Literals (Re: model theory for RDF/S)

Sorry to bring back an old debate, probably set up for everyone except
me, but their in curently another debate on rdf-logic about the model
theory, and the special case of literals make it quite complicated.

So I ask: given the existence of a quite convinient URI scheme 'data:',
is the Literal/Resource disctinction still necessary in RDF?

Couldn't we consider that any literal in the syntax should be converted
by the parser into a 'data:' URI? This does not need to alter the
syntax, and then keeps compatibility with existing RDF bits.

Furthermore, this would offer a straightforward solution to some
problems like expressing the xml:lang attribute in RDF.

Since it was not accepted as a solution, I guess there are some
drawbacks I do not see and that anybody could remind me. Or are
there?... ;-)

  Pierre-Antoine