User:Ashleyhpace/sandbox

ARTICLE EVALUATION

Everything in the article is relevant to the specified topic. Some information, however, might distract a reader from the bigger picture. In the "United Arab Emirates and Qatar" section, the terms "observer state" and "associate state" are used. This information is necessary to show the UAE's and Qatar's relationship to French but is not well explained and interrupts the article. Another moment of distraction happens in "Vocabulary" when examples are given for French's use of gallicised Latin roots. I think the original Latin would help the reader to better understand the difference in the French's gallicised roots and English's close relationship with the original roots. Also in "Vocabulary," the paragraph addressing the foreign origin of French words poses a problem. While it does seem to relevant I don't believe every detail is necessary. Perhaps the data involving the less common languages should be presented in a pie chart.

I believe the article stays neutral throughout. Most statements are numerical and factual.

The article stays balanced while presenting facts about the language. For example, in the section titled "Lebanon," there is a sentence that reads "English is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value." This is a moment where an author could have easily cast his/her own opinion about French by stating that French is a "prettier" or "softer" language than English. Rather, the author chose to present a fact about the language's perception and use in Lebanon. There is not one overarching opinion or viewpoint to the article.

I checked citations 1, 10, 21, 32, 43, 54, 65, and 76.

Citation 1: Link works and information is correctly presented in article.

Citation 10: Link works and information seems to be correctly presented in the article but the original source is in French. Reliability of the source might need to be double checked.

Citation 21: Link works and information corresponds to that used in the article.

Citation 32: Link works and information in the article is correct. Uses the same website as that in Citation 10.

Citation 43: Link works. Direct quote is used in the article which can be clearly seen at the cited source.

Citation 54: Link works. Another direct quote that can be found at the cited source.

Citation 65: Link works and leads to a book. Cannot access the book to see if the information given in the article is correct. If a reader did have access to the book a page number in the citation would better aid him/her in finding the cited information.

Citation 76: Link does not work and the original source is in French. Link directs to a page that cannot be found: "Page non trouvée." Citation includes exact paragraph used for the information in the article.

Facts in the article are cited to sources but some of the sources are not perfectly reliable. For example, many of the sources are newspapers or news sites that are referencing another source of information. See Citation 12. I thought most news sources were considered bias but the articles cited don't seem to be weighted too much in one opinion. Even still, perhaps ideas from news sources shouldn't be used unless explicitly stated in the article (like the mention of Bloomberg Businessweek at the end of the French Language introduction). The cited sources also include websites and books.

Some of the information used in the article is a few years old but I do not believe these facts are old enough to be considered "out of date." For example, Citation 2 uses information from 2014. However, the article notes the 2006 Canadian Census but there was Census just last year in 2016. The article also cites data from the 2000 US Census but there was a Census in 2010. In these instances, the cited information is out of date and needs to be reexamined.

A majority of the Talk page for French Language deals with modifications made to external links. However, there are a few users who have brought up some very important issues. For example, one user pointed out the need for consistency in sources and the idea that two different sources should not be used to explain the same type of data for two different languages if all the necessary data is available on one source. Another user has noted that Brexit surely will have a big impact of figures regarding French speakers in the EU. No one is commenting on ways to change the representation of the language used in the article.

The article is rated as a "level-3 vital article" and "C-Class" . The article is part of 17 WikiProjects, many of which are in French speaking countries.

In terms of information, Wikipedia discusses many of the same phonological elements we discussed in class. Because the article is focused on one language it provides more of a historical background than we discuss in class. Also, it is interesting the different platforms between Wikipedia and our class. Our class addresses students that want to learn about linguistics and provides an introduction while Wikipedia is trying to provide access to every detail about the French language to anyone that wants to know.

The Grammar section of French Language is lacking. It is more of an overview than a true explanation of French grammar. The section briefly touches on nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and verbs. I think each of these should be their own section under the Grammar heading. Syntax is also an important issue of language that needs to be discussed.

FIND YOUR SOURCES

I think I can add information to any of the ideas that need to be further developed in the Grammar section. The Writing System section right before gives a brief description for major aspects of French Orthography but the Grammar section gives no such overviews. I think the grammar section needs to give a better introduction into the topic rather than just stating it exists and there are a few important groups within French grammar. I plan to give more information about nouns, verbs, and syntax.

