I had considered macrolanguage by what seemed
like an analogous situation to Chinese: various distinct languages, but there
is a written form that (to some extent) can be used by all. But with the
further explanation Michael provides, it doesn’t sound like that at all.
The ID “zh” is widely used for
“Chinese” text; as such, it’s entirely appropriate to refer
to content that is in Mandarin “zh” versus Cantonese “zh”
versus Hokkien “zh” etc. If N’Ko is a macrolanguage, then it
should make sense to refer to the Bambara variety of N’Ko versus the
Maninka variety of N’Ko etc. But if I understand Michael’s
description correctly, that would *not*
be appropriate.
Michael gives Interlingua as an analogy.
That is not like “zh”.
Given what I’ve heard from Michael
so far, I think that, if we code it, it should be considered an individual
language, not a macrolanguage, and not a register or dialect of some other
language.
Peter
From: ISO 639 Joint
Advisory Committee [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Joan Spanne
Sent: Friday, March 24, 2006 10:10
AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: New ISO 639 proposal
- N'Ko - Discussion
Hi All,
It
sounds rather like a macrolanguage to me, but also as though it warrants
further research.
Is
it acceptable for the JAC to =change= the assignment of an identifier from an
existing meaning to a new meaning, thus making all previous uses of that code
inaccurate (and there are already a current body of users to consider)?? That
breaks Part 3's rules for how it will be maintained. How many other languages
would like to have a more mnemonic identifier, but the best one was already
taken (like American Sign Language)?
-Joan
Spanne
SIL
International
|
Håvard Hjulstad
<[log in to unmask]> 03/23/2006 04:20 PM
|
|
Dear JAC members,
Below
please find a proposal to encode N'Ko.
As
far as I can see, the item is not encoded in ISO 639-3 or the Linguasphere
Registry. The N'Ko script has been encoded in ISO 15924. There is clearly an
urgent need for encoding in ISO 639.
The
concept of a "compromise dialect between a number of other languages"
(as stated in the proposal) is quite interesting from a linguistic point of
view. Does it mean that N'Ko is some sort of macrolanguage? The use of
"literary dialect" may possibly misleadingly suggest that N'Ko isn't
an individual language in its own right. I am sure that JAC members would
welcome some enlightenment on this point.
As
to identifier, "nko" is taken in ISO 639-3 (as the proposer states),
while "nqo" is available. Does the JAC wish to change the assignment
of nko to Nkonya?
And
"the proposer" is of course Michael Everson, who is well versed in
our workings.
Discussion
please (until 14 April).
Håvard
********
ORIGINAL PROPOSAL ********
This
data was submitted on: Monday, March 6, 2006 at 13:24:37
lang_in_eng
= N'Ko
lang_in_fre
= n'ko
ref_where_found_1
= http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2765.pdf
lang_in_vern
= n'ko
ref_where_found_2
= http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2765.pdf
trans_lit
= conventional romanization
evidence
= There are many more than 50 documents published in N'Ko. There are monthly
newspapers, dictionaries, grammars, history books, science books, and so on.
The following agencies certainly have more than 50 documents:
Journal culturel de l'Association ICRA-N'KO B.P. 1119
TEL: 224-46-45-95
ICRA-N'KO - Association pour l'Impulsion et la Coordination des Recherches sur
l'Alphabet N'Ko Executive Director: Kobinko Bintou Burama Kaba B.P. 1119
Tel: (224) 46-30-44, (224) 46-45-95 Fax: (224) 46-27-44
Sanoussy fiman Diané
Director, Central N'ko Bookseller Lérada B.P. 1119 Quartier Coleah
Tel: (224) 46-45-95, (224) 41-36-33
[log in to unmask]
ATP - Association des Tradithérapeutes et Pharmacologues
Tel: (224) 44-38-33
addinfo
= N'Ko is a literary dialect written with the N'Ko script. It is a
"compromise" dialect between a number of other languages, all of
which may have their own codes. The N'Ko script is used to write the N'Ko
literary language, which is written by speakers of Bambara, Mandinka, Djula,
etc. The N'Ko language is different from each of those.
A code for the N'Ko language is urgently required for CLDR implementation and
support. I request the code "nko" though this is assigned to Nkonya
in the draft for 639-3. If this cannot be changed, "nqo" is
available.
request_addition
= ISO 639-2 only
2_code_suggestion
=
3_code_suggestion
= nko
submit_name
= Michael Everson
submit_email
= [log in to unmask]
submit_status
= I am a software developer working on font and CLDR implementation for N'Ko. I
proposed the encoding of the N'Ko script in ISO/IEC 10646. I am working with
members of the N'Ko community to help support their efforts to get their
language online.