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1. Copy help.keyman.com/developer/17.0/* into /developer/docs/help 2. Update references to 18.0 where appropriate 3. Copy all referenced images from /cdn/dev into /developer/docs/help/images and update links in documentation Next commit: add deployment to help-keyman-com.sh. Note: simplest way to test links at this point is to use the help.keyman.com auto deploy and wait for the PR on help.keyman.com to be validated; we could look at an internal link validation tool that verifies markdown links? Relates-to: #12347
113 lines
4.9 KiB
Markdown
113 lines
4.9 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: BCP 47 language tags
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---
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Packages and lexical models may reference a [BCP 47 language tag][1]. A BCP
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47 tag is a standard way of referencing a language, used widely in the computer
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industry. Keyman uses BCP 47 tags in a number of areas, including:
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* providing language metadata about installed keyboards to the operating system
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and to applications, so that, for example, spell checking has the correct
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language, through [package metadata](../guides/distribute/)
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* [linking lexical models to keyboard layouts](../guides/lexical-models/)
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* facilitating searches for keyboards and lexical models on the Keyman site,
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through a [.keyboard_info file](/developer/cloud/keyboard_info)
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A BCP 47 language tag is made up of multiple subtags. There are many possible
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subtags, but only three types are currently used in most places in Keyman
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Developer:
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* [language subtag](#toc-the-language-subtag)
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* [script subtag](#toc-the-script-subtag)
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* [region subtag](#toc-the-region-subtag)
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BCP 47 tags are case insensitive, but there are conventions for casing which you
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should use for readability; see the subtag descriptions for details.
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The following are all examples of valid BCP 47 tags:
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* `en`: English
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* `en-US`: English, in United States
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* `km-Khmr-KH`: Khmer, written in the Khmer script, in Cambodia
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* `km-fonipa`: Khmer, transcribed in IPA
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### The language subtag
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The only required option is the Language subtag, which is an [ISO 639-1][2] or
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[ISO 639-3][3] code.
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ISO 639-1 tags are a two-letter code. ISO 639-3 tags are a three-letter code.
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First, try to find your language on the list of two-letter ISO 639-1 codes.
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[This Wikipedia page][4] lists all of the two-letter codes.
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If you can't find a two-letter code, you'll need to find the closest
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three-letter code. You can use [Glottolog][5] to search for your language, and
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it will give you an appropriate code. In this example, I searched Glottolog for
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“[Saanich][6]” (name of the First Nations that speak SENĆOŦEN) and found `str`
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as the code for all Straits Salish languages.
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The Language subtag is conventionally written in lower case.
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The next two subtags are **optional**, however, they allow you to be more
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specific about your language.
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### The script subtag
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The Script subtag allows you to specify the writing system used in your language
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model or keyboard. If your language only uses one writing system, omit the
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Script subtag.
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Otherwise, in cases where a language can be written in many different writing
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systems, you can choose the four letter [ISO 15924][7] script tag that your
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keyboard or lexical model produces.
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For example, Plains Cree can either be written in _standard Roman orthography_,
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a **Latin** derived script, or it can be written in _syllabics_, which is part
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of the **Canadian Aboriginal syllabics** family of writing systems. If I wrote a
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keyboard or lexical model that produced syllabics, I would choose `Cans`, as
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that is the **ISO 15924** tag for Canadian Aboriginal syllabics.
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The Script subtag is conventionally written in title case - first letter
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capitalized.
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### The region subtag
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The Region subtag allows you to specify the region your language or dialect is
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spoken in. If your language is only spoken in one region, omit the Region
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subtag.
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Otherwise, some languages vary between different regions and countries. In our
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example, SENĆOŦEN describes the language that covers entire W̱SÁNEĆ region, so
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this field may be left blank.
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However, large languages, like English, Spanish, or French have quite different
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vocabulary and even different grammatical rules from region to region and
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country to country. For example, the variety of Spanish spoken in Spain
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regularly uses words that are uncommon or even vulgar in both in Mexico, and in
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Latin America. Additionally, regions may have vocabulary that doesn't exist in
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the other regions where the language is spoken.
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If I were working with a language specific to one country, I would use the [ISO
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3166-1 alpha-2][8] country code for the region subtag. For example, `ES` for
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Spain or `MX` for Mexico.
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However, if I were working with Latin American Spanish (a group of countries), I
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would need to specify Latin America's [UN M49][9] region code. For Latin
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America, its code is `419`. My lexical model would not suggest words that are
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common in Spain, but vulgar in Latin America, however it would predict words
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like "pupupsas" and "chuchitos", which are words that are uncommon in both Spain
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and Mexico.
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Another common UN M49 region code is `001` for the whole world.
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Alphabetic region subtags are conventionally written in upper case.
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[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IETF_language_tag
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[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_639-1
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[3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_639-3
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[4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ISO_639-1_codes
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[5]: https://glottolog.org/glottolog/language
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[6]: https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/saan1246
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[7]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_15924
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[8]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-2
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[9]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UN_M49
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