Help:Monolingual text languages - Wikidata (original) (raw)

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The list of Wikimedia language codes available for monolingual text values is fixed. It can only be changed by the development team.

In addition to language codes describing actual languages, there are four special language codes available:

und: For content whose language is not yet determined (undetermined)
mis: For content whose language is known, but has no language code (uncoded languages). We also use it for content whose language has a language code that is not yet available on Wikidata.org.
mul: For content in multiple languages (multiple languages), meaning either content that is the same in more than one language, or content that contains more than one language, so a reader would need to know all of them to understand it.
zxx: For content that is not linguistic (no linguistic content, not applicable)

See the <#Lists> below for current uses.

It might happen that you need a language code that is not yet supported. In that case, follow these steps:

Use mis as language code in the statement, reference or qualifier where you need the unsupported language code
If possible, add a qualifier language of work or name (P407) with the item for the language; create an item for the language, if none already exists
If possible, add a reference for the correct language to the statement
Request the language code if it fulfills the requirements for a new language code (see below)

The preferred way to request a language code to be added for monolingual text values is by opening a new ticket in Phabricator. Add the following information:

The language code (examples: lkt, sr-cyrl)
Language name in the language itself or English (examples: Lakota, Serbian in Cyrillic)
The used script, if not obvious (example: Cyrillic)
Where and when the language was or is used (example: In use by the Lakota people in North America)
The Wikidata item id (example: [Q33537](/wiki/Q33537 "Q33537"))
Make sure you link to the item where you want to use the language code (see previous section). If you didn't already add a reference to the statement, add it to the Phabricator ticket.

If you don't want to or can't use Phabricator, add your request to Wikidata:Report a technical problem.

Request language code on Phabricator

Note: This is work in progress and not finished policy

A new language code probably has to fulfill the following requirements:

It has to be valid IETF language tag. If no tag is available, an attempt to register the tag can be made.
It has to be required for an actual use-case on Wikidata (other than native label (P1705) on item for the language itself)

A language code does not have to fulfill the requirements of the language proposal policy for new Wikis. Specifically:

The language doesn't need an active community or amount of usage
The language code doesn't need to denote a unique language (For example, we have nn and nb, but also no, which is a macrolanguage covering both)

In general, if you need a language code to correctly model real-world data, it should be accepted as long as it's a valid language code.

BIND (LANG(?label) AS ?language)

SELECT * WHERE { ?s ?label "The Rolling Stones"@en . ?s ?p ?o }

Try it!

?spouse rdfs:label ?spouse_label . FILTER (LANG(?spouse_label) = "en").

Monolingual text prefix text in "double quotes" with the language and a colon, e.g. en:"Some text"
Example: Q1214098 TAB P1476 TAB pl:"Krzyżacy"
Meaning: add to The Knights of the Cross (Q1214098)title (P1476)"Krzyżacy" (Polish)
Help:Wikimedia language codes/lists/all
Wikidata:Database reports/monolingual text/undetermined language (und)
Wikidata:Database reports/monolingual text/multiple languages (mul)
Wikidata:Database reports/monolingual text/missing language codes (mis)
Wikidata:Database reports/monolingual text/no linguistic content (zxx)
https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/tag/language_codes/
mediawikiwiki:Manual:Language#Language code