In my view, European Kalmyk should certainly be assigned a code in
ISO 639-2, and "klm" is a good identifier for it. See
http://www.evertype.com/alphabets/kalmyk.pdf for the indigenous name
"xal'mg keln".

There is a written Oirat language which uses a form of Mongolian
script. It seems from reading the Kalmyk-Oirat articles under China
and Russia that the Ethnologue taxonomy may be questionable here.

Michael Everson

At 13:44 +0100 2002-10-30, Håvard Hjulstad wrote:
>The ISO 639 RA-JAC has received the following proposal for a new entry in
>the alpha-3 table:
>
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2002 14:10:24 -0400
>From: WWW generic account <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: New ISO 639-2 code
>
>This data was submitted on: Friday, October 11, 2002 at 14:10:24
>
>lang_in_eng = Kalmyk language
>lang_in_fre =
>ref_where_found_1 =
>lang_in_vern =
>ref_where_found_2 =
>trans_lit =
>evidence = Columbia University Libraries (157)
>addinfo =
>request_addition = ISO 639-2 only
>2_code_suggestion =
>3_code_suggestion = KLM
>submit_name = Susan Summer
>submit_email = [log in to unmask]
>submit_status = Catalog librarian, Columbia University Libraries
>
>---------- End forwarded message ----------
>
>CURRENT SITUATION:
>
>ISO 639 encoding: tut = Altaic (other)
>
>Linguasphere: 44-BAA-bd = Kalmyk (Cf 44-BAA-be = Oyrat)
>
>Ethnologue: KGZ = Kalmyk-Oirat. Called "Kalmyk" in Russia, "Oirat" in China.
>Some 174.000 speakers in Asian Russia, 139.000 in China, 205.000 in
>Mongolia.
>
>
>ISSUES:
>
>It isn't entirely obvious to me whether we should include "Kalmyk" or
>"Kalmyk-Oirat". If we go for the former, a change will be needed in the
>Ethnologue encoding. One important question is whether the groups have a
>common literature across the borders.
>
>One option might be to encode "Kalmyk" and "Oirat" seaparately.
>
>Input is invited!
>
>
>Best regards,
>Håvard Hjulstad
>(acting chairman of ISO 639 RA-JAC)
>-------------------------
>Håvard Hjulstad    mailto:[log in to unmask]
>Chairman ISO/TC37 (Terminology and other language resources)
>Chairman ISO/TC207/TCG (Environmental management - Terminology coordination
>group)
>   Solfallsveien 31
>   NO-1430  Ås, Norway
>   tel: +47 64963684  &  +47 64944233
>   mob: +47 90145563
>   http://www.hjulstad.com/havard/
>-------------------------


--
Michael Everson * * Everson Typography *  * http://www.evertype.com