Appeal to ISO 639 RA in support of Elfdalian

[Shawn Steele]

> Because other platforms like CLDR and XKB will not even let me add a private subtag, the lang attribute in html will be invalid, and other people working on Elfdalian can potentially also start making other private subtags, and it will be even more difficult to migrate to a ISO639-code later.

The lang attribute in XML should not be invalid, I don’t have the words in front of me, but XML tags should follow the BCP standards, which allow for private use tags.  It won’t be any more difficult than migrating from a hacked subtag would be.

If there was complete data for the language I think that CLDR should consider it if someone requested it, regardless of the availability of a language tag, particularly if the language tag assignment was mired in some political mess.  Sure, that wouldn’t be “great”, however it wouldn’t necessarily be bad.  Data could also be provided to users that wanted it outside of CLDR if need be.

> But if you guys in Microsoft don't want to support the BCP47 language subtag than there is a very easy solution for you; Don't support it and wait until there is a 3-letter ISO code assigned for it (a potential eternity).

First of all, Windows 10 already supports the scenario of a private Elfdalian tag.  You may create a private use language tag and then use the Microsoft Locale Builder to create a custom locale for it if that is your whim.  You can then use that to create localized resources for your applications in Visual Studio.  Some of that can happen even on earlier versions.

That said, this isn’t a well-tested scenario (being uncommon), however if you encounter problems getting custom locales please feel free to file a bug.

My “job” is to provide platform support for globalization.  Regardless of whether I, or Microsoft, are interested in providing localized resources for any particular language, I try to ensure that applications that do want to provide such support can.  Even for Elfalian.

As Doug pointed out, I think everyone on this list is trying to make sure that the system works for everyone, including Elfdalian users.

-Shawn

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