“What an un-wiki way of doing things”

Abstract

Wikipedia defines itself as "the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the internet", thus featuring an explicit language policy in its mission statement. Bearing in mind that the site has become the most popular source of encyclopaedic information online, its significance for public encounters with multilingualism should not be underestimated. This article offers a critical and multimodal discourse analytical approach to Wikipedia's explicit and implicit multilingual policies and practices. I examine, under "explicit metalinguistic practice" (Woolard 1998), public disclaimers and exemplary user practice and talk on the "Multilingual Coordination" entry. Under "implicit metapragmatics", I shall offer a multimodal analysis of Wikipedia's multilingualism-oriented interface design; the corporate logo and its paratextual meta-commentary on a number of linguistic and journalistic websites; and a code-critical reading of Wikipedia's "Babel" user language templates. My observations are discussed against the backdrop of postcolonialist theories on the role of English as lingua franca of the information age.

Wikipedia Culture Gap: Quantifying Content Imbalances Across 40 Language Editions

“…This imbalance is often attributed to the lack of editors or resources in a particular language background. Among the reasons that explain why some languages do not have a Wikipedia language edition or have it underdeveloped, Van Dijk [1] and Ensslin [2] mention, among others, the reduced number of speakers, the digital divide, and the low online reputation of their language.…”

“…https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Notability…”

Creative Industries Global Conference. Libro de actas

“…La hegemonía cultural anglosajona, en particular la estadounidense, está estrechamente relacionada con la supremacía lingüística del inglés en la interacción dialéctica con el conocimiento, tanto científico como popular, y también con la tecnología como campo correlacionado (Ensslin, 2011). El inglés es el idioma dominante en la cultura de masas a nivel mundial y la lengua dominante en la web con más de 800 millones de usuarios.…”