On 07/29/2002 03:56:36 PM "Addison Phillips [wM]" wrote:
>Nonetheless, if you glance at the "SpecialCasing" file in Unicode, you
will
>note that almost without exception the entries are locale driven. The
first
>stop in creating a new orthography (or computerizing an existing one,
perhaps
>from the days of the typewriter), for my money would probably be to get
ISO-639
>to issue the language a 2-letter code so you can have locale (and Unicode
>character database) data tagged with it ;-).
OK, now you've hit a hot button: The industry needs to wake up to the fact
that the requirement that a language have an ISO-639 2-letter code before a
locale can be created is a dead end. There just aren't enough 2-letter
codes to go around, and ISO 639-2 has restrictive requirements for doling
out 2-letter codes -- it wasn't created for the benefit of locale
implementers, but for the benefit of terminologists. Luise�o and Tongva
simply are not candidates. This very issue was raised with the relevant ISO
committee in relation to Hawaiian: a 2-letter code was requested
specifically because someone was trying to get a Unix implementation
developed and was told by the engineers that it couldn't be done without an
ISO 2-letter code. Well, I'm pretty sure Hawaiian isn't going to get it,
because it doesn't meet the requirements for ISO 639-1. Instead of asking
for a 2-letter code, the engineers should have been looking at what it
would take to make the software support a 3-letter code (which already
exists in ISO 639-2).
- Peter
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peter Constable
Non-Roman Script Initiative, SIL International
7500 W. Camp Wisdom Rd., Dallas, TX 75236, USA
Tel: +1 972 708 7485
E-mail: <[email protected]>
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