Talk:Nüshu

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Writing systems

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Women's History Mid‑importance

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Dead, extinct, or neither?

@Remsense, I noticed you're monitoring this page, so I was curious for your thoughts on this. The extinct language article (which should probably be linked) makes a distinction between a language being extinct (no first-language or second-language speakers) vs. just dead (only second-language speakers). The linguists I know hate the trope of languages being declared extinct when they're actually not, and I wonder if that's happening here. Per the article, Nushu still clearly has at least some people who can write it with some level of fluency. Sdkb ^talk 18:10, 26 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

There's an important distinction between "language" and "writing system" also. I wouldn't really emphasize the "extinct" versus "dead" distinction with writing systems, since writing is a much more solid, comparative thing than spoken language. For example, people can decipher the spoken sounds the Etruscan script corresponds to much more successfully than they have then pieced together the Etruscan language itself, since we only have tiny fragments of textual evidence. Contrastingly, Tuhua is very much a living language, so it makes sense people have a firm understanding of how a phonetic writing system for it works. Remsense诉 18:36, 26 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Good point. Where does that leave us in terms of any changes that we might need to make? (I'm trying to get at least the lede in better shape prior to the upcoming Main Page appearance of the Hidden Letters DYK.) Sdkb ^talk 18:39, 26 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, I'll take a look at it today ASAP and fix what I can, and let you know if there's anything else. Thanks for the attention to this lovely bit of history. :) Remsense诉 18:42, 26 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]