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lang() function and ISO 639
- To: xsl-list at mulberrytech dot com
- Subject: lang() function and ISO 639
- From: John Robert Gardner <jrgardn at emory dot edu>
- Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2000 17:44:21 -0400 (EDT)
- Reply-To: xsl-list at mulberrytech dot com
I was looking over the lang() function in XPath under the boolean core
function group (spec. 4.3) and wondered if there was a problem between the
2-letter ISO 639 spec, and the ISO 639-2:1998 which sets three-letter
codes (http://www.indigo.ie/egt/standards/iso639/iso639-2-en.html). I
checked Kay's book, and he notes on p. 474 that ". . . if the context node
is the element <para xml:lang="fr-CA"> (indicating Canadian French), then
the expression "lang('fr')" would return true." Some of the 3-letter
characters--I was once told--in ISO 639-2:1998 are not similar to allow a
match with just two characters as the spec seems to call for. I will
double check for incompatible languages, b/c I confess I'm asking this
partly on heresay.
The xml:lang attribute that is checked by lang() must be declared as such,
just as the case with xml:space, correct? The QName does not need a
separarte namespace declaration b/c xml: is a default namespace for xml
instances, right? I'd only need to add that attribute, by my
understanding, yes?
jr
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=
John Robert Gardner, Ph.D.
XML Engineer
Emory University
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http://vedavid.org/diss/
"There is a difference between knowing The Path, and walking the Path."
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