Below please find a proposal for a new ISO 639 alpha-3 identifier.

Lojban is an artificial language. You can find information about Lojban in
the references provided by the submitter.

Lojban is not included in Ethnologue, since they don't include artificial
languages. However, ISO 639 does have some artificial languages, currently:
Afrihili : afh
Esperanto : eo / epo
Ido : io / ido
Interlingua : ia / ina
Interlingue : ie / ile
Volapük : vo / vol
Artificial (Other) : art

There are no explicit rules about the inclusion of artificial languages in
ISO 639. Going by the simple "50 document rule" it is probable that Lojban
meets the requirement (although it might be argued that 50 documents should
be found in other locations than the archives of the "Lojban organization"
itself).

I should like to hear arguments BOTH relating to the general question of
encoding artificial languages, AND the merit of including Lojban in the
alpha-3 table.

Best regards,
Håvard Hjulstad

-------------------------
Håvard Hjulstad mailto:[log in to unmask]
Chairman ISO/TC37 (Terminology and other language resources)
Convener of ISO/TC37/SC2/WG1 (Language coding)
Acting chairman of ISO 639 RA-JAC
  Solfallsveien 31
  NO-1430 Ås, Norway
  tel: +47 64963684
  fax: +47 64944233
  mob: +47 90145563
  http://www.hjulstad.com/havard/
-------------------------

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 30 May 2003 11:13:22 -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, May 30, 2003 at 11:13:22

lang_in_eng = Lojban
lang_in_fre = lojban

ref_where_found_1 =
http://www.lojban.org/publications/brochures/brochure_french.txt

lang_in_vern = la lojban. [note required final dot, NOT a period]
ref_where_found_2 =
http://ptolemy.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/lojbanbrochure/lessons/intro.html
trans_lit = None
evidence = The Logical Language Group, a non-profit Virginia (U.S.)
corporation, holds a substantial archive in paper and electronic form of
documents in Lojban. There are at least 100 Lojban documents in this
archive, including original prose and poetry, translations, personal
letters, and other works. Many of these works are also available online.
See http://www.lojban.org for contact information.
addinfo = Lojban is a constructed language with several purposes, originally
designed to test the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, but now extended to
international communication, human-computer communication, and others.
There are about 30-40 fluent speakers in all parts of the world, and perhaps
300 who have some level of interest in the language. Lojban has no official
status anywhere.
request_addition = ISO 639-2 only
2_code_suggestion =
3_code_suggestion = jbo
submit_name = John Cowan
submit_email = [log in to unmask]

submit_status = Non-fluent speaker of language, Vice President of Logical
Language Group.

Note: We are requesting the code "jbo" because it seems unlikely to be
assigned to any other language, is not used by the Ethnologue, and is a
combining form (bound morpheme) meaning "Lojban(ic)", in such words as
jbopli, Lojban user, and jbota'a, to talk in Lojban.