The ISO 21636 series provides a framework for the identification and description of varieties of all individual human languages (see ISO 639).

It is applicable to sign languages.

It does not apply to:

—     artificial means of communication with or between machines (such as programming languages);

—     those means of human communication which are neither fully nor largely equivalent to human language (such as sets of individual symbols or gestures that each carry isolated meanings but cannot be freely combined into complex expressions).

This document gives guidance on how to apply the framework to identify basic dimensions and sub-dimensions of linguistic variation and the resulting varieties, including major modalities of human communication. It does not include any code or individual identifiers.

This document is structured strictly analogously to ISO/TR 21636-2. For a general description of the dimension and varieties dealt with in each clause, the user can refer to the corresponding clause in that document.

This document focuses only on the identification and description of language varieties, not on the general, formal or technical aspects of the description of human language resources (LRs), which are covered by general metadata frameworks.

NOTE 1        For the general description of a language resource, a user can minimally apply at least the metadata of the Open Language Archives Community (OLAC) metadata standard, which provides an application of the Dublin Core metadata element set as defined by the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI). These descriptors have been recognized in ISO 15836-1:2017.

NOTE 2        The Component Metadata Infrastructure (CMDI) provides a best practice guide for the sake of technical and content interoperability between LRs as well as of their sustainability.