From: ISO 639 Joint Advisory Committee [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of ISO639-3
> Dear Joint Advisory Committee members and associates,
>
> The ballot for the new code [zgh] and for the French name has passed. We need now to > turn to the question of an English name and whether to create a two-letter code as well > as the three-letter code...
[snip]
> Regarding the two-letter code, a two-letter code can only be created at the same time
> as a three-letter code. The two-letter code [zg] has been proposed. But I know that
> there has been some discussion that the two-letter codeset should be permanently
> closed. Please respond with your comments about either question: whether any more
> two letter codes should be created, or whether a two-letter code for this language
> should be created...
I see that some have responded to this message as though it were a ballot. Let's be clear that this mail list is not used for ballots.
Regarding the two-letter code, it is indeed the case that, long ago (circa 1999), the JAC formulated a policy that a two-letter code not be assigned if a three-letter code had previously been assigned. But it's also several years (circa 2006?) since JAC agreed that we would not assign new alpha-2 IDs at all except perhaps in rare exceptional cases in which the request was coming as a result of some TC37 or TC46 resolution. In my opinion, the alpha-2 code is essentially obsolete: the alpha-3 code space (and ISO 639-3 in particular) is what is being widely implemented, particular by virtue of it being normatively referenced in the IETF specification BCP 47.
I particularly do not think we should be coding new alpha-2 IDs when no clear use case and business need has been demonstrated. I know that there is a desire for another ISO standard, 3166, to cite alpha-2 IDs, but IMO that is not a sufficient business case: that usage is purely a matter of documentation, not of actual implementation of the alpha-2 codes. ISO 3166 can document the information the maintainers of that standard wish to document just as effectively using an alpha-3 ID from 639-2 or 639-3 as by using an alpha-2 ID from 639-1.
Peter
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