ISO 639 is a standard by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) concerned with the representation of languages and language groups.It currently consists of four sets (1–3, 5) of code, named after each part which formerly described respective set (part 4 was guidelines without its own coding system); a part 6 was published but withdrawn.It was first approved in 1967 as a single-part ISO Recommendation, ISO/R 639, superseded in 2002 by part 1 of the new series, ISO 639-1, followed by additional parts. All existing parts of the series were consolidated into a single standard in 2023, largely based on the text of ISO 639-4.
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👉 ISO 639 in the context of Sorbian languages
The Sorbian languages (Upper Sorbian: serbska rěč, Lower Sorbian: serbska rěc) are the Upper Sorbian language and Lower Sorbian language, two closely related and partially mutually intelligible languages spoken by the Sorbs, a West Slavic ethno-cultural minority in the Lusatia region of Eastern Germany. They are classified under the West Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages and are therefore closely related to the other two West Slavic subgroups: Lechitic and Czech–Slovak. Historically, the languages have also been known as Wendish (named after the Wends, the earliest Slavic people in modern Poland and Germany) or Lusatian. Their collective ISO 639-2 code is wen.
The two Sorbian languages, each having its own literary standard, are Upper Sorbian (hornjoserbsce), spoken by about 20,000–25,000 people in Saxony, and Lower Sorbian (dolnoserbski), spoken by about 7,000 people in Brandenburg. The area where the two languages are spoken is known as Lusatia (Łužica in Upper Sorbian, Łužyca in Lower Sorbian, or Lausitz in German).
In this Dossier
- ⭐ Core Definition: ISO 639
- 👉 ISO 639 in the context of Sorbian languages
- ISO 639 in the context of ISO 639-1
- ISO 639 in the context of ISO 639-3
- ISO 639 in the context of ISO 639 macrolanguage
- ISO 639 in the context of List of ISO 639-1 codes
- ISO 639 in the context of Judeo-Arabic languages
- ISO 639 in the context of List of Wikipedias
ISO 639 in the context of ISO 639-1
ISO 639-1:2002, Codes for the representation of names of languages—Part 1: Alpha-2 code, is the first part of the ISO 639 series of international standards for language codes. Part 1 covers the registration of "set 1" two-letter codes. There are 183 two-letter codes registered as of June 2021. The registered codes cover the world's major languages.
Some languages do not have the ISO 639-1 codes because the standard was initially designed to represent major and primary national languages with well-established terminologies and lexicography. The ISO 639-1 is more restrictive than other ISO 639 standards, such as ISO 639-2 as well as ISO 639-3, which cover a wider range of languages and variations.
ISO 639 in the context of ISO 639-3
ISO 639-3:2007, Codes for the representation of names of languages – Part 3: Alpha-3 code for comprehensive coverage of languages, is an international standard for language codes in the ISO 639 series. It defines three-letter codes for identifying languages. The standard was published by International Organization for Standardization (ISO) on 1 February 2007.
As of 2023, this edition of the standard has been officially withdrawn and replaced by ISO 639:2023.
ISO 639 in the context of ISO 639 macrolanguage
A macrolanguage is a group of mutually intelligible speech varieties, or dialect continuum, that have no traditional name in common, and which may be considered distinct languages by their speakers. Macrolanguages are used as a book-keeping mechanism for the ISO 639 international standard of language codes. Macrolanguages are established to assist mapping between different sets of ISO language codes. Specifically, there may be a many-to-one correspondence between ISO 639-3, intended to identify all the thousands of languages of the world, and either of two other sets, ISO 639-1, established to identify languages in computer systems, and ISO 639-2, which encodes a few hundred languages for library cataloguing and bibliographic purposes. When such many-to-one ISO 639-2 codes are included in an ISO 639-3 context, they are called "macrolanguages" to distinguish them from the corresponding individual languages of ISO 639-3. According to the ISO,
ISO 639-3 is curated by SIL International; ISO 639-2 is curated by the Library of Congress (USA).
ISO 639 in the context of List of ISO 639-1 codes
ISO 639 is a standardized nomenclature used to classify languages. Each language is assigned a two-letter (set 1) and three-letter lowercase abbreviation (sets 2–5). Part 1 of the standard, ISO 639-1, defines the two-letter codes, and Part 3 (2007), ISO 639-3, defines the three-letter codes, aiming to cover all known natural languages, largely superseding the ISO 639-2 three-letter code standard.
ISO 639 in the context of Judeo-Arabic languages
Judeo-Arabic (Judeo-Arabic: ערביה יהודיה, romanized: 'Arabiya Yahūdiya; Arabic: عربية يهودية, romanized: ʿArabiya Yahūdiya ; Hebrew: ערבית יהודית, romanized: 'Aravít Yehudít ), sometimes referred to as Sharh in its high-level translation calque, is a group of related ethnolects or religiolects within the branches of the Arabic language used by Jewish communities. Judeo-Arabic is a mixed form of Arabic, in its formal and vernacular varieties, as it has been used by Jews, and refers to both written forms and spoken dialects. Although Jewish dialectical forms of Arabic, which predate Islam, have been distinct from those of other religious communities, they are not a uniform linguistic entity.
Varieties of Arabic formerly spoken by Jews throughout the Arab world have been, in modern times, classified as distinct ethnolects. Under the ISO 639 international standard for language codes, Judeo-Arabic is classified as a macrolanguage under the code jrb, encompassing four languages: Judeo-Moroccan Arabic (aju), Judeo-Yemeni Arabic (jye), Judeo-Egyptian Arabic (yhd), and Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic (yud).
ISO 639 in the context of List of Wikipedias
Wikipedia is a free multilingual wiki-based open-source online encyclopedia edited and maintained by a community of volunteer editors, started on 15 January 2001 as an English-language encyclopedia. Non-English editions followed in the same year: the German and Catalan editions were created on 16 March, the French edition was created on 23 March, and the Swedish edition was created on 23 May. As of December 2025, Wikipedia articles have been created in 358 editions, with 342 currently active and 16 closed. (and 11 moved to Incubator)
The Meta-Wiki language committee manages policies on creating new Wikimedia projects. To be eligible, a language must have a valid ISO 639 code, be "sufficiently unique", and have a "sufficient number of fluent users".