Mandarin Chinese, Simplified Script

Debbie Garside debbie at ictmarketing.co.uk
Thu Jun 16 09:23:45 CEST 2005


You miss the point Peter... 639 is about language identifiers 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ietf-languages-bounces at alvestrand.no [mailto:ietf-languages-
> bounces at alvestrand.no] On Behalf Of Peter Constable
> Sent: 16 June 2005 01:12
> To: ietf-languages at iana.org
> Subject: RE: Mandarin Chinese, Simplified Script
> 
> > From: Debbie Garside [mailto:debbie at ictmarketing.co.uk]
> 
> 
> > ISO 639-3 was devised to provide a comprehensive set of identifiers
> for all
> > languages for use in a wide range of applications, including
> linguistics
> > (already covered by 639-1), lexicography (already covered by 639-2
> > terminology, which was also the original purpose of 639-1) and
> > internationalisation of information systems. It attempts to represent
> all
> > known languages.
> >
> > I do not think it is a good idea to add a special purpose ID for
> something
> > that is not a language... it MAY open the flood gates for others...
> turning
> > 639 into something other than a list of comprehensive identifiers for
> > languages.
> 
> And applications that require codes for certain commonly-encountered
> special-case scenarios are supposed to do what? Use a private-use code
> and hope there will be no conflicts with users? Use an unassigned code
> and hope there will be no conflict with future assignments?
> 
> Judicious decisions on the part of the JAC to add IDs for whatever
> purpose do not open any flood gates to anything. They are not
> relinquishing control to some rabble; they simply make a decision under
> full control and carry on maintaining the code set with full control.
> 
> The number of special-case IDs I would consider appropriate for ISO 639
> are very few. Something to indicate "content is not of a linguistic
> nature" is one of them.
> 
> 
> 
> Peter Constable
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