MARC 21 Code List for Languages prepared by the Library of Congress Network 
Development and MARC Standards Office

Web Version of the 2003 Edition

Table of Contents


INTRODUCTION

This document contains a list of languages and their associated three-character alphabetic codes. The purpose of this list is to allow the designation of the language or languages in MARC records. The list contains 457 discrete codes, of which 55 are used for groups of languages.
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CHANGES IN 2003 EDITION

This list includes all valid codes and code assignments as of February 2003. There are 24 code additions and 5 changed code captions in this revision.

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STRUCTURE OF THE CODES

The language codes are three-character lowercase alphabetic strings usually based on the first three letters of the English form or, in some cases, vernacular of the corresponding language name. The codes are varied where necessary to resolve conflicts. In the case of modern and older forms of some languages, the initial letters of each part of the language name are used to form the code, e.g. gmhfor German, Middle High, and gohfor German, Old High. When the name of a language is changed in the list, the original code is generally retained.

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INDIVIDUAL LANGUAGE CODES

This list includes individual codes for most of the major languages of the modern and ancient world, e.g. Arabic, Chinese, English, Hindi, Latin, Tagalog, etc. These are the languages that are most frequently represented in the total body of the world's literature. Additional codes for individual languages are created from time to time when it becomes apparent that a significant body of literature in a particular language already exists, or when it is determined that the amount of material in a language is growing.

Usually only one code is provided for a given language, even if that language can be written in more than one set of characters. In a few cases however, separate codes are provided for the same spoken language written in different characters.

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LANGUAGE GROUP CODES

In addition to codes for individual languages, the list also contains a number of codes for language groups. While some individual languages are given their own unique code, although linguistically they are part of a language group, many individual languages are assigned a group code, because it is not considered practical to establish a separate code for each.

Group codes may be recognized by the fact that the name listed in association with the code does not represent an individual language, and includes either the generic term "languages" or the expression "(Other)," as opposed to names of individual languages which do not include these terms. For example:

myn
Mayan languages
nic
Niger-Kordofanian (Other)

These language group codes are generally established at a very broad level, e.g. South American Indian (Other) sai. Although some South American Indian languages have their own unique codes, such as Mapuche arn and Aymara aym, all other South American Indian languages which have not been assigned a unique code, such as the Cumana language, are assigned the group code sai.

Some group codes have been established at an intermediate level when individual languages and dialects within that group did not warrant discrete codes, yet it was felt that assignment to one of the very broad group codes was not sufficiently specific. For example, the Athapascan language group, a subgroup of North American Indian languages, is given the code ath, and that code rather than nai, the code for North American Indian (Other), is assigned to Athapascan languages not having their own codes.

Ancient languages which are not given unique codes are assigned the code for the major language group to which each belongs, rather than the code for the modern language which evolved from the ancient language. Thus, the language Swedish, Old is assigned the code gem for the language group Germanic (Other) instead of the code swe for the modern language Swedish.

Dialects are normally treated like any individual language entered in the list, and are generally assigned a group code. However, if a dialect of a language as well as the language itself is entered in the list, the dialect is usually assigned the same code as the code for the language. If the language is assigned a group code, the dialect is assigned the same group code. For example, Bolinao, a dialect of Sambali, and Sambali language itself are both assigned phi, the group code for Philippine (Other). If the language has a unique code, the dialect is also assigned that code rather than the code for the group to which both belong. For example, Aja, a dialect of Ewe, is assigned ewe, the code for Ewe. In a few instances, however, both the language and a dialect of that language have their own unique codes. For example, Akan has the code aka, and Twi, a dialect of Akan, has the code twi.

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NAMES OF LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS

The form of name of a language used in this code list normally corresponds to the form of the name appearing in Library of Congress Subject Headings(LCSH), with the exception that names of individual languages in the list generally do not include the terms "language" or "dialect" and consist of only the substantive portion of the name. For example:
LCSH forms of names have not been used for the code list name if they make use of subdivisions; instead such headings are reformulated into phrase expressions for this list. This most often occurs in connection with headings for local dialects:
In addition, names of early forms of modern languages often appear in the code list in a form different from LCSH which frequently makes use of chronological subdivisions:

 

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SPECIAL CODES FOR SPECIAL SITUATIONS

In addition to codes for individual languages and language groups, codes are also provided for three special situations.

Undetermined [und]
This code is used if the language associated with an item cannot be determined. This code is also used for works having textual content consisting of arbitrary syllables, humming or other human-produced sounds for which a language cannot be specified.

Multiple languages [mul]
This code is used when two or more languages are associated with an item, and it is not practical to use codes for all of the languages.

