Requests for new languages/Wikipedia Berber

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Berber Wikipedia

See also the second request (closed due to policy changing)

submitted verification final decision
This proposal has been rejected.
This decision was taken by the language committee in accordance with the Language proposal policy based on the discussion on this page.

The closing committee member provided the following comment:

ber represents a group of languages this is not something that is accepted according to the language policy
Proposal summary
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Facts about the Tamaziɣt language

  • Berber is a member of the Afro-Asiatic Languages[1]
  • The script of the language is of Phoenician language [2] origin.
  • the total number of speakers of Berber languages in the world is istimated to more than 30 milion (please read the article Berber Languages [3])

Arguments in favour

  • Support -- There are more Berber dialects spoken in North Africa and in the world: Tarifit, Central Morocco Tamazight, Tashelhiyt, Tamasheq, Chenoua, Kabyle, Chaouia, Saharan Berber... A unified (official) Berber will make Wikipedia content in this language more localized, especially for foreigners who want to learn a universal Berber language that will help them be closer to regional Berber dialects understanding.--Abdessamad IDRISSI 11:00, 5 May 2009 (GMT)
  • Support -- This is a language that is spoken by large number of people in Africa and one of the main languages in Morocco and Algeria. The language is big enough and should have Wikipedia on its own language. There are Wikipedias on languages with smaller number of speakers, and I think Berber as a relatively big language should have Berber Wikipedia. Cheers. --MacedonianBoy 13:02, 5 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support--riwnodennyk 12:20, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support-- amastan08 A Wikipedia in the Berber (Tamazight) language should contribute to the unification of the different dialects of the language (which are already quite close between them). Intercomprehension is possible between the Northern Berber dialects, and there must be standardization. Wikipedia in the Berber language may play an important role in that respect. As for the script, most Berber authors (Mouloud Mammeri, Youcef Nacib, Tassadit Yacine, etc.) and researchers (Salem Chaker, Kamel Nait-Zerrad, Miloud Taifi, etc.) use a version of the Latin script with some diacritic signs and three Greek letters. The standardization and State Insitutions for the Amazigh such as Moroccan Royal Institute for the Amazigh language (IRCAM), the CRB (Centre of Berber Research, Paris), HCA (High Commission for Amazighity, Algeria), Amazigh departments at the Universities of Tizi-Ouzou and Bejaia (Algeria) have adopted the Latin script for the writing of the Berber language. This is why, it is strongly recommended to write the language in Latin script.

Arguments against

  • Can this be explained???

Other discussion

  • Now it is possible to read/write Tifinagh characters; for PC users, go to the IRCAM website [4] and download and install the tifinagh keyboard and support drivers.
  • Ther's a Berber-Arabic Dictionnary written by Mohamed Chafik [5]

Other relevant proposals

Should be coordinated with Requests for new languages/Wikipedia Tamazight , Requests for new languages/Wikipedia Central Morocco Tamazight , Requests for new languages/Wikipedia Tarifit , and/or Requests for new languages/Wikipedia Tachelhit... AnonMoos 12:28, 9 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]