Overview
ISO 9984:1996 - Information and documentation - Transliteration of Georgian characters into Latin characters - defines an international, stringent and reversible system for converting Georgian script into Latin script. Its primary purpose is to enable unambiguous international information exchange, especially by electronic means, so that machine processing, transmission and later reconstitution (retransliteration) are reliable and lossless.
Key topics and technical requirements
- Stringent transliteration principle: character-by-character mapping to ensure full reversibility; each Georgian character is represented by a unique Latin equivalent.
- Transliteration table: a core table (Table 1) maps Georgian characters to Latin characters; digraphs or diacritics are allowed only when necessary.
- Diacritics and encoding: diacritic marks used in the standard are referenced from ISO 5426 (see Annex A), ensuring consistent character representation.
- Punctuation and special marks: transliteration rules include treatment of traditional Georgian punctuation (Table 2).
- Retransliteration vs transcription: ISO 9984 focuses on transliteration (graphical mapping) rather than transcription (phonetic rendering); it emphasizes reversibility and explicitly excludes phonetic or national pronunciation priorities.
- Levels of conversion: the standard distinguishes three levels - stringent (fully reversible), simplified (for constrained systems/machines), and popular (national/phonetic variants) - recommending stringent transliteration for international use.
- Scope for variants: national standards may exist but should remain compatible with the international system to permit conversion back to original graphisms.
- Informative annexes: Annex A (diacritics) and Annex B (bibliography) provide supporting information but are not normative.
Applications and users
ISO 9984:1996 is directly applicable where accurate, reversible Georgian→Latin conversion is required:
- Libraries, archives and bibliographic services: cataloguing, indexing, and alphabetical intercalation across multilingual collections.
- Publishers and editors: preparing international publications that include Georgian names and terms.
- Geographical names and cartography: toponymic lists and maps requiring standardized romanization.
- Databases, metadata and information systems: data exchange, search normalization, record linking, and machine-readable cataloguing.
- Digitization and archival projects: preserving original graphemes while enabling Latin-script interoperability.
- Standards bodies and software developers: implementing conversion routines where reversibility and unambiguous mapping are essential.
Related standards
- ISO 5426 - Extension of the Latin alphabet (diacritic references used in ISO 9984)
- ISO/IEC 646 - 7-bit coded character set for information interchange (referenced in bibliography)
- Prepared by ISO/TC 46/SC 2 (Conversion of written languages)
Keywords: ISO 9984:1996, transliteration of Georgian characters, Georgian to Latin, romanization of Georgian, reversible transliteration, bibliographic cataloguing, international information exchange.