ISO 639-2:1998, Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 2: Alpha-3 code, is the second part of the ISO 639 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 entries in the list of ISO 639-2 codes.
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.
Contents 1 B and T codes 2 Scopes and types 2.1 Special situations 2.2 Collective language codes 3 See also 4 External links // B and T codesWhile most languages are given one code by the standard, twenty 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 feature, and a "terminological" code (ISO 639-2/T), which is derived from the native name for the language. Each of these twenty languages is also included in the ISO 639-1 standard. (There were 22 B codes; scc and scr are now deprecated.)
In general the T codes are favored; ISO 639-3 uses ISO 639-2/T. However, ISO 15924 derives its codes when possible from ISO 639-2/B.
Scopes and typesScopes:
Individual languages Macrolanguages Collections of languages Dialects Reserved for local use Special situationsTypes (for individual languages):
Living languages Extinct languages Ancient languages Historic languages Constructed languages Special situationsThere 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 language codesSome 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 language codes and are excluded from ISO 639-3. For a definition of macrolanguages and collective languages see [1].
The collective language codes in ISO 639-2 are listed below.
The following two codes are not (yet) identified as collective codes in ISO 639-2 (and ISO 639-5), but are identified as such by the ISO 639-3 registry:
bih Bihari (has the ISO 639-1 code bh) him HimachaliCodes registered for 639-2 that are listed as collective codes in ISO 639-5 (and collective codes by name in ISO 639-2):
afa Afro-Asiatic languages alg Algonquian languages apa Apache languages art artificial languages ath Athapascan languages aus Australian languages bad Banda languages bai Bamileke languages bat Baltic languages ber Berber languages bnt Bantu languages btk Batak languages cai Central American Indian languages cau Caucasian languages cel Celtic languages cmc Chamic languages cpe creoles and pidgins, English-based cpf creoles and pidgins, French-based cpp creoles and pidgins, Portuguese-based crp creoles and pidgins cus Cushitic languages day Land Dayak languages dra Dravidian languages fiu Finno-Ugrian languages gem Germanic languages ijo Ijo languages inc Indic languages ine Indo-European languages ira Iranian languages iro Iroquoian languages kar Karen languages khi Khoisan languages kro Kru languages map Austronesian languages mkh Mon-Khmer languages mno Manobo languages mun Munda languages myn Mayan languages nah Nahuatl languages nai North American Indian languages nic Niger-Kordofanian languages nub Nubian languages oto Otomian languages paa Papuan languages phi Philippine languages pra Prakrit languages roa Romance languages sai South American Indian languages sal Salishan languages sem Semitic languages sgn sign languages sio Siouan languages sit Sino-Tibetan languages sla Slavic languages smi Sami languages son Songhai languages ssa Nilo-Saharan languages tai Tai languages tup Tupi languages tut Altaic languages wak Wakashan languages wen Sorbian languages ypk Yupik languages znd Zande languagesSpecial codes in ISO 639-2:
und undetermined (language) mis uncoded language mul multiple languages zxx no linguistic content, not applicable See also List of ISO 639-2 codes Language code v • d • e ISO 639 and ISO 639 macrolanguageISO 639-1 list of codes
ISO 639-2 list of codes
ISO 639-3 list of codes
ISO 639-4 -
ISO 639-5 list of codes
ISO 639-6 -
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