Language system tags (OpenType 1.8.1)
Language system tags identify the language systems supported in a OpenType Layout font. What is meant by a “language system” in this context is a set of typographic conventions for how text in a given script should be presented. Such conventions may be associated with particular languages, with particular genres of usage, with different publications, and other such factors. For example, particular glyph variants for certain characters may be required for particular languages, or for phonetic transcription or mathematical notation.
In principle, a given set of conventions may be shared across multiple scenarios. For instance, two different languages (perhaps unrelated) may happen to follow the same conventions. Language system tags can be registered on a perceived-need basis, however; as a result, there is no guarantee that each tag represents a distinct and unique set of conventions. Tags can, however, be registered with the intent of representing conventions that apply to multiple languages. In such cases, the documented description for the tag should reflect that intent.
It should also be noted that there may be more than one set of typographic conventions that apply to a given language.
Therefore, in several respects, language system tags do not correspond in a one-to-one manner with languages. Even so, many registered tags are intended to represent typographic conventions for a particular language. For cases in which a correlation exists between a tag and one or more languages, the language identities are documented here by reference to ISO 639-2 and ISO 639-3.*
If information is available to an application declaring the language of text content, then the application may make use of that to select a default language system tag to be applied when displaying that text. It is preferable, however, to give users control over the choice of language system tag to be used. (Depending on the application scenario, such control may be given to content authors, to content readers, or to both.)
*ISO 639-2 provides identifiers for individual languages as well as for certain collections of languages. ISO 639-3 provides identifiers for a far more comprehensive set of individual languages, though not for collections. Entities in ISO 639 that are referenced here may include any of the individual languages covered in ISO 639-2 or ISO 639-3, or to any of the collections covered in ISO 639-2.
All tags are 4-byte character strings composed of a limited set of ASCII characters in the range 0x20 to 0x7E. Spaces (0x20) may only occur as a trailing sequence within the tag. As a general convention, capital letters (0x41 to 0x5A) are used. If a language system tag consists of three or less visible letters, the letters are followed by the requisite number of spaces each consisting of a single byte, to complete a 4-byte tag.
