1、BRITISH STANDARD BS ISO 639-3:2007 Codes for the representation of names of languages Part 3: Alpha-3 code for comprehensive coverage of languages ICS 01.140.20 BS ISO 639-3:2007 This British Standard was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 31 May 2007 BSI
2、 2007 ISBN 978 0 580 50747 2 National foreword This British Standard was published by BSI. It is the UK implementation of ISO 639-3:2007. The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted to Technical Committee TS/1, Terminology. A list of organizations represented on this committee can be obtai
3、ned on request to its secretary. This publication does not purport to include all the necessary provisions of a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application. Compliance with a British Standard cannot confer immunity from legal obligations. Amendments issued since publication Amd. No.
4、Date Comments Reference number ISO 639-3:2007(E)INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO 639-3 First edition 2007-02-01 Codes for the representation of names of languages Part 3: Alpha-3 code for comprehensive coverage of languages Codes pour la reprsentation des noms de langues Partie 3: Code alpha-3 pour un tra
5、itement exhaustif des langues BS ISO 639-3:2007ii iii Contents Page Foreword iv Introduction v 1 Scope . 1 2 Normative references . 1 3 Terms and definitions. 1 4 Three-letter language code 3 4.1 Form of the language identifier . 3 4.2 Denotation of the language identifier . 3 4.3 Documentation of t
6、he intended denotation of identifiers. 6 4.4 Relationship between ISO 639-2 and ISO 639-3 7 4.5 Registration Authority and maintenance of the code. 8 4.6 Application of language identifiers. 9 4.7 Scripts and regions 9 5 Language code tables 9 Annex A (normative) Procedures for the Registration Auth
7、ority and Registration Authorities Advisory Committee for ISO 639. 10 Bibliography . 12 BS ISO 639-3:2007iv Foreword ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is n
8、ormally carried out through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part i
9、n the work. ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization. International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2. The main task of technical committees is to prep
10、are International Standards. Draft International Standards adopted by the technical committees are circulated to the member bodies for voting. Publication as an International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the member bodies casting a vote. Attention is drawn to the possibility that s
11、ome of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. ISO 639-3 was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 37, Terminology and other language and content resources, Subcommittee SC 2, Terminographica
12、l and lexicographical working methods. ISO 639 consists of the following parts, under the general title Codes for the representation of names of languages: Part 1: Alpha-2 code Part 2: Alpha-3 code Part 3: Alpha-3 code for comprehensive coverage of languages The following parts are under preparation
13、: Part 4: Implementation guidelines and general principles for language coding Part 5: Alpha-3 code for language families and groups Part 6: Alpha-4 representation for comprehensive coverage of language variation BS ISO 639-3:2007v Introduction ISO 639 provides three language codes for the represent
14、ation of names of languages: one is a two-letter code (ISO 639-1) and two others are three-letter codes (ISO 639-2 and ISO 639-3). ISO 639-1 was devised primarily for use in terminology, lexicography and linguistics. ISO 639-2 was devised primarily for use in terminology and bibliography; it represe
15、nts all languages contained in ISO 639-1 and in addition other languages and language collections of interest for those primary applications. ISO 639-3 was devised to provide a comprehensive set of identifiers for all languages for use in a wide range of applications, including linguistics, lexicogr
16、aphy and internationalization of information systems. It attempts to represent all known languages. The three-letter codes in ISO 639-2 and ISO 639-3 are complementary and compatible. The two codes have been devised for different purposes. The set of individual languages listed in ISO 639-2 is a sub
17、set of those listed in ISO 639-3. The codes differ in that ISO 639-2 includes code elements representing some individual languages and also collections of languages, while ISO 639-3 includes code elements for all known individual languages but not for collections of languages. Overall, the set of in
18、dividual languages listed in ISO 639-3 is much larger than the set of individual languages listed in ISO 639-2. The languages represented in ISO 639-1 are a subset of those represented in ISO 639-2; every language code element in the two-letter code has a corresponding language code element in ISO 6
19、39-2, but not necessarily vice versa. Likewise, elements other than collections listed in ISO 639-2 are a subset of those listed ISO 639-3; each non-collective element in ISO 639-2 is included in ISO 639-3, but not necessarily vice versa. The denotation represented by alpha-3 identifiers included in
20、 both ISO 639-2 and ISO 639-3 is the same in each part, and the denotation represented by alpha-2 identifiers in ISO 639-1 is the same as that represented by the corresponding alpha-3 identifiers in ISO 639-2 and ISO 639-3. All three language codes are to be considered as open lists. The large numbe
21、r of languages in the initial inventory of ISO 639-3 beyond those already included in ISO 639-2 was derived primarily from Ethnologue 1 , with additional ancient, historic or artificial languages obtained from Linguist List 2, 3 . This part of ISO 639 also includes guidelines for the creation of lan
22、guage code elements and their use in some applications. BS ISO 639-3:2007blank 1 Codes for the representation of names of languages Part 3: Alpha-3 code for comprehensive coverage of languages 1 Scope This part of ISO 639 provides a code, published by the Registration Authority of ISO 639-3, consist
23、ing of language code elements comprising three-letter language identifiers for the representation of languages. The language identifiers according to this part of ISO 639 were devised for use in a wide range of applications, especially in computer systems, where there is potential need to support a
24、large number of the languages that are known to have ever existed. Whereas ISO 639-1 and ISO 639-2 are intended to focus on the major languages of the world that are most frequently represented in the total body of the worlds literature, this part of ISO 639 attempts to provide as complete an enumer
25、ation of languages as possible, including living, extinct, ancient and constructed languages, whether major or minor, written or unwritten. As a result, this part of ISO 639 deals with a very large number of lesser-known languages. Languages designed exclusively for machine use, such as computer-pro