Bibliography:

Magill, Edward Hicks. A French Grammar ... To Which Is Added a French, English, and Latin Vocabulary, Containing the Most Common Words in French Which Are Derived from Latin. Boston: Crosby & Ainsworth, 1867. Print.

E., Coffman Crocker Mary. Schaum's Outline of French Grammar. New York: McGraw-Hill Contemporary Learning, 2014. Print.

Lahousse, Karen and Béatrice Lamiroy. "Word order in French, Spanish and Italian:A grammaticalization account" , 46.2 (2012): 387-416. Retrieved 6 Jul. 2017, from doi:10.1515/flin.2012.014

Dekkers, Joost. "French Word Order: A Conspiracy Theory." Linguistics in the Netherlands 1997 Linguistics in the Netherlands Linguistics in the Netherlands. 14 (1997): 49-60. Retrieved 6 Jul. 2017, from doi:10.1075/avt.14.07dek

DRAFT YOUR ARTICLE + EXPAND YOUR DRAFT

Edits:

A country's status as an "observer state" in the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie gives the country the right to send representatives to organization meetings and make formal requests to the organization but they do not have voting rights within the OIF. A country's status as an "associate state" also does not give a country voting abilities but associate states can discuss and review organization matters. This information may need to be reinforced with a more reliable source. Cannot seem to find this information on the OIF website, only on news sites.

Root Languages for Words of Foreign Origin

  English (25.095%)

  Italian (16.833%)

  Germanic Languages (13.095%)

  Gallo-Romance Languages (11.452%)

  Arabic (5.119%)

  German (3.905%)

  Celtic Languages (3.810%)

  Spanish (3.810%)

  Dutch (3.643%)

  Persian and Sanskrit (2.667%)

  Native American Languages (2.405%)

  Asian Languages (2.119%)

  Afro-Asian Languages (1.333%)

  Slavic and Baltic Languages (1.310%)

  Basque (0.238%)

  Other Languages (3.429%)

Include the pie chart that shows the root languages for foreign words in French. Less distracting to the reader as a visual rather than a paragraph. Need to work on color scheme so that each category is a clear piece. Maybe continue to brainstorm possible titles for pie chart?(7/11/17)-->Colors on pie chart have been changed, still need ideas for better title.(7/13/17)

"Grammar" section copied from French language. Sentences in boldface are sentences I plan to add to the article while italicized sentences are ideas and notes for further development to the article.

GRAMMAR

French is a moderately inflected language. Nouns and most pronouns are inflected for number (singular or plural, though in most nouns the plural is pronounced the same as the singular even if spelt differently); adjectives, for number and gender (masculine or feminine) of their nouns; personal pronouns and a few other pronouns, for person, number, gender, and case; and verbs, for tense, aspect, mood, and the person and number of their subjects. Case is primarily marked using word order and prepositions, while certain verb features are marked using auxiliary verbs.

French grammar shares several notable features with most other Romance languages, including

• the loss of Latin declensions
• only two grammatical genders
• the development of grammatical articles from Latin demonstratives
• new tenses formed from auxiliaries

Nouns

Every French noun is either masculine or feminine. Because French nouns are not inflected for gender, a word's form cannot specify its gender. For nouns regarding humans, their grammatical genders often correspond to that which they refer to. For example, a male teacher is a "enseignant" while a female teacher is a "enseignante." However, plural nouns that refer to a group that includes both masculine and feminine entities are always masculine. So a group of two male teachers would be "enseignants." A group of two male teachers and two female teachers would still be "enseignants." In many situations, and in the case of "enseignant," both the singular and plural form of a noun are pronounced identically. The article used for singular nouns is different from that used for plural nouns and the article provides a distinguishing factor between the two in speech. For example, the singular "le enseignant" or "la enseignant" can be distinguished from the plural "les enseignants" because "le," "la," and "les" are all pronounced differently. There are some situations where both the feminine and masculine form of a noun are the same and the article provides the only difference. For example, "le dentiste" refers to a male dentist while "la dentiste" refers to a female dentist.

