Gérard,
Linguistics is a science. Languages are identified by their features and properties, their vocabulary and their grammar and their phonology.
It does not matter how “official” a UN document is, or who edits it. It does not matter that this document document lists
“Shikomor - Komori - Udzima wa Komori"
What matters is what entity (if any) that is supposed to represent.
So far, we have no EVIDENCE that there is any such thing. We have a discussion of FOUR dialects of Swahili which are all used in the archipelago of the Comoros. Not a single language called Shikomor.
The Wikipedia is clear on this:
Le comorien (en comorien shimasiwa, littéralement langue des îles, ou shikomori, littéralement langue des Comores) est un groupe de quatre dialectes swahilis parlés dans l'archipel des Comores : grand-comorien, mohélien, anjouanais, et mahorais. Il n'existe pas de langue comorienne unifiée. Les quatre dialectes, proches du swahili standardisé, sont plus ou moins intercompréhensibles. Chacun est utilisé sur une île ou un groupe d'îles de l'archipel. Outre les nombreux emprunts lexicaux à l'arabe, communs au groupe swahili, les dialectes comoriens incorporent des mots portugais, et dans une moindre mesure anglais, depuis le xvie siècle; depuis le xixe siècle, c'est le français qui exerce l'influence la plus importante. Ces langues s'écrivent encaractères latins ou en caractères arabes.
Comorian (Shikomori or Shimasiwa, the "language of islands") is the most widely used language on the Comoros(independent islands in the Indian Ocean, off Mozambique and Madagascar) and Mayotte.[4] It is a set of Sabakidialects but with more Arabic influence than standard Swahili. Each island has a different dialect and the four are conventionally divided into two groups: the eastern group is composed of Shindzuani (spoken on Ndzuwani) andShimaore (Mayotte), while the western group is composed of Shimwali (Mwali) and Shingazija (Ngazidja). No official alphabet existed in 1992, but historically the language was written in the Arabic script. The colonial administration introduced the Latin script, of which a modified version is now being promoted in the country; the Arabic script remains widely used and literacy in the Arabic script is higher than in the Latin script.
“Il n'existe pas de langue comorienne unifiée."
Right? So what is it you want to invent?
On 14 Apr 2014, at 14:29, Gérard Lang-Marconnet <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Dear All,
> You will find thereafter an official UN document, edited by the UNGEGN, as preparation for its M87 publication in 2007, also using alpha-2 code elements to represent "national official languages" recognized in the UN member states. You can verify that India and South Africa have lists in conformity with ISO 3166-1, and that Comoros uses Shikomor.
> Bien cordialement.
> Gérard Lang
>
> <word UNGEGN WG Country Names Document - working version - 141111-2.doc>
Michael Everson * http://www.evertype.com/
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