Dear colleagues,
I agree with the proposal insofar, as
- Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian should definitely be included in ISO 639-2
- sufficient evidence shall be provided to back the inclusion of the two 'languages' into ISO 639-1.
I agree that "wen" should be retained in addition to Upper and Lower Sorbian. If we have deleted similar 'collectives' from ISO 639 in the past, I can sympathize with John Clews' argument:
"If "scr" (Serbo-Croatian) was reinstated in ISO 639-2, in my personal view that would solve many problems that Milicent describes. In any case, there will still be very many bibliographic records washing around with "scr" (Serbo-Croatian) from when they were allocated in the past, by librarians all over the world. My own feeling is that in retrospect, deprecating "scr" (Serbo-Croatian) in ISO 639-2 raised more problems than it solved."
In the case of reinstating a code element and the respective language symbol(s) there should not be any problem, since the symbol had been blocked in the meantime and a reinstatement would not cause much confusion. However, I see more and more the need for NOTES to such entries.
Best regards
Christian
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: ISO 639 Joint Advisory Committee [mailto:[log in to unmask]]Im Auftrag
von Håvard Hjulstad
Gesendet: Montag, 12. Mai 2003 15:57
An: [log in to unmask]
Betreff: New ISO 639 proposal: Lower Sorbian
The following proposal has been submitted:
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 7 May 2003 11:02:12 -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: Wednesday, May 7, 2003 at 11:02:12
lang_in_eng = Lower Sorbian
lang_in_fre =
>> <comment HHj> Other sources give bas-sorabe.
ref_where_found_1 =
lang_in_vern = Dolnoserbšćina
>> <comment HHj> Other sources give delnjoserbski. The corrupted letters
"šć" shall be "s-caron + c-acute".
ref_where_found_2 =
trans_lit =
evidence = Sorbian Institute (Bautzen, Germany) > 200
Institute for Sorbian Studies (University of Leipzig, Germany) > 200
Weekly newspaper
addinfo = ca. 20,000 speakers, official language in parts of Brandenburg
(Germany), taught and
spoken at some schools
request_addition = ISO 639-1 and ISO 639-2
2_code_suggestion = ds
3_code_suggestion = dsb
submit_name = Eduard Werner
submit_email = [log in to unmask]
submit_status = Academic teacher, prof. for Sorbian Studies at the Leipzig
university
---------- END Forwarded message ----------
The item has been on the table of JAC previously. At the meeting in
Washington 2000-02 both Sorbian languages were proposed; both were rejected
both for the alpha-2 and the alpha-3 code.
Currently "Sorbian languages" (wen) is encoded in 639-2. As far as I know
"Sorbian languages" = "Upper Sorbian" + "Lower Sorbian".
Note that both alpha-2 and alpha-3 identifiers are proposed. Both the
proposed identifiers are available. Ethnologue uses "WEE" for Lower Sorbian
(which is also available in 639-2).
I should think that there is not doubt that there is a need for identifiers
for both Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian. If that should be the outcome, I
would like to retain "wen = Sorbian languages" for the possible future
"639-5".
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