> > At 20:53 +0100 24/08/06, Francis Tyers wrote: > > >... talking about Unicode issues for minority languages
Christian Boitet wrote: > > Please don't use the term "minority language", > > which is a bit deprecating and quite often plain > > wrong, but rather the terms > > - "pi-language" (poorly computerized language), > > proposed by V.Berment in his PhD, > > - or "under-resourced languages" (as in a WS at TALN-05). Quoting Francis Tyers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > My apologies, no offence was intended. I'm not aware of any commonly > accepted typology.... Fran has made a good point in stating that there is no commonly accepted typology. It seems to me that there are somewhere between 5-10 languages in the world today which don't receive such a label, and the other 6,000 which are constantly tagged with one or more of the following terms that are regularly used in writings on this topic (including a lot mine from 1991-1994 & 1997-2001): * minority languages * less-prevalent languages * less(er) widely used languages * sparse-data languages * low-density languages * neglected languages * less-dominant (non-dominant) languages * traditionally oral/spoken/unwritten languages * endangered languages * indigenous languages * New Member State languages (used for the new languages of the European Union) This set of terms (among others) actually covers a range of connotations, but it really has little to do with linguistics, and more with factors and issues related to economics, politics and related power struggles. I would even suggest considering the following term: * commercially disadvantaged/inhibited/challenged languages Although the term "minority" language might be low on the acceptability scale for some people, a possibly worse term (despite a reality if might reflect) would be: * low market-value languages Best, Jeff ================================ Jeff ALLEN, PhD, certified ISO 9001:2000 Quality Auditor EMEA Director of Support & Professional Services SYSTRAN S.A, Paris, France [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.systransoft.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffallen _______________________________________________ Mt-list mailing list
