Incubator:List of Wikimedia language codes

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This page is a list of languages codes as they are used on Wikimedia sites, especially for which there are existing issues or problems.

Language codes on Wikimedia should follow the ISO 639 standard as closely as possible, but historically exceptions have been made, and sometimes an exception is still made:

A language written in more than one script:
- should have one wiki with a conversion script
- if that is not possible, name wikis with "xx[x]-xxxx" (ISO 639 language code + ISO 15924 script code), no current examples (pa - pnb?)
A language written in more than one orthography or standard should either:
- find a way to co-exist on one wiki
- name wikis with "xx[x]-x[...]" (ISO 639 language code + IETF tag), e.g. "be-tarask" or "qu-kichwa"
- old form: "nds"/"nds-nl".
For the rest, only one exception should be possible: "simple".

LIST TO BE COMPLETED

code	links	code validity (as given here)	intended language	script	issue(s)
'	SIL, Ethn.	special	Alemannic German	Latn	should be moved to "gsw" (bug 23215)
'	SIL, Ethn.	history	Aramaic		to "syc" (bug 26725)
'	SIL, Ethn.	special	Samogitian	Latn	should be moved to "sgs" (bug 25522)
'	SIL, Ethn.	valid	Belarusian	Cyrl
'	SIL, Ethn.	invalid	Belarusian (Taraškievica	Cyrl	should be "be-tarask" (bug 9823)
'	SIL, Ethn.	retired	Bhojpuri	Deva	should be moved to "bho"; "bh" is collective (info)
'	SIL, Ethn.	existing	German	Latn	—
'	SIL, Ethn.	existing	Standard English (see also Wikipedia:Manual of Style)	Latn	–
'	SIL, Ethn.	retired	Emiliano-Romagnolo	Latn	should be split into "egl" (Emilian) and "rgn" (Romagnol)
'	SIL, Ethn.	existing	French	Latn	—
'	SIL, Ethn.	existing	Italian	Latn	—
'	SIL, Ethn.	existing	Dutch language (see also Dutch Language Union)	Latn	–
'	SIL, Ethn.	special	Norman language	Latn	refers to the wrong language (bug 23216), should be renamed to "roa-x-nrm", "xno" (Anglo-Norman) or something (or closed)
'	SIL, Ethn.	valid	Western Punjabi	Arab	Or Punjabi in Arabic-based script in Majhi dialect? LangCom will investigate
'	SIL, Ethn.	macro	Quechua languages, especially Southern Quechua	Latn	— (Which varieties included?)
qug (wp)	SIL, Ethn.	valid	Kichwa language (Unified Orthography)	Latn	will probably be named "qu-kichwa" after receiving IETF tag (see here)
'	SIL, Ethn.	special	Classical/Literary Chinese	Hant	should be moved to "lzh" (bug 28443)
'	SIL, Ethn.	special	Yue Chinese / Cantonese	Hant	should be moved to "yue" (bug 28441)
Other pseudo-codes or other issues
ten	SIL, Ethn.	history	Used for tenth anniversary of Wikipedia; code reserved for extinct Tama language of Colombia
www	SIL, Ethn.	special	Code for Wawa language; conflicts with portal

See also