Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Defective script


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. Sarahj2107 (talk) 11:24, 18 November 2016 (UTC)

Defective script

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Procedural nomination on behalf of an IP: "Fails WP:N. The term 'defective script' is used only by linguists to label a writing system as defective if it doesn't represent all the phonemes of a language. Since language changes, the concept is fundamentally flawed and cannot be used outside opinion.  Lastly, a lack of indepth, reliable, secondary, and independent sources exist for the concept.68.150.86.232 (talk) 19:41, 9 November 2016 (UTC)"

– Uanfala (talk) 10:12, 10 November 2016 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Language-related deletion discussions. – Uanfala (talk) 10:17, 10 November 2016 (UTC)


 * Keep. Regardless of any Wikipedian's judgement of its usefulness, the concept is used in scholarly literature, as the citations show. Cnilep (talk) 04:59, 11 November 2016 (UTC)
 * Do you have any quotes from those references?68.150.86.232 (talk) 19:11, 11 November 2016 (UTC)
 * Sure: "Some people feel that such a highly defective script could only possibly have been used for very restricted purposes in which the physical context of written inscriptions could be relied on to resolve the ambiguities of the writing system" (Sampson 1985: 74). [He's discussing arguments concerning Linear B.]
 * "So it is exactly the defectiveness of the Arabic script which makes texts readable more according to the reality of the living language, enabling one to avoid the artificial effect of case-endings and other obsolete Classical rules without violating the symbol-sound correspondences. [...] Moreover, a more lexicalized script, as defective Arabic writing in fact is, permits not only quicker writing but quicker reading as well" (Bauer 1996: 563).
 * Cheers, Cnilep (talk) 02:00, 13 November 2016 (UTC)


 * Keep per Cnilep. This is a linguistic term, not a pejorative, although some do regard vowel ambiguity as a defect in a pedagogical context. --Mark viking (talk) 20:25, 11 November 2016 (UTC)
 * Neither reference discusses "defective script" in detail nor do they treat it as the topic of their papers.68.150.86.232 (talk) 00:10, 12 November 2016 (UTC)


 * Keep. Plenty of RS's; anon just doesn't seem to like it. — kwami (talk) 02:23, 13 November 2016 (UTC)
 * Why isn't irregular script an article then?68.150.86.232 (talk) 21:16, 13 November 2016 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.