Appeal to ISO 639 RA in support of Elfdalian

Michael Everson everson at evertype.com
Tue Apr 26 00:38:15 CEST 2016


To add to the appeal:

The Ethnologue previously had a code “dlc” for what one may suppose could now be described as a “macrolanguage”, Dalecarlian. The code “dlc” was removed when ISO 639-3 was implemented. The concept of "macrolanguage” can be very useful where it indicates, for instance, an orthography that is intended to serve a number of closely-related languages. N’Ko is an example: a compromise literary dialect used by a speakers of a number of Manden languages. In the case of the area called Dalecarlia, there are a number of dialects related to Elfdalian, but research has shown that all of those have very small numbers of speakers, and that none of them has established language associations or attempted revitalization activities. Mutual intelligibility between these dialects is closer than some of the speakers would probably credit if asked. There is no “Dalecarlian” per se, however, and Elfdalian will likely prove to be a magnet in the event that speakers of the other dialects aim for revitalization. In any case, only one three-letter code has been requested, for one language in active use. Other codes can be added later for other languages if required. 


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