Re: etc/HELLO: On Chinese and Cantonese

[Karl Fogel]

On 22 Oct 2020, Eric Abrahamsen wrote:
>My 2c: the simplified/traditional script distinction is probably the
>right way to go. As Stefan says, the point of the file is showing off
>scripts, but more than that, the script distinction is actually
>relatively apolitical. It's when you get into Mandarin vs Cantonese and
>trying to establish a taxonomical relationship between dialects/variants
>that politics comes into it. The simplified/traditional split is pretty
>uncontroversial.

+1 to making this be just about the simplified/traditional script distinction.  

The script distinction is pretty orthogonal to the language [1] distinction 
here.  And Cantonese and Mandarin are just two of *many* Chinese languages: if 
the HELLO file were to start down that road, it would encounter many things 
that it would do better to avoid :-).

Best regards,
-Karl

[1] Or "dialects" if you prefer.  אַ שפּראַך איז אַ דיאַלעקט מיט אַן אַרמײ און 
אַ פֿלאָט.  "A language is a dialect with an army and a navy."