Re: syntax for "langed" literals

> RDF already has a syntax for plain literals with language tags, namely
> 	"<string>"@<tag>
> 
> Boris has added a built-in datatype for these plain literals,
> owl:internationalizedString, to go along with xsd:string, the existing
> datatype for plain literals without language tags.

Interesting.

RIF has been inventing what I think is the same thing and calling it
rif:text.  I think we should try to make sure it is the same thing, and
give it one name, maybe in the RDF namespace (rdf:text or
rdf:internationalizedString)?  Or OWL can just use rif:text,
until/unless it pulls ahead in the standardization process on this part.
Or maybe OWL-WG could factor this little bit out into a 1-page WD and
move it to Last Call in the next few weeks.  (If anything deserves a
tiny-tiny-Recommendation it's a simple datatype, like this.)   Hm.

In RIF it's this:

    *  rif:text (for text strings with language tags attached). 

    This symbol space represents text strings with a language tag
    attached. The lexical space of rif:text is the set of all Unicode
    strings of the form ...@LANG, i.e., strings that end with @LANG
    where LANG is a language identifier as defined in [RFC-3066].  

           - http://www.w3.org/2005/rules/wiki/DTB#Symbol_Spaces

Whether the language tag goes inside or outside the string is a little
confusing, but I guess the example in 4.7 in Syntax make it as clear as
it can be:

   "Padre de familia"@es is an abbreviation to an internationalized
   constant "Padre de familia@es"^^xsd:internationalizedString
   -- that is, a pair consisting of the string "Padre de
   familia" and the language tag es denoting the Spanish language. Note
   that the lexical values of xsd:internationalizedString constants are
   strings that contain the actual string value, the @ sign, and the
   language tag, without any spaces between them. 

At the moment, RIF's Presentation Syntax doesn't have this abbreviation,
but it might borrow it.   

> It remains to add syntax to select on the language tag. 

This is too deep for me right now, but I note for the record:
http://www.w3.org/2005/rules/wiki/DTB#Functions_and_Predicates_on_rif:text

     -- Sandro

Received on Tuesday, 6 May 2008 12:38:39 UTC