NAME

I18N::LangTags::List -- tags and names for human languages

SYNOPSIS

  use I18N::LangTags::List;
  print "Parlez-vous... ", join(', ',
      I18N::LangTags::List::name('elx') || 'unknown_language',
      I18N::LangTags::List::name('ar-Kw') || 'unknown_language',
      I18N::LangTags::List::name('en') || 'unknown_language',
      I18N::LangTags::List::name('en-CA') || 'unknown_language',
    ), "?\n";

prints:

  Parlez-vous... Elamite, Kuwait Arabic, English, Canadian English?

DESCRIPTION

This module provides a function I18N::LangTags::List::name( langtag ) that takes a language tag (see I18N::LangTags) and returns the best attempt at an English name for it, or undef if it can't make sense of the tag.

The function I18N::LangTags::List::name(...) is not exported.

This module also provides a function I18N::LangTags::List::is_decent( langtag ) that returns true iff the language tag is syntactically valid and is for general use (like "fr" or "fr-ca", below). That is, it returns false for tags that are syntactically invalid and for tags, like "aus", that are listed in brackets below. This function is not exported.

The map of tags-to-names that it uses is accessable as %I18N::LangTags::List::Name, and it's the same as the list that follows in this documentation, which should be useful to you even if you don't use this module.

ABOUT LANGUAGE TAGS

Internet language tags, as defined in RFC 3066, are a formalism for denoting human languages. The two-letter ISO 639-1 language codes are well known (as "en" for English), as are their forms when qualified by a country code ("en-US"). Less well-known are the arbitrary-length non-ISO codes (like "i-mingo"), and the recently (in 2001) introduced three-letter ISO-639-2 codes.

Remember these important facts:

Language tags are not locale IDs. A locale ID is written with a "_" instead of a "-", (almost?) always matches m/^\w\w_\w\w\b/, and means something different than a language tag. A language tag denotes a language. A locale ID denotes a language as used in a particular place, in combination with non-linguistic location-specific information such as what currency is used there. Locales also often denote character set information, as in "en_US.ISO8859-1".
Language tags are not for computer languages.
"Dialect" is not a useful term, since there is no objective criterion for establishing when two language-forms are dialects of eachother, or are separate languages.
Language tags are not case-sensitive. en-US, en-us, En-Us, etc., are all the same tag, and denote the same language.
Not every language tag really refers to a single language. Some language tags refer to conditions: i-default (system-message text in English plus maybe other languages), und (undetermined language). Others (notably lots of the three-letter codes) are bibliographic tags that classify whole groups of languages, as with cus "Cushitic (Other)" (i.e., a language that has been classed as Cushtic, but which has no more specific code) or the even less linguistically coherent sai for "South American Indian (Other)". Though useful in bibliography, SUCH TAGS ARE NOT FOR GENERAL USE. For further guidance, email me.
Language tags are not country codes. In fact, they are often distinct codes, as with language tag ja for Japanese, and ISO 3166 country code .jp for Japan.

LIST OF LANGUAGES

The first part of each item is the language tag, between {...}. It is followed by an English name for the language or language-group. Language tags that I judge to be not for general use, are bracketed.

This list is in alphabetical order by English name of the language.

eq Abkhaz

eq Adygei

(Artificial)

[{afa} : Afro-Asiatic (Other)]

(Formerly "aka".)

(Historical)

[{alg} : Algonquian languages]

NOT Algonquin!

[{tut} : Altaic (Other)]

{am} : Amharic

NOT Aramaic!

{i-ami} : Ami

eq Amis. eq 'Amis. eq Pangca.

[{apa} : Apache languages]

{ar} : Arabic

Many forms are mutually un-intelligible in spoken media. Notable forms: {ar-ae} UAE Arabic; {ar-bh} Bahrain Arabic; {ar-dz} Algerian Arabic; {ar-eg} Egyptian Arabic; {ar-iq} Iraqi Arabic; {ar-jo} Jordanian Arabic; {ar-kw} Kuwait Arabic; {ar-lb} Lebanese Arabic; {ar-ly} Libyan Arabic; {ar-ma} Moroccan Arabic; {ar-om} Omani Arabic; {ar-qa} Qatari Arabic; {ar-sa} Sauda Arabic; {ar-sy} Syrian Arabic; {ar-tn} Tunisian Arabic; {ar-ye} Yemen Arabic.

{arc} : Aramaic

NOT Amharic! NOT Samaritan Aramaic!

{arp} : Arapaho

{arn} : Araucanian

{arw} : Arawak

{hy} : Armenian

{an} : Aragonese

[{art} : Artificial (Other)]

{ast} : Asturian

eq Bable.

