> Re: draft-phillips-langtags-08, process, specifications, "stability", and extensions > Date: 2005-01-01 19:56 > From: "Doug Ewell" <dewell@xxxxxxxxxxxx> > To: ietf-languages@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > > Bruce Lilly <blilly at erols dot com> wrote: > > Domain names and > > language tags are different types of names, used for > > different purposes, and with different scope (largely > > non-overlapping, though one might legitimately ask how > > one is supposed to determine the language of an > > "internationalized" domain name...) > > One is not. Domain names are strings of characters; only incidentally > do they spell out one or more words in one or more languages. I doubt > whether the names "Google," "Yahoo," and "AltaVista" can be pinned down > as belonging to one specific language. I was referring specifically to internationalized domain names (IDN, RFCs 3490, 3491, 3492, 3743) where the on-the-wire domain name continues to be of traditional form (ANSI X3.4 letters,digits, and hyphen (with restrictions on combinations and placement)), but where a certain class of names (those beginning with "xn--") are "internationalized" and might be presented to users in a different form (which can include non-ASCII characters). That came about because of the tendency to associate a domain name (tag) with a natural language "name" or legally-registered name (trademark, etc.). Whether one considers such associations logical or irrational, that is what has happened. So one could have a domain name (beginning with xn--) that is presented by an application as "Nestlé.com". Now certainly some names, such as your examples, Kodak, Häagen-Dazs, etc. have no language (because they are made-up strings of characters), but others do have a specific language. In skimming through the RFCs mentioned above, it appears that there is now some provision for language tagging (which was not present in earlier versions of IDN). However, I have not thoroughly reviewed those recent additions; therefore it should be clear that I have not reviewed the impact of the proposed draft changes on IDN or vice versa. Such a review should take place (ideally before the deadline for the New Last Call on draft-phillips-langtags-08 (tomorrow!)), but I'm not the person to do so as I have only slight interest in IDN (I'm one of those who considers associating a tag with natural language and/or legally registered names to be irrational). One potential issue is that domain names are case-insensitive, and whether lower-case accented characters map to/compare with unaccented upper-case letters may be a function of language (or culture, or political fiat). I would add that there is apparently some discussion of wreaking similar havoc on local-parts, which appear in message-identifiers and email mailbox identifiers (STD 11). That too should be evaluated w.r.t. specification of language and the proposed changes. _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf