[tei-council] List @type musings

[Martin Holmes]

Hi Paul,

I particularly like the examples of "index", "instructions", 
"witnesses", "syllogism", and "litany"; these strike me as generic and 
textual enough that they might well be added to "gloss" as suggested 
values, and they don't have the random, arbitrary feel of 
"shoppingList", since they have an association with specific genres of 
real texts. These examples are great. This would add weight to the 
notion that @type is for this kind of thing, rather than for 
layout/style. Does anyone have any objections to my adding these five to 
the spec?

Cheers,
Martin

On 14-08-01 08:03 AM, Paul Schaffner wrote:
> Reflections on @type. I'm not sure that it is possible to arrive
> at a non-arbitrary selection of possible values. But if it were,
> these are the circuitous routes by which I would probably arrive
> there.
>
> [1] @type on <list might seem analogous to @type on <div.
>     When typing  divs I try, usually unsuccessfully, to use the attribute
>     to represent either (1), in the case of a repeating
>     division, the principle on which the division is made;
>     or (2) in the case of singleton divs, the generic
>     category into which the division falls. So in the former
>     case if a text (say a diary) is divided by the day,
>     type="day" or type="entry" reflects that organizing principle; if
>     it is divided by the theorem, then @type="theorem".
>     In the latter case, the singletons, I use lots of
>     @type="preface" @type="index" @type="colophon" @type="license" etc.
>     On this principle, if a list is like a div, in an index
>     divided by the letters of the alphabet, each contained
>     list might be typed as @type="letter" since that is the basis on
>     which each list is distinguished from the others.
>
>      <div type="index">
>       <list type="letter" n="a">
>       <list type="letter" n="b">
>
>     and singleton lists should if possible be generically
>     typed
>
>      <list type="instructions">
>      <list type="witnesses">
>
>
> [2] @type on <list might seem related to @type on <lg>.
>    I tend to use @type on <lg> mostly when the
>    type of line group has implications for its form (and by
>    'form' I mean something more than its rendering).
>
>    Hence <lg type="verse paragraph"> applies to loosely
>    formatted semanticallly based assemblies of lines, akin
>    to prose paragraphs. <lg type="stanza"  or <lg type="refrain"
>    apply to something more regular. And <lg type="couplet"
>    <lg type="quatrain" obviously have strong implications
>    for the number of lines contained in each.
>
>    It is probably on this basis that I tend to
>    apply @type to <list> most often in those cases
>    when the type has implications not only for the
>    content but for the form of the list, or for the
>    kind of relationships to be expected between the items, e.g.
>
>    <list type="syllogism">
>      <item>All Cretans are liars.</item>
>      <item>Menalaus is a Cretan.</item>
>      <item>ERGO M. is a liar.</item>
>    </list>
>
>    Or perhaps, using 'form' a little more loosely, for
>    lists that border on verse:
>
>    <list type="litany">
>      <item>God save us from drought.</item>
>      <item>God save us from pestilence.</item>
>      <item>God save us from wickedness in high places.</item>
>      <item>Praise be to God.</item>
>    </list>
>
>    or lists that map a narrowly constrained set of
>    possible connections
>
>    <list type="genealogy">
>      <item>Charles Smith m. Jane Doe
>          <list type="offspring">
>          <item>Bill m. June Roe
>             <list type="offspring">
>             <item>Junie</item>
>             <item>Billy Jr.</item>
>             </list>
>          </item>
>          <item>Charles II
>             <list type="marriages">
>             <item>m. Rachel R.
>                <list type="offspring">
>                <item>Rutabaga</item>
>                <item>Roughage</item>
>             </item>
>             <item>m. Rebecca Q.
>                <list type="offspring">
>                <item>Querulous</item>
>                <item>Quarrelsome (d. in a brawl.)</item>
>                </list>
>             </item>
>             </list>
>          </item>
>          </list>
>     </item>
> </list>
>
> Our practice may, however, be eccentric.
>
> pfs
>
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