{as} : Assamese

[{ath} : Athapascan languages]

eq Athabaskan. eq Athapaskan. eq Athabascan.

[{aus} : Australian languages]

[{map} : Austronesian (Other)]

(Formerly "ava".)

eq Zend

{az} : Azerbaijani

eq Azeri

Notable forms: {az-Arab} Azerbaijani in Arabic script; {az-Cyrl} Azerbaijani in Cyrillic script; {az-Latn} Azerbaijani in Latin script.

{ban} : Balinese

[{bat} : Baltic (Other)]

{bal} : Baluchi

{bm} : Bambara

(Formerly "bam".)

[{bai} : Bamileke languages]

{bad} : Banda

[{bnt} : Bantu (Other)]

{bas} : Basa

{ba} : Bashkir

{eu} : Basque

{btk} : Batak (Indonesia)

{bej} : Beja

{be} : Belarusian

eq Belarussian. eq Byelarussian. eq Belorussian. eq Byelorussian. eq White Russian. eq White Ruthenian. NOT Ruthenian!

{bem} : Bemba

{bn} : Bengali

eq Bangla.

[{ber} : Berber (Other)]

eq Bichelamar.

eq Catalán. eq Catalonian.

[{cau} : Caucasian (Other)]

{ceb} : Cebuano

[{cel} : Celtic (Other)]

Notable forms: {cel-gaulish} Gaulish (Historical)

[{cai} : Central American Indian (Other)]

{chg} : Chagatai

(Historical?)

[{cmc} : Chamic languages]

eq Tsalagi

(Historical) NOT Chibchan (which is a language family).

{ny} : Chichewa

eq Nyanja. eq Chinyanja.

{zh} : Chinese

Many forms are mutually un-intelligible in spoken media. Notable forms: {zh-Hans} Chinese, in simplified script; {zh-Hant} Chinese, in traditional script; {zh-tw} Taiwan Chinese; {zh-cn} PRC Chinese; {zh-sg} Singapore Chinese; {zh-mo} Macau Chinese; {zh-hk} Hong Kong Chinese; {zh-guoyu} Mandarin [Putonghua/Guoyu]; {zh-hakka} Hakka [formerly "i-hakka"]; {zh-min} Hokkien; {zh-min-nan} Southern Hokkien; {zh-wuu} Shanghaiese; {zh-xiang} Hunanese; {zh-gan} Gan; {zh-yue} Cantonese.

{chn} : Chinook Jargon

eq Chinook Wawa.

{chp} : Chipewyan

{cho} : Choctaw

{cu} : Church Slavic

eq Old Church Slavonic.

{chk} : Chuukese

eq Trukese. eq Chuuk. eq Truk. eq Ruk.

eq Corse.

NOT Creek! (Formerly "cre".)

{mus} : Creek

NOT Cree!

[{cpe} : English-based Creoles and pidgins (Other)]

[{cpf} : French-based Creoles and pidgins (Other)]

[{cpp} : Portuguese-based Creoles and pidgins (Other)]

[{crp} : Creoles and pidgins (Other)]

{hr} : Croatian

eq Croat.

[{cus} : Cushitic (Other)]

{cs} : Czech

{dak} : Dakota

eq Nakota. eq Latoka.

{da} : Danish

{dar} : Dargwa

{day} : Dayak

{i-default} : Default (Fallthru) Language

Defined in RFC 2277, this is for tagging text (which must include English text, and might/should include text in other appropriate languages) that is emitted in a context where language-negotiation wasn't possible -- in SMTP mail failure messages, for example.

{del} : Delaware

{din} : Dinka

{dv} : Divehi

eq Maldivian. (Formerly "div".)

{doi} : Dogri

NOT Dogrib!

{dgr} : Dogrib

NOT Dogri!

[{dra} : Dravidian (Other)]

{dua} : Duala

{nl} : Dutch

eq Netherlander. Notable forms: {nl-nl} Netherlands Dutch; {nl-be} Belgian Dutch.

{dum} : Middle Dutch (ca.1050-1350)

(Historical)

{dyu} : Dyula

{dz} : Dzongkha

{efi} : Efik

{egy} : Ancient Egyptian

(Historical)

{eka} : Ekajuk

{elx} : Elamite

(Historical)

{en} : English

Notable forms: {en-au} Australian English; {en-bz} Belize English; {en-ca} Canadian English; {en-gb} UK English; {en-ie} Irish English; {en-jm} Jamaican English; {en-nz} New Zealand English; {en-ph} Philippine English; {en-tt} Trinidad English; {en-us} US English; {en-za} South African English; {en-zw} Zimbabwe English.

