[Bug 14709] user agent lang tag handling is insufficiently specified

http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=14709

--- Comment #33 from Leif Halvard Silli <xn--mlform-iua@xn--mlform-iua.no> 2011-11-11 06:22:12 UTC ---
(In reply to comment #28)
> (In reply to comment #27)

> For invalid language tags, I would now conclude that it should have the same
> treatment, i.e., be treated as if the empty string had been specified.

I don't agree that it is the same thing.

> Note that a language tag may be valid according to BCP47 but not listed in the
> IANA registry. This is due to the possible use of privateuse subtags.

Yes. In my view, there is no difference between 'x-private-subtag' and
'leifs-tag'. The only difference is that the former is valid while the latter
is invalid. Otherwise, they can be used the same way - they are entirely
private.

[ snip ] 

> In 11th paragraph, change
> 
> "If the resulting value is not a recognized language tag, then it must be
> treated as an unknown language having the given language tag, distinct from all
> other languages. For the purposes of round-tripping or communicating with other
> services that expect language tags, user agents should pass unknown language
> tags through unmodified."
> 
> to read as:
> 
> "If the resulting value is non-empty and is not valid according to BCP47
> §2.2.9, then it must be treated as if the empty string had been specified."

The empty string specifies that language tag based language information is
explicitly absent. To use a - valid or invalid - private tag, however, cannot
have the same meaning, however (that is: except by private convention ...)

> Remove 12th paragraph starting with "Thus, for instance, an element with
> lang="xyzzy" ..."
> 
> In 13th paragraph, change:
> 
> "If the resulting value is the empty string, then it must be interpreted as
> meaning that the language of the node is explicitly unknown."
> 
> to read:
> 
> "If the resulting value is the empty string, then it must be interpreted as
> meaning no language information is available, just as if the lang attribute had
> not been specified on the element or any of its ancestors."

W.r.t. the meaning of the empty string, then I think that your text here
borders on being better than Ian's text. Because a) there is a tag 'und' which
means "(explicitly) undetermined" and b) because 'unknown' is possible to
misunderstand - given the 'an unknown language" formulation.

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Received on Friday, 11 November 2011 06:22:21 UTC