Appropriate language code for Lorrain?

Hey there. In T420823: Add Lorrain (mis; no ISO-code) to languages on WF/Abstract WP we've been asked to add support for Lorrain to Abstract Wikipedia. There's already some content under the misc. language code (mis) on Wikidata, but for it to work with us we need an actual code. roa-lor was proposed, and I countered with roa-x-lor; I would appreciate the Committee's thoughts on what counts as appropriate here. Jdforrester (WMF) (talk) 14:10, 24 March 2026 (UTC)

@Evertype: is the person who actually approves w:IETF BCP 47 language tags. roa-x-lor would be syntactically correct, where roa-lor would refer to an unregistered lor tag. If it's not urgent, given a good proposal, it should only take a few weeks to get a tag for Lorrain, unless the argument was it needed to be considered language tag, and then it would have to go through SIL first (see https://iso639-3.sil.org/code_changes/submitting_change_requests ). Instead of Wikimedia just creating a code, I'd suggest actually trying to get an official one.--Prosfilaes (talk) 04:10, 26 March 2026 (UTC)

"Going through SIL" is a bit of a mis-characterization. SIL International is the registrar for ISO 639-3, but around January of 2026 the Registrars of ISO 639-2, 639-3, and 639-5 were merged into a single registration authority. But https://iso639-3.sil.org/code_changes/submitting_change_requests is the right URL. ~2026-18807-52 (talk) 04:44, 26 March 2026 (UTC)

From suggestions from IETF languages, x-lorrain or roa-FR-x-lorrain may be better. Some would argue for fr-x-lorrain, as a dialect of French. There should be an official code at some point, but bureaucracy is going to require someone to fill out the paper work and argue it as a dialect or language.--Prosfilaes (talk) 07:15, 26 March 2026 (UTC)

Lorrain is not a dialect of French (there is no inter-intelligibility between the two). I would be okay with it falling under the roa umbrella for the meantime tho. Poslovitch (talk) 17:48, 26 March 2026 (UTC)

@Prosfilaes: Thanks; waiting a bit is fine, though I'm keen to unblock @Poslovitch. Apparently Wikidata has some issues with foo-x-bar language codes, but I don't think this should stop us from picking the right one and fixing the software. Jdforrester (WMF) (talk) 15:34, 31 March 2026 (UTC)

If @Poslovitch wants a language code, that's going to take at least a year. It's clear there's going to be pushback against the idea it's not a dialect, too.--Prosfilaes (talk) 01:29, 1 April 2026 (UTC)

Yeah, I've discovered it's going to be a long task. I've been sent to a discussion on IETF mailing lists. I'm not sure how it works, but it looks like they could point towards a "temporary" language code while I gather scientific works/actually do the research work to investigate if Lorrain can be considered a separate language - which is going to take a few years at the very least. Poslovitch (talk) 10:31, 1 April 2026 (UTC)

I started that discussion. I don't think ietf-languages is going to give you a code if you're going to propose it as a language at ISO 639-3. So x-lorrain or roa-x-lorrain are probably the best for now.--Prosfilaes (talk) 01:13, 3 April 2026 (UTC)