At 13:55 -0400 2005-05-27, Milicent K Wewerka wrote:
> When 639-2 was developed the list of languages in the
>original 639 (now 639-1) was examined. We realized at the time that
>there was provision for Serbo-Croatian, Serbian, and Croatian. As
>work progressed on 639-2 the status of Serbian and Croatian as
>separate languages became a politically sensitive issue.
>Considerable discussion followed and the decision was made that
>Serbian and Croatian would be treated as separate languages.
That is a cataloguing decision, sure. But Serbocroatian, like
Hindustani (or Hindoostani as it was called) is something that you
WILL find in books. I have a Teach Yourself Serbo-Croat book. It does
not pretend to be Serbian or Croatian.
>The addition of Serbo-Croatian to 639-2 would produce confusion in
>selection of a code for Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian.
You have to annotate it. You can't control confusion by deleting
codes, especially when there is legacy data which will contain the
older code.
>Some users would apply the individual codes; others would apply the
>code for Serbo-Croatian.
Users need guidance as to how to apply the standard. That's part of
the RA's job.
>The existence of a code for Serbo-Croatian would imply that there
>are some language or dialect forms that are not included in the
>codes for Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian.
Not if the facts are explained.
>The situation of Norwegian, which has been cited as similar, has
>caused difficulties in applying the code in the library world. The
>Library of Congress had to issue an announcement that it would use
>"nor" and that the other codes would not used.
That's a valid user choice.
>For the library community adding a code for Serbo-Croatian in 639-2
>would be problematic.
Not if you explain it, and remember, if you are cataloguing a
"Anglicko - Srpskohrvatski slovnik" you really do have to use a
Serbo-Croatian tag.
>The best solution seems to be to deprecate the entry for
>Serbo-Croatian in 639-1 as was originally intended.
I disagree.
AND, IMPORTANTLY....
Librarians are not the only clients who use ISO 639 standards.
--
Michael Everson * * Everson Typography * * http://www.evertype.com
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