User talk:John Stephenson/Archive 6

Category:Linguistics Workgroup (Top)

Some specific languages that you removed Category:Linguistics Workgroup (Top) and tagged Category:Linguistics Workgroup is included in High priority articles for pilot. --Versuri 07:29, 27 December 2006 (CST)

I changed them because linguistics does not primarily deal with specific languages, rather the system of language itself. Perhaps there should be a separate category for specific languages. John Stephenson 09:58, 27 December 2006 (CST)

OK, as I am not an expert, I have nothing to say, but, please, see this. Many editions were reverted in CZ:High priority articles for pilot. --Versuri 04:31, 28 December 2006 (CST)

Lexis

My article on "Lexis" has been removed during the recent Wikipedia purge; it was, however, mostly my work and can hardly be considered a re-write. Can I just replace it? --Douglas MacKevett 11:10, 21 January 2007 (CST)

Welcome message

Tasks: start a new article • add basic, wanted or requested articles • add definitions • add metadata • edit new pages

Welcome to the Citizendium! We hope you will contribute boldly and well. Here are pointers for a quick start, and see Getting Started for other helpful "startup" links, our help system and CZ:Home for the top menu of community pages. You can test out editing in the sandbox if you'd like. If you need help to get going, the forum is one option. That's also where we discuss policy and proposals. You can ask any user or the editors for help, too. Just put a note on their "talk" page. Again, welcome and have fun! --Larry Sanger 13:03, 19 November 2006 (CST)

Doctor Who

My sister tells me Richard Dawkins current female partner (wife) is a former Dr Who companion. David Tribe 04:37, 12 February 2007 (CST)

Yep; see Talk:Doctor Who. John Stephenson 04:51, 12 February 2007 (CST)

Linguistics

Good to see you so active on linguistics David Tribe 04:38, 12 February 2007 (CST)

Thanks - it's coming along. There are actually about three of us making regular edits, and all the better it is for that too. John Stephenson 04:51, 12 February 2007 (CST)

Move lock, vandal protection, history log cleanup

Constable David Tribe 02:04, 14 February 2007 (CST) will be cleaning up after vandals. This may involve temporary deletion of some files. If this occurs do not panic as they will return cleansed of the traces of balony OMO white. David Tribe 02:04, 14 February 2007 (CST)

Acrolect

I have to admit I use acrolect English myself - in fact I am a stauch opponent of Singlish, not so much out of snobbery as out of fear that it debilitates one's ability to speak proper English. It's a very well-written piece. --Yim Kai-mun 02:15, 14 February 2007 (CST)

I've removed the term 'acrolect' as this is used to refer to genuine creoles. Actually, on my first visit to Singapore I was sceptical that this nation was really part of the English-speaking world, but multiple trips on the metro convinced me that this is a first language for most people there. John Stephenson 02:29, 14 February 2007 (CST)

Korean Language

John, I'm about to delete the Korean language article that you imported from WP on Jan. 22. I can restore it if you want to work on it, or, better, you can upload a more recent version when you're actually prepared to work on it here on CZ. --Larry Sanger 16:02, 17 February 2007 (CST)

Big Speedy Delete

There is a cleanup on John. To you have a need for Theoretical linguistics. If so please let me know, and make a few edits of it if you have time. It can be bought back from the dead anyway but it would be good to get your guidance David Tribe 14:55, 18 February 2007 (CST)

As I understand it the big delete is only directed and WP content that has not been modified, and does not preclude reimporting others. What Id like to find out is have you the intention to modify Theoret Ling. very soon. If not I will delete it but if you want it (or another Linguistics topic kept Ill skip over them. But mainly to give you the opportunity to take advantage of them . The process should be flexible and thats why I'm contacting you. cheers David Tribe 21:29, 18 February 2007 (CST)

Ive put a comment at the top of all nominated Linguistics articles. This should stall deletion. It would be politic to edit them a bit where they are recently untouched ;o) David Tribe 21:51, 18 February 2007 (CST)

Ive alerted the other constables to the issues raised by deletions. I can assuring you John, that any deletions that may have occurred should be fully reversible and that a discussion to ensure appropriate handing of these pages is very welcome. David Tribe 16:46, 19 February 2007 (CST)

