[meteorite-list] Meteorite in World Languages seekinghelpwithanother 168 languages

From: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 12:49:39 -0600
Message-ID: <157901c8344a$edcfec30$4b29e146_at_ATARIENGINE>

Hi, Dirk, Chris, Andi, List,

Here is the list with the 6000+ languages!
The premiere reference on the World's languages,
covering 6912 languages, is to be found online at:
http://www.ethnologue.com/
in "browse-able" form. It contains a linguistic
description of each language but you cannot
search for an individual word, like "meteorite."

Rather than being an academic product, it is published
by SIL International, an organization that attempts
to translate The Bible into every language of man.
Despite their considerable linguistic efforts, the group
has generated considerable controversy as well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIL_International

A non-SIL list of the languages of the world, listed by
the number of native speakers (I'm writing in #3!):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers

I started counting, got 452 languages here, but my finger
got tired and I could have missed some. That list takes you
down to languages with only 1,000 living speakers. I suspect
that to have a "name" for what we call a "meteorite" the
culture would have to encountered one, uncovered its
aerial origin, and decided that it was a frequent enough
occurance for it to have a unique identifier, instead of
    "This is a stone that fell from the sky."
    "What's it called?"
    "It's called 'the stone that fell from the sky.' We don't
have enough words to waste one on something that will
never happen again, son."

It would also be interesting to know how many of the
languages have their own self-generated term and how
many languages have acquired their term as a "loan-word"
from a "major" language with a greater vocabulary and
more speakers.

Languages in danger of dying out are being archived
rapidly, as in a century half of the 6000+ languages
will be extinct.

Further research is left as "an exercise for the student,"
as my teachers used to say.


Sterling K. Webb
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Andreas Gren" <info at meteoritenhaus.de>
To: "'Chris Peterson'" <clp at alumni.caltech.edu>
Cc: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2007 11:08 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Meteorite in World Languages
seekinghelpwithanother 168 languages


Chris,
I would suggest, you are the one who will write the list with the six or
seven thousand languages. ;)

Andi



-----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht-----
Von: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] Im Auftrag von Chris
Peterson
Gesendet: Samstag, 1. Dezember 2007 17:49
An: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Betreff: Re: [meteorite-list] Meteorite in World Languages seeking
helpwithanother 168 languages

Okay, you've got 67. But you're only looking for another 168? Come on,
there are six or seven thousand languages currently spoken. How serious
are you? <g>

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message -----
From: "drtanuki" <drtanuki at yahoo.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>; "Joel Schiff"
<jschiff at ihug.co.nz>; "Larry Lebofsky" <lebofsky at lpl.arizona.edu>
Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2007 9:36 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Meteorite in World Languages seeking help
withanother 168 languages


> Dear List,
> As I posted earlier, there are 67 languages with
> "meteorite" entries currently. This is the first time
> in history that such a list has been compiled and will
> be useful to researchers, field researchers,
> linguists, writers, meteorite hunters and collectors,
> and those searching for more information in foreign
> literature about meteorites.
> I have added a list of 168 languages near the bottom
> of the page that no terms have been found.
> If anyone wishes to take their time and help search
> I would appreciate it. Our meteorite community has
> people worlwide so I am sure that some of you can
> check on things easily.
> It is a good opportunity to learn some new words
> yourself, new languages and learn how to search
> documents, the Internet and Libraries. Winters are
> cold and more time to sit around a warm fire and
> learn.
>
> http://meteoritesjapan.com/metdict.aspx
>
>
> If you are willing to help please contact me and I
> will answer any questions. Thank you for your time
> and help. I will credit all submissions once they are
> confirmed.
>
> Best Regards, Dirk Ross...Tokyo

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Received on Sat 01 Dec 2007 01:49:39 PM PST