Re: [Ltru] RE: ISO 639-2 decision: "mis"

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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