National standard: the version a country teaches and broadcasts
A national standard is the codified form of a language that a state teaches and broadcasts. Some languages have one, some have several, and a region subtag is how a page says which of them it follows. As of 2026-09-22.
| Number of standards | What a bare code costs a reader | Example shape |
|---|---|---|
| One | Almost nothing | A bare code is sufficient |
| Two with large separate audiences | The main question | A region subtag is the answer |
| Several with one dominant | Some ambiguity | A subtag rules the others out |
| Two writing systems as well | Both script and norm | A script subtag answers half |
Inclusion rule. The situations a language can be in, with what a code lacking a subtag leaves open in each. No language is named, because the pattern is general. Order. Simplest situation first.
1Most languages here have one standard
For the majority of the languages declared in this register there is a single codified form, so a bare code answers the reader completely. That is why most of the bare declarations here cost nothing.
It is worth stating because the opposite impression is easy to form from a register that keeps pointing at the variant question. The question matters in a handful of languages and is a non-issue in the rest.
2The handful where it matters are the large ones
The languages with two large standards are among the most widely spoken in the world, which is why the issue keeps appearing. A vendor addressing one of them has made a choice whether it says so or not.
Where a vendor does say so, this register prints the subtag. Where it does not, the cell records a bare code, and the language page says which markets that leaves unanswered.
3A standard is not the same as an accent
A national standard brings vocabulary and spelling with it; an accent does not. Two voices in the same standard can have different accents, and two voices with the same accent can follow different standards in writing.
That is why a subtitle file and a voice track can need different decisions for the same release, and why a single language figure covering both is answering neither question properly.
A definition, not a measurement: no vendor figure appears here that is not also in the register. Which languages here carry a subtag and which do not is on each language page.
Nearby terms: Tonal language, Voice inventory. The whole vocabulary is at terms; nothing on this page is a claim about a named product.