Talk:Linguasphere Observatory

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None of the links here lead to any database like the one described. The "linguasphere" links just lead to a badly-designed incomplete website with vague musings about language, and "pluriplanet.org" is a Timecube-like wiki-monstrosity of nonsense. I don't know what the fuck this article is even trying to describe but it seems to be suggesting that there's some ethnologue-like database produced by these folks. Maybe there is (and, hopefully, their standards for academic research are higher than their standards for web design) but there's no evidence from the links they provide that this resource actually exists, and it's definitely not available freely on the web as the article, for some reason, asserted. Excalibre (talk) 22:25, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Delete?

With all due respect I think this article should be scrubbed. It appears to be advertising for a more or less vacant website. (Without spending money, neither link seems to provide any substantive information.)

I won't remove it, because I'm still irked by the way my Zeke Hoskin article was killed (it had a lot more merit than this appears to), but maybe some other guardian of the wikis will do the honors? --Haruo 20:12, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

I accessed their website today (www.linguasphere.com). Here is the statement on the homepage:

"Linguasphere ICT is no longer in operation, if you are looking for information on ISO 639-6 please visit its offical site at www.geolang.com by either clicking the link or waiting until your browser redirects you."

Linguasphere's former website was mediocre, but it was not the bare-bones shell that appears today. However, it used to contain links to the complete text of the "Linguasphere register of the World's languages and Speech Communites" by David Dalby (Linguasphere Press, 1999) - an important scholarly work. The company that has replaced it, GeoLang, Ltd., has not put it back on-line. I consider the inability to access this work via the web to be a disappointing loss.

On their new homepage, GeoLang, Ltd. states:

"This site will provide free access to the system that enables identification of the worlds language variants within their derivative hierarchies, from your local dialect through to known major language families. The project is on course but this Company is in its first few months of operation so this web site is very much in the process of being developed."

and goes on to say:

"... the standardised data is due to be published in January 2008."

Charvex 07:48, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Merging articles

Instead of having two stubs, I'm taking the initiative to merge both to here. CJLippert (talk) 21:26, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Something new here

Linguasphere is obviously something new in the world of linguistics. It appears to be a massive effort. It has its own terminology. The high-level work is already done. What we don't have is the complete map for all the language groups. And, I may be wrong, but they do not yet address extinct languages. Just because it is in development I do not think we should despise it. Something new always takes time and is full of problems. I suggest we take a forward-looking view and keep them on here. Thanks.Dave (talk) 15:46, 9 October 2010 (UTC)

Comments from the former Talk:Linguasphere_language_code page

sector phylosector [ps] geosector [gs]
zone  phylozones [pz] or geozones [gz]

can there be a language having ps-gz or another having gs-pz? Idea of examples? Tobias Conradi (Talk) 21:25, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

I think there are quite a few examples of gs-pz zones (e.g. Khoisan languages), but not any ps-gz. I'll have to check this. I believe that ps-gz is theoretically possible, but not most practicable: if the languages of a ps are shown to be in genetic relationship one with another, then the constituent zones of the ps are also likely to be based on genetic relationships. --Gareth Hughes 11:43, 23 January 2006 (UTC)