In the following table, entries marked with an asterisk (“*”) have been added to the registry since the current OpenType version was published.
Language System | Language System Tag | Corresponding ISO 639 ID (if applicable) |
---|---|---|
Abaza | ABA | abq |
Abkhazian | ABK | abk |
Acholi | ACH | ach |
Achi | ACR | acr |
Adyghe | ADY | ady |
Afrikaans | AFK | afr |
Afar | AFR | aar |
Agaw | AGW | ahg |
Aiton | AIO | aio |
Akan | AKA | aka |
Alsatian | ALS | gsw |
Altai | ALT | atv, alt |
Amharic | AMH | amh |
Anglo-Saxon | ANG | ang |
Phonetic transcription—Americanist conventions | APPH | |
Arabic | ARA | ara |
Aragonese | ARG | arg |
Aari | ARI | aiw |
Rakhine | ARK | mhv, rmz, rki |
Assamese | ASM | asm |
Asturian | AST | ast |
Athapaskan | ATH | apk, apj, apl, apm, apw, nav, bea, sek, bcr, caf, crx, clc, gwi, haa, chp, dgr, scs, xsl, srs, ing, hoi, koy, hup, ktw, mvb, wlk, coq, ctc, gce, tol, tuu, kkz, tgx, tht, aht, tfn, taa, tau, tcb, kuu, tce, ttm, txc |
Avar | AVR | ava |
Awadhi | AWA | awa |
Aymara | AYM | aym |
Torki | AZB | azb |
Azerbaijani | AZE | aze |
Badaga | BAD | bfq |
Banda | BAD0 | bad |
Baghelkhandi | BAG | bfy |
Balkar | BAL | krc |
Balinese | BAN | ban |
Bavarian | BAR | bar |
Baulé | BAU | bci |
Batak Toba | BBC | bbc |
Berber | BBR | |
Bench | BCH | bcq |
Bible Cree | BCR | |
Bandjalang | BDY | bdy |
Belarussian | BEL | bel |
Bemba | BEM | bem |
Bengali | BEN | ben |
Haryanvi | BGC | bgc |
Bagri | BGQ | bgq |
Bulgarian | BGR | bul |
Bhili | BHI | bhi, bhb |
Bhojpuri | BHO | bho |
Bikol | BIK | bik, bhk, bcl, bto, cts, bln |
Bilen | BIL | byn |
Bislama | BIS | bis |
Kanauji |
BJJ |
bjj |
Blackfoot | BKF | bla |
Baluchi | BLI | bal |
Pa’o Karen | BLK | blk |
Balante | BLN | bjt, ble |
Balti | BLT | bft |
Bambara (Bamanankan) | BMB | bam |
Bamileke | BML | |
Bosnian | BOS | bos |
Bishnupriya Manipuri | BPY | bpy |
Breton | BRE | bre |
Brahui | BRH | brh |
Braj Bhasha | BRI | bra |
Burmese | BRM | mya |
Bodo | BRX | brx |
Bashkir | BSH | bak |
Burushaski | BSK | bsk |
Beti | BTI | btb |
Batak Simalungun | BTS | bts |
Bugis | BUG | bug |
Medumba | BYV | byv |
Kaqchikel | CAK | cak |
Catalan | CAT | cat |
Zamboanga Chavacano | CBK | cbk |
* Chinantec | CCHN | cco, chj, chq, chz, cle, cnl, cnt, cpa, csa, cso, cte, ctl, cuc, cvn |
Cebuano | CEB | ceb |
Chechen | CHE | che |
Chaha Gurage | CHG | sgw |
Chattisgarhi | CHH | hne |
Chichewa (Chewa, Nyanja) | CHI | nya |
Chukchi | CHK | ckt |
Chuukese | CHK0 | chk |
Choctaw | CHO | cho |
Chipewyan | CHP | chp |
Cherokee | CHR | chr |
Chamorro | CHA | cha |
Chuvash | CHU | chv |
Cheyenne | CHY | chy |
Chiga | CGG | cgg |
Western Cham | CJA | cja |
Eastern Cham | CJM | cjm |
Comorian | CMR | swb, wlc, wni, zdj |
Coptic | COP | cop |
Cornish | COR | cor |
Corsican | COS | cos |
Creoles | CPP | cpp |
Cree | CRE | cre |
Carrier | CRR | crx, caf |
Crimean Tatar | CRT | crh |
Kashubian | CSB | csb |
Church Slavonic | CSL | chu |
Czech | CSY | ces |
Chittagonian | CTG | ctg |
San Blas Kuna | CUK | cuk |
