Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Bengali language

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[edit] Bengali language

The article is well written, referenced and stable. There remaining issues should be easily fixable in response to community input. Thanks.--ppm 07:38, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

• Comment. After a quick look it seems that everything required is present, but a copyedit may still be required. I have done a sample copyedit in the lead section, especially with respect to dash usage. Also, there are a few completely unreferenced sections. I believe the information is present in one of the general references, but needs inline addition. — Ambuj Saxena (talk) 08:51, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

• Support about time this baby got FA status. Per Ambuj, a copyedit is required, especially keeping consistently with Commonwealth English. Rama's arrow 12:26, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

• Support - this is an informative article. -- P.K.Niyogi 03:48, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

• Comment - Try to address to the reference needed tags added by me. The lenght of the article is quite long try to make it short. Regional Variation can be incorpoarted into the dialect part. Some more reference is needed. Amartyabag 06:06, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

citations for tags provided--ppm 09:55, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

• Comment. The map would be more accurate if the places where Bengali speakers are concentrated in diaspora countries are marked, like the French language map. The current map gives the impression that Bengali is spoken all over US, Canada and Australia. CG 14:54, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

• Oppose. Not brilliant prose.
  • "In particular, the eastern region language known as Abahatta (with considerable overlap with Purvi and Magadhi Apabhrangsha), began to emerge by the seventh century CE." I don't understand what the "In particular" is doing here. I don't know what is overlapping with what.
  • "Chinese traveler Hiuen Tsang noted that the same language was spoken in most of Eastern India." Which language?
  • "Bengali as a separate linguistic identity may have emerged around 1000 CE," What is "a separate linguistic identity"?
  • "three (sometimes four)" Only three periods are listed; if it is sometimes four I am curious what the fourth is.
  • The list of periods uses too many colons.
  • "Nathaniel Brassey Halhed, a British grammarian, was the first to write a Bengali grammar using Bengali texts and script for illustration: A Grammar of the Bengal Language (1778)." Was this the first Bengali grammar, period, or the first to use Bengali texts and script for illustration? Also the colon would be better as a comma.

This article is already better than the average featured article, but I think you (and the rest of Wikipedia) can do better. --Ideogram 15:39, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

• Support - The section on Chaltibasa and Sadhubasa needs some work, I didnt really feel the flow. I'll find the problem sentences, and try to work those out. Otherwise its well-referenced and interesting.Bakaman _Bakatalk 21:55, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

• Comment. The phonology section is very dominant and extensive for a general article on Bengali. I recommend that it be summarized and that Bengali phonology be established. / Peter ^Isotalo 00:24, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

• Object Comprehensive, but extensive citation problems.
  • I'm pretty sure (someone correct me if I'm wrong) that you're generally advised not to cite other Wikipedia articles as sources (as you do with the second citation).
  • The first para of the History needs more citations.
  • three (sometimes four) periods What's the fourth?
  • Wikilink first instance of: proto-pronouns, verb inflections, elision, Pali
  • In a separate event, in May, 1961, 11 people were killed in police firing in Silchar in southern Assam protesting legislation making the use of Assamese language compulsory in the state. Awkward sentence. Try: "In a separate event in May 1961, police in Silchar, India killed eleven people who were protesting legislation that mandated the use of the Assamese language."
  • First para of Classification needs citations.
  • Bengali is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. This sentence is probably important enough to merit its placement in the lead.
  • Last para of Spoken and literary variants needs citations.
  • Last para of Dialects needs citations.
  • Dialectical differences in Bengali manifest themselves in three forms: standardized dialect vs. regional dialect, literary language vs. colloquial language and lexical (vocabulary) variations. This seems like a topic sentence of this section, but I see no discussion of literary vs. colloquial and lexical variations.
  • Writing system needs many more citations.
  • Romanization section needs many more citations.
  • Intonation section needs more citations. In fact, from here on, the article is generally sparse in citations, with whole paragraphs going without.
  • The graph in vocabulary needs a caption. Gzkn 01:18, 20 November 2006 (UTC)