Category talk:Lists of writers by language
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Lists of language authors
[edit]I propose that hyphens be adopted in constructions such as "List of Polish-language authors," which has been moved, for "consistency with other language lists," to "List of Polish language authors." "Polish-language," to use this example, is an adjective, a single descriptor, modifying "authors" and therefore should be hyphenated.
The present, non-hyphenated versions, e.g. "List of Polish language authors," leave readers hanging, waiting for parallel lists, e.g., "List of Polish mathematics authors," "List of Polish art authors," "List of Polish economics authors"...
True, there has been a tendency over recent decades, in English-language writing, to minimize the use of punctuation. Such esthetic considerations, however, should not be permitted to vitiate textual clarity. Punctuation, in English, replaces grammatical structures that this language has seen fit to shed over recent centuries. Nihil novi (talk) 02:09, 5 August 2008 (UTC)