in the area in and around "Friesland" province in the Netherlands. I have never heard anyone make the distinction or mention this eastern dialect that I only just heard of through the wikipedia page.
  • Other difficulty is that "West Frisian" is a common translation of "West Fries" (Dutch) refering to a Frisian influenced dialect of Dutch spoken in an area of North Holland province around Alkmaar. So for anyone who isn't a linguist or and encylopedist is likely to use the english "Frisian" to refer to the language of Friesland and "West Frisian" to refer to the group of creole-like dialects spoken in the West Friesland region of North Holland province. confused yet? I only mention this because I know people that speak what I call "Frisian" or "Fries" and "West Frisian" or "West Fries"
  • After all that I say we go with the ISO which makes no distinction between west frisian (fry) and Frisian (fry) and calls the only surviving dialect of east frisian Saterfriesisch (stq). That is to say, Frisian should be added. --Metal.lunchbox^TalkCS 22:54, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

Should West Fresian then just be renamed in West Fries?--Kaoxoni 06:24, 11 November 2007 (UTC)