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<DIV><FONT size=2>I'm am delighted to see this initiative taking place, and I
hope many people will do as Verena has suggested. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>I am an SIL member who is deeply aware of the limitations in
the Ethnologue (some of it based unfortunately on published information that is
20-30 years old), and who has been trying to correct these entries as I become
aware of problems. But, there is only so much that one person can
do. Knowing the Ethnologue staff, I know *they* want to improve the
entries also, but can't do so unless people who know the information submit
it. I keep hearing of reports like the one below, where people have tried
to correct the information but somehow the change hasn't been made, and that
bothers me (as I'm sure it bothers the Ethnologue staff). I don't know why
the messages aren't getting through, and although I can't speak officially for
the Ethnologue or for SIL, let me at least offer my personal apology for the
frustration this has caused. We need to work together to get communication
flowing more effectively.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>
<DIV><FONT size=2>I have, a couple times in the past made requests on this list
for people to provide information to improve the Ethnologue entries. I
have passed on these changes to the Ethnologue, and they will appear in the 2009
edition. But, overall, the response has been pretty small, and that has
been somewhat discouraging to me. </FONT><FONT size=2><FONT size=2>I do
hope that the appeal below will generate more information, and I applaud Bencie
and Verena for taking the initiative to gather the information
together.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV></FONT>
<DIV><FONT size=2>I'd also encourage people to communicate directly to
</FONT><FONT size=2>the Ethnologue editors at <A
href="mailto:editor_ethnologue@sil.org">editor_ethnologue@sil.org</A>, who are
Paul Lewis and Conrad Hurd. I'm copying this message to them so that they know
this initiative is underway.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV></FONT><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Part of the frustration people feel may be a result of the
fact that the Ethnologue website is only updated once every four years, when a
new print version is prepared. Any information that people have submitted
since the cutoff date for preparing the 2005 edition will not be reflected on
the website until the 2009 edition comes out (it is currently in
preparation). </FONT><FONT size=2>Several of us in SIL have urged the
Ethnologue staff to update the website more frequently, but so far they haven't
had enough people to be able to do so.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Another thing that sometimes bothers people is the
three-letter codes from the ISO 639-3 standard that are used to identify each
language. Many of these are different from the customary abbreviations
used for sign languages; for example, the code for ASL is "ase". These
3-letter codes are not meant to coincide with the standard abbreviations for
sign languages; sometimes there is a resemblance, but due to the requirement
that they must be unique, they are often different. S</FONT><FONT
size=2>tandard abbreviated names such as ASL, BSL, DGS, etc., can be listed in
the Ethnologue as alternative names for a language.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Please do as Verena asks! Take the few minutes to check
the Ethnologue entries for sign languages that you know something about, and
submit corrections, either through Verena or directly to the Ethnologue; I'd
suggest doing both.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Albert Bickford</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=terpsnet@yahoo.com href="mailto:terpsnet@yahoo.com">Paul Cowley</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=SLLING-L@majordomo.valenciacc.edu
href="mailto:SLLING-L@majordomo.valenciacc.edu">SLLING-L</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, November 13, 2008 5:18
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [SLLING-L] OBO - Bencie Woll
& Verena Krausneker</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">Dear
collegues,<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">The biggest resource on
languages on the web - ethnologue, <A href="http://">http://</A> <A
href="http://www.ethnologue.com/">www.ethnologue.com/</A> - unfortunately
contains some totally outdated information on national sign languages - in
some cases even serious errors. My efforts over the past years to convince
ethnologue that they must check and correct the entries on SLs have had
no effect.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">So I think we should take
action. Together with Bencie Woll I have come up with the following
plan:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">We will collect a list of
errors to support our point.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">We will contact ethnologue
with that list and provide contact persons that they can use as
ressources.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">For this we need your
help:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">Please be so kind and take
5-10 Minutes.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">1. Find the Sign Language
that you are expert for: <A
href="http://">http://</A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'"><A
href="www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=90008">www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=90008</A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">2. Read the short info
provided.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">3. Send an email to ME
DIRECTLY (verena.krausneker@univie.ac.at) with the following
info:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">- Name of sign language in
Ethnologue that you checked.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">- Other names and
abbreviation used for that sign language.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">- Major errors in the
entry (and if you wish further comments on the
entry).<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">- Name and email address
of one appropriate contact person for that SL.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">thank you very
much,<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">verena
krausneker<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">(Dept. of Linguistics,
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of
<st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Vienna</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>)</SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<P>
<HR>
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