Danish | DAN | dan |
Dargwa | DAR | dar |
Dayi | DAX | dax |
Woods Cree | DCR | cwd |
German | DEU | deu |
Dogri | DGO | dgo |
Dogri | DGR | doi |
Dhangu | DHG | dhg |
Divehi (Dhivehi, Maldivian) | DHV (deprecated) | div |
Dimli | DIQ | diq |
Divehi (Dhivehi, Maldivian) | DIV | div |
Zarma | DJR | dje |
Djambarrpuyngu | DJR0 | djr |
Dangme | DNG | ada |
Dan | DNJ | dnj |
Dinka | DNK | din |
Dari | DRI | prs |
Dhuwal | DUJ | duj |
Dungan | DUN | dng |
Dzongkha | DZN | dzo |
Ebira | EBI | igb |
Eastern Cree | ECR | crj, crl |
Edo | EDO | bin |
Efik | EFI | efi |
Greek | ELL | ell |
Eastern Maninkakan | EMK | emk |
English | ENG | eng |
Erzya | ERZ | myv |
Spanish | ESP | spa |
Central Yupik | ESU | esu |
Estonian | ETI | est |
Basque | EUQ | eus |
Evenki | EVK | evn |
Even | EVN | eve |
Ewe | EWE | ewe |
French Antillean | FAN | acf |
Fang | FAN0 | fan |
Persian | FAR | fas |
Fanti | FAT | fat |
Finnish | FIN | fin |
Fijian | FJI | fij |
Dutch (Flemish) | FLE | vls |
Fe’fe’ | FMP | fmp |
Forest Nenets | FNE | enf |
Fon | FON | fon |
Faroese | FOS | fao |
French | FRA | fra |
Cajun French | FRC | frc |
Frisian | FRI | fry |
Friulian | FRL | fur |
Arpitan | FRP | frp |
Futa | FTA | fuf |
Fulah | FUL | ful |
Nigerian Fulfulde | FUV | fuv |
Ga | GAD | gaa |
Scottish Gaelic (Gaelic) | GAE | gla |
Gagauz | GAG | gag |
Galician | GAL | glg |
Garshuni | GAR | |
Garhwali | GAW | gbm |
Ge’ez | GEZ | gez |
Githabul | GIH | gih |
Gilyak | GIL | niv |
Kiribati (Gilbertese) | GIL0 | gil |
Kpelle (Guinea) | GKP | gkp |
Gilaki | GLK | glk |
Gumuz | GMZ | guk |
Gumatj | GNN | gnn |
Gogo | GOG | gog |
Gondi | GON | gon |
Greenlandic | GRN | kal |
Garo | GRO | grt |
Guarani | GUA | grn |
Wayuu | GUC | guc |
Gupapuyngu | GUF | guf |
Gujarati | GUJ | guj |
Gusii | GUZ | guz |
Haitian (Haitian Creole) | HAI | hat |
Halam | HAL | flm |
Harauti | HAR | hoj |
Hausa | HAU | hau |
Hawaiian | HAW | haw |
Haya | HAY | hay |
Hazaragi | HAZ | haz |
Hammer-Banna | HBN | amf |
Herero | HER | her |
Hiligaynon | HIL | hil |
Hindi | HIN | hin |
High Mari | HMA | mrj |
Hmong | HMN | hmn |
Hiri Motu | HMO | hmo |
Hindko | HND | hno, hnd |
Ho | HO | hoc |
Harari | HRI | har |
Croatian | HRV | hrv |
Hungarian | HUN | hun |
Armenian | HYE | hye |
Armenian East | HYE0 | hye |
Iban | IBA | iba |
Ibibio | IBB | ibb |
Igbo | IBO | ibo |
Ijo languages | IJO | ijc |
Ido | IDO | ido |
Interlingue | ILE | ile |
Ilokano | ILO | ilo |
Interlingua | INA | ina |
Indonesian | IND | ind |
Ingush | ING | inh |
Inuktitut | INU | iku |
Inupiat | IPK | ipk |
Phonetic transcription—IPA conventions | IPPH | |
Irish | IRI | gle |
Irish Traditional | IRT | gle |
Icelandic | ISL | isl |
Inari Sami | ISM | smn |
Italian | ITA | ita |
Hebrew | IWR | heb |
Jamaican Creole | JAM | jam |
Japanese | JAN | jpn |
Javanese | JAV | jav |
Lojban | JBO | jbo |
Krymchak | JCT | jct |
Yiddish | JII | yid |
Ladino | JUD | lad |
Jula | JUL | dyu |
Kabardian | KAB | kbd |
Kabyle | KAB0 | kab |