Perhaps I need to expand even more on nouns: further rules of gender and number, different ways an article or determiner can give context to a noun's number or gender (ex. pronouns and adjectives), and maybe clarify that not all professions are like the "le/la dentiste" example given in the text (most professions have different words for males and females). (7/13/17) Changed the paragraph slightly. Now, I use the word "enseignant/e" meaning "teacher" to show that many nouns that refer to humans change genders according to that which it is referring. I used "enseignant/e" because it is a profession and will show to the reader that not all professions are like the "dentiste" example. Restructured the paragraph for a better progression for the reader. Discuss gender, then gender in plurals, then articles in plurals, and then articles in homophonic words with different genders. Pleased with this section but do not want to move to Wikipedia until I am completely comfortable with the Verbs section. (7/20/2017)

Verbs

The French language consists of both finite and non-finite moods. The finite moods include the indicative mood (indicatif), the subjunctive mood (subjonctif), the imperative mood, (imperatif), and the conditional mood (conditional). The non-finite moods include the infinitive mood (infinitif), the present participle (participe présent), and the past participle (participe passé).

Finite Moods

Indicative (Indicatif)

The indicative mood makes use of eight different tense-aspect forms. These include the present (présent), the simple past (passé composé and passé simple), the past imperfective (imparfait), the pluperfect (plus-que-parfait), the simple future (futur simple), the future perfect (futur antérieur), and the past perfect (passé antérieur). Some forms are less commonly used today. In today's spoken French, the passé composé is used while the passé simple is reserved for formal situations or for literary purposes. Similarly, the plus-que-parfait is used for speaking rather than the older passé antérieur seen in literary works.

Within the indicative mood, the passé composé, plus-que-parfait, futur antérieur, and passé antérieur all use auxiliary verbs in their forms.

Indicatif
	Présent		Imparfait		Passé Composé		Passé Simple
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st Person	j'aime	nous aimons	j'aimais	nous aimions	j'ai aimé	nous avons aimé	j'aimai	nous aimâmes
2nd Person	tu aimes	vous aimez	tu aimais	vous aimiez	tu as aimé	vous avez aimé	tu aimas	vous aimâtes
3rd Person	il/elle aime	ils/elles aiment	il/elle aimait	ile/elles aimaient	il/elle a aimé	ils/elles ont aimé	il/elle aima	ils/ellesaimèrent
	Futur Simple		Futur Antérieur		Plus-Que-Parfait		Passé Antérieur
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st Person	j'aimerai	nous aimerons	j'aurai aimé	nous aurons aimé	j'avais aimé	nous avions aimé	j'eus aimé	nous eûmes aimé
2nd Person	tu aimeras	vous aimerez	tu auras aimé	vous aurez aimé	tu avais aimé	vous aviez aimé	tu eus aimé	vous eûtes aimé
3rd Person	il/elle aimera	ils/elles aimeront	il/elle aura aimé	ils/elles auront aimé	il/elle avais aimé	ils/elles avaient aimé	il/elle eut aimé	ils/elles eurent aimé

Subjunctive (Subjonctif)

The subjunctive mood only includes four of the tense-aspect forms found in the indicative: present (présent), simple past (passé composé), past imperfective (imparfait), and pluperfect (plus-que-parfait).

Within the subjunctive mood, the passé composé and plus-que-parfait use auxiliary verbs in their forms.

Subjonctif
	Présent		Imparfait		Passé Composé		Plus-Que-Parfait
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st Person	j'aime	nous aimions	j'aimasse	nous aimassions	j'aie aimé	nous ayons aimé	j'eusse aimé	nous eussions aimé
2nd Person	tu aimes	vous aimiez	tu aimasses	vous aimassiez	tu aies aimé	vous ayez aimé	tu eusses aimé	vous eussiez aimé
3rd Person	il/elle aime	ils/elles aiment	il/elle aimât	ils/elles aimassent	il/elle ait aimé	ils/elles aient aimé	il/elle eût aimé	ils/elles eussent aimé

Imperative (Imperatif)

The imperative is used in the present tense (with the exception of a few instances where it is used in the perfect tense). The imperative is used to give commands to you (tu), we/us (nous), and plural you (vous).

