Here is some additional information to assist the ISO 639 Joint
Advisory Committee in its decision making at an appropriate time in
the future:
In the draft resolutions, Rebecca Guenther noted, that decisions on
including the following in ISO 639-2 would be deferred:
"16. Balki: Ms. Guenther will contact the requesting body
(Iran) and request more information
17. Parti: Ms. Guenther will contact the requesting body
(Iran) and request more information
18. Kharazmi: Ms. Guenther will contact the requesting body
(Iran) and request more information"
For advance information, I discussed these with Persian/Turkic
experts and the British Library. Here are some initial pointers:
Balki is basically a Persian dialect/language spoken in/associated with
Afghanistan. There is also a question about relationship to Bactrian.
Little is known about the amount of written documents associated with
Balti.
Parti is likely to be Parthian (as also in the Medes and the
Parthians of time past). This is Middle Iranian in period: certainly
some documents exist.
Kharazmi is another Iranian language. Khorezm was a major centre in
times past. Kharazmi as an Iranian language should not be confused
with Khorezmian Turkish, which as you might guess is a Turkic
language. Certainly some manuscripts exist.
As you are contacting the Iranian national member body, presumably
you will be contacting Ms. Mahvash Seifi at ISIRI, who would be able
to provide further clarifications and/or corrections.
Other linguists from Iran have also been part of the Iranian
delegation to ISO/TC46/SC2 (Conversion of Written Languages) in the
past, and she may also find it useful to contact them in advance of
the ISO/TC46/SC2 and other ISO/TC46 meetings in May 2000.
She will also be at the ISO/TC46 meetings in Berlin in May: will you
also be there, Rebecca?
Best regards
John Clews
--
John Clews, SESAME Computer Projects, 8 Avenue Rd, Harrogate, HG2 7PG
tel: +44 1423 888 432; fax: + 44 1423 889061;
Email: [log in to unmask]
Committee Chair of ISO/TC46/SC2: Conversion of Written Languages;
Committee Member of ISO/IEC/JTC1/SC22/WG20: Internationalization;
Committee Member of CEN/TC304: Information and Communications
Technologies: European Localization Requirements
Committee Member of TS/1: Terminology (UK national member body of
ISO/TC37: Terminology)
Committee Member of the Foundation for Endangered Languages;
Committee Member of ISO/IEC/JTC1/SC2: Coded Character Sets
|