Installing Pendant light with gold, silver and bronze coated wiring
Chandeliers hung on chain and in general have what you are talking about since the cable is going to be exposed and the wiring is visible. We know that the bare wire is the ground. During training to become an electrician you are taught that the neutral is always known as the "identified" wire or it must be identified.

If you look closely at the cordage attached to the fixture you will usually find that one side of the cord one wire has lines or ridges on one side or it may be squared or it may even be a different color (silver) than the hot and the ground. Regardless you will find one wire in the cord that is different or identified. This would be the neutral and of course the normal wire is the hot.

So there you have it, connect the bare wire to the green or bare, connect the identified to the white or nuetral, and connect the last wire to the black or switch leg in the box.