विकिपीडिया:Script policy

Note: As of February 2021, this is a proposed policy and has not been formally approved by the community. However, it is largely a codification of the existing situation on the Wikipedia, and is therefore the de facto policy.

Statement

In the Konkani Wikipedia, all scripts are considered equal; however, the Devanagari script is accorded the status of primus inter pares (first among equals), and only in situations where it is not possible to use multiple scripts, the Devanagari script shall be used.

Since all the content in the Konkani Wikipedia must be understandable by all editors, we need to have an automatic transliteration system on the Konkani Wikipedia.

Background

Konkani is written in five scripts: en:Devanagari, Roman, Kannada, Malayalam, and Perso-Arabic. The Konkani Wikipedia was begun in the Wikimedia Incubator as a Latin script Wikipedia. In the course of time, Devanagari and Kannada script articles were also added. The development of the Wikipedia picked up pace when organisations like CIS-A2K, Goa University, Nirmala Institute of Education and Dalgado Konknni Akademi supported it. Goa University, in particular, encouraged the writing of articles in the Devanagari script, and the number of Devanagari articles eventually exceeded the number of Romi script articles. At the time of launching the Konkani Wikipedia in mid-2015, there were approximately 1000 pages in the Devanagari script, 700 in the Roman script, and 100 in the Kannada script.

Details

We want the Konkani Wikipedia to be as inclusive as possible, and we would like to give all Konkani people the opportunity to contribute to the Konkani Wikipedia. We want the Konkani Wikipedia to reflect all the diversity and variety of the Konkani language. Therefore, we welcome all scripts in the Konkani Wikipedia. While the various Konkani dialects are orally understood by all Konkani speakers, not all people know all the scripts. However, as a matter of principle, all editors must be able to comprehend all the content of the Wikipedia. There exists a project to develop a script converter for the Konkani Wikipedia, which, unfortunately is stalled. However, there is an external website, Konkanverter.com which can handle transliteration between the Devanagari, Romi, Kannada and Malayalam scripts. The Konkani Wikipedia community resolves to make efforts for the development of an on-Wiki script converter that can transliterate among all the Konkani scripts. The technical feasibility of using the Perso-Arabic script from left-to-right on the Konkani Wikipedia needs to be examined and suitable external transliteration services between the Perso-Arabic script and the other scripts can be identified.

We would like the Wikipedia to be accessible to everyone in the script they are comfortable in; hence, the content and the interface must be prepared in multiple scripts. Only in situations where we are forced to select only one script, that script is Devanagari. Consequently, the default script for the Konkani Wikipedia is Devanagari. This does not mean, however, that Devanagari must be chosen for every situation where only one script must be chosen, another script may be chosen instead of Devanagari.

External links

• Konkanverter