List of ISO 639-5 codes
Encyclopedia
This is a list of ISO 639-5
codes, including the code hierarchy as given in the ISO 639-5 registry. The code
can be seen as top of the hierarchy (for example,
ISO 639-5
ISO 639-5:2008 "Codes for the representation of names of languages—Part 5: Alpha-3 code for language families and groups" is an international standard published by the International Organization for Standardization . It was developed by ISO Technical Committee 37, Subcommittee 2, and first...
codes, including the code hierarchy as given in the ISO 639-5 registry. The code
und (undetermined) from ISO 639-2ISO 639-2
ISO 639-2:1998, Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 2: Alpha-3 code, is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. The three-letter codes given for each language in this part of the standard are referred to as...
can be seen as top of the hierarchy (for example,
und:aav, und:euq:eu). The hierarchy is not a complete genetic hierarchy; some of the collection codes are based on geography (like nai) or category (like crp) instead.| Hierarchy | ISO 639-5 | Language collection name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| aav | aav | Austro-Asiatic languages Austro-Asiatic languages The Austro-Asiatic languages, in recent classifications synonymous with Mon–Khmer, are a large language family of Southeast Asia, also scattered throughout India and Bangladesh. The name Austro-Asiatic comes from the Latin words for "south" and "Asia", hence "South Asia"... |
South-Asiatic languages, not related to Australian languages |
| afa | afa | Afro-Asiatic languages Afro-Asiatic languages The Afroasiatic languages , also known as Hamito-Semitic, constitute one of the world's largest language families, with about 375 living languages... |
|
| nai:aql:alg | alg | Algonquian languages Algonquian languages The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a... |
|
| nic:alv | alv | Atlantic–Congo languages | |
| nai:xnd:ath:apa | apa | Apache languages | |
| sai:aqa | aqa | Alacalufan languages Alacalufan languages The Alacalufan languages are a small language family of South America. They have not been definitely linked to any other American language family.Kakauhua is extinct and Kawésqar is highly endangered.- References :*... |
|
| nai:aql | aql | Algic languages Algic languages The Algic languages are an indigenous language family of North America. Most Algic languages belong to the Algonquian family, dispersed over a broad area from the Rocky Mountains to Atlantic Canada... |
|
| art | art | Artificial languages | |
| nai:xnd:ath | ath | Athapascan languages | |
| sai:awd:auf | auf | Arauan languages Arauan languages Arawan is a family of languages spoken in western Brazil and Peru.-Family division:Arauan consists of 8 or 9 languages:... |
|
| aus | aus | Australian languages | |
| sai:awd | awd | Arawakan languages Arawakan languages Macro-Arawakan is a proposed language family of South America and the Caribbean based on the Arawakan languages. Sometimes the proposal is called Arawakan, in which case the central family is called Maipurean.... |
|
| nai:azc | azc | Uto-Aztecan languages Uto-Aztecan languages Uto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a Native American language family consisting of over 30 languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found from the Great Basin of the Western United States , through western, central and southern Mexico Uto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a Native American language family... |
|
| nic:alv:bad | bad | Banda languages Banda languages Banda is a family of Ubangian languages spoken by the Banda people of Central Africa.-Languages:Olson classfies the Banda family as follows :*Central**Central Banda... |
|
| nic:alv:bai | bai | Bamileke languages Bamileke languages Bamileke is a group of languages spoken by the Bamileke in the western grasslands of Cameroon.The languages, which might constitute two branches of Eastern Grassfields, are:... |
|
| ine:bat | bat | Baltic languages Baltic languages The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe... |
|
| afa:ber | ber | Berber languages Berber languages The Berber languages are a family of languages indigenous to North Africa, spoken from Siwa Oasis in Egypt to Morocco , and south to the countries of the Sahara Desert... |
|
| nic:alv:bnt | bnt | Bantu languages Bantu languages The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages... |
|
| map:poz:pqw:btk | btk | Batak languages Batak languages The Batak languages are spoken by Batak and Alas people of North Sumatra, Indonesia.Historically they were written using Batak script but the Latin alphabet is now used for most writing.... |
|
| cai | cai | Central American Indian languages | |
| cau | cau | Caucasian languages | |
| sai:cba | cba | Chibchan languages Chibchan languages The Chibchan languages make up a language family indigenous to the Isthmo-Colombian area, which extends from eastern Honduras to northern Colombia and includes populations of these countries as well as Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama... |