Imperatif
	Présent
	Singular
1st Person	tu aime
2nd Person	nous aimons
3rd Person	vous aimez

Conditional (Conditionnel)

The conditional's status as a mood in French can be argued depending on its use and context. The conditional makes use of the present (présent) and the past (passé).

The passé uses auxiliary verbs in its forms.

Conditionnel
	Présent		Passé
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st Person	j'aimerais	nous aimerions	j'aurais aimé	nous aurions aimé
2nd Person	tu aimerais	vous aimeriez	tu aurais aimé	vous auriez aimé
3rd Person	il/elle aimerait	ils/elles aimeraient	il/elle aurait aimé	ils/elles auraient aimé

Non-Finite Moods

Infinitive (Infinitif)

The infinitive can be used in both the present and the perfect tense but has only one form.

Infinitif
aimer

Present Participle (Participe Présent)

The present participle uses the present but can also use the perfect tense.

Participe Présent
aimant

Past Participle (Participe Passé)

The past participle is found in the past.

Participe Passé
aimé

Voice

French uses both the active voice and the passive voice. The active voice is unmarked while the passive voice is formed by using a form of verb "être," or "to be," and the past participle.

Example of the active voice:

• "Il aime le chien." He loves the dog.
• "Sally a conduit la voiture." Sally drove the car.

Example of the passive voice:

• "Le chien est amié par lui." The dog is loved by him.
• "La voiture était conduite par Sally." The car was driven by Sally.

Need to continue to expand; talk about the various tense aspect forms used in each mood, discuss active and passive voice, mention the issue of the conditional in French (tense or mood?), and possibly show a verb fully conjugated. Also include information about forms that use auxiliary verbs and the difference between aller and etre. (7/11/17)--> still need to discuss active and passive voice, I chose to mention the issue of the conditional but have decided to leave it aside, too in depth for this article. Today, I plan to post an external link to the article that will direct users to verbix.com where they can see a fully conjugated French verb. Have listed which forms use auxiliary verbs but still need to discuss the significance of alter vs. ere (or is that too specific for this article?). (7/13/17) Changes made to the "Indicative (Indicatif)" section. Gives a quick overview of how similar forms (simple pasts and pluperfect-past perfect) are used. I think it is important to include that no one really speaks certain forms. Still trying to decide how much information is needed in each section before moving this to Wikipedia page...Created tables for conjugation of each type of verb but still need to refine these tables. Do I want to include the pronouns used for each form? Need to decide the best way to illustrate the translations of each form and how to include these in the table without being messy or distracting. Do I want to include the translations involved in the rare cases of past infinitive and past present participle? (7/20/2017)-->I have decided to include the pronouns used for each form but not the translations. Translations are too in-depth for an overview article. Links have been given for each mood and tense-aspect type. Brief discussion about active and passive voice and examples provided. (7/23/2017)

Syntax

French declarative word order is subject–verb–object (SVO) although a pronoun object precedes the verb. Some types of sentences allow for or require different word orders, in particular inversion of the subject and verb like "Parlez-vous français?" when asking a question rather than just "Vous parlez français ?" Both questions mean the same thing; however, a rising inflection is always used on both of them whenever asking a question, especially on the second one. Specifically, the first translates into "Do you speak French?" while the second one is literally just "You speak French?" To avoid inversion while asking a question, 'Est-ce que' (literally 'is it that') may be placed in the beginning of the sentence. "Parlez-vous français ?" may become "Est-ce que vous parlez français ?"

French also uses verb–object–subject (VOS) and object–subject–verb (OSV) word order. OSV word order is not used often and VOS is reserved for formal writings.

