Full-sentence Description fields

[Doug Ewell]

Mark Davis <mark at macchiato dot com> wrote:

>       Subtag:
> vowels
>       Description:
> Indicates that the content is an abjad, but that all optional vowel
> marks are included in the text.

>       Subtag:
> fonxsamp
>       Description:
> Indicates that the content is transcribed according to X-SAMPA

>       Subtag:
> respell
>       Description:
> Indicates a transcription of content based on a pronunciation
> respelling, such as "nāshən" for "nation"

I would very much like to avoid complex, full-sentence Description
fields like these.  Description fields tend to work best when they are
brief labels.

Although neither BCP 47 nor the usual English meaning of "description"
precludes forbids this, all of the existing Description fields in the
Registry -- whether taken from core standards or registered via this
list -- are short phrases, such as "Standardized Resian orthography" and
"ALA-LC Romanization, 1997 edition."  This has held true even for
less-obvious variants that may require detailed explanation for full
understanding.

I would prefer recasting the proposed Description fields as Comments
fields, and truncating the Description fields to something like:

   Abjad with optional vowel marks
   X-SAMPA transcription
   Pronunciation respelling

Obviously these are only my own preferences.  Note that "Jyutping
romanization of Cantonese" is perfectly fine and an excellent example of
what I would like to see for the others.

--
Doug Ewell | Thornton, Colorado, USA | http://www.ewellic.org
RFC 5645, 4645, UTN #14 | ietf-languages @ is dot gd slash 2kf0s ­