languageTerm identifies the language(s) of a given resource.
languageTerm has the following components:
A value (the textual or coded term)
Attributes:
type
authority
Usage Note
The value may be expressed in textual or coded form. If in coded form, the source of the code is contained in the authority attribute. If no authority is given, the content is textual.
If some or all of the resource is in a language other than English, the appropriate language is selected from the drop down list.
Special situations:
If language cannot be identified, code as "mis" for uncoded languages.
If multiple languages are present and it is not practical to identify all of them, code as "mul" for multiple languages.
When no language is present [this is mostly applicable to moving images and sound recordings], a value for no linguistic content should be used. Additionally, if sign language is used in a moving image, a code for sign languages should be used.
If no linguistic content, code as "zxx".
Example(s)
Greenlandic [text]; Kal [code for Greenlandic]
Name
languageLanguageTermType
Label
Language - Term Type
Definition
Method to encode or provide language textually.
Controlled Vocabulary
text; code
Name
languageLanguageTermAuthority
Label
Language - Term source
Definition
Authoritative coding language.
Controlled Vocabulary
ISO 639-2b [http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/code_list.php], a bibliographic language code
rfc3066 [http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3066.txt], a language identifier specified by the Internet Best Current Practice specification RFC3066