|
| cau:ccn | ccn | North Caucasian languages North Caucasian languages North Caucasian languages is a blanket term for two language phyla spoken chiefly in the north Caucasus and Turkey: the Northwest Caucasian family and the Northeast Caucasian family North Caucasian languages (sometimes called simply Caucasic as opposed to Kartvelian, and to avoid confusion with... |
|
| cau:ccs | ccs | South Caucasian languages South Caucasian languages The Kartvelian languages are spoken primarily in Georgia, with a large group of ethnic Georgian speakers in Russia, the United States, the European Union, and northeastern parts of Turkey. There are approximately 5.2 million speakers of this language family worldwide.It is not known to be related... |
|
| afa:cdc | cdc | Chadic languages Chadic languages The Chadic languages constitute a language family of perhaps 200 languages spoken across northern Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Central African Republic and Cameroon, belonging to the Afroasiatic phylum... |
|
| nai:cdd | cdd | Caddoan languages Caddoan languages The Caddoan languages are a family of Native American languages. They are spoken by Native Americans in parts of the Great Plains of the central United States, from North Dakota south to Oklahoma.-Family division:... |
|
| ine:cel | cel | Celtic languages Celtic languages The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family... |
|
| map:poz:pqw:cmc | cmc | Chamic languages Chamic languages The Chamic languages, also known as Aceh–Chamic and Achinese–Chamic, are a group of ten languages spoken in parts of Cambodia, Vietnam, and Hainan, classified as Malayic languages in the Austronesian language family.... |
|
| crp:cpe | cpe | creoles and pidgins, English-based | |
| crp:cpf | cpf | creoles and pidgins, French-based | |
| crp:cpp | cpp | creoles and pidgins, Portuguese-based | |
| crp | crp | creoles and pidgins | |
| ssa:csu | csu | Central Sudanic languages Central Sudanic languages Starostin notes that the poorly attested language Mimi of Decorse is suggestive of Central Sudanic, though he provisionally treats it as an isolate.-References:... |
|
| afa:cus | cus | Cushitic languages Cushitic languages The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family spoken in the Horn of Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan and Egypt. They are named after the Biblical character Cush, who was identified as an ancestor of the speakers of these specific languages as early as AD 947... |
|
| day | day | Land Dayak languages Land Dayak languages The Land Dayak languages are a putative group of dozen or so languages spoken by the Bidayuh Land Dayaks of Borneo.-Languages:The unity of Land Dayak as a group is dubious... |
not to be confused with Dayak languages Dayak languages The term Dayak is used for the languages of the Dayak people; that is, those languages of Borneo apart from varieties of Malay and language of Chinese, Indian, and European origin... , which is a larger group |
| nic:dmn | dmn | Mande languages Mande languages The Mande languages are spoken in several countries in West Africa by the Mandé people and include Mandinka, Soninke, Bambara, Bissa, Dioula, Kagoro, Bozo, Mende, Susu, Yacouba, Vai, and Ligbi... |
|
| dra | dra | Dravidian languages Dravidian languages The Dravidian language family includes approximately 85 genetically related languages, spoken by about 217 million people. They are mainly spoken in southern India and parts of eastern and central India as well as in northeastern Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iran, and... |
|
| afa:egx | egx | Egyptian languages | |
| esx | esx | Eskimo–Aleut languages | |
| euq | euq | Basque (family) | Basque (eu/eus/baq) is an individual language covered by this collection code |
| urj:fiu | fiu | Finno-Ugrian languages | |
| map:fox | fox | Formosan languages Formosan languages The Formosan languages are the languages of the indigenous peoples of Taiwan. Taiwanese aborigines currently comprise about 2% of the island's population. However, far fewer can still speak their ancestral language, after centuries of language shift... |
|
| ine:gem | gem | Germanic languages Germanic languages The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe... |
|
| ine:gem:gme | gme | East Germanic languages East Germanic languages The East Germanic languages are a group of extinct Indo-European languages in the Germanic family. The only East Germanic language of which texts are known is Gothic; other languages that are assumed to be East Germanic include Vandalic, Burgundian, and Crimean Gothic... |
|
| ine:gem:gmq | gmq | North Germanic languages North Germanic languages The North Germanic languages or Scandinavian languages, the languages of Scandinavians, make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages, a sub-family of the Indo-European languages, along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages... |
|
| ine:gem:gmw | gmw | West Germanic languages West Germanic languages The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three traditional branches of the Germanic family of languages and include languages such as German, English, Dutch, Afrikaans, the Frisian languages, and Yiddish... |
|
| ine:grk | grk | Greek languages | |
| hmx | hmx | Hmong–Mien languages | |
| nai:hok | hok | Hokan languages Hokan languages The Hokan language family is a hypothetical grouping of a dozen small language families spoken in California, Arizona and Mexico. In nearly a century since Edward Sapir first proposed the "Hokan" hypothesis, little additional evidence has been found that these families were related to each other... |
|
| ine:hyx | hyx | Armenian (family) | Armenian (hy/hye/arm) is an individual language covered by this collection code |
| ine:iir | iir | Indo-Iranian languages Indo-Iranian languages The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages. It consists of three language groups: the Indo-Aryan, Iranian and Nuristani... |
|
| nic:alv:ijo | ijo | Ijo languages Ijo languages Ijaw, also spelled Ịjọ, is the main subgroup of the Ijoid group of Niger–Congo languages. Ijaw languages are spoken in southern Nigeria by the Ijaw people.... |
|
| ine:iir:inc | inc | Indic languages | |
| ine | ine | Indo-European languages Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia... |
|
| ine:iir:ira | ira | Iranian languages Iranian languages The Iranian languages form a subfamily of the Indo-Iranian languages which in turn is a subgroup of Indo-European language family. They have been and are spoken by Iranian peoples.... |
|
| nai:iro | iro | Iroquoian languages Iroquoian languages The Iroquoian languages are a First Nation and Native American language family.-Family division:*Ruttenber, Edward Manning. 1992 [1872]. History of the Indian tribes of Hudson's River. Hope Farm Press.... |
|
| ine:itc | itc | Italic languages Italic languages The Italic subfamily is a member of the Indo-European language family. It includes the Romance languages derived from Latin , and a number of extinct languages of the Italian Peninsula, including Umbrian, Oscan, Faliscan, and Latin.In the past various definitions of "Italic" have prevailed... |
|
| jpx | jpx | Japanese (family) | Japanese (ja/jpn) is an individual language covered by this collection code |
| sit:tbq:kar | kar | Karen languages Karen languages The Karen languages are tonal languages spoken by some three million Karen people. They are of unclear affiliation within the Tibeto-Burman languages. The Karen languages are written using the Burmese script. The three main branches are Sgaw, Pwo, and Pa'o. Karenni and Kayan are related to the... |
|
| nic:kdo | kdo | Kordofanian languages Kordofanian languages The Kordofanian languages are a geographic grouping of three to five language families spoken in the Nuba Mountains of Kordofan Province, Sudan. In 1963 Joseph Greenberg added them to the Niger–Congo family, creating his Niger–Kordofanian proposal... |
|
| khi | khi | Khoisan languages Khoisan languages The Khoisan languages are the click languages of Africa which do not belong to other language families. They include languages indigenous to southern and eastern Africa, though some, such as the Khoi languages, appear to have moved to their current locations not long before the Bantu expansion... |
|
| nic:alv:kro | kro | Kru languages Kru languages -References:* Westerman, Diedrich Hermann Languages of West Africa . London/New York/Toronto: Oxford University Press.-External links:* at Ethnologue*... |
|
| map | map | Austronesian languages Austronesian languages The Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia that are spoken by about 386 million people. It is on par with Indo-European, Niger-Congo, Afroasiatic and Uralic as one of the... |
|
| aav:mkh | mkh | Mon–Khmer languages | |
| map:poz:pqw:phi:mno | mno | Manobo languages Manobo languages The Manobo languages are a group of languages spoken in the Philippines. All go by the name 'Manobo' or 'Banobo'.-Languages:*Central**East: Dibabawon, Rajah Kabunsuwan, Agusan**South: Ata-Tigwa , Obo**West: Western Bukidnon, Ilianen... |
|
| aav:mun | mun | Munda languages Munda languages -Anderson :Gregory Anderson's 1999 proposal is as follows. Individual languages are highlighted in italics.*North Munda **Korku**Kherwarian***Santhali***Mundari*South Munda **Kharia–Juang***Juang***Kharia... |
|
| cai:myn | myn | Mayan languages Mayan languages The Mayan languages form a language family spoken in Mesoamerica and northern Central America. Mayan languages are spoken by at least 6 million indigenous Maya, primarily in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize and Honduras... |
|
| nai:azc:nah | nah | Nahuatl languages | |
| nai | nai | North American Indian languages | |
| paa:ngf | ngf | Trans–New Guinea languages | |
| nic | nic | Niger–Congo languages Niger–Congo languages The Niger–Congo languages constitute one of the world's major language families, and Africa's largest in terms of geographical area, number of speakers, and number of distinct languages. They may constitute the world's largest language family in terms of distinct languages, although this question... |