Kachchi | KAC | kfr |
Kalenjin | KAL | kln |
Kannada | KAN | kan |
Karachay | KAR | krc |
Georgian | KAT | kat |
Kazakh | KAZ | kaz |
Makonde | KDE | kde |
Kabuverdianu (Crioulo) | KEA | kea |
Kebena | KEB | ktb |
Kekchi | KEK | kek |
Khutsuri Georgian | KGE | kat |
Khakass | KHA | kjh |
Khanty-Kazim | KHK | kca |
Khmer | KHM | khm |
Khanty-Shurishkar | KHS | kca |
Khamti Shan | KHT | kht |
Khanty-Vakhi | KHV | kca |
Khowar | KHW | khw |
Kikuyu (Gikuyu) | KIK | kik |
Kirghiz (Kyrgyz) | KIR | kir |
Kisii | KIS | kqs, kss |
Kirmanjki | KIU | kiu |
Southern Kiwai | KJD | kjd |
Eastern Pwo Karen | KJP | kjp |
Kokni | KKN | kex |
Kalmyk | KLM | xal |
Kamba | KMB | kam |
Kumaoni | KMN | kfy |
Komo | KMO | kmw |
Komso | KMS | kxc |
Khorasani Turkic | KMZ | kmz |
Kanuri | KNR | kau |
Kodagu | KOD | kfa |
Korean Old Hangul | KOH | okm |
Konkani | KOK | kok |
Kikongo | KON | ktu |
Komi | KOM | kom |
Kongo | KON0 | kon |
Komi-Permyak | KOP | koi |
Korean | KOR | kor |
Kosraean | KOS | kos |
Komi-Zyrian | KOZ | kpv |
Kpelle | KPL | kpe |
Krio | KRI | kri |
Karakalpak | KRK | kaa |
Karelian | KRL | krl |
Karaim | KRM | kdr |
Karen | KRN | kar |
Koorete | KRT | kqy |
Kashmiri | KSH | kas |
Ripuarian | KSH0 | ksh |
Khasi | KSI | kha |
Kildin Sami | KSM | sjd |
S’gaw Karen | KSW | ksw |
Kuanyama | KUA | kua |
Kui | KUI | kxu |
Kulvi | KUL | kfx |
Kumyk | KUM | kum |
Kurdish | KUR | kur |
Kurukh | KUU | kru |
Kuy | KUY | kdt |
Koryak | KYK | kpy |
Western Kayah | KYU | kyu |
Ladin | LAD | lld |
Lahuli | LAH | bfu |
Lak | LAK | lbe |
Lambani | LAM | lmn |
Lao | LAO | lao |
Latin | LAT | lat |
Laz | LAZ | lzz |
L-Cree | LCR | crm |
Ladakhi | LDK | lbj |
Lezgi | LEZ | lez |
Ligurian | LIJ | lij |
Limburgish | LIM | lim |
Lingala | LIN | lin |
Lisu | LIS | lis |
Lampung | LJP | ljp |
Laki | LKI | lki |
Low Mari | LMA | mhr |
Limbu | LMB | lif |
Lombard | LMO | lmo |
Lomwe | LMW | ngl |
Loma | LOM | lom |
Luri | LRC | lrc, luz, bqi, zum |
Lower Sorbian | LSB | dsb |
Lule Sami | LSM | smj |
Lithuanian | LTH | lit |
Luxembourgish | LTZ | ltz |
Luba-Lulua | LUA | lua |
Luba-Katanga | LUB | lub |
Ganda | LUG | lug |
Luyia | LUH | luy |
Luo | LUO | luo |
Latvian | LVI | lav |
Madura | MAD | mad |
Magahi | MAG | mag |
Marshallese | MAH | mah |
Majang | MAJ | mpe |
Makhuwa | MAK | vmw |
Malayalam | MAL | mal |
Mam | MAM | mam |
Mansi | MAN | mns |
Mapudungun | MAP | arn |
Marathi | MAR | mar |
Marwari | MAW | mwr, dhd, rwr, mve, wry, mtr, swv |
Mbundu | MBN | kmb |
Mbo | MBO | mbo |
Manchu | MCH | mnc |
Moose Cree | MCR | crm |
Mende | MDE | men |
Mandar | MDR | mdr |
Me’en | MEN | mym |
Meru | MER | mer |
Morisyen | MFE | mfe |
Minangkabau | MIN | min |
Mizo | MIZ | lus |
Macedonian | MKD | mkd |
Makasar | MKR | mak |
Kituba | MKW | mkw |
Male | MLE | mdy |
Malagasy | MLG | mlg |
Malinke | MLN | mlq |
Malayalam Reformed | MLR | mal |
Malay | MLY | msa |
Mandinka | MND | mnk |
Mongolian | MNG | mon |
Manipuri | MNI | mni |