Need to consider if the changes in the possible word orders that have happened over time (the evolution of Old French to Modern French) are relevant to this article. These changes provide reasoning behind why SVO, VOS, and OSV are the last orders available but may be too in depth for this article. (7/11/17)-->Consider whether or not this section should be categorized into declarative sentences and questioning sentences (there are key differences). (7/13/17)

The following passage has been copied from the "Vocabulary" section of French Language:

The majority of French words derive from Vulgar Latin or were constructed from Latin or Greek roots. In many cases a single etymological root appears in French in a "popular" or native form, inherited from Vulgar Latin, and a learned form, borrowed later from Classical Latin. The following pairs consist of a native noun and a learned adjective:

• brother: frère / fraternel from Latin frater / fraternalis
• finger: doigt / digital from Latin digitus / digitalis
• faith: foi / fidèle from Latin fides / fidelis
• eye: œil / oculaire from Latin oculus / ocularis

However a historical tendency to gallicise Latin roots can be identified, whereas English conversely leans towards a more direct incorporation of the Latin:

• rayonnement / radiation / radiātiō
• éteindre / extinguish / exstinguere
• noyau / nucleus / nucleus
• surhomme / superman / super+homo (or vir) ***"superman" is actually from German***
• ensoleillement / insolation /insōlātio

There are also noun-noun and adjective-adjective pairs:

• thing/cause: chose / cause from Latin causa
• cold: froid / frigide from Latin frigidum

Original Latin is included in the "native noun and a learned adjective" and "noun-noun and adjective-adjective" groups. Found original latin for the examples given in the "historical tendency to gallicise" group.

Regarding outdated Census stats:

Language information regarding the Canadian census is not available until August 2, 2017.

Many of the references to US Census statistic's still seem to be the most current data sets. Estimates available but I think the older, concrete data is better.

PEER REVIEW

Posted to Jem8953's sandbox for my peer review on Irish language:

Jem8953,

I also noticed the repetition of information in the article. I found it very distracting and it interrupted the flow of the article. I do believe the information is relevant but needs to be included as such. For example, in the “Current Status: Republic of Ireland” section of [[Irish Language]] the author included the following: “In 1938, the founder of Conradh na Gaeilge (Gaelic League), Douglas Hyde, was inaugurated as the first President of Ireland. The record of his delivering his inaugural Declaration of Office in Roscommon Irish remains almost the only surviving remnant of anyone speaking in that dialect.” Roscommon is not discussed until later in the article in the “Dialects” section. Perhaps this would be a better place to inform the reader that Hyde’s inauguration speech is possibly the last record of Roscommon in use. As you said in your article evaluation, most of the information is in fact relevant. I think some facts may just need to be reorganized to convey this relevance.

Like any article, this article has a few grammatical errors throughout that cause distraction to the reader but these are easy fixes. A harder fix might be the scattered moments of bias in the article. I agree with you that the discussion surrounding the Church’s impact on the Irish Language seems very biased against the Church. It seems to me that much of that paragraph is uncited and opinionated sentences. The “evidence” given to support these ideas, I don’t believe, is a neutral source. And the article does not specify who Tom Garvin is or what authority he has to make such claims. This might could be a place where new sources could be found to bring new sets of information (both in and not in favor of the Church) to improve the article. The viewpoint that the Catholic Church helped cause the decline of the Irish Language is greatly overrepresented in the article. Language such as, “Assessing the 

overlooked role of the Catholic church in the decline of Irish” does not sound encyclopedic. 

In terms of citations, I tested Citations 1, 21, 42, 53, 74, 95 to see if the links worked and if the information corresponded with that cited in the article:

Citation 1-Link works, the figures cited in the article can be found in the article. Personally, I cannot seem to find the locations that are given in the article in the cited source but I think it can be understood that the “census” that is referred to in the source is the Irish census.

Citation 21-Link works, source is not in English so I cannot verify that the information corresponds to that in the article.

Citation 42-Link works but once on the website I cannot download the full source that is cited in the article. Cannot verify that the information in the source is that used in the article.

Citation 53-Link works and the article correctly uses information from the source.

Citation 74-This citation does not have a link but rather gives page numbers to a book/ article/journal.

Citation 95-Link works and the information in the source corresponds with the information and reference given in the article.

As mentioned above, the Tom Garvin quote seems biased and this bias is not noted. Most of the other sources are reliable sources. Sources include censuses, books, journal articles, and seemingly neutral news sites.There are also many citations without links, however, and it is hard to tell what kind of sources these truly are. The sources you included in your biography sound interesting and I’m sure they have beneficial information for the article. The data given in the Harvard Business Review article is extremely relevant for a discussion about the significance and impact of languages.

