Re: Armenian (was: Re: ISO 639-3 changes, part 3)

John Cowan wrote:

> 'hyx' is not a language code (it represents the Armenic language
> family, just as 'gem' represents the Germanic language family), and
> like other 639-5 codes, it cannot be used as a BCP 47 language tag.

Of course it (and they) can:

Type: language
Subtag: hyx
Description: Armenian (family)
Added: 2009-07-29
Scope: collection

Whether it's a good idea to use subtags based on collection codes in 
language tags is another question. For most, it's not; this may be one 
of the few exceptions.

> If the RA decides to create a macrolanguage code for Armenian
> (macrolanguage), that's another matter, but they haven't done so.

True, and even though we are generally using "macrolanguage" in its 
correct 639-3 sense here -- sometimes considered to be a single 
language, sometimes more than one -- I hope we all continue to be very 
careful with it. It is a 639-3/RA classification and only the RA can 
make the decision. Collection codes in general are not macrolanguages.

--
Doug Ewell | Thornton, CO, US | ewellic.org