竟然收到 SIL 答覆

幾小時前，有匿名網友提醒我，原來負責制訂 ISO-639 的 SIL 的諮詢期早已完結。之前我看到 SIL 網站解釋如何提交 change request，不知怎地「鬼揜眼」，看漏了 "change request REVIEW period" 中 "review" 一字。於本月十五日完結的，原來是 change request 的評審期而不是提交期。

誰知 SIL 處理了我的要求，並於個多小時前回覆：

Hello [my name],

I recommend that you make your request to update name information associated with the identifer [yue] independent of any effort to adhere to any mnemonic correlation between name and identifier. For example, the code element
[aaa] "Ghotuo"
bears no mnemonic association between identifier and name. It is not a requirement.

The primary reason that "Yue, Chinese" is used with [yue] is to make clear that the code element denotes a broader set of (mutually intelligible) varieties than are commonly associated with the name "Cantonese" (Cantonese proper, Yuehai 粵海), its most prestigious variety.

Best regards,

Joan Spanne
ISO 639-3/RA
SIL International
7500 W Camp Wisdom Rd
Dallas, TX 75236
ISO639-3@sil.org

感謝 SIL 的 Spanne 小姐肯回覆。可能我寫得不好，但我本來的意思正正是要改名。現時「粵語」為 [yue] "Yue, Chinese"，其中 [yue] 是 language code/identifier，"Yue" 是 name 而 "Chinese" 是 name of the macrolanguage。由於 SIL 不容許修改 language code，因此我先前提交的 minimalist approach 主張把它改為 [yue] "Yuet, Chinese"。

然而我之前把 SIL 想象得太保守了。按 Spanne 小姐的說法，原來 language identifier 不必跟 name information 有關，因此我大早可以建議用 [yue] "Cantonese, Chinese"。不過 Spanne 小姐認為 "Yue" 指的是 "a broader set of (mutually intelligible) varieties than are commonly associated with the name "Cantonese" (Cantonese proper, Yuehai 粵海), its most prestigious variety"，這便有點棘手。不知大家有何高見？