Blanks [###]
Three blanks are used in place of a language code when the item has no sung, spoken, or written textual content (e.g. instrumental or electronic music; sound recordings consisting of nonverbal sounds; audiovisual materials with no narration, printed titles, or subtitles; machine-readable data files consisting of machine languages or character codes).
 
 
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ARRANGEMENT OF THE LIST

The list is made up of two basic parts: Part I: Name Sequence, and Part II: Code Sequence. A description of these two parts follows.

Part I: Name Sequence

In this part, the languages are listed alphabetically by the name. An entry for an individual language gives the name followed by the code in brackets, both in boldface. Any variant names of the language are listed on successive lines, with the first variant preceded by the symbol UF (used for). For example:
Aramaic [arc]
UF
Biblical Aramaic
Chaldean
The entry for an individual language which does not have a unique code, but is assigned a group code is similar, except that the assigned code with its language group name is given on the lines following the name. For example:

Chabacano
Assigned collective code [crp]
(Creoles and Pidgins (Other))
UF
Chavacano
Zamboangueño

The entry for a language group is also similar to that for an individual language, with the addition of a list of the individual languages which have been assigned that group code. This list follows the variant names, if any are given. For example:

Creoles and Pidgins (Other) [crp]
UF
Pidgins
Collective code for:
Chabacano
Fanakalo
Naga Pidgin
San Basilio del Palenque Spanish Creole
Unami jargon

The variant names from each of these entries also appear in their alphabetic position in the list as references, but not in boldface. For example:

Bafang
USE
Fe'fe'
Chaldean
USE
Aramaic
These references do not give the code; the entry under the name referred to must be consulted to determine the code.

Part II: Code Sequence

In this part, the languages and their codes are listed alphabetically by the code. Only the name of the individual language or language group and the associated code are given in this part. Tracings or references for variant forms of the language names are not included. For example:
arc
Aramaic
bai
Bamileke languages

Languages which are assigned a group code are not included in the code sequence part. Thus, the language Fe'fe' which is assigned the group code bai does not appear in this part of the list.

Discontinued codes are also listed in this part in their alphabetical sequence. They are identified by a hyphen preceding the code. For example:

-ajm
Aljamía

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USE OF LANGUAGE NAMES IN CATALOGING

The names of individual languages which appear in boldface are the form normally used in uniform titles and notes in bibliographic records. For example:

Library of Congress Rule Interpretations 1.7B2 and 25.5C may be consulted for specific instructions and exceptions.

The individual languages which appear in boldface also usually correspond to the subject headings for those languages in LCSH. The relationship of language names in this list to LCSH is described more fully above in the section "Names of Languages and Dialects."

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MARC 21 FIELDS IN WHICH CODES ARE USED

Language codes are used in the following MARC 21 fields:

The appropriate format document should be consulted for specific instructions on the use of language codes in these fields and subfields.

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PUBLICATION BACKGROUND

This list was originally compiled in collaboration with Library of Congress MARC Pilot Project participants, the National Library of Medicine, the National Agricultural Library, and the Defense Language Institute. In addition, the language list of the Center for Applied Linguistics, Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), and language specialists were consulted. The list was revised by a committee of the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) and became an American National Standard in 1987: Codes for the Representation of Languages for Information Interchange (ANSI Z39.53). In 2000, the list was further revised to include numerous changes necessary for compatibility with the ISO 639-2 (Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages Part 2: Alpha-3 Code) standard.

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CODE MAINTENANCE

The Library of Congress is the maintenance agency for this list and for both ANSI Z39.53 and ISO 639-2. Questions and requests for information about this list should be sent to the Cataloging Policy and Support Office, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540-4305 (e-mail: cpso@loc.gov). ANSI Z39.53 and ISO 639-2 include only the list of codes and associated language or language group name (as in Part II of this document).

Requests for new language codes are submitted to the ISO 639-2 maintenance agency, Library of Congress, (iso639-2@loc.gov) and balloted by the ISO 639 Joint Advisory Committee. Once approved, they are added to the ISO 639-2 and MARC lists and are included in ANSI Z39.53 when revised. Notices describing additions/deletions of code values will be issued for all changes to the language codes made in the interim period between issuance of revised versions of this document. Please consult the MARC website (www.loc.gov/marc/) for these notices.

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RELATED MARC 21 DOCUMENTS

MARC 21 Format for Authority Data
MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data

MARC 21 Format for Classification Data

MARC 21 Format for Community Information

MARC 21 Format for Holdings Data

MARC 21 Concise Formats

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OTHER RELATED DOCUMENTS

Codes for the Representation of Languages for Information Interchange (ANSI Z39.53)
Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages Part 2: Alpha-3 Codes (ISO 639-2)

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Comments: Library of Congress Help Desk ( 05/05/2003 )