LANGUAGE TAG REGISTRATION FORM

(last updated 2001-12-19)

Name of requester          : Harald T. Alvestrand
E-mail address of requester: Harald.Alvestrand&maxware.no
Tag to be registered       : i-default

English name of language   : Default Language

Native name of language (transcribed into ASCII): Default Language

Reference to published description of the language (book or article):

RFC 2277

Any other relevant information:

For information, here is the section of RFC 2277 that defines
Default Language. It is probably a Good Thing to keep this with the
registration in the IANA registry.

4.5.  Default Language

   When human-readable text must be presented in a context where the
   sender has no knowledge of the recipient's language preferences (such
   as login failures or E-mailed warnings, or prior to language
   negotiation), text SHOULD be presented in Default Language.

   Default Language is assigned the tag "i-default" according to the
   procedures of RFC 1766. It is not a specific language, but rather
   identifies the condition where the language preferences of the user
   cannot be established.

   Messages in Default Language MUST be understandable by an English-
   speaking person, since English is the language which, worldwide, the
   greatest number of people will be able to get adequate help in
   interpreting when working with computers.

   Note that negotiating English is NOT the same as Default Language;
   Default Language is an emergency measure in otherwise unmanageable
   situations.

   In many cases, using only English text is reasonable; in some cases,
   the English text may be augumented by text in other languages.
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(created 1998-03-10)

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