{enm} : Old English (1100-1500)

(Historical)

{ang} : Old English (ca.450-1100)

eq Anglo-Saxon. (Historical)

{i-enochian} : Enochian (Artificial)

(Artificial)

(Formerly "ewe".)

[{fiu} : Finno-Ugrian (Other)]

eq Finno-Ugric. NOT Ugaritic!

{fon} : Fon

{fr} : French

Notable forms: {fr-fr} France French; {fr-be} Belgian French; {fr-ca} Canadian French; {fr-ch} Swiss French; {fr-lu} Luxembourg French; {fr-mc} Monaco French.

{frm} : Middle French (ca.1400-1600)

(Historical)

{fro} : Old French (842-ca.1400)

(Historical)

(Formerly "ful".)

{gd} : Scots Gaelic

NOT Scots!

eq Galician

(Formerly "lug".)

eq Ge'ez

Notable forms: {de-at} Austrian German; {de-be} Belgian German; {de-ch} Swiss German; {de-de} Germany German; {de-li} Liechtenstein German; {de-lu} Luxembourg German.

{gmh} : Middle High German (ca.1050-1500)

(Historical)

{goh} : Old High German (ca.750-1050)

(Historical)

[{gem} : Germanic (Other)]

{gil} : Gilbertese

{gon} : Gondi

{gor} : Gorontalo

{got} : Gothic

(Historical)

{grb} : Grebo

{grc} : Ancient Greek

(Historical) (Until 15th century or so.)

{el} : Modern Greek

(Since 15th century or so.)

Guaraní

eq Gwichin

eq Haitian Creole

Hawai'ian

(Formerly "iw".)

{hil} : Hiligaynon

{him} : Himachali

(Historical)

(Artificial)

(Formerly "ibo".)

[{inc} : Indic (Other)]

[{ine} : Indo-European (Other)]

{id} : Indonesian

(Formerly "in".)

{inh} : Ingush

{ia} : Interlingua (International Auxiliary Language Association)

(Artificial) NOT Interlingue!

{ie} : Interlingue

(Artificial) NOT Interlingua!

{iu} : Inuktitut

A subform of "Eskimo".

{ik} : Inupiaq

A subform of "Eskimo".

[{ira} : Iranian (Other)]

{ga} : Irish

{mga} : Middle Irish (900-1200)

(Historical)

{sga} : Old Irish (to 900)

(Historical)

[{iro} : Iroquoian languages]

{it} : Italian

Notable forms: {it-it} Italy Italian; {it-ch} Swiss Italian.

{ja} : Japanese

(NOT "jp"!)

{jv} : Javanese

(Formerly "jw" because of a typo.)

{jrb} : Judeo-Arabic

{jpr} : Judeo-Persian

{kbd} : Kabardian

{kab} : Kabyle

{kac} : Kachin

{kl} : Kalaallisut

eq Greenlandic "Eskimo"

{xal} : Kalmyk

{kam} : Kamba

{kn} : Kannada

eq Kanarese. NOT Canadian!

{kr} : Kanuri

(Formerly "kau".)

{krc} : Karachay-Balkar

{kaa} : Kara-Kalpak

{kar} : Karen

{ks} : Kashmiri

{csb} : Kashubian

eq Kashub

eq Cambodian. eq Kampuchean.

[{khi} : Khoisan (Other)]

{kho} : Khotanese

{ki} : Kikuyu

eq Gikuyu.

{kmb} : Kimbundu

{rw} : Kinyarwanda

{ky} : Kirghiz

{i-klingon} : Klingon

(Formerly "kon".)

eq Judeo-Spanish. NOT Ladin (a minority language in Italy).

NOT Lamba!

NOT Lahnda!

eq Laotian.

(Historical) NOT Ladin! NOT Ladino!

{lv} : Latvian

eq Lettish.

{lb} : Letzeburgesch

eq Luxemburgian, eq Luxemburger. (Formerly "i-lux".)

{lez} : Lezghian

{li} : Limburgish

eq Limburger, eq Limburgan. NOT Letzeburgesch!

{ln} : Lingala

{lt} : Lithuanian

{nds} : Low German

eq Low Saxon. eq Low German. eq Low Saxon.

{art-lojban} : Lojban (Artificial)

{loz} : Lozi

{lu} : Luba-Katanga

(Formerly "lub".)

{lua} : Luba-Lulua

{lui} : Luiseno

eq Luiseño.

