Requests for new languages/Wikisource Santali
| submitted | verification | final decision |
| Discuss the creation of this language project on this page. Votes will be ignored when judging the proposal. Please provide arguments or reasons and be prepared to defend them (see the Language proposal policy).
The language committee needs to verify the language is eligible to be approved. |
- The community needs to develop an active test project; it must remain active until approval (automated statistics). 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 | sat (SIL, Glottolog) | A valid ISO 639-1 or 639-3 language code, like "fr", "de", "nso", ... |
| Language name | Santali | Language name in English |
| Language name | ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ | 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 | Q33965 - 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)? |
| Site URL | sat.wikisource.org | langcode.wikiproject.org |
| Settings | ||
|---|---|---|
| Project name | ᱣᱤᱠᱤ ᱢᱩᱨᱟᱹᱭ | "Wikisource" in your language |
| Project namespace | ᱣᱤᱠᱤ ᱢᱩᱨᱟᱹᱭ | usually the same as the project name |
| Project talk namespace | ᱣᱤᱠᱤ ᱢᱩᱨᱟᱹᱭ ᱜᱟᱞᱢᱟᱨᱟᱣ | "Wikisource 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 | Asia/Kolkata | "Continent/City", e.g. "Europe/Brussels" or "America/Mexico City" (see list of valid timezones) |
| Additional namespaces | "Page" = ᱥᱟᱦᱴᱟ, "Page talk" = ᱥᱟᱦᱴᱟ ᱜᱟᱞᱢᱟᱨᱟᱣ, "Index" = ᱩᱱᱩᱫᱩᱜ, "Index talk" = ᱩᱱᱩᱫᱩᱜ ᱜᱟᱞᱢᱟᱨᱟᱣ, "Author" = ᱚᱱᱚᱞᱤᱭᱟᱹ, "Author talk" = ᱚᱱᱚᱞᱤᱭᱟᱹ ᱜᱟᱞᱢᱟᱨᱟᱣ | For example, a Wikisource would need "Page", "Page talk", "Index", "Index talk", "Author", "Author talk". |
| Additional settings | Anything else that should be set | |
Proposal for Santali Wikisource
[edit]Santali is one of the 22 official languages of India and among the most widely spoken Austroasiatic languages, with approximately 7.2 million speakers. As a South Asian Austroasiatic language, Santali is quite distinct from both other Austroasiatic languages and the major Indian language families. This uniqueness makes it important to provide Santali speakers with dedicated platforms to access and preserve their literary and cultural heritage.
Santali has a rich oral and written literary tradition. The Government of India, through the Sahitya Akademi, has officially recognized and promoted Santali literature. Much of Santali culture, however, has been transmitted orally, which has resulted in limited availability of documented texts in the Santali language itself. The survival and growth of any language rely heavily on the accessibility of knowledge, literature, and historical texts in that language.
Over the years, significant research and documentation of Santali traditions, culture, folklore, and literature have been carried out. However, the majority of this work has been published in other Indian languages rather than in Santali. This gap highlights the urgent need for a centralized digital repository to collect, preserve, and make accessible Santali texts.
The Wikisource project provides exactly this opportunity. A dedicated Santali Wikisource would serve as a repository for Santali books, literary works, folklore collections, and cultural materials. At present, more than 30 Santali books have already been uploaded to the Multilingual Wikisource, and many more are in preparation. This ongoing work shows both the availability of source texts and the commitment of the Santali Wikimedia community to develop and maintain such a resource.
A Santali Wikisource would allow these texts to be systematically preserved, proofread, and made freely available for readers, researchers, and future generations. It would also strengthen related Wikimedia projects, such as Santali Wikipedia, by providing a reliable base of source material in the language.
The Santali Wikimedia community has already demonstrated its capacity for consistent contribution, with the Santali Wikipedia successfully running for over six years. With an active group of editors and growing digital resources, the creation of a Santali Wikisource is both timely and essential.ᱤᱧ ᱢᱟᱛᱟᱞ (talk) 11:37, 28 September 2025 (UTC)