[Ura-list] ISO639-3: Any requests?

[Christopher Culver]

Dear colleagues,

I have long felt an ISO639-3 code for Northwestern Mari to be a
desideratum.  Regardless of whether the NW Mari literary standard is
actually used, we would all benefit from having an unambiguous way to
mark up that portion of our text corpora, our lexical resources, our
blogging on Mari linguistics, etc. that represents Northwestern Mari.

Surely the active use of a literary standard by speakers isn’t a
prerequisite for an ISO639-3 code. A number of languages for which an
ISO639-3 code has been assigned, are the province only of specialists
(linguists/archaeologists).

Separate ISO639-3 codes for Hill, Meadow and Northwestern Mari are, in
my opinion, the priority; this is the top-level division recognized for
half a century now. As for distinguishing Meadow Mari from Eastern Mari,
this is perhaps less important inasmuch as the differences between those
varieties are much fewer for both linguists and Mari speakers alike, and
active Eastern Mari speakers are comfortable with consuming virtually
all their written material in the Meadow Mari standard.

Christopher Culver

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