Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Languages/Archive 2

message: The article on the Albanian language is having a peer review. This article is currently at Wikipedia:WikiProject Languages#Pages using the template needing attention, so obviously something must be wrong with it. It has undergone vast improvement over the past few days. Please comment, so that we can know what to improve. Thank you. Rex(talk) 22:03, 8 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Albanian peer review 

message: an easy look up for the "iso3" variable in the template is
http://www.sil.org/iso639-3/codes.asp?order=name&name=name&letter=n
change the last letter in this url to what you need.
ISO 639-3 has codes for macrolanguages see for example http://www.sil.org/iso639-3/documentation.asp?id=ara
click on 'scope: "macrolanguage"' to learn more.
So for Arabic language instead of offering 30 codes in the template it could be considered to use the macro-code.
Tobias Conradi (Talk) 12:49, 25 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: ISO 639-3

message: Right now there is a vote to move Hindi to Hindi language.  Some of us should get involved in the discussion and voting at Talk:Hindi.  —Tox 00:03, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Hindi vs. Hindi language 

message: I wonder if you could take a look at Proto-Euphratean. It has some style problems, but most importantly, it sounds too speculative and has no sources. I've already tagged it as unreferenced. Searching for "Proto-Euphratean" in the web gives me very few links, mostly directing to email conversations in specialized email lists, and some obscure personal pages. It sounds like a fringe theory to me. --Pablo D. Flores (Talk) 10:42, 15 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I think it would be best to talk with John D. Croft about the page he created. I have heard some stuff like this about Sumerian, but this is not my field. The copy is a bit rough round the edges, but it lokks like the work of an adult who hasn't copied it straight out of a book. The user has made numerous useful edits around the subject, and does not appear to be pushing fringe theories. Another article he has started is proto-Afro-Asiatic, which I do think is POV: the entire article talks about the place of the language family within Nostratic. So, the Nostratic line comes over a bit too strongly throughout his edits, but still probably best to go gently. --Gareth Hughes 16:58, 15 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Proto-Euphratean 

message: What should we do with Hmong-Mien languages? I think only Iu Mien has the infobox at the moment, and it's using familycolor=Hmong-Mien, which renders as white. Should we have an extra colour for these languages, or should we use familycolor=Sino-Tibetan? The latter choice doesn't have to display that language family: it just gives the box the same colour as that used for those langauges. --Gareth Hughes 21:54, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I think it should have its own color, and that the infobox should be added to other Hmong-Mien languages like Hmong language. As to what the color should be, how about purple? It's not taken yet, and it's in the same part of the spectrum as the other Asian language families we have colors for. --Angr (t·c) 08:26, 24 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Purple is a little dark, and so we would have to change the font colour to white: it's possible, but I would prefer not to do that. Lighter purple shades get too close to the colours for Australian and Papuan languages, so I've set it to a fairly bright red (#f03). I'm sure we could probably find a better colour though. --Gareth Hughes 21:49, 3 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: It looks good! Diolch i ti, a Gareth! --Angr (t·c) 22:07, 3 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Hmong-Mien 

message: Does the term actually exist? When I merged postposition and preposition into adposition, I  ignored the entry circumposition, which gave a bad example in German and one I couldn't verify in Pushtu. Ruakh has brought to my attention an example of a putative circumposition in Kurdish, but it is questioned by reviewers. Should "circumposition" be mentioned at all, or is it just part of a a bad analysis. Please weigh in with any sources, info or suggestions at talk:adposition.
Peter Isotalo 09:03, 8 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Circumposition 

message: I just learned about a CSS hack being added to a number of templates, including :template:Infobox Language, to compensate for a changed policy on template transclusion.  I understand that there is an alternative way of recoding these templates ("weeble method"), but the CSS hack is being implemented because it is slightly easier for editors.  This hack injects junk code into the body of the page, then hides it from most visual browsers using CSS.  This is already in use in several templates, and is being added to many more.
This makes Wikipedia less accessible for users of assistive technologies, like web page readers for the handicapped, and text readers.  This is sloppy programming and bad practice from the point of view of web page accessibility, web page usability, and standards implementation.  Wikipedia is an open encyclopedia; please lets not start treating the minority who has the most difficult time reading like second-class citizens.  Main discussion on this is at Wikipedia talk:No meta-templates.  Please make your opinion heard there.  —Michael Z. 2006-01-16 19:02 Z
EVERYONE - in order to quash this ForestFire, please follow-up discussion at MediaWiki talk:Common.css#CSS hack reduces accessibility. -- Netoholic @ 19:15, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  CSS hack reduces accessibility 

message: That would be great. Such as French Alphabet/Latin or Gothic Language Alphabet/Gothic, Arabic, etc, etc... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infobox#Languages Ksenon 05:41, 5 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: There has been a proposal to do something like this for a while. There seems to be some consensus for an optional line something like this, placed below 'genetic classification':
Writing systems	
--Gareth Hughes 14:44, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Alphabet info in languages infobox (bottom maybe?) 

