[i18n-activity] [Editorial] Truncation description inaccurate (#1399)

aphillips has just created a new issue for https://github.com/w3c/i18n-activity:

== [Editorial] Truncation description inaccurate ==
6.4.2. Language and Direction Encoding
https://www.w3.org/TR/webauthn-2/#sctn-strings-langdir

> Consumers of strings that may have language and direction encoded should be aware that truncation could truncate a language tag into a different, but still valid, language. The final directionality marker or CANCEL TAG code point provide an unambigous indication of truncation.

Naive truncation of a language tag will not produce a valid language tag. Language tags will only remain valid if truncated just before a hyphen character (and noting that single-character or "singleton" subtags should not appear at the end of a language tag). It is also possible that a badly handled truncation scheme could change the meaning of a tag. For example:

`tlh` => `tl` (from Klingon to Tagalog)
'hi-Deva` = `hi-De` (from Hindi-written-in-Devanagari to Hindi-as-used-in-Germany)

Note that while the `CANCEL TAG`'s absence probably doesn't introduce any rendering issues, note that the resulting strings concatenation with other strings could result in strange or unintended rendering.

The term "valid" may also be problematic here, since in BCP47 a language tag is valid if and only if each subtag has been checked for existence in the registry. The normal term of art here is "well-formed".

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Instructions: 

This follows the process at https://w3c.github.io/i18n-activity/guidelines/review-instructions.html

1. **CREATE A PROPOSED REVIEW COMMENT BY REPLACING THE PROMPTS ABOVE THIS PARAGRAPH, BUT LEAVE THIS PARAGRAPH INTACT AS WELL AS THE TEXT BELOW IT** Then ask the i18n WG to review your comment.

2. Set a label to identify the spec. This starts with s: followed by the spec's short name. If you are unable to do that, ask a W3C staffer to help.

3. After discussion with the i18n WG, raise this issue to the WG that owns the spec. Use the text above this para as the basis for that comment.

4. Replace the text 'link_to_issue_raised' below with a link to the place you raised the issue. Do NOT remove the initial '§ '.

5. Edit this issue to remove this paragraph and ALL THE TEXT ABOVE IT.

6. Remove the 'pending' label.



**This is a tracker issue.** Only discuss things here if they are i18n WG internal meta-discussions about the issue. **Contribute to the actual discussion at the following link:**


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Please view or discuss this issue at https://github.com/w3c/i18n-activity/issues/1399 using your GitHub account


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Received on Tuesday, 6 July 2021 17:50:15 UTC