User talk:Mo-Al

Hi, and welcome to Wiktionary (see below for more information). I notice you have added a few definitions that use the English word patrimoiety, do you have a moment to define it as it's not a word I've come across before. Thanks. Conrad.Irwin 02:03, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

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Enjoy your stay at Wiktionary! Conrad.Irwin 02:03, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

Tigrinya

I see that you'd like to work on Tigrinya here. I just wanted to stop by to tell you that although I've only studied Tigrinya cursorily, I'm interested in helping out new editors working on African languages. Please tell me if there's anything I can do to help. Cheers! —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 23:04, 7 December 2018 (UTC)

Thanks Metaknowledge. One issue I could use help with from a more experienced Wiktionary user is that of alternative spellings in Tigrinya. Basically there are different spelling conventions in Eritrean and Ethiopian Tigrinya, so for example the word ṣäḥay ("sun") is written as either ጸሓይ (Eritrean spelling) or ፀሐይ/ፀሓይ (Ethiopian spelling). I'd like to understand better how regional alternative spellings are usually handled on Wiktionary in order to normalize these for Tigrinya. Mo-Al (talk) 09:24, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

Also, even in Eritrean Tigrinya there is some variation in spelling, e.g. ጎይታ or ጐይታ "master". Mo-Al (talk) 11:02, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

That's a familiar sort of problem. It's important to choose a standard if possible, but political and practical concerns can get in the way. Tigrinya has more speakers in Ethiopia, and the spellings used there seem more conservative (that is, Eritrean spellings can be automatically predicted from Ethiopian spellings but the reverse is not possible). That would seem to make it preferable to have Eritrean spellings use a special explanatory template that points them to the Ethiopian equivalent, where the definition would be. Unfortunately, the language seems much more prestigious in Eritrea, and on a personal level, the only speakers I've met are Eritrean, and the only book I have on Tigrinya uses Eritrean orthography. As a result (and also to avoid offending Eritreans who might feel unfairly demoted), I think we will be forced to duplicate definitions, using {{lb|ti|Ethiopia}} and {{lb|ti|Eritrea}} on the definition lines, and including an 'Alternative forms' section in each entry with the other country's spelling followed by {{q|Ethiopia}} or {{q|Eritrea}}. But one thing we certainly can do is make sure that there's only one main entry with definitions per country, so whichever of ፀሐይ and ፀሓይ is less common in Ethiopia should just have {{alternative spelling of}} pointing to the more common one. —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 17:57, 8 December 2018 (UTC)