ISO 639-2
371390
224332927
2008-07-08T11:30:52Z
Sl
126396
Remove BIK. It is obviously listed as macrolanguage
'''[[ISO 639]]-2''' is the second part of the [[ISO 639]] [[International standard|standard]], which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. The three-letter codes given for each language in this part of the standard are referred to as "Alpha-3" codes. There are 464 language codes in the list.
The [[U.S.]] [[Library of Congress]] is the registration authority for ISO 639-2 (referred to as ISO 639-2/RA). As registration authority, the LOC receives and reviews proposed changes; they also have representation on the ISO 639-RA Joint Advisory Committee responsible for maintaining the ISO 639 code tables.
Work was begun on the ISO 639-2 standard in [[1989]], due to the fact that the [[ISO 639-1]] standard, which gives two-letter codes for languages, would not be able to accommodate a sufficient number of languages. The ISO 639-2 standard was first released in [[1998]].
While most languages are given one code by the standard, twenty-two of the languages described have two three-letter codes, a "bibliographic" code (ISO 639-2/B), which is derived from the English name for the language and was a necessary [[legacy systems|legacy]] feature, and a "terminological" code (ISO 639-2/T), which is derived from the native name for the language. Each of these twenty-two languages is also included in the ISO 639-1 standard.
In addition, there are codes for special situations:
*'''mis''' is listed as "uncoded languages"
*'''mul''' (for multiple languages) is applied when several languages are used and it is not practical to specify all the appropriate language codes
*The interval from '''qaa''' to '''qtz''' is reserved and is not used in the standard
*'''und''' (for undetermined) is used in situations in which a language or languages must be indicated but the language cannot be identified.
*'''zxx''' is listed in the code list as "no linguistic content" (added [[2006-01-11]])
==Collective languages==
Some ISO 639-2 codes that are commonly used for languages do not precisely represent a particular language or some related languages (as the above macrolanguages). They are regarded as collective languages (or collectives) and are excluded from [[ISO 639-3]].
For a definition of macrolanguages and collective languages see [http://www.sil.org/iso639-3/scope.asp].
Collective languages and their ISO 639-2 codes are:
===Not obviously a collective in 639-2===
*<tt>bad</tt> [[Banda languages|Banda]]
*<tt>bih</tt> [[Bihari languages|Bihari]] (has an ISO 639-1 code)
*<tt>btk</tt> [[Batak languages|Batak]]
*<tt>day</tt> [[Dayak languages|Dayak]]
*<tt>him</tt> [[Himachali languages|Himachali]]
*<tt>ijo</tt> [[Ijo languages|Ijo]]
*<tt>kar</tt> [[Karen languages|Karen]]
*<tt>kro</tt> [[Kru languages|Kru]]
*<tt>nah</tt> [[Nahuatl languages|Nahuatl]]
*<tt>son</tt> [[Songhai languages|Songhai]]
*<tt>znd</tt> [[Zande languages|Zande]]
[[Bihari languages|Bihari]] (bih) is marked as collective but on the other hand has an ISO 639-1 code (bh) which should only be for individual languages. The reason is that individual Bihari languages received an ISO 639-2 code, which makes Bihari a language family for the purposes of ISO 639-2, but a single language for the purposes of ISO 639-1.
===Obviously intending to cover several languages===
*<tt>art</tt> [[Artificial languages]] (Other)
*<tt>afa</tt> [[Afro-Asiatic languages|Afro-Asiatic]] (Other)
*<tt>alg</tt> [[Algonquian languages]]
*<tt>tut</tt> [[Altaic languages|Altaic]] (Other)
*<tt>map</tt> [[Austronesian languages|Austronesian]] (Other)
*<tt>bat</tt> [[Baltic languages|Baltic]] (Other)
*<tt>bnt</tt> [[Bantu languages|Bantu]] (Other)
*<tt>ber</tt> [[Berber languages|Berber]] (Other)
*<tt>cau</tt> [[Caucasian languages|Caucasian]] (Other)
*<tt>cai</tt> Central American Indian (Other)
*<tt>crp</tt> [[Creole language|Creoles]] and [[Pidgin]]s (Other)
*<tt>cpe</tt> Creoles and Pidgins, English-based (Other)
*<tt>cpf</tt> Creoles and Pidgins, French-based (Other)
*<tt>cpp</tt> Creoles and Pidgins, Portuguese-based (Other)
*<tt>cus</tt> [[Cushitic languages|Cushitic]] (Other)
*<tt>dra</tt> [[Dravidian languages|Dravidian]] (Other)
*<tt>fiu</tt> [[Finno-Ugrian languages|Finno-Ugrian]] (Other)
*<tt>gem</tt> [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] (Other)
*<tt>inc</tt> [[Indic languages|Indic]] (Other)
*<tt>ine</tt> [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] (Other)
*<tt>ira</tt> [[Iranian languages|Iranian]] (Other)
*<tt>khi</tt> [[Khoisan languages|Khoisan]] (Other)
*<tt>mkh</tt> [[Mon-Khmer languages|Mon-Khmer]] (Other)
*<tt>nic</tt> [[Niger-Kordofanian languages|Niger-Kordofanian]] (Other)
*<tt>ssa</tt> [[Nilo-Saharan languages|Nilo-Saharan]] (Other)
*<tt>nai</tt> North American Indian (Other)
*<tt>paa</tt> [[Papuan languages|Papuan]] (Other)
*<tt>phi</tt> [[Philippine languages|Philippine]] (Other)
*<tt>roa</tt> [[Romance languages|Romance]] (Other)
*<tt>sgn</tt> [[sign language]]s
*<tt>smi</tt> [[Sami languages]] (Other)
*<tt>sem</tt> [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] (Other)
*<tt>sit</tt> [[Sino-Tibetan languages|Sino-Tibetan]] (Other)
*<tt>sla</tt> [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] (Other)
*<tt>sai</tt> South American Indian (Other)
*<tt>tai</tt> [[Tai languages|Tai]] (Other)
==B and T codes==
If possible [[ISO 15924]] derives their codes from ISO 639-2 and where there are two codes ISO 639-2/B is favored.
[[ISO 639-3]] uses ISO 639-2/T.
==See also==
*[[List of ISO 639-2 codes]]
*[[Language code]]
==External links==
*[http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/ ISO 639-2/RA Homepage]
*[http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/code_changes.php ISO 639-2/RA Change Notice]
*[http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/normtext.html Details] at [[Library of Congress]] website
[[Category:ISO standards|#00639]]
[[Category:ISO 639]]
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