ON LANGUAGE NAMES /// RE: Results of Duplicate Busters Survey #2//Ainu

[Doug Ewell]

Lang Gérard <gerard dot lang at insee dot fr> wrote:

> My proposition would be:
> If we have a complete consensus, or even a sufficiently general 
> agreement, that there are effectively two distinct languages, one 
> japanese and one chiniese, could not we choose as language name, the 
> autonym "Ainu" (considered as a phonetisation of the japanese language 
> name ?) for the japanese language and, as language name, the autonym 
> "Aynu" (considered as a phonetisation or romanization of the chinese 
> language name ?) for the chinese language ?

But I repeat: in what way would this solution be simpler or easier to 
comprehend, or less arbitrary, than adding country names in parentheses, 
as ISO 639-3/RA has chosen to do?

--
Doug Ewell  *  Thornton, Colorado, USA  *  RFC 4645  *  UTN #14
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