User talk:Ling.Nut/ELA

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[edit] Where from?

Where does this list come from, if I may ask? Not all of these languages are endangered; some, such as Kore, are outright extinct (see Maa languages). BTW, are you aware of the useful overview by Gabriele Sommer? It is outdated at some points, but still a valuable reference.

• Sommer, Gabriele (1992) 'A survey on language death in Africa', in Brenzinger, Matthias (ed.) Language Death. Factual and Theoretical Explorations with Special Reference to East Africa, Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 301–417.

— mark ✎ 10:23, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

Additionally, maybe you should change the format of the links to X language, which is the preferred format for language articles according to the Manual of Style. That way you'll eliminate a lot of the disambig noise and you'll maybe find a few more articles that exist already (i.e. Naro language, Weyto language, Ongamo language). — mark ✎ 10:36, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

Hi Mark,

You caught me in the act, or with my pants down, or however you prefer to say it. Not only is this particular table a work in progress, it's not even supposed to be seen by anyone until it gets into something more like the shape that User:Ling.Nut/ELSA is in. Did you find it just by the logic of the initials ELA?

• Your suggestion about "x language" is in fact what I plan, see User:Ling.Nut/ELSA.
• The source is Red Book of Endangered Languages online. I was aware that some of the info is bad; the same is true for the South American table.
• However, I was not aware of exactly what or how much info is bad:
  • That's why it's buried in this sandbox.
  • Thank you a million times for the references! This is exactly the kind of info I need.
• My plan may be ambitious, but over the next few weeks/months I plan to make similar tables for every region of the world. As each table gets to a place at least approximating legitimacy/respectability, I plan to move 'em into the main namespace.
• Actually, the eventual goal is Wikipedia:WikiProject endangered languages and language revitalization. A mouthful, I know. Comments and suggestions are very welcome.
• Thank you kindly! --Ling.Nut 13:03, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

I am sorry for peeking into your workplace! I think I found it by stalking your contribs — hope you don't take that ill of me...

Ah, ambitious plans, I like that; even have some of my own. Do you know Ish? I think he'll be able to help you with Native American languages, he has written almost all articles we have in that area and he has been working on the Endangered languages article, too.

BTW, another good reference for Africa is:

• Batibo, Herman (2005) Language Decline and Death in Africa: Causes, Consequences, and Challenges, Multilingual Matters.

— mark ✎ 13:24, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

I don't mind at all.. but can I pretend that I mind, in order to make you feel guilty, and coerce you into helping? :-)

The skeleton of the WikiProject is here

Wow you do have ambitious plans.

Thanks for pointing me to Ish. I will definitely tap respectfully on his shoulder sometime soon.

Thanks! --Ling.Nut 13:40, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Category

Just gave Animere language a start, and in the process I created a new category: Category:Endangered languages of Africa. I have put all the African languages I found in Category:Endangered languages into this more specialized category. The main category otherwise becomes too unwieldy and a subcategory also provides a nice way to keep track of articles in a certain area. — mark ✎ 16:17, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

Perfectly logical decision. Good work.

Cheers --Ling.Nut 16:50, 24 November 2006 (UTC)