LANGUAGE SUBTAG REGISTRATION FORM (R5r3): pinyin

[Randy Presuhn]

Hi -

> From: "Michael Everson" <everson at evertype.com>
> To: <ietf-languages at iana.org>
> Sent: Monday, October 06, 2008 10:35 AM
> Subject: LANGUAGE SUBTAG REGISTRATION FORM (R5r3): pinyin
...
> Prefix: zh-Latn
> Prefix: bo-Latn
>
> 4. Intended meaning of the subtag:
>
> To be used to indicate transcriptions in a system of romanization
> approved by the Chinese government.  The first such transcription, for
> Mandarin Chinese, was adopted by the Chinese government in 1958 and by
> the International Organization for Standardization in 1982. The
> salient features of Pinyin as applied to Mandarin Chinese are the use
> of <b p d t g k j q x zh ch sh> for [p pʰ t tʰ k kʰ tɕ tɕʰ ɕ
> ʈʂ ʈʂʰ ʂ] respectively.

Are these "salient features" true of all the other pinyins for which
this subtag will eventually be used?  If yes, then there's no need for
"as applied to Mandarin Chinese".  If not, then this is not helpful
information.

> The subtag zh-Latn-pinyin refers to the
> Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin Chinese. The subtag bo-Latn-
> pinyin refers to the Tibetan Pinyin romanization of Tibetan.

Any particular dialect of Tibetan?  Wikipedia makes it sound like
there are substantial differences.  I don't know any native Tibetan
speakers, so I can't confirm or deny.

> 5. Reference to published description of the language (book or article):

Is the intent that references will be provided for languages other
than Mandarin and Tibetan?  If not, is "approved by the Chinese government"
the factor used to decide which of competing romanizations should be
designated "pinyin"?  (Then perhaps "prcroman" might make sense.  :-)

Randy