Requests for new languages/Wikipedia Southern Sami

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Southern Sami Wikipedia

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submitted verification final decision

This language has been verified as eligible.
The language is eligible for a project, which means that the subdomain can be created once there is an active community and a localized interface, as described in the language proposal policy. You can discuss the creation of this language project on this page.

Once the criteria are met, the language committee can proceed with the approval and will verify the test project content with a reliable neutral source, such as a professor or expert.

If you think the criteria are met, but the project is still waiting for approval, feel free to notify the committee and ask them to consider its approval.

  • The community needs to develop an active test project; it must remain active until approval (automated statistics, recent changes). It is generally considered active if the analysis lists at least three active, not-grayed-out editors listed in the sections for the previous few months.
  • The community needs to complete required MediaWiki interface translations in that language (about localization, translatewiki, check completion).
  • The community needs to discuss and complete the settings table below:
What Value Example / Explanation
Proposal
Language code sma (SIL, Glottolog) A valid ISO 639-1 or 639-3 language code, like "fr", "de", "nso", ...
Language name Southern Sami Language name in English
Language name Åarjelsaemien Language name in your language. This will appear in the language list on Special:Preferences, in the interwiki sidebar on other wikis, ...
Language Wikidata item Q13293 - item has currently the following values:
 Item about the language at Wikidata. It would normally include the Wikimedia language code, name of the language, etc. Please complete at Wikidata if needed.
Directionality LTR Is the language written from left to right (LTR) or from right to left (RTL)?
Links Links to previous requests, or references to external websites or documents.
Site URL sma.wikipedia.org langcode.wikiproject.org

Settings
Project name "Wikipedia" in your language
Project namespace usually the same as the project name
Project talk namespace "Wikipedia talk" (the discussion namespace of the project namespace)
Enable uploads no Default is "no". Preferably, files should be uploaded to Commons.
If you want, you can enable local file uploading, either by any user ("yes") or by administrators only ("admin").
Notes: (1) This setting can be changed afterwards. The setting can only be "yes" or "admin" at approval if the test creates an Exemption Doctrine Policy (EDP) first. (2) Files on Commons can be used on all Wikis. (3) Uploading fair-use images is not allowed on Commons (more info). (4) Localisation to your language may be insufficient on Commons.
Optional settings
Project logo This needs to be an SVG image (instructions for logo creation).
Default project timezone Continent/City "Continent/City", e.g. "Europe/Brussels" or "America/Mexico City" (see list of valid timezones)
Additional namespaces For example, a Wikisource would need "Page", "Page talk", "Index", "Index talk", "Author", "Author talk".
Additional settings Anything else that should be set
submit Phabricator task. It will include everything automatically, except additional namespaces/settings. After creating the task, add a link to the comment.

Proposal

The Southern Sami language speaks in a very computer-densely area and talking of ca 500 persons.

Statistics

  • Pages: 121
    • Articles: 71
    • Project: 5
    • Categories: 3
    • Templates: 27
    • Redirect: 15
  • Localization: 33.16%
    • Most used: 72.38%
    • Mediawiki extentions: 0.17%

09:06, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

Discussion

Arguments in favour

  1. Support The Southern Sami language is endangered if we start a wikipedia in Southern Sami so come the language's status be strongly. Max sonnelid 20:01, 16 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  2. Support This is a good idea that starting a Wikipedia on Southern Sami. Saemien 08:03, 27 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  3. In a devoted community within a densely-computered area (as western Europe is) 500 speakers can be enough.
  4. Support The wiki have over 50 articles and the localization is near 30 %, so its a good idea. M.M.S. 18:30, 18 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  5. Support The southern sami wikipedia have over 70 articles.
  6. supp. --U.Steele 19:48, 29 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  7. Support --Andrijko Z. (talk) 06:16, 21 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  8. Support --Agusbou2015 (talk) 20:39, 4 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Arguments against

General discussion

Since there are only appr. 500 people who speak this language, building an encyclopaedia in it is a highly ambitious goal. Since this proposal did not come from a native speaker, I doubt that it will lead anywhere, just like Requests for new languages/Wikibooks Greenlandic or Requests for new languages/Wikipedia Elfdalian, filed by the same user. Please don't file proposals, unless you are really serious and ready to invest some time and energy. --Johannes Rohr 08:12, 10 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

What he said - I'm a student of South Sámi, and even though I'm far from being proficient, I can clearly see that the main page's text is a total dictionary-translated mess. The Wikipedia needs at least one editor who can speak it somewhat proficiently. Krihke 15:11, 16 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]
As someone who works on the Northern Sámi Wikipedia, I can't believe that this wiki will actually ever come about. Even though we have more than 2500 articles, most of them are stubs or ministubs and the Sámi in articles is not up to snuff in spite of the fact it has a heck of a lot more speakers. To be frank, I doubt that any of the smaller languages will get their wikis off the ground without the help of funding since the communities already have enough on their plate without having to stretch their meager resources even thinner to accommodate a wiki project on top of everything else. If non-native users (and users whose skills aren't on a native level) want to create wikis, someone is going to have to be paid to proofread the texts as there is no check-and-balance system involved in the smaller language wikis due to a lack of resources. Sorry for the pessimism, as I sincerely hope that the situation would turn around, but I don't believe it will. -80.221.26.34 19:43, 6 November 2007 (UTC) (Yupik from the Northern Sámi Wikipedia)[reply]
I start the translating of localization-files. Max sonnelid 15:21, 20 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
25% localization. Max sonnelid 11:13, 11 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Do you speak the language well enough to start localisating? --OosWesThoesBes 18:36, 14 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

A Wikipedia in a language with less than a thousand speakers is unprecedented, if we exclude the Manx Wikipedia (Manx, being the subject of a revival movement, is uncomparable to regular living languages). However, with the recent birth of the Saterfrisian Wikipedia, it can hardly be said to be improbable or unfeasable anymore. If mr. Sonnelid manages to find only two native or near-native speakers that keep contributing for a considerable time, the case can be settled, especially when they translate the interface. Everywhere in Europe, small endangered languages are the subject of unprecedented cultivation; from my own experience I know a Wikipedia is a helpful tool in such initiatives and the results are often highly admirable, giving the Wikipedia a special added value that other, larger ones don't have. Steinbach (formerly Caesarion) 18:32, 14 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I have talking with a society of the Southern Sami language (Hemnes Samiske Forening) and them is intressing at starting an Southern Sami Wikipedia. Max sonnelid 08:17, 18 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think the "small speaker community" argument is convincing either, not since there is a Manx Wikipedia which has managed some 2000 articles by now - and there's only some 100 fluent speakers! Akerbeltz
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