Principles of Operation (was: LANGUAGE SUBTAG REQUEST FORM, Erzgebirgisch)

[Doug Ewell]

Frank Ellermann <nobody at xyzzy dot claranet dot de> wrote:

>> Let's decide whether the correct prefix language is "sxu"
>
> Well, it's not because "sxu" doesn't exist *now*.

Upper Saxon, the language, exists.  "sxu", the subtag,  doesn't yet 
exist, but will in a matter of months.  (*Please* let it happen sometime 
within 2008.)

As Karen noticed, and I did not, Ethnologue does list Erzegebirgisch as 
a dialect of both German (in the Czech Republic) and Upper Saxon.  I'm 
curious whether this is an editorial error, or if the SIL staff is 
really saying that Erzegebirgisch is a dialect of two different 
languages, or even if there are two different dialects called 
Erzegebirgisch.  I didn't think there could be such a thing as a single 
dialect of two "parent" languages.

> Even if it exists I think that "erzgeb" is a dialect of "de".

I'd much rather wait for the Ethnologue people to weigh in on this than 
go off making our own judgments.

>> let's wait until 4646bis is approved
>
> If the proponent withdraws his request for now that is his decision.

The Reviewer could always deny the proposal with specific instructions 
to come back and submit it again after 4646bis is published.

> Predicting when or if (!) 4646bis is approved is shaky, unless the 
> proponent prefers a prefix "sxu" instead of "de".

s/unless/if/  ?

--
Doug Ewell  *  Fullerton, California, USA  *  RFC 4645  *  UTN #14
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