Talk:Suba language

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Djh224.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 10:21, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

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I see that Suba (Tanzania) claims that the variety of Suba spoken there is different from the Kenyan Suba. However, I just moved the article Suba Language (Kenya) to Suba language based on the Naming conventions for languages. It would be great if a source could be cited that confirms that Suba of Tanzania differs so much from that of Kenya that we need two different articles. Until we have that kind of information, I think it is better to have only one article; the difference could be exemplified there. On a sidenote, the Ethnologue conflates the two. — mark ✎ 11:58, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

It would also be good to cite sources for the revitalization efforts. — mark ✎ 12:03, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

I have just been on a research trip where we visited the Kenyan Suba on the island of Mfangano. We recorded a story from there and collected a 300 word wordlist. We then went to the Suba people in Tanzania and played the story to them, which they reported was very distant from their language. They said that it is further from their language than any of the other languages in Mara Region. The wordlists are also sufficiently different to confirm that the two varieties are different lanaguges.

The next edition of the Ethnologue will include a seperate Suba language in Tanzania. Woodwardmw 12:10, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

That's intriguing! If that's how matters stand, I can see why it is a good idea to distinguish the two. However, as far as I know, this split has not been previously described in the literature. That might be a good reason to discuss both varieties in this one article, until maybe there is enough info on both of them to start separate articles. A bit like Ogiek language. What are your thoughts?

On a sidenote, regardless of how we are going to do this, this article needs to be sourced so that it is verifiable. That is needed because Wikipedia is only a tertiary source (see the no original research policy). I don't know if the results of your research trip were published somewhere outside Wikipedia? — mark ✎ 14:16, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

I think what you have suggested is a good idea - as yet I am unaware of any research that shows that they are in fact different languages, which was one of the main reasons we conducted our research! As yet it hasn't been published, and so until then or until the new Ethnologue edition is updated it is probably best to keep it as one article. I'll add something about the Tanzanian Suba language on the Suba language page, and say something like it is unclear whether the Suba languages spoken in Kenya and Tanzania are in fact the same language. Does that sound ok? Let me know what you think...Woodwardmw

Sounds good to me! A wild idea: I you by any chance could upload a fragment of that Tanzanian Suba recording (with a transcription) that would be very cool... (see Nafaanra for an example of how sound samples can be used in language articles). — mark ✎ 15:44, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

That's a nice idea... I'm just not sure that we can really put it on the internet without the permission of the people we recorded it from. I'm sure they wouldn't have any objections to it going on the internet, but we didn't actually ask their permission to use it in that way. The recording is of Kenyan Suba by the way, from Mfangano Island. Woodwardmw 15:57, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

I understand your doubts. The best thing of course would be to somehow get their explicit permission. The second best would be to explicitly attribute the recording to the people you recorded it from (mentioning their names, if possible). In any case, judging from my previous experience with these sort of things, they would be pleasured (proud, even) to be represented on the internet in this way. — mark ✎ 18:19, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Peer review

Hi!

It looks like you have a good start here. I mainly fixed grammatical issues, just to make sure that antecedents and information are clear. The biggest thing is just expanding your article! It seems like you have a good set of sources, so definitely try to expand the information from those into your article! When typing information, make sure that the sentences are complete as well. Katherinemoretti (talk) 15:30, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

• There's further relevant content at Talk:Suba Language. – Uanfala (talk) 10:17, 27 May 2017 (UTC)