Requests for new languages/Wikipedia Sindhi

This request is for a Wikipedia Sindhi in Devanagari script
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.

A committee member provided the following comment:

Even in the best case, we want to see a serious effort made to put a script converter into the existing Sindhi Wikipedia before considering a project like this. In this case, we also have a test where only three main space pages were created, and then people lost interest. So for now, the default position is that those interested in having Devanagari within Sindhi Wikipedia need to try to implement a script converter there first. If that doesn't work, come back to us. For LangCom: StevenJ81 (talk) 23:11, 4 December 2018 (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 snd (SILGlottolog) A valid ISO 639-1 or 639-3 language code, like "fr", "de", "nso", ...
Language name Sindhi Language name in English
Language name सिन्धी 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 Q33997 - 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 no indication 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.

Settings
Project name विकिपिडिया "Wikipedia" in your language
Project namespace विकिपिडिया usually the same as the project name
Project talk namespace बोली "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 asia/calcutta "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.

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.

Proposal edit

Sindhi is a language with a large number of speakers. 2.5 million of these speakers are in India, where it is written in Devanagari script. The current wiki is in Arabic script, which is unrecognisable to them. Therefore I request permission to create a Wikipedia for Sindhi in Devanagari script with the code snd, which currently doesn't have a wiki. No Script converter exists for this language and many reasons such as conflicts with other users and which script should be primary does not allow it to exist on the Sindhi Wikipedia. (Earlier, the current Sindhi Wikipedia was in Devanagari but because of conflicts the url was given to supporters of Sindhi in Arabic script and the rest of the Users had to leave the wiki). Other languages like Punjabi have two wikis - pa: and pnb:. So in the same way, I request for the approval to create a test wiki for Sindhi written in Devanagari script. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 31.215.115.89 (talk) 18:59, 21 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Discussion edit

Clerking comments: I would not presume to advise the Language Committee how to proceed here. I provide the following as background information:
  • In the case of Punjabi, pa = pan is Eastern Punjabi (written in Perso-Arabic script), while pnb is Western Punjabi, written in Devanagari.
  • In comparison, according to SIL, sd = snd is simply Sindhi. There is only one language code.
The English Wikipedia page was edited heavily in recent days, apparently in preparation for this RFL. Its current contents do not reflect the listing at SIL. Similarly, an editor apparently supporting this initiative inappropriately edited the page Language committee/Handbook (requesters) in recent days.
  • I have no information on the history of which script(s) might be used for Sindhi Wikipedia. It may require a new policy determination if it turns out that Devanagari-using Sindhi speakers were forced out of the current Sindhi Wikipedia. StevenJ81 (talk) 20:36, 21 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]
The proposer (IP address 31.215.115.89) did not log in, so if you are the original proposer of this page, please log-in and sign your all discussions with your username.
There are 2.57 million Sindhi Hindus in India and 2.28 million Sindhi Hindus in Pakistan. A Sindhi Wikipedia in Devanagari could benefit Sindhis in India since they are more likely not to be literate in the Arabic script.
The transliteration between the two writing systems (Perso-Arabic ↔ Devanagari) for Sindhi is not impossible and ought to be attempted first. Sindhi Wikipedia should also enable both writing systems to be used.

In fact, transliterations between Hindi ↔ Urdu and Punjabi Shamukhi ↔ Punjabi Gurmukhi have already been developed. The Sindhi conversion tables can be found here and here so if a native Sindhi speaker who has knowledge of both writing systems wishes to have an online conversion tool created and would like to help out, he can leave a message below to state his willingness to help. --Ernesztina (talk) 01:47, 28 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Pinging @Arslanali and JogiAsad: for their opinions, because currently langcom message says that the sdwiki rejected the existing of Devanagari Sindhi years ago. --Liuxinyu970226 (talk) 04:28, 15 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Liuxinyu970226 and Ernesztina:, Thanks for asking the opinion, here I am pinging other Sindhi fellows (@مھتاب احمد, Aziz Kingrani, Arslanali, محمد مجیب, BukhariSaeed, عثمان منصور انصاري, and Aursani: and a Google scholar ) as well for their opinion and I would go through the link above which you have provided and then I can give a concise opinion. however, Here I say that some of the Hindu Sindhis can read Persho-Arabic-Sindhi Script in which incumbent Sindhi Wikipedia is available. But many Sindhis in India doesn't understand the persho-Arabic-Sindhi Script, so We had requested to launch another wiki in Sindhi Devanagari script. This is a long term discussion so the decision should be taken with intense care and hearing all the aspects as well. I myself can not read Devanagari script but I am in process to learn that script as well, and would like to contribute in that script as well. And regarding @Ernesztina: comments above he is right,but I would say that the ISO language code for Sindhi language is not only one, but its sd and snd both as you have mentioned above in trailing comment/opinion. kindly ask anything you need to know. Thanks...JogiAsad (talk) 22:43, 16 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@Ernesztina: I strongly endorse your this comment/opinion mentioned above in the last sentence which says, The transliteration between the two writing systems (Perso-Arabic ↔ Devanagari) for Sindhi is not impossible and ought to be attempted first. Sindhi Wikipedia should also enable both writing systems to be used. JogiAsad (talk) 23:34, 16 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.