<INTERNET-DRAFT>                                  M.T. Carrasco Benitez
 <draft-carrasco-language-code-00.txt>
 Expires 30 September 1998                               31 March 1998

                   Codes for language transformation

Status of this Memo

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Overview and Rational

   The RFC1766 describes the language tags.  In the present form, it
   does not allow to indicate language transformations such as
   transliteration.  This memo is a proposition to allow such
   transformations.

Overview

   This is a draft proposal to extend the RFC1766 to cover language
   transformations (transliteration/transcription/trans-anything) from
   one language (the source language) to another (the target
   language).

   In this context, tranformation means that the source language is
   expressed in another way (e.g., in another alphabet) for people
   familiar with the target language.  This is not translation.  There
   can be many different transformation schemes between two
   languages.

   The source language and the target language could be the same.  In
   this case, it will be a transformation within the same language.  For
   example, a transformation from English expressed with the Latin
   alphabet into English in Braille.

   Question: Does it makes sense to include Braille transformation ?

Syntax

   This is the proposed syntax:

   ss-tran-tt-sss

   where

   * ss : Source language. Primary language tag. ISO 639 two character
   language code. Mandatory.

   * tran : Transformation indicator. First subtag. Literal string
   "tran".  Mandatory.

   * tt : Target language. Second subtag. ISO 639 two character language
    code. Optional. If missing, the target language is the same as the
    source language.

   * sss : Transformation scheme. Second (if the target language is
   missing) or third subtag. Must be three or more characters to avoid
   confusion with the target language. Optional. If missing, the default
    transformation is applied.

   Examples

   * fr-tran : French to French with the default transformation (e.g.,
   Braille).

   * el-tran-en : Greek to English with the default transformation
   (e.g.,  some transliteration).

   * fr-tran-mybraille2 : French to French with transformation
   mybraille2.

   * el-tran-en-mytran3 : Greek to English with the transformation
   mytran3.
      This syntax only requires registering "tran" with AINA.

Schemes

   A scheme system is needed that defines:

   * The tranformations between ordered (i.e., ru-en is different from
   en-ru) language pair.

   * The default transformation for each ordered language pair.

Author's Address

   Manuel Tomas CARRASCO BENITEZ
   The European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products
   7 Westferry Circus
   Canary Wharf
   London E14 4HB
   U.K.

   Phone: +44 171 418 8645
   Email: manuel.carrasco@emea.eudra.org
   URL: http://dragoman.org

References

   [RFC1766]
   "Tags for the Identification of Languages", H. Alvestrand, March 1995.
   Available at http://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc1766.txt

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   http://dragoman.org/winter/lanco.html