{lun} : Lunda

{luo} : Luo (Kenya and Tanzania)

{lus} : Lushai

{mk} : Macedonian

eq the modern Slavic language spoken in what was Yugoslavia. NOT the form of Greek spoken in Greek Macedonia!

NOT Malayalam!

NOT Malay!

NOT Mandarin!

eq Meithei.

[{mno} : Manobo languages]

NOT Mari!

NOT Maori!

eq Marshallese.

[{myn} : Mayan languages]

{men} : Mende

{mic} : Micmac

{min} : Minangkabau

{i-mingo} : Mingo

eq the Irquoian language West Virginia Seneca. NOT New York Seneca!

[{mis} : Miscellaneous languages]

Don't use this.

{moh} : Mohawk

{mdf} : Moksha

{mo} : Moldavian

eq Moldovan.

[{mkh} : Mon-Khmer (Other)]

{lol} : Mongo

{mn} : Mongolian

eq Mongol.

{mos} : Mossi

[{mul} : Multiple languages]

Not for normal use.

[{mun} : Munda languages]

{nah} : Nahuatl

{nap} : Neapolitan

{na} : Nauru

{nv} : Navajo

eq Navaho. (Formerly "i-navajo".)

{nd} : North Ndebele

{nr} : South Ndebele

{ng} : Ndonga

{ne} : Nepali

eq Nepalese. Notable forms: {ne-np} Nepal Nepali; {ne-in} India Nepali.

{new} : Newari

{nia} : Nias

[{nic} : Niger-Kordofanian (Other)]

[{ssa} : Nilo-Saharan (Other)]

{niu} : Niuean

{nog} : Nogai

{non} : Old Norse

(Historical)

[{nai} : North American Indian]

Do not use this.

{no} : Norwegian

Note the two following forms:

{nb} : Norwegian Bokmal

eq Bokmål, (A form of Norwegian.) (Formerly "no-bok".)

{nn} : Norwegian Nynorsk

(A form of Norwegian.) (Formerly "no-nyn".)

[{nub} : Nubian languages]

{oc} : Occitan (post 1500)

eq Provençal, eq Provencal

{oj} : Ojibwa

eq Ojibwe. (Formerly "oji".)

{or} : Oriya

{om} : Oromo

{osa} : Osage

{os} : Ossetian; Ossetic

[{oto} : Otomian languages]

Group of languages collectively called "Otomí".

eq Pahlevi

eq Pariwan

(Historical?)

{pag} : Pangasinan

{pa} : Panjabi

eq Punjabi

{pap} : Papiamento

eq Papiamentu.

[{paa} : Papuan (Other)]

{fa} : Persian

eq Farsi. eq Iranian.

{peo} : Old Persian (ca.600-400 B.C.)

[{phi} : Philippine (Other)]

{phn} : Phoenician

(Historical)

{pon} : Pohnpeian

NOT Pompeiian!

{pl} : Polish

{pt} : Portuguese

eq Portugese. Notable forms: {pt-pt} Portugal Portuguese; {pt-br} Brazilian Portuguese.

[{pra} : Prakrit languages]

{pro} : Old Provencal (to 1500)

eq Old Provençal. (Historical.)

{ps} : Pushto

eq Pashto. eq Pushtu.

{qu} : Quechua

eq Quecha.

{rm} : Raeto-Romance

eq Romansh.

{raj} : Rajasthani

{rap} : Rapanui

{rar} : Rarotongan

[{qaa - qtz} : Reserved for local use.]

[{roa} : Romance (Other)]

NOT Romanian! NOT Romany! NOT Romansh!

{ro} : Romanian

eq Rumanian. NOT Romany!

{rom} : Romany

eq Rom. NOT Romanian!

{rn} : Rundi

{ru} : Russian

NOT White Russian! NOT Rusyn!

[{sal} : Salishan languages]

Large language group.

{sam} : Samaritan Aramaic

NOT Aramaic!

{se} : Northern Sami

eq Lappish. eq Lapp. eq (Northern) Saami.

{sma} : Southern Sami

{smn} : Inari Sami

{smj} : Lule Sami

{sms} : Skolt Sami

[{smi} : Sami languages (Other)]

(Historical)

eq Sard.

NOT Scots Gaelic!

[{sem} : Semitic (Other)]

{sr} : Serbian

eq Serb. NOT Sorbian.

Notable forms: {sr-Cyrl} : Serbian in Cyrillic script; {sr-Latn} : Serbian in Latin script.

{sgn-...} : Sign Languages

Always use with a subtag. Notable forms: {sgn-gb} British Sign Language (BSL); {sgn-ie} Irish Sign Language (ESL); {sgn-ni} Nicaraguan Sign Language (ISN); {sgn-us} American Sign Language (ASL).

