science

ISO 15924

ISO 15924 is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand ISO 15924 rather than just read about it. In short: ISO 15924, Codes for the representation of names of scripts, is an international standard defining codes for writing systems or scripts (a "set of graphic characters used for the written form of one or more languages"). Each script is given both a four-letter code and a numeric code.

Key takeaways

ISO 15924 belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect ISO 15924 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of ISO 15924 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

ISO 15924, Codes for the representation of names of scripts, is an international standard defining codes for writing systems or scripts (a "set of graphic characters used for the written form of one or more languages"). Each script is given both a four-letter code and a numeric code. Where possible the codes are derived from ISO 639-2, where the name of a script and the name of a language using the script are identical (example: Gujarātī ISO 639 guj, ISO 15924 Gujr). Preference is given to the 639-2 Bibliographical codes, which is different from the otherwise often preferred use of the Terminological codes. 4-letter ISO 15924 codes are incorporated into the IANA Language Subtag Registry for IETF language tags and so can be used in file formats that make use of such language tags. For example, they can be used in HTML and XML to help Web browsers determine which typeface to use for foreign text. This way one could differentiate, for example, between Serbian written in the Cyrillic (sr-Cyrl) or Latin (sr-Latn) script, or mark romanized or transliterated text as such.

Maintenance ISO appointed the Unicode Consortium as the Registration Authority (RA) for the standard. The RA is responsible for appointing a registrar who works with a Joint Advisory Committee (JAC) in developing and implementing the standard. The registrar from 2004 to 2018 was Michael Everson, and from January 2019 the registrar has been Markus Scherer of Google. The JAC consists of six members: one representative of the RA (Markus Scherer), one representative of ISO 639-2 (Randall K. Barry of the Library of Congress), one representative of ISO/TC 37 (Christian Galinski), one representative of ISO/TC 46 (Peeter Päll), and two representatives of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 2 (Rick McGowan and Jan Kučera, both affiliated with the Unicode Consortium).

Script codes

Numeric ranges 000–099 Hieroglyphic and cuneiform scripts 100–199 Right-to-left alphabetic scripts 200–299 Left-to-right alphabetic scripts 300–399 Alphasyllabic scripts 400–499 Syllabic scripts 500–599 Ideographic scripts 600–699 Undeciphered scripts 700–799 Shorthands and other notations 800–899 (unassigned) 900–999 Private use, alias, special codes

Special codes Qaaa–Qabx (900–949): 50 Codes reserved for private use (for example, Qaag is defined in LDML to mark Burmese text encoded for the Zawgyi font) Zsye 993: Emoji Zinh 994: Code for inherited script Zmth 995: Mathematical notation Zsym 996: Symbols Zxxx 997: Code for unwritten documents Zyyy 998: Code for undetermined script Zzzz 999: Code for uncoded script

Exceptionally reserved codes Two four-letter codes are reserved at the request of the Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR) project:

Root: Reserved for the language-neutral base of the CLDR locale tree True: Reserved for the Boolean value "true"

List of codes This list of codes is from the ISO 15924 standard.

Relations to other standards The following standards are referred to as indispensable by ISO 15924.

ISO 639-2:1998 Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 2: Alpha-3 code ISO/IEC 9541-1:1991 Information technology — Font information interchange — Part 1: Architecture ISO/IEC 10646-1:2020 Information technology — Universal Multiple-Octet Coded Character Set (UCS) For definition of font and glyph the standard refers to

ISO/IEC 9541-1:1991 Around 160 scripts are defined in Unicode. Through a linkpin called "Property Value Alias", Unicode has made a 1:1 connection between a script defined, and its ISO 15924 standard. See Script (Unicode).

See also List of scripts with no ISO 15924 code

Notes

References

External links ISO 15924:2004 ISO 15924 Registration Authority (Unicode) Official ISO 15924 code lists Overview of changes in time

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with ISO 15924

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what ISO 15924 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to ISO 15924 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about ISO 15924 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of ISO 15924

In research: ISO 15924 appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses ISO 15924 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: ISO 15924 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2004 introductions, ISO 15924, ISO standards, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for ISO 15924 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study ISO 15924 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what ISO 15924 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain ISO 15924 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is ISO 15924 in simple terms?

Why does ISO 15924 matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study ISO 15924?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on ISO 15924.