ISO 639-2
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ISO 639-2:1998, Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 2: Alpha-3 code, is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. The three-letter codes given for each language in this part of the standard are referred to as "Alpha-3" codes. There are 487 entries in the list of ISO 639-2 codes.
The US Library of Congress is the registration authority for ISO 639-2 (referred to as ISO 639-2/RA). As registration authority, the LOC receives and reviews proposed changes; they also have representation on the ISO 639-RA Joint Advisory Committee responsible for maintaining the ISO 639 code tables.
History and relationship to other ISO 639 standards
[ફેરફાર કરો]Work was begun on the ISO 639-2 standard in 1989, because the ISO 639-1 standard, which uses only two-letter codes for languages, is not able to accommodate a sufficient number of languages. The ISO 639-2 standard was first released in 1998.
In practice, ISO 639-2 has largely been superseded by ISO 639-3 (2007), which includes codes for all the individual languages in ISO 639-2 plus many more. It also includes the special and reserved codes, and is designed not to conflict with ISO 639-2. ISO 639-3, however, does not include any of the collective languages in ISO 639-2; most of these are included in ISO 639-5.
B and T codes
[ફેરફાર કરો]While most languages are given one code by the standard, twenty of the languages described have two three-letter codes, a "bibliographic" code (ISO 639-2/B), which is derived from the English name for the language and was a necessary legacy feature, and a "terminological" code (ISO 639-2/T), which is derived from the native name for the language and resembles the language's two-letter code in ISO 639-1. There were originally 22 B codes; scc and scr are now deprecated.
In general the T codes are favored; ISO 639-3 uses ISO 639-2/T.
Scopes and types
[ફેરફાર કરો]The codes in ISO 639-2 have a variety of "scopes of denotation", or types of meaning and use, some of which are described in more detail below.
- Individual languages
- Macrolanguages (see ISO 639 macrolanguage)
- Collections of languages
- Dialects
- Reserved for local use
- Special situations
For a definition of macrolanguages and collective languages, see ISO 639-3/RA: Scope of denotation for language identifiers સંગ્રહિત ૨૦૧૩-૦૨-૦૮ ના રોજ વેબેક મશિન.
Individual languages are further classified as to type:
- Living languages
- Extinct languages
- Ancient languages
- Historic languages
- Constructed languages
Collections of languages
[ફેરફાર કરો]Some ISO 639-2 codes that are commonly used for languages do not precisely represent a particular language or some related languages (as the above macrolanguages). They are regarded as collective language codes and are excluded from ISO 639-3.
The collective language codes in ISO 639-2 are listed below.
The following code is identified as a collective code in ISO 639-2 but is (at present) missing from ISO 639-5:
- him Himachali
Codes registered for 639-2 that are listed as collective codes in ISO 639-5 (and collective codes by name in ISO 639-2):
- afa Afro-Asiatic languages
- alg Algonquian languages
- apa Apache languages
- art artificial languages
- ath Athapascan languages
- aus Australian languages
- bad Banda languages
- bai Bamileke languages
- bat Baltic languages
- ber Berber languages
- bih Bihari languages
- bnt Bantu languages
- btk Batak languages
- cai Central American Indian languages
- cau Caucasian languages
- cel Celtic languages
- cmc Chamic languages
- cpe creoles and pidgins, English-based
- cpf creoles and pidgins, French-based
- cpp creoles and pidgins, Portuguese-based
- crp creoles and pidgins
- cus Cushitic languages
- day Land Dayak languages
- dra Dravidian languages
- fiu Finno-Ugrian languages
- gem Germanic languages
- ijo Ijo languages
- inc Indic languages
- ine Indo-European languages
- ira Iranian languages
- iro Iroquoian languages
- kar Karen languages
- khi Khoisan languages
- kro Kru languages
- map Austronesian languages
- mkh Mon–Khmer languages
- mno Manobo languages
- mun Munda languages
- myn Mayan languages
- nah Nahuatl languages
- nai North American Indian languages
- nic Niger-Kordofanian languages
- nub Nubian languages
- oto Otomian languages
- paa Papuan languages
- phi Philippine languages
- pra Prakrit languages
- roa Romance languages
- sai South American Indian languages
- sal Salishan languages
- sem Semitic languages
- sgn sign languages
- sio Siouan languages
- sit Sino-Tibetan languages
- sla Slavic languages
- smi Sami languages
- son Songhai languages
- ssa Nilo-Saharan languages
- tai Tai languages
- tup Tupi languages
- tut Altaic languages
- wak Wakashan languages
- wen Sorbian languages
- ypk Yupik languages
- znd Zande languages
Reserved for local use
[ફેરફાર કરો]The interval from qaa to qtz is "reserved for local use" and is not used in ISO 639-2 nor in ISO 639-3. These codes are typically used privately for languages not (yet) in either standard.
Special situations
[ફેરફાર કરો]There are four generic codes for special situations:
- mis is listed as "uncoded languages" (originally an abbreviation for "miscellaneous")
- mul (for "multiple languages") is applied when several languages are used and it is not practical to specify all the appropriate language codes
- und (for "undetermined") is used in situations in which a language or languages must be indicated but the language cannot be identified.
- zxx is listed in the code list as "no linguistic content", e.g. animal sounds (code added on 11 January 2006)
These four codes are also used in ISO 639-3.