Unwritten non-endangered languages

[Benjamin Barrett]

My thanks to all who have responded so far.

In my e-mail, please note I should have said "a strong written history" instead of "a strong oral history."

There are many languages that lack a strong writing tradition, but it is very difficult to identify them. The Ethnologue might mention something about writing, but whether there is a "strong written history" is somewhat subjective, making it difficult to find a listing.

Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA

On Apr 12, 2012, at 3:54 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:

> The English Wiktionary seeks to list all words in all languages with English definitions, but the requirement for listing is three citations, a barrier impossible for many endangered languages. I have therefore proposed a vote on Wiktionary to loosen the citation requirement for endangered languages (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Votes/2012-04/Languages_with_limited_documentation).*
> 
> Part of the proposal is to include languages not listed in the UNESCO Language Atlas (http://www.unesco.org/culture/languages-atlas/) as endangered but that still lack a strong oral history. The only language I have come up with so far is Tok Pisin. Can anyone provide other languages that would qualify for this? I would like to add them to the proposal (or rewrite to include them). Please respond off-list.
> 
> * My previous proposal failed, but I have taken many of the objections into consideration and think this has a good chance of passing. The actual vote should start in about a week; the voting requirement is basically a Wiktionary account with at least 50 edits at least one week in advance of the vote (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Votes/2010-04/Voting_policy).
> 
> Benjamin Barrett
> Seattle, WA

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