request for subtag for Elfdalian
Doug Ewell
doug at ewellic.org
Sun Feb 28 19:50:16 CET 2016
Mats Blakstad wrote:
> I'm going to file a request for a primary subtag for Elfdalian/
> Övdalian. What I try to sort out now is what English name that should
> be used.
I think I've said this before, but I feel quite strongly that
"Elfdalian" should be the primary Description value. It's what SIL uses
in their page on Swedish, where they classify it as a Swedish dialect,
which classification is irrelevant to the choice of name.
It's important for the Registry to use consistent names based on
SIL/639-3. There was a bit of confusion when mapping the old tags
registered under RFC 1766 and 3066 to the new subtags based on 639-3,
because some of the names did not agree.
"Övdalian" would probably be a suitable secondary Description value, as
the name used by speakers. Bear in mind, though, that the Registry does
not attempt to provide translations of names into an open-ended set of
target languages, so this would be it.
"Älvdalian," the Swedish name, is either unnecessary or inappropriate
for the reason you gave.
Made-up names like "Elvdalian" that attempt to reflect etymology better,
or avoid coincidental Tolkein references, should be non-starters. (The
plural of "elf" in English is "elves," so "Elvdalian" would hardly be an
improvement on the latter, dubious goal.)
--
Doug Ewell | http://ewellic.org | Thornton, CO 🇺🇸
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