Changing definition of German (was: Re: ISO 639-3 releases list of 2009 changes)

[Leif Halvard Silli]

John Cowan, Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:35:09 -0500:
> Leif Halvard Silli scripsit:
> 
>> It looks as if macrolanguages status is most often awarded to a code 
>> which cover two or more "language instances" that aren't divided by a 
>> border. 
> 
> By my count, there are 30 macrolanguages whose encompassed languages
> are all spoken principally in the same country, and 29 that don't have
> that property.  The 14 languages encompassed by 'zh', for example, are
> all spoken principally in China, whereas the 30 languages encompassed by
> 'ar' are spread over 18 countries.  So no such conclusions can be drawn.

Well, I think the border point is not completely off. A macrolanguage 
encompasses languages that operate under the same flag, so to speak. 
;-) And then you can interpret 'flag' in different state and non-state 
ways. :-D

I don't know how you counted 'sh' - but not long ago it at least fitted 
to this description. 
-- 
leif halvard silli