>Yes the standard is incomplete but 437 ISO 639 languages is a start.
Well, after giving it careful scrutiny, I'd say ISO 639-2 actually only
has identifiers for around 300 modern languages, a couple of dozen
historic forms of those languages (they'd use the same name as the modern
form) and a handful of unique ancient languages, and then a hundred or so
identifiers for groups of languages. Yes, it's a start, but it's
usefulness is hindered by the fact that, given a particular code and
associated name, its often very hard and sometimes impossible to really
know what it's referring to.
- Peter
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Peter Constable
Non-Roman Script Initiative, SIL International
7500 W. Camp Wisdom Rd., Dallas, TX 75236, USA
Tel: +1 972 708 7485
E-mail: <peter_constable@sil.org>
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