![]() | Disambiguation | |||
|
"Botswanan" is a faux pas, a little like calling an American a USAian. The article should point this out. See Talk:Botswana. -- John ( talk) 08:41, 28 July 2011 (UTC)
I propose that this article be redirected to Botswana. Any objections? -- John ( talk) 17:30, 28 July 2011 (UTC)
I see you wrote this dab page in 2008. What sources did you use? -- John ( talk) 08:34, 28 July 2011 (UTC)
I created the Languages of Botswana page, as a redirect to the languages section of the Demographics of Botswana article, where English is listed as "official". But with 2.1% of the population as speakers, one can't reasonably be expected to consider English the native tongue — for the vast majority of the population, practically speaking, it is a foreign language. Even if you do consider it "native", it's a local dialect, and I believe the terms exonym and endonym work in the context of dialects, as they pertain to foreign/domestic. It is primarily foreigners who use "Botswanan", making it an exonym.
I was able to access the Oxford English Dictionary through my local library account online, and it has the entry "Botswanan, n. and adj."
For the noun it says: "A native or inhabitant of the republic of Botswana, which became an independent state in 1966." It gives usage examples from N.Y. Times, Times, and Facts on File.
For the adjective it says: "Of or pertaining to Botswana. In Botswana itself the standard terms amongst residents are Motswana (and pl. Batswana) for the noun, and Tswana (q.v.) for the adjective." The examples it cites are from 1967 Britannica Bk. of Year, 1980 D. Hunt Times Yearbk., and Japan Times 21 May 1989.
For the etymology it says: "the place-name Botswana + -AN suffix."
The Oxford English Dictionary is an authoritative source.
I was also able to access the Britannica Public Library Edition, and a search of "Botswanan" returned 5 results from various articles in various volumes. Here are quotes from each of those sources:
I'm finding "Botswanan" all over the place, and it doesn't look like typos or word usage errors. The word appears to be a common exonym. The Transhumanist 06:47, 29 July 2011 (UTC)
I copied this thread from my talk page, because it is more relevant here. Please continue this discussion here, not there. Thank you. The Transhumanist 07:19, 29 July 2011 (UTC)
Concerning national varieties of English, WP:ENGVAR states "the English Wikipedia does not prefer any major national variety of the language. No variant is inherently more correct than another. Cultural clashes over vocabulary, spelling, and grammar can be avoided by using the following four guidelines." Please read WP:ENGVAR before replying here. Thank you. The Transhumanist 07:32, 29 July 2011 (UTC)
I don't see the purpose of having this as a disambig page, not because I have a problem with the word "Botswanan", but because as far as I can see there is nothing to disambiguate. The first item listed is "Something of, or related to Botswana" - fair enough - and the second is "A person from Botswana, or of Botswana descent", which seems to me to be entirely a subset of the first item. Disambiguation is for the situation when a title " refers to more than one topic covered by Wikipedia articles"; in this case both disambiguation items listed refer to the same topic - Botswana! Also, it seems to me that this page violates WP:DABNOT: "A disambiguation page is not a list of dictionary definitions.", as well as WP:MOSDAB: "Each entry should have exactly one navigable (blue) link to efficiently guide readers to the most relevant article for that use of the ambiguous term. Do not wikilink any other words in the line." - htonl ( talk) 18:17, 29 July 2011 (UTC)
![]() | Disambiguation | |||
|
"Botswanan" is a faux pas, a little like calling an American a USAian. The article should point this out. See Talk:Botswana. -- John ( talk) 08:41, 28 July 2011 (UTC)
I propose that this article be redirected to Botswana. Any objections? -- John ( talk) 17:30, 28 July 2011 (UTC)
I see you wrote this dab page in 2008. What sources did you use? -- John ( talk) 08:34, 28 July 2011 (UTC)
I created the Languages of Botswana page, as a redirect to the languages section of the Demographics of Botswana article, where English is listed as "official". But with 2.1% of the population as speakers, one can't reasonably be expected to consider English the native tongue — for the vast majority of the population, practically speaking, it is a foreign language. Even if you do consider it "native", it's a local dialect, and I believe the terms exonym and endonym work in the context of dialects, as they pertain to foreign/domestic. It is primarily foreigners who use "Botswanan", making it an exonym.
I was able to access the Oxford English Dictionary through my local library account online, and it has the entry "Botswanan, n. and adj."
For the noun it says: "A native or inhabitant of the republic of Botswana, which became an independent state in 1966." It gives usage examples from N.Y. Times, Times, and Facts on File.
For the adjective it says: "Of or pertaining to Botswana. In Botswana itself the standard terms amongst residents are Motswana (and pl. Batswana) for the noun, and Tswana (q.v.) for the adjective." The examples it cites are from 1967 Britannica Bk. of Year, 1980 D. Hunt Times Yearbk., and Japan Times 21 May 1989.
For the etymology it says: "the place-name Botswana + -AN suffix."
The Oxford English Dictionary is an authoritative source.
I was also able to access the Britannica Public Library Edition, and a search of "Botswanan" returned 5 results from various articles in various volumes. Here are quotes from each of those sources:
I'm finding "Botswanan" all over the place, and it doesn't look like typos or word usage errors. The word appears to be a common exonym. The Transhumanist 06:47, 29 July 2011 (UTC)
I copied this thread from my talk page, because it is more relevant here. Please continue this discussion here, not there. Thank you. The Transhumanist 07:19, 29 July 2011 (UTC)
Concerning national varieties of English, WP:ENGVAR states "the English Wikipedia does not prefer any major national variety of the language. No variant is inherently more correct than another. Cultural clashes over vocabulary, spelling, and grammar can be avoided by using the following four guidelines." Please read WP:ENGVAR before replying here. Thank you. The Transhumanist 07:32, 29 July 2011 (UTC)
I don't see the purpose of having this as a disambig page, not because I have a problem with the word "Botswanan", but because as far as I can see there is nothing to disambiguate. The first item listed is "Something of, or related to Botswana" - fair enough - and the second is "A person from Botswana, or of Botswana descent", which seems to me to be entirely a subset of the first item. Disambiguation is for the situation when a title " refers to more than one topic covered by Wikipedia articles"; in this case both disambiguation items listed refer to the same topic - Botswana! Also, it seems to me that this page violates WP:DABNOT: "A disambiguation page is not a list of dictionary definitions.", as well as WP:MOSDAB: "Each entry should have exactly one navigable (blue) link to efficiently guide readers to the most relevant article for that use of the ambiguous term. Do not wikilink any other words in the line." - htonl ( talk) 18:17, 29 July 2011 (UTC)