Like you, I also thought the information given in the article was up to date. The most current and available census information is used and many of the other sources are from 2000 or later. I think there are places in the article that could be further developed, as always, but I especially liked your idea about WHY learning English was more useful for women. This topic might be hard to include without falling into a “research” essay but is relevant. Currently, the article merely touches on the idea. Exploring why Irish proved to be less usable than English for women might open some interesting doors as to why the language became unpopular amongst more and more people. At the same time you could also explore the benefits to supporting the language modern day. With the work that seems to be happening to revive the language you might even find some information to expand the “Use” and “Phonology” sections which are underdeveloped compared to the rest of the article. 

I look forward to seeing the final product!

Ashley PaceAshleyhpace (talk) 21:35, 16 July 2017 (UTC)

Posted to Rgima's sandbox for my peer review on Welsh language:

Rgima,

I agree that there is some unnecessary information in this article. For example, for an overview article, the given information about the Proposed Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 may not be necessary. For me, I understand the basics of the measure with the few sentences before and the few sentences after the detailed bulleted list. Perhaps this information is relevant but just needs to be rearranged. Would a visual or note outside of the body of the article be better? I would be interested to know what you think about this passage. The problem you address with the census information at the beginning of the article is very real. I also found the information distracting and tedious. Many other language articles have this information in the overview chart to the right of the article. Again, maybe this information just needs to be rearranged. 

With regards to the article you have in your sandbox, all of the given information seems relevant and gives a very decent history of the language. At moments, some information is lacking. For example, you could provide the “four different forms of Welsh” you discuss or further explain why with the poetry being “composed in the Hen Ogledd” it caused “further questions about the dating of the material and language in which it was originally composed.” The only thing I found distracting is the names given. Who are these people? Why do they have the authority to comment on the language?

Upon reading the article I thought it maintained a neutral stance throughout. You make a good point about the moments of speculation in the article. At first it makes the article sound like the author is making assumptions, or even showing bias towards the topic. As djiang1019 said, the cited information may in fact be unclear and/or inconclusive even though there is a lot of evidence for that specific idea. I see that the citation directs you to a very expensive book that I cannot seem to find free access to online. Finding Koch’s book at a library might help you to figure out whether the “probably” stems from the author or from the source. 

I see in your writing you address the “probably” issue found in the original article. How relevant to the language is it that Welsh may have also arrived in Britain during the Iron Age? I see this was omitted in your revision. Your article as a whole remains neutral throughout and impressively respects and portrays different viewpoints. 

I checked Citations 1, 12, 33, 54, 65, and 86 to see if the links worked and that the information in the article corresponds with that in the source:

Citation 1-The link redirects to a page that says, “Resource Not Available.” The note underneath says the page may just be “temporarily unavailable.” I tried the link twice with the same result but maybe the link will work at another time. Cannot verify that information in the article is that found in the source.

Citation 12-This citation does not have a link. Cites a book by D. Walter Thomas and Edward Hughes. Cannot verify that information in the article is that found in the source.

Citation 33-The link works and the information found in the source supports the information given in the article. Important to note that this source uses information from “articles in the Western Mail…and interviews heard on Radio Cymru.” Not truly a primary source.

Citation 54-This link gives a 404 error. Page not found, cannot verify that information in the article is that found in the source.

Citation 65-Link works and the information in the source supports that given in the article. 

Citation 86-Another unlinked citation for a book. ISBN number is given.

The citations in your article are not linked but the numbers correspond with those given in the Wikipedia article. The citation tool within the sandbox allows you to link your citations. Also needed in the actual article, the numbers alone will not connect to the existing citations. 

The sources used in the Welsh Language article seem to be reliable and unbiased sources. Looking over the list there are many references to books and news sites. Many of the facts used in the article come from recent censuses and the fact presented throughout the article are also up to date. 

I believe that the following are new sources you are using:

Wales and the Britons 350-1064, Charles-Edwards, TM

The Welsh Language: A History, Janet Davies.

“The Welsh Language” is a book already included in the article’s citations but is not linked and there is not an ISBN given. “Wales and the Britons, 350-1064” appears to be a very reliable history book. Both of your sources are neutral and unbiased. Like the sources already used in the article, these are up to date and still relevant sources.

