L2/04-023

Title: Possible change in ISO 639-2/T to be considered by ISO 639/RA-JAC
Source: Peter Constable
Date: January 20, 2004

During the ISO 639/RA-JAC meeting on Jan 15-16, 2004, there was discussion  
of a legacy item in ISO 639-2 that was due to come up for a decision after  
Nov. 11, 2003, that involved a potential change in the ISO 639-2/T  
identifier for Spanish.

In ISO 639-2, there are 22 cases of two different identifiers existing for  
a single language. These are divided into two sets that, with the  
remainder of identifiers, are known as "ISO 639-2/T" and "ISO 639-2/B". The  
"T" identifiers were based on the indigenous name for the language while  
the "B" identifiers were based on the English name for the language.

When ISO 639-2 was developed, there was a desire to use "esp" for Spanish  
in the "T" set. There was a conflict, however, since there was pre-existing  
usage within the MARC library standard of "esp" for Esperonto. The  
librarians acknowledge the preference of using "esp" for Spanish in ISO  
639-2/T, however, and agreed that MARC would change the identifier for  
Esperonto to "epo". They required a period of time for transition, however.

Thus, when ISO 639-2:1988 was published, the identifier for Esperonto was  
set to "epo", and the identifier for Spanish (for both "B" and "T" sets)  
was set to "spa"; "esp" has up to now not been used in ISO 639-2. The  
following note, however, was added to the entries for  
"spa"/"Spanish"/"espagnol" in the code tables:

"After a period of five years from the publication of this standard, esp  
may be used as the ISO 639-2/T (terminology code) for Spanish."

At this point in time, the ISO 639/RA-JAC is committed to maintaining  
stability in the ISO 639 standards. This note in ISO 639-2:1988 has created  
a special situation, however, since it can be interpreted by readers to  
mean that the "T" identifier for Spanish not only may but effectively will  
become "esp" after five years (on the reading that implementers are  
permitted to use it as such at that time). (Whether that was the intended  
interpretation when ISO 639-2:1988 was published is irrelevant.)

Thus, this matter will soon be presented to the full voting membership of  
the ISO 639/RA-JAC for a formal decision. Possible outcomes are (i) the "T"  
identifier will be changed to "esp", (ii) the "T" identifier will remain  
"spa" and "esp" will be considered available for assignment, or (iii) the  
"T" identifier will remain "spa" and "esp" will be permanently reserved.

It should be noted that a decision to change the "T" identifier for  
Spanish would not have any effect on RFC 3066 and protocols that reference  
it since the ISO 639-1 two-letter identifier, "es", is used in those  
contexts.

At this time, no decision has yet been made by the ISO 639/RA-JAC. If UTC  
or L2 wish to provide a contribution to this decision, I suggest that they  
submit that to a member or observer of the JAC.