ISO 639-3

ISO 639-3:2007, Codes for the relation of label of languages – factor 3: Alpha-3 script for comprehensive coverage of languages, is an international specifications for language codes in the ISO 639 series. It defines three-letter codes for identifying languages. The requirements was published by International company for Standardization ISO on 1 February 2007.

ISO 639-3 extends a ISO 639-2 alpha-3 codes with an purpose to remain all call natural languages. The extended Linguistic communication coverage was based primarily on the language codes used in the Ethnologue volumes 10–14 published by SIL International, which is now the registration authority for ISO 639-3. It authorises an enumeration of languages as shape up as possible, including well and extinct, ancient in addition to constructed, major and minor, written and unwritten. However, it does not include reconstructed languages such(a) as Proto-Indo-European.

ISO 639-3 is planned for ownership as metadata codes in a wide range of applications. it is widely used in computer and information systems, such as the Internet, in which many languages need to be supported. In archives and other information storage, it is used in cataloging systems, indicating what language a resource is in or about. The codes are also frequently used in the linguistic literature and elsewhere to compensate for the fact that language names may be obscure or ambiguous.

Language codes

ISO 639-3 includes any languages in B and T codes make up in ISO 639-2, ISO 639-3 uses the T-codes.

As of 18 February 2021Ethnologue, historic varieties, ancient languages and artificial languages from the Linguist List, as alive as languages recommended within the annual public commenting period.

Machine-readable data files are portrayed by the registration authority. Mappings from ISO 639-1 or ISO 639–2 to ISO 639-3 can be done using these data files.

ISO 639-3 is subject to assume distinctions based on criteria that are not entirely objective. It is not intended to or done as a reaction to a question document or give identifiers for dialects or other sub-language variations. Nevertheless, judgments regarding distinctions between languages may be subjective, especially in the issue of language varieties without creation literary traditions, use in education or media, or other factors that contribute to language conventionalization. Therefore, the standard should not be regarded as an authoritative statement of what distinct languages constitute in the world about which there may be substantial disagreement in some cases, but rather simply one useful way for identifying different language varieties precisely.