ISO uses the term "Niger–Kordofanian" |
| ssa:sdv:nub | nub | Nubian languages Nubian languages The Nubian language group, according to the most recent research by Bechhaus-Gerst comprises the following varieties:# Nobiin .... |
|
| cai:omq | omq | Oto-Manguean languages Oto-Manguean languages Oto-Manguean languages are a large family comprising several families of Native American languages. All of the Oto-Manguean languages that are now spoken are indigenous to Mexico, but the Manguean branch of the family, which is now extinct, was spoken as far south as Nicaragua and Costa Rica.The... |
|
| afa:omv | omv | Omotic languages Omotic languages The Omotic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic family spoken in southwestern Ethiopia. The Ge'ez alphabet is used to write some Omotic languages, the Roman alphabet for some others. They are fairly agglutinative, and have complex tonal systems .-Language list:The North and South Omotic... |
|
| cai:omq:oto | oto | Otomian languages | |
| paa | paa | Papuan languages Papuan languages The Papuan languages are those languages of the western Pacific which are neither Austronesian nor Australian. The term does not presuppose a genetic relationship. The concept of Papuan peoples as distinct from Melanesians was first suggested and named by Sidney Herbert Ray in 1892.-The... |
|
| map:poz:pqw:phi | phi | Philippine languages Philippine languages The Philippine languages are a 1991 proposal by Robert Blust that all the languages of the Philippines and northern Sulawesi—except Sama–Bajaw and a few languages of Palawan—form a subfamily of Austronesian languages... |
|
| map:poz:plf | plf | Central Malayo-Polynesian languages Central Malayo-Polynesian languages The Central Malayo-Polynesian linkage is an erstwhile branch of Austronesian languages. The languages are spoken in the Lesser Sunda and Maluku Islands of the Banda Sea, in an area corresponding closely to the Indonesian provinces of East Nusa Tenggara and Maluku and the nation of East Timor , but... |
|
| map:poz | poz | Malayo-Polynesian languages Malayo-Polynesian languages The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. These are widely dispersed throughout the island nations of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, with a smaller number in continental Asia... |
|
| map:poz:pqe | pqe | Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages The Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages form a putative subgroup of the Malayo-Polynesian languages consisting of over 500 languages. Their relationship is not supported by much linguistic data: per Malcolm Ross, there is "essentially no evidence" that the Halmahera–Cenderawasih and Oceanic... |
|
| map:poz:pqw | pqw | Western Malayo-Polynesian languages Western Malayo-Polynesian languages The Western Malayo-Polynesian languages, also known as the Hesperonesian languages, are those Malayo-Polynesian languages which are not in the Central–Eastern branch. Since there are no features which define these languages positively as a group, recent classifications have abandoned it... |
|
| ine:iir:inc:pra | pra | Prakrit languages | |
| sai:qwe | qwe | Quechuan (family) | Quechua (qu/que) is a macrolanguage covered by this collection code |
| ine:itc:roa | roa | Romance languages Romance languages The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome... |
|
| sai | sai | South American Indian languages | |
| nai:sal | sal | Salishan languages Salishan languages The Salishan languages are a group of languages of the Pacific Northwest... |
|
| ssa:sdv | sdv | Eastern Sudanic languages Eastern Sudanic languages Ehret 2001 [1984]Ehret, published in 2001 but circulating in manuscript form since at least 1984, calls the family "Eastern Sahelian", and idiosyncratically adds the Kuliak languages and Berta, which Bender assigns to higher-level branches of Nilo-Saharan, and reassigns Nyima to the southern branch... |
|
| afa:sem | sem | Semitic languages Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 270 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa... |
|
| sgn | sgn | sign languages | |
| nai:sio | sio | Siouan languages Siouan languages The Western Siouan languages, also called Siouan proper or simply Siouan, are a Native American language family of North America, and the second largest indigenous language family in North America, after Algonquian... |
|
| sit | sit | Sino-Tibetan languages Sino-Tibetan languages The Sino-Tibetan languages are a language family comprising, at least, the Chinese and the Tibeto-Burman languages, including some 250 languages of East Asia, Southeast Asia and parts of South Asia. They are second only to the Indo-European languages in terms of the number of native speakers... |
|
| ine:sla | sla | Slavic languages Slavic languages The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic... |
|
| urj:fiu:smi | smi | Sami languages Sami languages Sami or Saami is a general name for a group of Uralic languages spoken by the Sami people in parts of northern Finland, Norway, Sweden and extreme northwestern Russia, in Northern Europe. Sami is frequently and erroneously believed to be a single language. Several names are used for the Sami... |