Maninka | MNK | man, mnk, myq, mku, msc, emk, mwk, mlq |
Manx | MNX | glv |
Mohawk | MOH | moh |
Moksha | MOK | mdf |
Moldavian | MOL | mol |
Mon | MON | mnw |
Moroccan | MOR | |
Mossi | MOS | mos |
Maori | MRI | mri |
Maithili | MTH | mai |
Maltese | MTS | mlt |
Mundari | MUN | unr |
Muscogee | MUS | mus |
Mirandese | MWL | mwl |
Hmong Daw | MWW | mww |
Mayan | MYN | myn |
Mazanderani | MZN | mzn |
Naga-Assamese | NAG | nag |
Nahuatl | NAH | nah |
Nanai | NAN | gld |
Neapolitan | NAP | nap |
Naskapi | NAS | nsk |
Nauruan | NAU | nau |
Navajo | NAV | nav |
N-Cree | NCR | csw |
Ndebele | NDB | nbl, nde |
Ndau | NDC | ndc |
Ndonga | NDG | ndo |
Low Saxon | NDS | nds |
Nepali | NEP | nep |
Newari | NEW | new |
Ngbaka | NGA | nga |
Nagari | NGR | |
Norway House Cree | NHC | csw |
Nisi | NIS | dap |
Niuean | NIU | niu |
Nyankole | NKL | nyn |
N’Ko | NKO | nqo |
Dutch | NLD | nld |
Nimadi | NOE | noe |
Nogai | NOG | nog |
Norwegian | NOR | nob |
Novial | NOV | nov |
Northern Sami | NSM | sme |
Sotho, Northern | NSO | nso |
Northern Tai | NTA | nod |
Esperanto | NTO | epo |
Nyamwezi | NYM | nym |
Norwegian Nynorsk (Nynorsk, Norwegian) | NYN | nno |
Mbembe Tigon | NZA | nza |
Occitan | OCI | oci |
Oji-Cree | OCR | ojs |
Ojibway | OJB | oji |
Odia (formerly Oriya) | ORI | ori |
Oromo | ORO | orm |
Ossetian | OSS | oss |
Palestinian Aramaic | PAA | sam |
Pangasinan | PAG | pag |
Pali | PAL | pli |
Pampangan | PAM | pam |
Punjabi | PAN | pan |
Palpa | PAP | plp |
Papiamentu | PAP0 | pap |
Pashto | PAS | pus |
Palauan | PAU | pau |
Bouyei | PCC | pcc |
Picard | PCD | pcd |
Pennsylvania German | PDC | pdc |
Polytonic Greek | PGR | ell |
Phake | PHK | phk |
Norfolk | PIH | pih |
Filipino | PIL | fil |
Palaung | PLG | pce, rbb, pll |
Polish | PLK | pol |
Piemontese | PMS | pms |
Western Panjabi | PNB | pnb |
Pocomchi | POH | poh |
Pohnpeian | PON | pon |
Provencal | PRO | pro |
Portuguese | PTG | por |
Western Pwo Karen | PWO | pwo |
Chin | QIN | bgr, cnh, cnw, czt, sez, tcp, csy, ctd, flm, pck, tcz, zom, cmr, dao, hlt, cka, cnk, mrh, cbl, cnb, csh |
K’iche’ | QUC | quc |
Quechua (Bolivia) | QUH | quh |
Quechua | QUZ | quz |
Quechua (Ecuador) | QVI | qvi |
Quechua (Peru) | QWH | qwh |
Rajasthani | RAJ | raj |
Rarotongan | RAR | rar |
Russian Buriat | RBU | bxr |
R-Cree | RCR | atj |
Rejang | REJ | rej |
Riang | RIA | ria |
Tarifit | RIF | rif |
Ritarungo | RIT | rit |
Arakwal | RKW | rkw |
Romansh | RMS | roh |
Vlax Romani | RMY | rmy |
Romanian | ROM | ron |
Romany | ROY | rom |
Rusyn | RSY | rue |
Rotuman | RTM | rtm |
Kinyarwanda | RUA | kin |
Rundi | RUN | run |
Aromanian | RUP | rup |
Russian | RUS | rus |
Sadri | SAD | sck |
Sanskrit | SAN | san |
Sasak | SAS | sas |
Santali | SAT | sat |
Sayisi | SAY | chp |
Sicilian | SCN | scn |
Scots | SCO | sco |
Sekota | SEK | xan |
Selkup | SEL | sel |
Old Irish | SGA | sga |
Sango | SGO | sag |
Samogitian | SGS | sgs |
Tachelhit | SHI | shi |
Shan | SHN | shn |
