For what it's worth, in MARC we use 3 blanks to mean that there is no
sung, spoken or written language content. I wonder if we could handle it
in section 4.1.2 of ISO 639-2 (Special situations) by specifying this sort
of thing, rather than actually define a code. If it is only for situations
where a code is mandatory, then a convention should be able to do as well
I would think. Also, we do need to keep MARC consistent with ISO 639-2 and
we have a convention we've used for a very long time when there's no
linguistic content.
Rebecca
On Wed, 8 Jun 2005, Peter Constable wrote:
> > From: ISO 639 Joint Advisory Committee [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
> > Of Anila Angjeli
>
>
> > As I mentioned hereabove there are sound recordings (music, or >
> sounds of the nature, etc.), silent films, grafic materials and
> images, > objects (in a broad sense of the word), and so on. > Should
> a "zzz" or "xzz" code solve the problem ? > I wonder if it is the role
> of a standard that codes linguistic unities, to > takle with the
> problem of presence or absence of the linguisitc unity ?
>
> Effectively, we're talking about a code that means "not applicable"
> for use in scenarios where a protocol or database design forces some
> language code to be inserted. We don't need to differentiate causes as
> to *why* it wouldn't be applicable; we'd only be indicating the simple
> binary-condition fact.
>
>
> Peter Constable
>
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