|
| ssa:son | son | Songhai languages | |
| ine:sqj | sqj | Albanian languages | Albanian (sq/sqi/alb) is a macrolanguage covered by this collection code |
| ssa | ssa | Nilo-Saharan languages Nilo-Saharan languages The Nilo-Saharan languages are a proposed family of African languages spoken by some 50 million people, mainly in the upper parts of the Chari and Nile rivers , including historic Nubia, north of where the two tributaries of Nile meet... |
|
| urj:syd | syd | Samoyedic languages Samoyedic languages The Samoyedic languages are spoken on both sides of the Ural mountains, in northernmost Eurasia, by approximately 30,000 speakers altogether.... |
|
| tai | tai | Tai languages Tai languages The Tai or Zhuang–Tai languages are a branch of the Tai–Kadai language family. The Tai languages include the most widely spoken of the Tai–Kadai languages, including standard Thai or Siamese, the national language of Thailand; Lao or Laotian, the national language of Laos; Burma's Shan language;... |
Thai (th/tha) is an individual language covered by this collection code |
| sit:tbq | tbq | Tibeto-Burman languages Tibeto-Burman languages The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non-Chinese members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken thoughout the highlands of southeast Asia, as well as lowland areas in Burma .... |
|
| tut:trk | trk | Turkic languages Turkic languages The Turkic languages constitute a language family of at least thirty five languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.Turkic languages are spoken... |
Turkish (tr/tur) is an individual language covered by this collection code |
| sai:tup | tup | Tupi languages | |
| tut | tut | Altaic languages Altaic languages Altaic is a proposed language family that includes the Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, and Japonic language families and the Korean language isolate. These languages are spoken in a wide arc stretching from northeast Asia through Central Asia to Anatolia and eastern Europe... |
|
| tut:tuw | tuw | Tungus languages | |
| urj | urj | Uralic languages Uralic languages The Uralic languages constitute a language family of some three dozen languages spoken by approximately 25 million people. The healthiest Uralic languages in terms of the number of native speakers are Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian, Mari and Udmurt... |
|
| nai:wak | wak | Wakashan languages Wakashan languages Wakashan is a family of languages spoken in British Columbia around and on Vancouver Island, and in the northwestern corner of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state, on the south side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.... |
|
| ine:sla:zlw:wen | wen | Sorbian languages Sorbian languages The Sorbian languages are classified under the Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. They are the native languages of the Sorbs, a Slavic minority in the Lusatia region of eastern Germany. Historically the language has also been known as Wendish or Lusatian. Their collective ISO 639-2 code... |
|
| tut:xgn | xgn | Mongolian languages | Mongolian (mn/mon) is a macrolanguage covered by this collection code |
| nai:xnd | xnd | Na-Dene languages Na-Dené languages Na-Dene is a Native American language family which includes at least the Athabaskan languages, Eyak, and Tlingit languages. An inclusion of Haida is controversial.... |
|
| esx:ypk | ypk | Yupik languages | |
| sit:zhx | zhx | Chinese (family) | Chinese (zh/zho/chi) is a macrolanguage covered by this collection code |
| ine:sla:zle | zle | East Slavic languages East Slavic languages The East Slavic languages constitute one of three regional subgroups of Slavic languages, currently spoken in Eastern Europe. It is the group with the largest numbers of speakers, far out-numbering the Western and Southern Slavic groups. Current East Slavic languages are Belarusian, Russian,... |
|
| ine:sla:zls | zls | South Slavic languages South Slavic languages The South Slavic languages comprise one of three branches of the Slavic languages. There are approximately 30 million speakers, mainly in the Balkans. These are separated geographically from speakers of the other two Slavic branches by a belt of German, Hungarian and Romanian speakers... |
|
| ine:sla:zlw | zlw | West Slavic languages West Slavic languages The West Slavic languages are a subdivision of the Slavic language group that includes Czech, Polish, Slovak, Kashubian and Sorbian.Classification:* Indo-European** Balto-Slavic*** Slavic**** West Slavic***** Czech-Slovak languages****** Czech... |
|
| nic:alv:znd | znd | Zande languages Zande languages The Zande languages are half a dozen closely related Ubangian languages of the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan. The most popular language is Zande itself, with over a million speakers.-Languages:... |
Zande (individual language) (zne) is an individual language covered by this collection code |