[tei-council] Values of @xml:lang on <exemplum>

[David Sewell]

No, there's not a flaw in the xsd:language data type; it is defined as
"the set of all strings that are valid language identifiers as defined
[RFC 3066]". Empty string is therefore not allowed. Instead we need to
change the definition of @xml:lang to allow a choice between empty and
xsd:language, probably:

              <choice>
                <empty/>
                <data type="language"/>
              </choice>

If we make this change, we will need to update the Guidelines language.

David

On Thu, 30 Apr 2009, James Cummings wrote:

> James Cummings wrote:
> > David Sewell wrote:
> > > Cases #1 and #3 seem clear-cut. The former takes @xml:lang="en", the
> > > latter takes @xml:lang="" (the latter is the explicitly recommended
> > > XML practice for tagging an element where you want to suppress language
> > > information, see http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml/#sec-lang-tag).
> >
> > Currently the TEI Schemas don't allow us to have xml:lang="" (or at least in
> > my quick test in oXygen).  This is, I'd argue an oversight since you suggest
> > the spec allows it.
> >
> > We define it as data.language == xsd:language.  So there must be a flaw in
> > xsd:language that doesn't allow empty values.
>
> And furthermore we say on the attribute reference page:
>
> "Note: If no value is specified for xml:lang, the xml:lang value for the
> immediately enclosing element is inherited; for this reason, a value should
> always be specified on the outermost element (TEI)."
>
> We should perhaps update this to distinguish between the attribute not being
> present, which is what refers to by 'no value specified' and the attribute
> being present but erm, no actual value specified.
>
> -James
>
>

-- 
David Sewell, Editorial and Technical Manager
ROTUNDA, The University of Virginia Press
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