(And so on with other country codes as the subtag.)

{bla} : Siksika

eq Blackfoot. eq Pikanii.

{sd} : Sindhi

{si} : Sinhalese

eq Sinhala.

[{sit} : Sino-Tibetan (Other)]

[{sio} : Siouan languages]

{den} : Slave (Athapascan)

("Slavey" is a subform.)

[{sla} : Slavic (Other)]

eq Slovakian.

eq Slovene.

{wen} : Sorbian languages

eq Wendish. eq Sorb. eq Lusatian. eq Wend. NOT Venda! NOT Serbian!

{nso} : Northern Sotho

{st} : Southern Sotho

eq Sutu. eq Sesotho.

[{sai} : South American Indian (Other)]

{es} : Spanish

Notable forms: {es-ar} Argentine Spanish; {es-bo} Bolivian Spanish; {es-cl} Chilean Spanish; {es-co} Colombian Spanish; {es-do} Dominican Spanish; {es-ec} Ecuadorian Spanish; {es-es} Spain Spanish; {es-gt} Guatemalan Spanish; {es-hn} Honduran Spanish; {es-mx} Mexican Spanish; {es-pa} Panamanian Spanish; {es-pe} Peruvian Spanish; {es-pr} Puerto Rican Spanish; {es-py} Paraguay Spanish; {es-sv} Salvadoran Spanish; {es-us} US Spanish; {es-uy} Uruguayan Spanish; {es-ve} Venezuelan Spanish.

(Historical)

eq Kiswahili

Notable forms: {sv-se} Sweden Swedish; {sv-fi} Finland Swedish.

{syr} : Syriac

{tl} : Tagalog

{ty} : Tahitian

[{tai} : Tai (Other)]

NOT Thai!

eq Yami.

eq Atayal. eq Atayan.

NOT Tai!

eq Themne. eq Timene.

{tiv} : Tiv

{tli} : Tlingit

{tpi} : Tok Pisin

{tkl} : Tokelau

{tog} : Tonga (Nyasa)

NOT Tsonga!

{to} : Tonga (Tonga Islands)

(Pronounced "Tong-a", not "Tong-ga")

NOT Tsonga!

{tsi} : Tsimshian

eq Sm'algyax

NOT Tonga!

Same as Setswana.

[{tup} : Tupi languages]

{tr} : Turkish

(Typically in Roman script)

{ota} : Ottoman Turkish (1500-1928)

(Typically in Arabic script) (Historical)

{crh} : Crimean Turkish

eq Crimean Tatar

eq Turkmeni.

eq Tuvan. eq Tuvin.

NOT Ugric!

{und} : Undetermined

Not a tag for normal use.

{ur} : Urdu

{uz} : Uzbek

eq Özbek

Notable forms: {uz-Cyrl} Uzbek in Cyrillic script; {uz-Latn} Uzbek in Latin script.

{vai} : Vai

{ve} : Venda

NOT Wendish! NOT Wend! NOT Avestan! (Formerly "ven".)

{vi} : Vietnamese

eq Viet.

{vo} : Volapuk

eq Volapük. (Artificial)

{vot} : Votic

eq Votian. eq Vod.

[{wak} : Wakashan languages]

{wa} : Walloon

{wal} : Walamo

eq Wolaytta.

{war} : Waray

Presumably the Philippine language Waray-Waray (Samareño), not the smaller Philippine language Waray Sorsogon, nor the extinct Australian language Waray.

{was} : Washo

eq Washoe

{cy} : Welsh

{wo} : Wolof

{x-...} : Unregistered (Semi-Private Use)

"x-" is a prefix for language tags that are not registered with ISO or IANA. Example, x-double-dutch

(The Yao in Malawi?)

eq Yap

{ii} : Sichuan Yi

{yi} : Yiddish

Formerly "ji". Usually in Hebrew script.

Notable forms: {yi-latn} Yiddish in Latin script

{yo} : Yoruba

[{ypk} : Yupik languages]

Several "Eskimo" languages.

{znd} : Zande

[{zap} : Zapotec]

(A group of languages.)

NOT Zend.

eq Zuñi

COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER

You can redistribute and/or modify this document under the same terms as Perl itself.

This document is provided in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of accuracy, authoritativeness, completeness, merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose.

Email any corrections or questions to me.

AUTHOR

Sean M. Burke, sburke@cpan.org

CPAN RT

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

ABOUT LANGUAGE TAGS

LIST OF LANGUAGES

SEE ALSO

COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER

AUTHOR

New	1
Open	1