9th May 2011 - A new online resource
This free public resource – the Linguasphere Register - provides the foundation for a transnational framework of reference on the spoken and written languages of the world.
The content and structure of this informational resource have been compiled and are now presented online by the Observatoire linguistique, an independent research association known also as the “Linguasphere Observatory”, created in Quebec in 1983 and legally registered in Normandy since 1987.
The research hub of the Observatoire is at present in western Europe, in Wales and in Provence, but scientific, material and moral support has been provided by individuals and institutions as far apart as Moscow, Maharashtra and Virginia.
The Observatoire has no political, national, sectarian or commercial motivation.
Although the Linguasphere Register has been in active development for over two decades, it will require more time and discussion to be refined as an efficient system of worldwide reference, covering all documented languages and speech communities of the 21st century and their recorded past.
The referential backbone of the Register, refined since 2000 and published here as the “Linguascale 2010”, will be further improved and expanded in the light of contributions received from its users, including the incorporation of new linguistic and geographic data, and of new perceptions and proposals.
In particular, the scope of the “linguascale” is being currently broadened to provide a practical means for the global navigation of international language-codes (including ISO standards 639-1, -2, -3 and -5), and of the thousands of language-related articles already available in Wikipedia in over 200 editorial languages.
At the same time, the linguascale has the task of providing a transnational framework for locating languages geographically, and systematically in their intrinsic relationships with other living and recorded languages. Potentially, the scale may serve also as a framework of reference for the viewing and hearing, learning and reading, translating and interpreting of individual languages online.
The full contents of the 2-volume Linguasphere Register 1999/2000, including its original Introduction in English (volume 1), are accessible on this website from today.
The current and future development of the Register, with advice and comments on its use, will be provided online in the form of concise editorials, commencing with this message of welcome – addressed to you and to each other reader.
Your creative reflections will be welcomed, together with all contribution of new and improved information, and of whatever material support you may be able to offer – including your help in the plurilingual evolution of the website linguasphere.info!