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Requests for new languages/Wikipedia Kichwa

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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.

A committee member provided the following comment:

Project is eligible. Test project is in Kichwa (Standardized Ecuadorian Quechua), an ongoing effort to standardize the language between several language variants (of which one of the larger ones is Chimborazo Highland Quichua, langcode qug). If that standardized language gets a new language code at some point, we assume that this project should take that language code. For LangCom: StevenJ81 (talk) 21:32, 14 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]
  • 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 qug (SIL, Glottolog) A valid ISO 639-1 or 639-3 language code, like "fr", "de", "nso", ...
Language name Kichwa Language name in English
Language name Kichwa 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 Q1740805 - 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 qug.wikipedia.org langcode.wikiproject.org

Settings
Project name Wikipedia "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 yes 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", 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
Once settings are finalized, a committee member will submit a Phabricator task requesting creation of the wiki. (This will include everything automatically, except the additional namespaces/settings.) After the task is created, it should be linked to in a comment under "final decision" above.

A living language (with ca. 2 million speakers, officially recognized by the Ecuadorian government).

Arguments in favour

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  • Proposal: There are active users on the Quechua Wikipedia, which is in the similar en:Southern Quechua language, who want to write in Kichwa. See also also:
    http://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Incubator:Requests_for_starting_a_test#Kichwa_Wikipedia
  • There is a need for Kichwa speakers who have Kichwa as first, second or third language to have their own Wikipedia which is not the same as the Southern Quechua Wikipedia. The differences between Southern Quechua and Kichwa can compared to the differences between Swedish and Danish. See the discussion at the Quechua Wikipedia which makes it clear.
  • Kichwa is officially recognised in Ecuador. See dictionary on a governmental web site or the Kichwa menu on the web site of the National Assembly. See also Art. 2 in the Preamble of the Constitution of Ecuador, saying that Spanish is the official language of Ecuador ; Spanish, Kichwa and Shuar are official languages for intercultural communication.
  • Unified Kichwa is not recognized by the SIL but regroups several dialects that do have an ISO 639-3 code ([1], from Quichua, Calderón Highland to Quichua, Tena Lowland in the table). According to the SIL numbers, these dialects make up a total between 1 and 2 millions of speakers.

Arguments against

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Other discussion

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I see no input from native speakers. Why not wait until at least one or two native speakers come along? --Node ue 21:29, 30 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It is true that there has been no significant input from native speakers. However, there has been at least one contribution which is IMHO from a native speaker ([2], IP shows that this contribution is from Ecuador, and from the way the language is used I would say it is clearly a native speaker). Another native speaker has shown interest in the project and created an user account on Incubator which has no contribution so far. This shows that there is at least somne level of interest among native speakers. In my opinion, this relatively weak level of contribution by native speakers is due to the fact that for most kichwa speakers kichwa is essentially an oral language, and only a minority enjoys reading and writing in kichwa, and also to the fact that Incubator has, in my opinion, a weak visibility compared to a full-scale wikipedia (searching 'wikipedia en kichwa' en google [3]) : the incubator project arrives fifthe, after the pages describing the kichwa language in English, Spanish, and Aymara wikipedias. --Awkiku 21:30, 14 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think this should mean that Kichwa Wikipedia shouldn't have a native speaker on board before creation. Users currently working in Incubator can try to recruit people (from ALKI for example). I don't believe a Wikipedia should be created based on the say-so of non-native speakers. --Node ue 18:00, 16 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Do you know that years ago, many native speakers of the small language(s) from the countries with big literacy rate in the area of informatics, computers, internet, software were thinking "This Wikipedia thing looks nice, but why nobody creates the Wikipedia in my language?". E.g., that was the case with my contributions and my maternal language, my homewiki, Wikipedia in Croatian. Many non-contributors (but very willing to contribute) don't know how to start Wikipedia in their language. So, when I saw in Google search results that a Wikipedia in Croatian language (hr.wiki) was finally started, I quickly joined. And few years after that, I still knew not the procedure of starting the Wikipedia on the particular language. And now, here we have the case of underdeveloped country, with the high illiteracy percentage (not to mention the computers...). Simply told, people don't know and don't care for the bureaucracy procedures - they care for the direct thing. "I want a library in my town, I will go there, I don't want to deal with the boring exhausting bureaucracy procedures, ...". So let's provide them a library. Kubura 04:20, 26 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Comment like Ladin request, this is opened 10 years but also no decisions from langcom. Would someone from langcom or @StevenJ81: please tell me why? --Liuxinyu970226 (talk) 13:19, 15 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Best I can guess is that with LangCom having gone dormant for so long, this is one that just kind of got lost.
For information/eligibility: [Southern] Quechua Wikipedia uses the ISO 639–1 code for all Quechuan languages, while this test project—being run under the code for Chimborazo Highland Quichua—seems to incorporate the Ecuadorian Quechuan [Kichwa] varieties. (Projects for most other related language codes are redirected to this one.) I don't see why it wouldn't be eligible.
Even so, the community hasn't been meaningfully active since 2011. So while I think LangCom should mark this test as "eligible", unless a community appears to reactivate the test, it will not be approved for its own subdomain. StevenJ81 (talk) 15:08, 15 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Hello StevenJ81, thank you for this message. I have been one of the main editors of this incubator project in 2011. I would have interest in starting working on it newly, and try to find native speakers interested. One big issue at the time was language code, since the kichwa unificado (shukllachishka kichwa) did not have an appropriate code I understood that this problem was a blocking issue for the Language committee even though Ecuadorian kichwa has a large recognition (public institutions, published grammars and dictionaries etc.). Other major problems were, indeed, the absence of native speakers editing the wiki, and the absence of readers (but this last problem can be related to the poor google ranking of the incubator: if the quality of the wiki gets sufficient and it gets to a full wikipedia edition, I expect that this would generate tome buzz in Ecuador, and maybe begin to be used is educational institutions that run partly in kichwa.). --Awkiku (talk) 10:05, 23 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@Awkiku:them. This is just my opinion o course. LangCom presumes that if kichwa unificado gets its own code, this test will be launched under that code. And in the meantime, there is no reason the Incubator test cannot continue using the current code. Truthfully, assuming that this project is always going to represent the best effort to create a Wikipedia in Ecuadorian Kichwa, LangCom might even approve it using this language code. (After all, it's not as if there is also going to be a separate Chimborazo Highland Quichua Wikipedia, right?) But is there any effort underway to get a code from SIL? StevenJ81 (talk) 18:24, 23 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@StevenJ81: Yes, the regional variants of Ecuadorian kichwa do not differ much and it would not make much sense to create Wikipedias in several of them (this is just my opinion of course, but the dictionaries, grammars etc. are common, occasionnaly mentioning that this word, or this way to build a sentence is specific to one particular region). There has been an effort towards SIL, @AlimanRuna: has done this, at least e-mailing them. I think it is worth mentioning that among 16 points of an early revendicative platform of Indigenous ecuadorian people was the expulsion of SIL from the country ([4]), which they have actually obtained. I also had interesting exchanges discussion with IETF people, but it got blocked at the point where they were asking that we have a formal acceptance/denial from SIL, which we did not get as far as I know. Thank you very much for your interest and input !--Awkiku (talk) 20:35, 23 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@Avkiku and AlimanRuna: I couldn't read the excerpt on Google books, and I'm curious. I presume the expulsion was over religious issues, rather than linguistic issues. Is that correct?
In any event, if the project otherwise becomes eligible, and there is not an SIL approval because of an outside issue like that, we'll figure something else out. StevenJ81 (talk) 22:42, 23 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Here are two newspaper articles of that time: [5], [6]. From these papers and others excerpts I have read, the worries that have led to this move by the Ecuadorian govt were a mixture between accusations to divide the country and the indigenous communities by introducing Protestant faith in a overwhelmingly Roman catholic country, destroying indigenous beliefs, undermining Ecuadorian govt sovereignty on Amazonian territories, and SIL being a scout of powerful interests (e.g. oil companies, US gov, etc.). Anyway, time has passed since then. --Awkiku (talk) 16:22, 24 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Well, the Roman Catholic Church translated the Bible into Unified Quechua: Bibel (QIIb Ecuador, kath): Pachacamacpac Quillcashca Shimi. Edición bilingüe quichua-castellano. Madrid: San Pablo, 1997. Translators: Bernarda Ortiz, Antonio Brescuani et. al. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Ecuador explicitly say in the preface that they chose to use Unified Quichua (written "Kichwa" since 1998) and not just a local variant. So this Bible translation is a good example for an established Unified Quichua standard. -- AlimanRuna (talk) 22:56, 5 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I'd like to propose a plan... To resurrect our Kichwa by using low-cost offline-working devices. Such OfflinePedia devices (look them up!) would serve as written language funnels to store ancient traditions and construct new knowledge. A lot of Kichwa teachers complain about the lack of written resources and lack of training for writing (as Kichwa is nore an "oral language"). It looks like we just need to take some spiderwebs out from the incubator project and let it happen!

Leave me a comment (look for @OfflinePedia in Google) if you are interested. Thelichprince (talk) 04:00, 19 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

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