macrolanguage

Noun

 * 1) * 2006, G. Brent Hall and Michael G. Leahy, "Internet-Based Spacial Decision Support Using Open Source Tools", Chapter XIII of Shivanand Balram and Suzana Dragićević, Collaborative Geographic Information Systems, Idea Group Inc., ISBN 9781591408468, page 238:
 * Much of the emphasis in spatial decision-support research continues to focus on developing tools, typically using macrolanguage scripting exclusively or scripting linked to compilable programming and commercial geographic information system software, such as workstation Arc/Info and desktop ArcGIS.
 * Much of the emphasis in spatial decision-support research continues to focus on developing tools, typically using macrolanguage scripting exclusively or scripting linked to compilable programming and commercial geographic information system software, such as workstation Arc/Info and desktop ArcGIS.

Usage notes

 * This is more commonly written as two words:.

Etymology 2
From.

Noun

 * 1)  A "language" by common usage, which is in fact a dialect continuum consisting of widely varying varieties that may be distinct languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility.
 * 2) * 1996, Bertil Tikkanen, "Languages of interethnic communication on the Indian Subcontinent (excluding Nepal)", in Stephen Adolphe Wurm et al. (editors), Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas, Volume II.1, Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-013417-9, page 787:
 * The Indo-Aryan languages or macrolanguages of the plains merge into each other, being on the local level made up of enormous dialect continua (e.g. PANJABI-HINDI-BIHARI-RAJASTHANI-PAHARI). ¶ These fluid ‘macrolanguages’ (indicated by capital letters, e.g. HINDI) may have “dialects” which are mutually unintelligible and hard to classify.
 * 1)  A group of mutually intelligible speech varieties that have no traditional name in common, and which may be considered distinct languages by their speakers.
 * 2)  A book-keeping device where – when a language as defined under the ISO 639-2 standard developed by the US Library of Congress, for the purpose of encoding the languages that published books are written in, does not correspond to a single language under the ISO 639-3 standard developed by the Summer Institute of Linguistics, for the purpose of listing all the world's languages in their publication Ethnologue – the ISO 639-2 language is assigned an ISO 639-3 code as a "macrolanguage".
 * 3) * (no date), ISO 639-3, Relationship between ISO 639-3 and the other parts of ISO 639
 * Some existing code elements in ISO 639-2, and the corresponding code elements in ISO 639-1, are designated in those parts of ISO 639 as individual language code elements, yet are in a one-to-many relationship with individual language code elements in [ISO 639-3]. For purposes of [ISO 639-3], they are considered to be macrolanguage code elements.
 * 1) * 2007, Jose A. Fadul (general editor), Encyclopedia Rizaliana: Student Edition, Lulu.com, ISBN 978-1-4303-1142-3, page 6:
 * Modern Arabic is classified [by the ISO] as a macrolanguage with 27 sub-languages spoken throughout the Arab world.
 * Modern Arabic is classified [by the ISO] as a macrolanguage with 27 sub-languages spoken throughout the Arab world.

Usage notes
Since its adoption by the ISO, the word "macrolanguage" may be avoided in linguistics, as it has no linguistic meaning in ISO usage. Its primary usage has become to coordinate between ISO 639-2 and ISO 639-3 when those standards have different definitions of a language: The ISO 639-2 definition of a language is based on a shared writing system and literature, while the ISO 639-3 definition is based on mutual intelligibility (with some exceptions such as Serbo-Croatian, Hindustani and Malay, which are single languages linguistically but which for political reasons have been assigned multiple ISO 639-3 codes). This results in e.g. Chinese, Arabic, Quechua and Zapotec being coded as single languages under ISO 639-1 and ISO 639-2 but as multiple languages under ISO 639-3, so they are each assigned a macrolanguage code under ISO 639-3 in addition to their multiple individual language codes under ISO 639-3.