Suggested language for "mis" (Re: [Ltru] RE: ISO 639-2 decision: "mis")

That's going in the right direction, but doesn't not given enough guidance
as to why to avoid it. My suggested language:

The 'mis' (Uncoded) primary language subtag SHOULD NOT be used. According to
ISO 639, it is used to identify linguistic content whose language is known
but which does not *currently* have a corresponding subtag. It is thus
intrinsically unstable -- the addition of other codes in the future can
render its application invalid at any point without any warning -- and hence
incompatible with the stability goals of BCP 47. It is thus always
preferable to use other subtags: either "und" or -- with prior agreement --
private use subtags.

Mark

On 6/15/07, Addison Phillips <addison@yahoo-inc.com> wrote:
>
> Randy Presuhn wrote:
> >
> > I disagree with the phrase "or when the range of language tags supported
> in
> > a given application are constrained."  If the application knows what
> language
> > it is, it should use the correct tag, if one exists.  If the application
> doesn't
> > know what language is in use, "und" would be correct.
>
> That's nice in theory. But some applications use a subset of tags (I
> used the MARC21 example in the text) and then transmit them through
> another system (where the larger range of RFC 4646 is available). Those
> systems only know that the content is 'mis' (because it is tagged that
> way) and not what the miscellaneous language happens to be.
>
> We don't define what subtags applications are capable of supporting or
> required to support elsewhere. We should focus on providing appropriate
> guidance (which is not to use the subtag). I note that Peter's use of
> MAY doesn't reflect the current draft.
>
> I propose that we modify the draft to say the following. Please note:
> the paragraph format is consistent with the other items in that section.
> I think that folks should glance at that text when proposing edits.
>
> --
> The 'mis' (Uncoded) primary language subtag is used to identify
> linguistic content whose language is known but cannot otherwise be
> identified. It is intended for use when the range of language tags is
> constrained or for languages not otherwise categorized. It SHOULD NOT be
> used except when other means of identifying the language are not
> available. For example, a library application might be limited to the
> set of subtags defined for use by the [MARC21] standard. The 'mis'
> subtag might be used by this application for languages not included in
> that set.
> --
>
> Comments?
>
> Addison
>
> --
> Addison Phillips
> Globalization Architect -- Yahoo! Inc.
> Chair -- W3C Internationalization Core WG
>
> Internationalization is an architecture.
> It is not a feature.
>
>
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-- 
Mark