In the case of German, there is no difficulty to distinguish between deAT,
deCH and deDE etc.
We had lots of arguments in connection with Serbian - Croatian, Bosnian,
Catalan - Valencian, Czech - Slowak, and others and now Montenegrin.
I do not want to repeat them, only point out that cases like this are going
to increase.
Rgds
Christian
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: ISO 639 Joint Advisory Committee [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Im Auftrag von
Debbie Garside
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 04. Dezember 2008 11:32
An: [log in to unmask]
Betreff: Re: Fw: Question from Montenegro
If I put my translation agency hat on, I would want to see a separate code
for Montenegrin.
As language policies are established and documents translated you will find
that the Montenegrin government will create Terminology bases and style
guides for Montenegrin purposes. There will be differences between these
terminology bases and those already in use in Serbia. That is not to say
that the language of Montenegro and Serbia will not be mutually intelligible
- they will be, I am sure. But, nevertheless, their language use is likely
to be different and will, undoubtedly, change over the course of time.
Here in Wales we add to TermCymru (the Welsh Assembly Government Terminology
Base) on an almost daily basis and our style guides are consistently
updated. I am sure that this is the case for most countries.
We could say that the country code may be used to differentiate between the
language variants. But is that truly acceptable? I think not, it makes it
messy in a database if you just want a single alpha2/3/4 code and are
presented with hyphenation or two fields to query.
That said, as a database/search engine user I would want to be able to query
for documents in Montenegrin and also be presented with options in other
mutually intelligent varieties. But this is something that can be dealt
with by search engines or by setting end user preferences.
What we need is the hierarchy of ISO 639-6. A hierarchical system deals
with this quite easily. The code for Serbian is retained but two new codes
are created as children. Legacy systems can still use the parent code but
newer systems will be built to return matches on either child or parent or
child, followed by parent followed by sibling in a weighted match.
We need to stop trying to define languages - or rather being forced to
define languages in the various parts of ISO 639 and get on with the
Standards as Database initiative where everything is related and new
entities can be slotted in as and when the splitters and lumpers decide it
is appropriate.
Just my two pennies worth.
Best
Debbie
-----Original Message-----
From: ISO 639 Joint Advisory Committee [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Peter Constable
Sent: 03 December 2008 16:27
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Fw: Question from Montenegro
I think we should reply suggesting that, while the country of Montenegro is,
reasonably, establishing a separate identity from Serbia, as far as we
understand there are not, linguistically, significant differences between
Serbian and Montenegrin, implying that users would generally be best served
if a single ID were used for tagging Serbian and Montenegrin content, and
therefore that we suggest listing the name for the IDs "sr" / "srp" as
"Montenegrin, Serbian" (I just listed them in alphabetic order).
As you say, we may end up having to match the Bosnian precedent, but while
there's reason to question whether that is what would be best for users we
should engage to get them to understand the implications -- cons as well as
pros -- and see if they still think it's a good idea.
Also, since the introduction of separate language identifiers would impact a
very broad range of applications and users, I think we should look for
indication that this would be what a broad range of Montenegrin users would
want. E.g., is the National Library going to tag Serbian and Montenegrin
documents separately, or would they end up using just an ID for Montenegrin?
If the latter, then they don't need two separate IDs, yet two separate IDs
would have been imposed on every other user community and application
throughout the world. What they are asking for involves little cost for them
but could involve tremendous cost for others.
Peter
-----Original Message-----
From: ISO 639 Joint Advisory Committee [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Rebecca S Guenther
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 6:23 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Fwd: Fw: Question from Montenegro
We continue to get this request. This one is from the national library.
Last time it was discussed we said we would wait and see if linguistic
differences emerge. I have a few other outstanding requests for the same
(mostly from Gerard Lang).
Assuming that this hasn't happened, we will need to explain (again)
that we don't "award" a language code because of the use of a name for a
language in a particular country. As for Montenegrin, I suppose we would
add that name as an alternate for Serbian. Of course, in this case the
submitter argues that the 3 other languages have their own language
code. Having given one to Bosnian in 2000 it is hard not to give it now
to Montenegrin. But we can't really undo what was done. This seems to be
the same sort of case as Moldovan to me. So then perhaps the action is
to add Montenegrin as an alternate name.
Perhaps Hĺvard would like to craft a statement for the requester
(unless there is further discussion).
Rebecca
>>> "Vjenceslava Sevaljevic" <[log in to unmask]> 12/02/08 9:01
AM >>>
Dear Madam/Sir,
We haven't any answer on our question.
If there is any possibility please answer as sun as possible.
Best wishes
Vjenceslava Sevaljevic
National Library of Montenegro
-----
----- Original Message -----
From: Vesna Vuckovic
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 11:08 AM
Subject: Question from Montenegro
Dear Madam/Sir,
Is there a possibility to obtain a provisional language code for
Montenegro? Montenegro proclaimed independence in 2006, but the language
(Montenegrin) has not been codified yet. The National Library would like
to receive from you a language code to be used temporarily until the
language is officially named and codified at which point we would
request a new language code. The Serbian and Croatian languages were
recently awarded their language codes.
Thank you so much for your time and understanding.
With best wishes,
Vesna Vuckovic
National Library of Montenegro
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