26、gramming languages and reconstructed languages, are not included in this code. Knowledge of the worlds languages at any given time is never complete or perfect. Additional language identifiers may be created for this list when it becomes apparent that there is a linguistic variety that is deemed to
27、be distinct from other languages in accordance with the definitions in Clause 3 and their elaboration in Clause 4. In addition, the denotation of existing identifiers may be revised or identifiers may become deprecated when it becomes apparent that they do not accurately reflect actual language dist
28、inctions. In all such changes, careful consideration is given to minimize adverse effects on existing implementations. 2 Normative references The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated r
29、eferences, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies. ISO 3166-1, Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions Part 1: Country codes ISO 15924, Information and documentation Codes for the representation of names of scripts 3 Terms a
30、nd definitions For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply. 3.1 code data transformed or represented in different forms according to a pre-established set of rules 3.2 code element individual entry in a code table BS ISO 639-3:20072 3.3 language identifier language s
31、ymbol symbol that uniquely identifies a particular language NOTE 1 In the language code in this part of ISO 639, each language identifier is composed of three letters. NOTE 2 In this part of ISO 639, each language identifier represents the various language names used to designate a particular langua
32、ge. 3.4 name reference name appellation linguistic expression used to designate an individual concept NOTE 1 In this part of ISO 639, a language name is used to designate the concept of a particular language. NOTE 2 In this part of ISO 639, names used to designate a language may be expressions taken
33、 from one or more specified source languages, such as English or French. It is not guaranteed, however, that a complete set of names from any particular language will be provided, or that the source language for any name will be indicated. NOTE 3 In the initial code table for this part of ISO 639, t
34、he names used for many languages will be names used in Ethnologue 1 . In subsequent maintenance of this part of ISO 639, these names may be revised. NOTE 4 In this part of ISO 639, a language name is considered normative insofar as it designates a particular language. The actual form of a name is no
35、t immutable. NOTE 5 In this part of ISO 639, reference names may include parenthetic information not generally used to designate a given language in order to differentiate between distinct languages that have identical names. See 4.3. 3.5 language code element code element (3.2) in a language code t
36、able NOTE In the language code table published by the Registration Authority of ISO 639-3 (see 4.5), each language code element consists of a language identifier and one or more language names. 3.6 scope attribute of a language code element (3.5) that pertains to the breadth of language varieties to
37、 which it corresponds, and to the nature of the relationship between that language code element and other language code elements NOTE For the purposes of this part of ISO 639, language code elements have one of four scopes: individual language, macrolanguage, collection or special purpose. See 4.2.
38、3.7 individual language code element language code element (3.5) with a scope (3.6) representing an individual language NOTE The language represented by an individual language code element is considered distinct from those represented by any other individual language code element; thus, there is no
39、correspondence between different individual language code elements. The notion of individual language is explained further in 4.2.2. BS ISO 639-3:20073 3.8 macrolanguage code element language code element (3.5) with a scope (3.6) representing multiple, closely-related individual languages that are d
40、eemed in some usage contexts to be a single language NOTE Every macrolanguage code element has a normative correspondence to the individual language code elements representing the individual languages encompassed by the macrolanguage. This normative relationship between macrolanguage code elements a
41、nd individual language code elements is documented in the code tables included in this part of ISO 639. The notion of macrolanguage is explained further in 4.2.3. 3.9 collective language code element language code element (3.5) with a scope (3.6) representing a group of individual languages that are
42、 not deemed to be one language in any usage context NOTE The language code in this part of ISO 639 does not include collective language code elements. 4 Three-letter language code 4.1 Form of the language identifier The language identifiers consist of a sequence of three letters each taken from the
43、following set of 26 letters of the Latin alphabet in lower case: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z. No diacritical marks or modified characters are used. Language identifiers are not intended to be an abbreviation for a name of the language, but to serve as
44、 a device to identify a given language uniquely. With thousands of languages, many pairs of which have similar names, it is not possible to provide identifiers that resemble a language name in every case. In many cases, language identifiers do bear some resemblance to a name for the language, but th
45、is is not guaranteed. Many languages have alternate names used by different internal or external communities. In such cases, the form of the language identifier does not imply that a name resembling the language identifier is considered to be preferred. To ensure continuity and stability, the identi
46、fier for any given language shall not be changed, though the names listed in relation to an identifier may change. On occasion, given compelling reasons, a code element may become deprecated. When a code element is deprecated, the identifier for that code element shall not be reassigned. (See 4.5.2
47、for details on maintenance of the code.) When adapting this part of ISO 639 to languages that are written using non-Latin scripts (e.g. the Cyrillic alphabet), language identifiers shall be formed using the Latin alphabet according to the principles of this part of ISO 639. 4.2 Denotation of the lan
48、guage identifier 4.2.1 General A language identifier represents one or more language names, each of which designates the same language. The ultimate objects of identification are languages themselves; language names are the formal means by which the languages denoted by language identifiers are desi
49、gnated. Every language corresponds to some range of variation in linguistic expression. In this part of ISO 639, then, it is assumed that language identifiers generally denote some range of language varieties. The range of varieties that are denoted can have three different scopes: individual language, macrolanguage or collection. ISO 639 includes identifiers for certain special-purpose categories, such as “undetermined language”, which do not directly denote any range
