ID for language-invariant strings
Doug Ewell
doug at ewellic.org
Tue Mar 18 16:02:11 CET 2008
Mark Davis <mark dot davis at icu dash project dot org> wrote:
> "und" means "undetermined". Not "cannot figure out what language this
> stuff is in", not "cannot be determined", just "undetermined". That is
> about as neutral as you can be.
Much has been made of the fact that ISO 639-3, unlike -1 and -2,
provides pointers to specific descriptions of what the code elements
mean. Here is the description of "special" code elements from the
official ISO 639-3 site (http://www.sil.org/iso639-3/scope.asp#S):
<quote>
Special situations
ISO 639-2 defines three code elements for other special situations. The
identifier [mul] (multiple languages) should be applied when many
languages are used and it is not practical to specify all the
appropriate language codes. The identifier [und] (undetermined) is
provided for those situations in which a language or languages must be
indicated but the language cannot be identified. The identifier [zxx]
(no linguistic content) may be applied in a situation in which a
language identifier is required by system definition, but the item being
described does not actually contain linguistic content.
</quote>
The relevant passage for our purposes is "the language cannot be
identified."
--
Doug Ewell * Fullerton, California, USA * RFC 4645 * UTN #14
http://www.ewellic.org
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