Wishing you continued success with this project,

Ashley Pace Ashleyhpace (talk) 00:17, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

RESPONSE TO PEER REVIEW

Both Rgima and Catearmi left peer reviews for my article. I also reached out to Shalor (Wiki Ed) for advice on the article. Their comments can be paraphrased as follows:

Rgima

-article needs more references

-improve structure and organization of article

-improve grammar, spelling, writing style, jargon use

Catearmi

-improve grammar

-the sentence "a plurality of the world's..." under the Africa heading might need to be reworded

-improve Asia section, Southeast Asia is mentioned only briefly and no other part of Asia is mentioned and/or discussed

Shalor (Wiki Ed)

-common knowledge information I am working to include can be helpful to many readers

-use examples throughout similar to how examples are used in the Numerals section

-link to Wikipedia articles when possible for specific terms, ex. Pluperfect.

I also found feedback on the homepage of the wiki dashboard that suggested improving the style of the article, following the Manual of Style guidelines.

As I prepare my additions and edits to be published on Wikipedia over the next few days, I plan to make use of all of the advice I was given. Addressing Rgima's request for more sources I think I will add more external links to the article. From what I can tell, the information in the article that needs to be cited has already been cited. There is, however, quite a bit of "common" or "dictionary" knowledge in the article. For example, much of the information in the Phonology and Vocabulary sections is not cited but I don't believe this information needs to be cited. Anyone who speaks the language would surely know these rules and words. In the same way, I have not cited some of the "common knowledge" information I have included in my Grammar draft. This information is not the product of someone else's mind or work. Rather, this information is the basic building blocks that create the language. Thousands of different textbooks or dictionaries could be cited for this unoriginal information. I think the External Links section is a better place to but reference items for this type of information. I have found, however, that some of the current citations in the article need to be updated. For example, as mentioned in my Article Evaluation, Citation 76 is not a working link. I will continue to search for the original sources for faulty citations such as this. I found Rgima's comment about improving the article's organization and structure very interesting because it is something I didn't notice. Upon further investigation, I can see that the article doesn't seem to have many breaks. Most of the sections are simply large blocks of text. I am going to add new subheadings so readers can more easily find the exact type of information they are looking for. I have already done this in my draft for the Grammar edits but now I see that sections such as North and South America, Phonology, and Vocabulary need work. I will continue to scan the article for style and grammar mistakes.

Continuing to address grammar mistakes was also suggested by Catearmi. I also agree with her that, "A plurality of the world's French-speaking population lives in Africa" needs to be reworded. My impression about the existence of French in Asia was simply that French was only used in Southeast Asia. I will need to further research this as Catearmi makes a good point. The article never explicitly states that Southeast Asia is the only area that uses French, though I believe it is. It would be better for the reader if this idea was made clear.

Shalor's feedback reassured me that added some basic aspects of French grammar to the article was a good idea. I understand her idea that I use more examples. I know when I am reading about a topic I am unfamiliar with examples are always helpful. I think I will use my original idea of including one fully conjugated verb and I think I will also include how the different tense-aspect forms might be translated in English. I also appreciated her thought that I link terms such as "pluperfect" to their corresponding Wikipedia articles. I think this will make the article as a whole even easier to understand.

Regarding the Manual of Style, this is something I have now reviewed and seems to be in line with many of the other reviewer's comments. Grammar and article organization will continue to be improved.

I have linked terms to other Wikipedia articles and am now addressing the sentence "A plurality of the world's French-speaking population lives in Africa" in Africa section of French language. I think for many readers the work "multitude" is more familiar and more natural. The sentence should read, "A multitude of the world's French-speaking population lives in Africa."

BEGIN MOVING YOUR WORK TO WIKIPEDIA

Added to the Wikipedia page the Latin roots for the examples that followed the sentence, "However a historical tendency to gallicise Latin roots can be identified, whereas English conversely leans towards a more direct incorporation of the Latin:" and removed the "superman" example because that is of German origin, not Latin.

Changed "plurality" to "multitude" in the beginning sentence of the Africa section.

Noun section I drafted is ready to be moved but I do not want to move it until I am completely satisfied with the Verb section. Seems like it would be odd to just have a "Nouns" section without the "Verbs" section.

