[newsml-2] japanese scripts (was: person/name given and family elements)

[Doug Ewell]

Martin Duerst <duerst at it dot aoyama dot ac dot jp> wrote:

> Regarding a script subtag for the Japanese Kanji/Kana mixture, my
> personal oppinion would be to just leave the script subtag out. If a
> tag "Japn" existed, the only real purpose for it would be to change
>
> %%
> Type: language
> Subtag: ja
> Description: Japanese
> Added: 2005-10-16
> %%
>
> to
>
> %%
> Type: language
> Subtag: ja
> Description: Japanese
> Added: 2005-10-16
> Suppress-Script: Japn
> %%

Note that the tag originally present in draft copies of ISO 15924, and 
subsequently removed, and now suggested to be re-added, is Jpan, not 
Japn.

> So there is really absolutely no point to add such a tag to actual
> data, and only a limited benefit (formal completeness and consistency
> of the registry) for introducing such a script tag (at least from the
> point of view of RFC3066bis; there may be other needs for "Japn").

Formal completeness and consistency are good things.  I support this 
request.  Japanese is the only language I can think of that is 
customarily written in a writing system that cannot be represented by a 
single ISO 15924 code element, and consequently cannot be represented in 
an RFC 3066bis tag.  It's already been established that situations may 
arise where it is desirable to explicitly include the Suppress-Script in 
a tag.

> Given that, we could actually add "Japn" as a script all by our own,
> just for that specific purpose (or at least we could propose to do so
> in case another attempt to add it to the ISO script standard fails).

No, we can NOT do that.  Please read Section 3.5 of draft-registry 
again: "Only subtags of type 'language' and 'variant' will be considered 
for independent registration of new subtags."  I fear this point has 
been lost on a great many people.

--
Doug Ewell
Fullerton, California, USA
http://users.adelphia.net/~dewell/