Re: [Ltru] Applicability Statement for the IANA registry established by 4646

[Mark Davis ⌛ <[e-mail]>]

Looks good, with one additional suggestion.

Mark


On Tue, Jun 23, 2009 at 18:31, Phillips, Addison <[e-mail]> wrote:

> language tags, following rules described in this document. Language tags
> are intended for use as metadata that describes the linguistic attributes of
> "information objects" (content, which, in addition to text, can include most
> media formats such as video or audio).
>

I suggest a simplification of the middle sentence:

Language tags are designed for indicating linguistic attributes of various
content, including not only text but also most media formats such as video
or audio.


> They also form the basis for language and locale negotiation in various
> protocols and APIs.
>
> The registry is therefore applicable to many applications that need some
> form of language identification, with these limitations:
>
>  - It is not designed to be the sole data source in the creation of a
> language selection user interface. For example, the registry does not
> contain translations for subtag descriptions or for tags composed from the
> subtags. Sources for localized data based on the registry are generally
> available, notably [CLDR]. Nor does the registry indicate which subtag
> combinations are particularly useful or relevant.
>
>   - It does not provide information indicating relationships between
> different languages, such as might be used in a user interface to select
> language tags hierarchically, regionally, or on some other organizational
> model.
>
>    - It does not supply information about potential overlap between
> different language tags, as the notion of what constitutes a language is not
> precise: several different language tags might be reasonable choices for the
> same given piece of content.
>
>    - It does not contain information about appropriate fallback choices
> when performing language negotiation. A good fallback language might be
> linguistically unrelated to the specified language. The fact that one
> language is often used as a backup language for another is usually a result
> of outside factors, such as geography, history, or culture--factors which
> might not apply in all cases. For example, most people who use Breton (a
> Celtic language used in the Northwest of France) would probably prefer to be
> served French (a Romance language) if Breton isn't available.
> --
>