Moved the definitions of OIF associate state and OIF observe state to the Wikipedia article.

CONTINUE IMPROVING YOUR ARTICLE

Assignment link to 3-5 articles: In my addition to the French Grammar section, I have chosen to link tense, aspect, mood, and word order terms to their corresponding Wikipedia pages.

Link to French language from 2-3 articles: linked Varieties of French and France national football team to French language.

Added final touches to pie chart and moved it to French language article. Made sure the colors used in the pie chart coordinated with those used everywhere else in the article.

Changed "plurality" to "bulk" in the beginning of the Africa section.

Moved "Nouns" and "Verbs" section to the main article. I also added new headings and subheadings to better organize the "Grammar" section. Will continue to do this to the other sections as suggested by Rgima during the peer reviews.

New information for "Asia" section:

In 2015, Asia and Oceania made up 1% of the world's French speakers.

From 2010 to 2015, the number of people learning French in Asia and Oceania has increased by 5%.

The OIF reports (as of 2014) that there are 654,000 French speakers in Vietnam, 556,000 French speakers in Thailand, 423,000 French speakers in Cambodia, and 190,000 French speakers in Laos.

Thailand is currently suspended from the OIF.

Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia were all French colonies in Asia at one point so it might also be important to include information about Pondicherry. Pondicherry is a city in India that was a French settlement at one time. The OIF lists them on their website as a country that has French as either an official or co-official language.

FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS

I cannot seem to find any updated EU information about French speakers since Brexit. Perhaps the phrase "As of 2014" needs to be added to the sentence, "Spoken by 12% of the European Union's population, French is the fourth most widely spoken mother tongue in the EU after German, English and Italian; it is also the third-most widely known language of the Union after English and German (33% of the EU population report knowing how to speak English, 22% of Europeans understand German, 20% French)." The trend discussed here would still be the same even after Brexit: German, English, and Italian being more widely spoken than French.

The following passage has been copied from the "Asia" section of French language:

ASIA

Southeast Asia

Map of French Indochina

French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina, comprising modern-day Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent years. In colonial Vietnam, the elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as "Tây Bồi" (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. Since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the main foreign language of choice by English. French nevertheless maintains its colonial legacy by being spoken as a second language by the elderly and elite populations and is presently being revived in higher education and continues to be a diplomatic language in Vietnam. The OIF reports (as of 2014) that there are 654,000 French speakers in Vietnam, 190,000 French speakers in Laos, and 423,000 French speakers in Cambodia. All three countries are official members of the OIF.

The OIF also reports 556,000 French speakers in Thailand. Thailand is an observer state in the OIF but is currently suspended.

India

Areas of French Colonization

French India, or the Établissements français dans l'Inde, was a French colony that existed from 1668-1954 on areas found in modern India. This area is modern Puducherry. The official language of Puducherry is Tamil but its capital, Pondicherry, has three official languages: Tamil, English, and French. The OIF lists Pondicherry as a state or territory with French as an official or co-official language but India is not a member of the OIF.

All of my proposed edits are boldfaced and italicized.

I like both the map of French Indochina and the map of all French Colonization but I think I would like to "combine" the two. Plan to make a map showing French Indochina and French India in one. Want to use green so it is not confused with the maps in the other country/continent sections that are showing density of French speakers.

FINAL ARTICLE

Information regarding Southeast Asia and India has been moved to the main article site.

The following is copied from the "History" section of French Language, my edits can be found in italicized boldface:

French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French.

Old French

The beginnings of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the north part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc. Langue d'oïl grew into what is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of all possible word orders just as Latin did.

Middle French

Within Old French many dialects emerged but the Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th century-17th century). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically, the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law.

Modern French

During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations (lingua franca). It retained this role until approximately the middle of the 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War. Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was also written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language.

All of these proposed changes have now been added to the main article. Provides an overview of the three main stages of the French language and big events in each period. I have also added a map of French Colonization to the Geographic Distribution section right before the Asia section begins. I think this will give a visual to readers about how the language ended up where it did. I used the Wikipedia media tool for this image (7/27/2017).

FINISHED

I have completed all of the edits and additions I plan to make to this article.