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<p>Dear colleagues,</p>
<p>I have found myself in an unexpected position where colleagues
from SIL International have approached me about changes to
language codes in ISO639-3 - specifically, they've received
several requests to have a code added for Northwestern Mari, and
wanted to know if that is a legitimate classification. In my
interactions with the responsible person, I mentioned that the way
Mari is handled is less than optimal, and ... she tells me that
this can actually be fixed. I just need to tell her what changes
she should request.<br>
</p>
<p>Before I request changes that would be unpopular in the wider
scene on my own initiative, I wanted to ask if: ( a ) anyone has
any objections to my suggestions regarding Mari given below, ( b )
anyone has any similar requests for other Uralic languages that I
should pass on, while I have a live communication channel with the
right person.</p>
<p>-----------------------</p>
<p>Currently, there are three codes for Mari:</p>
<p>chm - Mari (macrocode)<br>
<span class="field-content">mrj - Western Mari<br>
mhr - Eastern Mari</span></p>
<p><span class="field-content">The labeling is not great as mhr
first and foremost refers to the Meadow Mari literary standard
(used primarily in the eastern parts of Mari El), and not the
Eastern Mari dialects (spoken by the diaspora in and around the
Ural mountains east of Mari El). Since the Eastern Mari diaspora
does use the Meadow literary standard, Russian- and
Mari-language sources in recent years make reference to
"Meadow-Eastern Mari" when talking about the literary standard.
This label could be adopted for mhr, while mrj could be renamed
"Hill Mari" to match contemporary usage. ("Western Mari" isn't
as problematic as "Eastern Mari" as there is no ambiguity here,
but it is still a somewhat dated nomenclature that doesn't
represent usage by the speaker community.)</span></p>
<p><span class="field-content">A new code could be created for
Northwestern Mari as there is a distinct literary norm - it
doesn't see much usage and has no official standing, but it
exists. As there are no attempts to create a distinct literary
norm for Eastern Mari (that I know of), the criteria for an own
code are not currently met (there has to be either lacking
mutual intelligibility, or a distinct literary norm, for there
to be a code), and Meadow and Eastern Mari should currently stay
subsumed under mhr.</span></p>
<p>-----------------------<br>
<span class="field-content">All the best,<br>
Jeremy</span></p>
<p><span class="field-content"><br>
</span></p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Jeremy Bradley, Ph.D.
University of Vienna
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.mari-language.com">http://www.mari-language.com</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:jeremy.moss.bradley@univie.ac.at">jeremy.moss.bradley@univie.ac.at</a>
Office address:
Institut EVSL
Abteilung Finno-Ugristik
Universität Wien
Campus AAKH, Hof 7-2
Spitalgasse 2-4
1090 Wien
AUSTRIA
Mobile: +43-664-99-31-788
Skype: jeremy.moss.bradley</pre>
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