Re: [jats-list] Re: Best practice for parallel texts

["Gareth Oakes goakes@xxxxxxx" <jats-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi there,

This can be a nasty problem, tables are perhaps a pragmatic solution but not
ideal. I think a useful paradigm is to consider side-by-side presentation as
display of two (or more) separate but related articles. The contents of each
article could be separate files or interleaved within a single file. The
display of these articles can then be adjusted programmatically rather than
being bbaked inb to the source tagging. For example, an English reader
might want to view the columns in opposite orientation to an Arabic reader.

I would call them articles rather than language variants because it is quite
possible that the articles may contain a mix of languages, e.g., a Japanese
text with embedded Chinese and also embedded English that needs to display
beside the German version of that same text (which also contains embedded
English).

The challenges to solve are:

  1.  How to indicate content that should span (or apply) across all texts?
  2.  How to indicate bsync pointsb?
     *   Headings are usually a good anchor
     *   However, there may also be the need for deeper sync points to anchor
the side-by-side displays
     *   This gives the opportunity for typesetting systems to align content
but also helps indicate which units of content which are intended to be
equivalent
  3.  How to correctly mark languages to support display features?
     *   Direction (e.g., right-to-left)
     *   Hyphenation (for typesetting)
     *   Sorting or collation (e.g., to support automated indexes)
     *   Dictionary lookups (e.g., a web edition)
     *   etc.

We had to solve some of this in the early 2000s when implementing XML
typesetting systems, Canadian legislation specifically comes to mind.
Apologies for not supplying a JATS solution but I wanted to chime in anyway;
JATS is a base language that is reused by many other derivates (BITS, NISO
STS, etc.) so a good solution here would offer wide-ranging benefits.

I havenbt reviewed Vincentbs proposal in much details, it looks like a lot
has been thought through, I do wonder how complicated the side-by-side use
case would be by following that approach. It might need to be prototyped a
little.

// Gareth Oakes
// Chief Project Officer, GPSL
// www.gpsl.co

From: "Lizzi, Vincent vincent.lizzi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
<jats-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply to: "jats-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
<jats-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tuesday, 30 August 2022 at 03:10
To: "jats-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <jats-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [jats-list] Re: Best practice for parallel texts

Hi Denis,

Parallel texts that require side by side presentation can tagged using tables
or using <array>. Some display and layout systems support multicolumn
presentation in different ways so there might be more options available.

There is a proposal for future versions of JATS to add attributes for texts
that are in more than one language, which I presented at JATS-Con. The
proposal introduces new attributes that can connect associated content
together in a group and identify each member of the group. For example a
paragraph that is in Spanish with a parallel paragraph in English could be
tagged using lang attributes:

<p id="p0001" lang-group="p0001" xml:lang="es" lang-variant="original"
lang-focus="custom" lang-focus-custom="parallel-first">b&</p>

<p lang-group="p0001" xml:lang="en" lang-variant="translation"
lang-focus="custom" lang-focus-custom="parallel-second">b&</p>

A display system could be built to use the semantic relationships that are
tagged in the lang* attributes to produce a side by side presentation.
Alternatively, <p> elements with lang* attributes could be placed inside table
cells for a side by side presentation using existing display systems. You can
read the proposal at
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK579699/?report=classic. Ibm interested
in any feedback. Would the lang* attributes would be useful for what you are
trying to achieve?

Kind regards,
Vincent

_____________________________________________
Vincent M. Lizzi
Head of Information Standards | Taylor & Francis Group
vincent.lizzi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:vincent.lizzi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>




Information Classification: General
From: denis.maier@xxxxxxxx <jats-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, August 29, 2022 6:37 AM
To: jats-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [jats-list] Best practice for parallel texts

Hi everyone
Ibm wondering how you generally tag parallel textx. I usually use tables for
this, but maybe there is something better?
Best,
Denis
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