message: Mandarin (linguistics) has been nominated for removal as an FA and has so far one vote in favor of doing just so. I was the one who pointed out the discrepancy between its FA status and the actual quality, but I think this can be fixed rather easily. Please help out in any way you can if any of you feel up to it.
Peter Isotalo 07:23, 10 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mandarin needs improvement 

message: I've been a member of the Wiki community for some time now, and I still can't figure out which type of English (e.g. International, British, U.S.) is considered standard for use in Wikipedia. I would guess that it should be the international version, but the article seems to suggest that International English is a term used by most of the world to refer to Commonwealth English (i.e. British). What is the standard?? I just can't figure it out. Let me know on my talk page. Thanks. Fuzzform 19:50, 10 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Answered on User talk:Fuzzform. Angr/talk 20:38, 10 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Question 

message: I wonder how many people are aware that there is a Portal:Language now since the end of December. I only recently discovered it, and only one user, JonMoore, has been active at all in maintaining it. There is also a Portal:Linguistics, which is still very much under construction. IMO we don't need both; Portal:Language can serve as a portal to linguistics as well. Angr/talk 10:17, 11 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I totally agree with you: Portal:Language looks like a good start, and Portal:Linguistics should be merged in with it. Like you, I had no idea that either of these existed. Is Wikipedia now too big, or am just not reading the right memos? --Gareth Hughes 12:40, 11 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Portal:Language]] 

message: I have requested that the new British language (Celtic) article be merged into the Welsh language article. Contribute at Talk:Welsh language. --Mais oui! 11:02, 12 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Requested merge 

message: As an anonymous editor rightfully noted on Talk:Sound symbolism, 'this article is a  mess (see further discussion there). I have remedied the most egregious errors, but the subject is worth a well-referenced and well-written article and for that, I thought, we have to turn to Wikiproject Languages. If you feel like diving into the literature on phonosemantics, phonaesthemes, ideophony, Japanese phenomimes and psychomimes and sound symbolism, it's all there waiting for you! — mark ✎ 19:37, 18 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Help improve sound symbolism 

message: Hey, I didn't know if anyone here wanted to, but it would be nice to get some help for this portal, maintaining and such. Right now I just used previous featured content for the Language and topic of the month. Also, it would be nice to get some input on whether the incomplete Portal:Linguistics should be merged into it, maybe Portal:Language and linguistics? Please let me know. JonMoore 18:12, 18 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: [[Portal:Language]]

message: maybe have a look at :Category:Redirects from ISO 639. Tobias Conradi (Talk) 11:07, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  ISO 639 redirects 

message: This grouping does not agree with Richard Strand Nuristani classification:
*http://users.sedona.net/~strand/lngFrameL.html
Which one is now correct? I think ethnologue.com is a good idea / website, but they make also errors. --lorn10 16:11 20. June 2006 (CEST)
The time is running, if nobody says a clear logical fact / argument against the better organization from Richard Strand, I will overtake his systematic. This means, that the actual “Kamviri” and “Kata” (Kati) language would be summarized to “Kamkataviri” language. --lorn10 11:54, 29. June 2006 (CEST)
he has kamviri and katavari. if Kati is katavari then don't merge. Tobias Conradi (Talk) 21:18, 29 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Ashkun, Kamviri, Kati, Prasuni, Tregami, Waigali, ([[Nuristani languages]])

message: I've added a guideline to the language template on naming language histories because of the somewhat odd tendency to give these articles the much bulkier name format "History of XXX language" rather than the more compact "History of XXX." The use of the former is especially superfluous when applied to articles like history of Latin and Esperanto.
Peter Isotalo 15:46, 15 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Hmm... I rather like having History of the English language at that name though, rather than at History of English. Perhaps it's merely because the class I took at university was called History of the English Language and not History of English. (I took advantage of the fuller name to tell people, when they asked me where I was going, "I'm going to HEL!") User:Angr 19:00, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

text: shouldnt the history article follow the language article name? Tobias Conradi (Talk) 11:18, 15 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Naming standard for language histories 

message: There's a dispute going on at Talk:General American about a paragraph asserting (without any sources to back it up) a connection between German Americans and the General American accent. It's turning into a revert war; outside opinions are welcome. User:Angr 14:46, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  German-American influence on General American 

message: Vulgar Latin is up for a featured article review. Detailed concerns may be found here. Please leave your comments and help us address and maintain this article's featured quality. Sandy 20:36, 13 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: [[Vulgar Latin]]

message: Scripts can be coded with ISO 15924. To avoid confusion with ISO 639-3 language codes I also suggested to move some stuff in WP, "User cyr" to "User Cyrl":
*Category_talk:User cyr
*Template_talk:User cyr
On script articles the code maybe could be included as is the lang code on lang articles. Tobias Conradi (Talk) 11:23, 15 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  ISO 15924 

message: Although I can't help regularly, I made a few suggestions for the section "Did you know?" at Portal:Language/Did you know/Nominate. If you agree, I can update that part of the portal. Ι have created and I am looking after the Portal:Language of the greek wikipedia (under the username "Valentin"). --Michkalas 16:35, 30 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Portal:Language]]