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The Linguasphere Observatory (or "Observatoire", based upon its original French and legal title: Observatoire Linguistique) is a transnational linguistic research network. It was created in Quebec in 1983 and was subsequently established and registered in Normandy as a non-profit association under the honorary presidency of the late Léopold Sédar Senghor, a French-language poet and the first president of Senegal. Its founding director is David Dalby, former director of the International African Institute and emeritus reader in the University of London, and its first research secretary was Philippe Blanchet, a Provençal-language poet currently serving as Professor of Sociolinguistics at the University of Rennes. Since 2010, the deputy director and webmaster of the Observatoire has been Pierrick le Feuvre,with the chairman of its research council being Roland Breton, emeritus professor at the University of Paris VIII. The Observatoire's research hub is currently based in the European Union, in Carmarthenshire, Wales (UK) and in Paris. Its title in Welsh is Wylfa Ieithoedd, literally the "Observatory (of) languages", and its publishing associate (also in Wales) is the Gwasg y Byd Iaith, i.e., "Linguasphere Press" or literally "Press (of) the world (of) language". The Observatoire has developed an innovative scheme of philological classification, coding all living and recorded languages within a global referential framework or "linguascale". This Linguascale Framework uses a decimal structure (see below) to record both genetic and geographic categories of relationship (termed ''phylozones'' and ''geozones'', respectively). In 1999/2000, the Observatoire published David Dalby's 2-volume ''Linguasphere Register of the World's Languages and Speech Communities''.〔David Dalby, ''Linguasphere Register of the World's Languages and Speech Communities'', Gwasg y Byd Iaith for Observatoire linguistique: Hebron, Wales, 1999–2000 (vol.1) ISBN 0-9532919-1-X & (vol. 2) ISBN 0-9532919-2-8〕 Reviews were published by Edward J. Vajda in ''Language'' and by Anthony P.Grant in ''Journal of the Royal Anthropological Society''.〔See reviews of the ''Linguasphere Register'' by Edward J. Vajda in ''Language'' (Linguistic Society of America), Vol.77, 3 (Sept. 2001) pp. 606–608, and by Anthony P.Grant in ''Journal of Royal Anthropological Society'' (June 1, 2003).〕 The Observatoire has now prepared a revised edition of the Linguasphere Register from 2010, the first of a projected series of regular updates at 10-year intervals. The current edition ((LS-2010) ), comprising substantial materials from the foundation edition of 2000, is published online from 2011 as a freely available public resource and an online data-base, compiled and co-ordinated by David Dalby and Pierrick le Feuvre. Provision is made for the online gathering of additional and improved data, and for the open discussion of proposals and criticisms. From 2001 until December 2005, the Linguasphere Observatory was actively involved in collaboration with the British Standards Institution BSI Group and with ISO/TC 37in the design and development of a four-letter (alpha-4) code covering—potentially—every recorded language variety in the world. The Observatoire was not, however, associated with or responsible for the final ISO 639-6 standard which was a partial result of this collaboration, and which was approved and published by ISO in 2009. It is the policy of the Observatoire that its on-going independent work on language coding should be complementary to and supportive of the ISO 639 international standards. ==The Linguasphere Register and Linguascale referential framework== The ''Linguascale'' framework is a referential system covering all languages, as published in the ''Linguasphere Register'' in 2000 and subsequently refined in 2010. It comprises a flexible coding formula or which seeks to situate each language and dialect within the totality of the world's living and recorded languages, having regard to ongoing linguistic research. The first part of this linguascale is the decimal classification referred to above, consisting of a ''linguasphere key'' of two numerals denoting the relevant phylozone or geozone: from 00. to 99. This provides a systematic numerical key for the initial classification of any of the world's languages, following the principles set out in the ''Linguasphere Register''. The first numeral of the key represents one of the ten referential ''sectors'' into which the world's languages are initially divided. The sector can either be a ''phylosector'', in which the constituent languages are considered to be in a diachronic relationship one with another, or a ''geosector'', in which languages are grouped geographically rather than historically. The second numeral is used to represent the ten ''zones'' into which each geosector is divided for referential purposes. The component zones, like the sectors, are described as either ''phylozones'' or ''geozones'', based on the nature of the relationship among their constituent languages: either historical or geographical. The second part of the linguascale consists of three capital letters (majuscules): from -AAA- to -ZZZ-. Each zone is divided into one or more ''sets'', with each set being represented by the first majuscule of this three-letter (alpha-3) component. Each set is divided into one or more ''chains'' (represented by the second majuscule) and each chain is into one or more ''nets'' (represented by the third majuscule). The division of the languages of a zone into sets, chains and nets is based on relative degrees of linguistic proximity, as measured in principle by approximate proportions of shared basic vocabulary. Geozones are on average divided into more sets than phylozones because relationships among languages within the latter are by definition more obvious and much closer. The third and final part of the linguascale consists of up to three lowercase letters (minuscules), used to identify a language or dialect with precision: from aaa to zzz. The first letter of this sequence represents an ''outer unit'' (preferred from 2010 to the original term of "outer language", to avoid the shifting and often emotive applications of the terms "language" and "dialect"). The ''inner units'' and language varieties that may comprise any outer language are coded using a second, and wherever necessary a third minuscule letter. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Linguasphere Observatory」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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