Sibe | SIB | sjo |
Sidamo | SID | sid |
Silte Gurage | SIG | xst |
Skolt Sami | SKS | sms |
Slovak | SKY | slk |
North Slavey | SCS | scs |
Slavey | SLA | scs, xsl |
Slovenian | SLV | slv |
Somali | SML | som |
Samoan | SMO | smo |
Sena | SNA | seh |
Shona | SNA0 | sna |
Sindhi | SND | snd |
Sinhala (Sinhalese) | SNH | sin |
Soninke | SNK | snk |
Sodo Gurage | SOG | gru |
Songe | SOP | sop |
Sotho, Southern | SOT | sot |
Albanian | SQI | sqi |
Serbian | SRB | srp |
Sardinian | SRD | srd |
Saraiki | SRK | skr |
Serer | SRR | srr |
South Slavey | SSL | xsl |
Southern Sami | SSM | sma |
Saterland Frisian | STQ | stq |
Sukuma | SUK | suk |
Sundanese | SUN | sun |
Suri | SUR | suq |
Svan | SVA | sva |
Swedish | SVE | swe |
Swadaya Aramaic | SWA | aii |
Swahili | SWK | swa |
Swati | SWZ | ssw |
Sutu | SXT | ngo |
Upper Saxon | SXU | sxu |
Sylheti | SYL | syl |
Syriac | SYR | aii, amw, cld, syc, syr, tru |
Syriac, Estrangela script-variant (equivalent to ISO 15924 'Syre') | SYRE | syc, syr |
Syriac, Western script-variant (equivalent to ISO 15924 'Syrj') | SYRJ | syc, syr |
Syriac, Eastern script-variant (equivalent to ISO 15924 'Syrn') | SYRN | syc, syr |
Silesian | SZL | szl |
Tabasaran | TAB | tab |
Tajiki | TAJ | tgk |
Tamil | TAM | tam |
Tatar | TAT | tat |
TH-Cree | TCR | cwd |
Dehong Dai | TDD | tdd |
Telugu | TEL | tel |
Tetum | TET | tet |
Tagalog | TGL | tgl |
Tongan | TGN | ton |
Tigre | TGR | tig |
Tigrinya | TGY | tir |
Thai | THA | tha |
Tahitian | THT | tah |
Tibetan | TIB | bod |
Tiv | TIV | tiv |
Turkmen | TKM | tuk |
Tamashek | TMH | tmh |
Temne | TMN | tem |
Tswana | TNA | tsn |
Tundra Nenets | TNE | enh |
Tonga | TNG | toi |
Todo | TOD | xal |
Toma | TOD0 | tod |
Tok Pisin | TPI | tpi |
Turkish | TRK | tur |
Tsonga | TSG | tso |
Turoyo Aramaic | TUA | tru |
Tulu | TUM | tum |
Tumbuka | TUL | tcy |
Tuvin | TUV | tyv |
Tuvalu | TVL | tvl |
Twi | TWI | aka |
Tày | TYZ | tyz |
Tamazight | TZM | tzm |
Tzotzil | TZO | tzo |
Udmurt | UDM | udm |
Ukrainian | UKR | ukr |
Umbundu | UMB | umb |
Urdu | URD | urd |
Upper Sorbian | USB | hsb |
Uyghur | UYG | uig |
Uzbek | UZB | uzb |
Venetian | VEC | vec |
Venda | VEN | ven |
Vietnamese | VIT | vie |
Volapük | VOL | vol |
Võro | VRO | vro |
Wa | WA | wbm |
Wagdi | WAG | wbr |
Waray-Waray | WAR | war |
West-Cree | WCR | crk |
Welsh | WEL | cym |
Walloon | WLN | wln |
Wolof | WLF | wol |
Mewati | WTM | wtm |
Lü | XBD | khb |
Xhosa | XHS | xho |
Minjangbal | XJB | xjb |
Soga | XOG | xog |
Kpelle (Liberia) | XPE | xpe |
Sakha | YAK | sah |
Yao | YAO | yao |
Yapese | YAP | yap |
Yoruba | YBA | yor |
Y-Cree | YCR | cre |
Yi Classic | YIC | |
Yi Modern | YIM | iii |
Zealandic | ZEA | zea |
Standard Morrocan Tamazigh | ZGH | zgh |
Zhuang | ZHA | zha |
Chinese, Hong Kong SAR | ZHH | zho |
Chinese Phonetic | ZHP | zho |
Chinese Simplified | ZHS | zho |
Chinese Traditional | ZHT | zho |
Zande | ZND | zne |
Zulu | ZUL | zul |
Zazaki | ZZA | zza |
OpenType specification