<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"times new roman",serif">I disagree. If it is withdrawn, and replaced by something else, it still orphans the codes in the language registry. And if it is replaced by something that doesn't use the same namespace (a statement like "why use alpha-3 codes which look identical to language codes?" is worrisome) it will cause no end of confusion in implementations.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"times new roman",serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"times new roman",serif">> And it is nowhere near complete enough to be useful.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"times new roman",serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"times new roman",serif">It should be fleshed out, in that case. Clearly linguists may also need a more elaborate structure, with more information that would be of little interest to lay people. And for that it could be useful to have an <i>additional</i> part.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"times new roman",serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"times new roman",serif">But there would be value value to providing standard 3-letter code to complete the common groupings like those under "Language Family" on the right page of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swahili_language">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swahili_language</a>, even when the categorization changes over time.</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><font face="'times new roman', serif"><div style="background-color:transparent;margin-top:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-right:0px"><div></div></div><div style="background-color:transparent;margin-top:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-right:0px">Mark</div></font><div><div><font face="'times new roman', serif"><i><span style="font-style:normal"><i></i></span><i></i></i></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Jul 16, 2016 at 6:23 AM, John Cowan <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:cowan@mercury.ccil.org" target="_blank">cowan@mercury.ccil.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Peter Constable scripsit:<br>
<br>
> So, if nothing else, I think 639-5 should not be withdrawn. Because my<br>
> main concern is BCP 47, I would have no qualms if 639-5 and its code<br>
> table remain unchanged.<br>
<br>
I disagree.<br>
<br>
If it were withdrawn, our Registry would remain unchanged. Our only<br>
obligation with respect to ISO 639-5 is to add any subtags that the RA<br>
(the Library of Congress) should decide to add. If the RA ceases to<br>
exist, we don't have to do anything. Certainly we wouldn't remove any<br>
of the codes from the former standard.<br>
<br>
So I think we should be neutral on the subject, rather than insisting<br>
that ISO 639-5 must be kept because *in the past* we made a copy of its<br>
code elements.<br>
<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
--<br>
John Cowan <a href="http://www.ccil.org/~cowan" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.ccil.org/~cowan</a> <a href="mailto:cowan@ccil.org">cowan@ccil.org</a><br>
Let's face it: software is crap. Feature-laden and bloated, written under<br>
tremendous time-pressure, often by incapable coders, using dangerous<br>
languages and inadequate tools, trying to connect to heaps of broken or<br>
obsolete protocols, implemented equally insufficiently, running on<br>
unpredictable hardware -- we are all more than used to brokenness.<br>
--Felix Winkelmann<br>
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