Categories

Hi John, I happened to notice your are using various categories to organise the language articles. If you have not seen the forums here: http://forum.citizendium.org/index.php/board,12.0.html you may want to read some of the threads there. It sounds as if categories are not going to be used in citizendium. I thought it would be good for you to know sooner than later. As far as what we'll do instead of categories, that seems to still be up in the air. Chris Day (Talk) 22:58, 20 February 2007 (CST)

Discourse analysis

As it appears this has never been edited since its sourcing from WP, I have placed a Big Speedy Delete tag on the page. Just remove it if you contest. Stephen Ewen 01:11, 22 February 2007 (CST)

Cherokee Language Articles

Hi John,

Where do I post articles written in Cherokee? I would be happy to start uploading large numbers of articles in the Cherokee Language.

Jmerkey 23:45, 1 March 2007 (CST)

Replied on user's talk. Stephen Ewen 00:28, 2 March 2007 (CST)

List of common phrases in various languages

There actually was a reason that this article could be "speedydeleted," but not because it could never be finished, or relevant. That determination (finishability, or relevance) could be made only by an editor, not by a constable, and constables are supposed to be able to "speedydelete" articles. However, the article was way too short (just a few words), and we do permit speedydeletes of such short articles if they have been left unimproved on the wiki for more than a few hours. See Article Deletion Policy. --Larry Sanger 08:20, 13 March 2007 (CDT)

Linguistics category

Hi, I noticed that you created Category:Linguistics. From the category's description I infer however that it has the same scope as the fundamental Category:Linguistics Workgroup. Please tell me if there is a reason to keep both categories in articles (for now I remove the apparently redundant qualification). --AlekStos 15:35, 19 March 2007 (CDT)

They're just left over from WP articles; I left them in as I imagined that categories and workgroups were different things. You can remove them if you want. John Stephenson 21:38, 19 March 2007 (CDT)

Orthography in phonology article

Hi John. There's a discussion over on the phonology talk page about some language you added to the introduction of the article. I'd love to have your input on the issue. Aaron Jacobs 13:27, 25 March 2007 (CDT)

Acquisition of German by English speakers

Hi John--I see that you are expert in matters and as a result of all I know, I added a couple of sections to the end of the German_language article regarding relative ease of learning German for English speakers. This is based on (I don't know what all in) my past training and experience, but I wonder if you could take a look at it and screen for opinionated quackery, or add references, or whatever kind of feedback it needs. Thanks in advance if you can get to it. Incidentally I did become fluent in German after adulthood and got a good accent too, and I always thought a lot of those theories about early childhood "windows of opportunity" being lost for adults was, well, a lot of hooey. That's why I'm asking for a second pair of eyes in this matter; I'm definitely not neutral; rather, I'm a teacher who tries to motivate students and give them hope.Pat Palmer 14:16, 4 April 2007 (CDT)

Hi - I'm not so sure about the idea that German is easier than a lot of other languages, though it depends on what aspect of the language is to be learned. I'm not sure there's even anecdotal evidence to back this up; for example there's a poll here of learners claiming that French is easier. Originally, specialists argued that 'difference=difficulty', and this idea persists in some circles to this day. And there can be 'positive transfer' where the first language similarity makes it easier to learn the second. However, more recently the prevalent view is that languages that are similar can be harder to learn because they fool learners - they don't recognise what is to be learned. There are some famous examples of German sentences which many learners accept when in fact they're unacceptable, e.g. *dieses Hotel verbietet Hunde ('this hotel forbids dogs') and *meine Gitarre riss eine Saite ('my guitar broke a string'). Maybe in the earliest stages, German is easier, but the differences in semantics in particular makes it difficult. An example of this is Caroll et al. (discussed here) where there was some limited evidence that English speakers did better than Spanish speakers on picture description tasks using German, because there were more cognates the English speakers could draw on. However, this was only a slight advantage and neither group performed like native speakers. That study also argues that translating German is difficult because although the languages are superficially similar, preserving the writer's attitude is difficult due to different stylistic devices. So overall I would say it's easier in some contexts, particularly early on, but the language doesn't help you to get good quickly. I'm not sure it's worth empahsising this in the article. John Stephenson 00:24, 5 April 2007 (CDT)