ISO 639-2:1998 Codes for the representation of names of languages Part 2: Alpha-3 code is the second part of the ISO 639 standard which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. The three-letter codes given for each language in this part of the standard are referred to as "Alpha-3" codes. There are 464 entries in the list of ISO 639-2 codes.

The US Library of Congress is the registration authority for ISO 639-2 (referred to as ISO 639-2/RA). As registration authority the LOC receives and reviews proposed changes; they also have representation on the ISO 639-RA Joint Advisory Committee responsible for maintaining the ISO 639 code tables.

Work was begun on the ISO 639-2 standard in 1989 because the ISO 639-1 standard which gives two-letter codes for languages would not be able to accommodate a sufficient number of languages. The ISO 639-2 standard was first released in 1998. Contents 1 B and T codes 2 Scopes and types 2.1 Special situations 2.2 Collective language codes 3 See also 4 External links B and T codes

While most languages are given one code by the standard twenty of the languages described have two three-letter codes a "bibliographic" code (ISO 639-2/B) which is derived from the English name for the language and was a necessary legacy feature and a "terminological" code (ISO 639-2/T) which is derived from the native name for the language. Each of these twenty languages is also included in the ISO 639-1 standard. (There were 22 B codes; scc and scr are now deprecated.)

In general the T codes are favored; ISO 639-3 uses ISO 639-2/T. However ISO 15924 derives its codes when possible from ISO 639-2/B. Scopes and types

Scopes: Individual languages Macrolanguages Collections of languages Dialects Reserved for local use Special situations

Types (for individual languages): Living languages Extinct languages Ancient languages Historic languages Constructed languages Special situations

There are codes for special situations: mis is listed as "uncoded languages" mul (for multiple languages) is applied when several languages are used and it is not practical to specify all the appropriate language codes The interval from qaa to qtz is reserved and is not used in the standard und (for undetermined) is used in situations in which a language or languages must be indicated but the language cannot be identified. zxx is listed in the code list as "no linguistic content" (added 2006-01-11) Collective language codes

Some ISO 639-2 codes that are commonly used for languages do not precisely represent a particular language or some related languages (as the above macrolanguages). They are regarded as collective language codes and are excluded from ISO 639-3. For a definition of macrolanguages and collective languages see 1. The collective language codes in ISO 639-2 are listed below. The following two codes are identified as collective codes in ISO 639-2 but are (at present) missing from ISO 639-5: bih Bihari (has the ISO 639-1 code bh) him Himachali Codes registered for 639-2 that are listed as collective codes in ISO 639-5 (and collective codes by name in ISO 639-2): afa Afro-Asiatic languages alg Algonquian languages apa Apache languages art artificial languages ath Athapascan languages aus Australian languages bad Banda languages bai Bamileke languages bat Baltic languages ber Berber languages bnt Bantu languages btk Batak languages cai Central American Indian languages cau Caucasian languages cel Celtic languages cmc Chamic languages col Shilluk language cpe creoles and pidgins English-based cpf creoles and pidgins French-based cpp creoles and pidgins Portuguese-based crp creoles and pidgins cus Cushitic languages day Land Dayak languages dra Dravidian languages fiu Finno-Ugrian languages gem Germanic languages ijo Ijo languages inc Indic languages ine Indo-European languages ira Iranian languages iro Iroquoian languages kar Karen languages khi Khoisan languages kro Kru languages map Austronesian languages mkh Mon-Khmer languages mno Manobo languages mun Munda languages myn Mayan languages nah Nahuatl languages nai North American Indian languages nic Niger-Kordofanian languages nub Nubian languages oto Otomian languages paa Papuan languages phi Philippine languages pra Prakrit languages roa Romance languages sai South American Indian languages sal Salishan languages sem Semitic languages sgn sign languages sio Siouan languages sit Sino-Tibetan languages sla Slavic languages smi Sami languages son Songhai languages ssa Nilo-Saharan languages tai Tai languages tup Tupi languages tut Altaic languages wak Wakashan languages wen Sorbian languages ypk Yupik languages znd Zande languages Special codes in ISO 639-2: und undetermined (language) mis uncoded language mul multiple languages zxx no linguistic content not applicable See also List of ISO 639-2 codes Language code v d eISO 639 and ISO 639 macrolanguage     ISO 639-1 list of codes languages ISO 639-2 list of codes languages ISO 639-3 list of codes languages ISO 639-4 guidelines ISO 639-5 list of codes families/groups ISO 639-6 variants v d eISO standards Lists: List of ISO standards  List of ISO romanizations  List of IEC standards Categories: Category:ISO standards  Category:OSI protocols 1 to 9999 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  9  16  31 (-0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 -7 -8 -9 -10 -11 -12 -13)  128  216  217  226  228  233  259  269  302  306  428  639 (-1 -2 -3 -5 -6)  646  690  732  764  843  898  1000  1004  1007  1073-1  1413  1538  1745  2014  2015  2022  2108  2145  2146  2281  2709  2711  2788  3029  3103  3166 (-1 -2 -3)  3297  3307  3602  3864  3901  3977  4031  4157  4217  5218  5775  5776  5964  6166  6344  6346  6425  6429  6438  6523  6709  7001  7002  7098  7185  7498  7736  7810  7811  7812  7813  7816  8000  8217  8571  8583  8601  8632  8652  8691  8807  8820-5  8859 (-1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 -7 -8 -9 -10 -11 -12 -13 -14 -15 -16)  8879  9000  9075  9126  9241  9362  9407  9506  9529  9564  9594  9660  9897  9945  9984  9985  9995 10000 to 19999 10006  10118-3  10160  10161  10165  10179  10206  10303  10303-11  10303-21  10303-22  10303-238  10303-28  10383  10487  10585  10589  10646  10664  10746  10861  10957  10962  10967  11073  11170  11179  11404  11544  11783  11784  11785  11801  11898  11940  11941  11941 (TR)  11992  12006  12182:1998  12207  12234-2  13211 (-1 -2)  13216  13250  13399  13406-2  13407  13450  13485  13490  13567  13568  13584  13616  14000  14031  14396  14443  14496-10  14496-14  14644 (-1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 -7 -8 -9)  14649  14651  14698  14698-2  14750  14882  14971  15022  15189  15288  15291  15292  15408  15444  15445  15438  15504  15511  15686  15693  15706  15706-2  15707  15897  15919  15924  15926  15926 WIP  15930  16023  16262  16750  17024  17025  17369  17799  18000  18004  18014  18245  18629  18916  19005  19011  19092-1  19092-2  19114  19115  19125  19136  19439  19501:2005  19752  19757  19770  19775-1  19794-5 20000+ 20000  20022  21000  21047  21827:2002  22000  23270  23360  24613  24707  25178  26000  26300  26324  27000 series  27000  27001  27002  27003  27004  27005  27006  27007  27729  27799  29199-2  29500  31000  32000  38500  42010  80000 See also: All articles beginning with "ISO" External links ISO 639-2/RA Homepage ISO 639-2/RA Change Notice Details at Library of Congress website