Re: Technique 4.1.A (Changes In Language)

Chris asked:
>An author can identify changes in language for an entire paragraph or DIV
>but how can they identify language changes for a word or phrase within a
>paragraph or DIV?

aloha, chris!

yes, there is a very simple way to do this -- use the SPAN element and the LANG
attribute...

if, for example, i were to encode a portion of Daniel's response to you, i'd
mark it up thus, whether or not the natural language definition for the page
was declared in the HTML element using the LANG attribute:

--- begin example 
<p>Whilst Daniel wrote, <Q>No, <span lang="fr">&ccedil;a n'est pas
possible.</span></Q>, I say, <Q lang="fr">au contraire, mon ami!</Q></p>
--- end example 

note that i used the Q element to demarcate my response as French, but that i
used the SPAN element to demarcate the French portion of his response, as he
used the English form of "no" (plus, i was trying to prove a point!)

i use the SPAN element to demarcate the latinisms that litter my personal site,

--- begin second example
<p class="banner">Welcome to <span lang="la">Camera Obscura</span>, the womb
without a view...</p>
--- end second example

as well as when using the occasional foreign phrases or terms in the text of a
document

--- begin third example
Thus, Jimmy Carter learned the importance of practicing <span
lang="de">realpolitik</span>, without actually appearing to have compromised
his oft-articulated principled stance.
--- end third example

unfortunately, on-the-fly translation services ignore the LANG declarations
contained in SPAN elements, but, then again, they're not particularly strong on
recognizing the LANG attribute in any element...

Chris also observed:
quote
FONT has a LANG attribute but it's not really appropriate.
unquote

no, it is not, but the use of SPAN to demarcate that the word or phrase it
contains is in another language (even if there is no LANG declaration in the
HTML element) is valid HTML...

moreover, use of 
        <SPAN LANG=""> </SPAN>
is an authoring strategy that can be employed when one uses shared unicode
characters -- such as the ideograms that are shared by Chinese, Japanese, and
Korean, and which would otherwise be indistinguishable to a user agent -- to
denote in which linguistic sense they are being used....

as for Chris' last question:
quote
Does the author need to identify language changes for a word or phrase?
unquote

i would say, most definitely yes, as it is one way for an on-the-fly
translation program to leave the foreign word or phrase intact (or to apply a
different translational rule base to it) and it is one way to demarcate how one
is using a Unicode character slash glyph slash ideogram that is used by
multiple languages, but which has a distinct meaning in each...

as for my justification for pushing for the use of SPAN, please refer to the
HTML4 Rec, in particular, the table of attributes 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/index/attributes.html>
which states that it is permissible to use the LANG attribute in all elements
but APPLET, BASE, BASEFONT, BR, FRAME, FRAMESET, HR, IFRAME, PARAM, and SCRIPT;
and the definition of the LANG attribute, located at:
<http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html4/struct/dirlang.html#adef-lang>

gregory.

PS: hope this doesn't reach you too late, as i've just gotten back online after
a four-and-a-half day hiatus
--------------------------------------------------------
He that lives on Hope, dies farting
     -- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1763
--------------------------------------------------------
Gregory J. Rosmaita <unagi69@concentric.net>
   WebMaster and Minister of Propaganda, VICUG NYC
        <http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/vicug/index.html>
--------------------------------------------------------

Received on Tuesday, 2 November 1999 11:59:42 UTC