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<language> ISO-specific Language Designation

For ISO-related processing, this element indicates the set of official ISO language(s) used in this document.

Usage/Remarks

Best Practice

NISO STS Best Practice is to use the <content-language> element inside <std-ident> to record this information.
The <language> element may be used only inside <doc-ident> within the three ISO-related standards metadata elements: <iso-meta>, <reg-meta>, or <nat-meta>. The element is retained for backwards-compatibility purposes.
ISO Note
The content of this <language> element is one or more of the ISO 639 two-letter codes for the official languages used in the document. In ISO processing, only one <language> element is allowed in an ISO standards document; however, many languages may be used in a standards document. Legal content for an ISO monolingual <language> element should be one of the following: “en”, “fr”, “ru”, “es”, and “ar”. Since there must be a single <language> element, ISO bilingual standards documents use a comma-separated list (with no whitespace) between the comma separated values, to name the languages, for example: “en,fr”, “en,ru”, or “fr,ru”. For ISO trilingual documents, use a comma-separated list (with no whitespace) between the comma separated values, for example: “en,fr,ru”.
Related Elements
How to Tag the Language: In NISO STS, there are several ways to describe the natural language of the content of an element:
  • Content Language Element: The <content-language> element, in the metadata of a standards document (inside <std-ident>), identifies the official language(s) used in this standards document. The element appears once for each official language used in the document. For Best Practice, the element content should be the two-letter ISO 639 code for the language, for example, “en” for English, “de” for German, or “es” for Spanish.
  • XML Lang Language Attribute: The @xml:lang attribute can be put on many elements, to indicate the language of the element. This is an inherited value, so that element and all of its children will be in the named language, unless specifically overridden with another @xml:lang attribute.
  • Language Element: For ISO-related processing only, the <language> element (inside the <doc-ident> element in the metadata of a standards document) identifies the official language(s) used in this standards document. This element allows more than one language value to be named. Best Practice Note: the <content-language> element should be used in addition to this element.
Attributes

Base Attributes

id
xml:base
Models and Context
May be contained in
<doc-ident>
Description
Text, numbers, or special characters, zero or more
Content Model
<!ELEMENT  language     (#PCDATA %language-elements;)*               >
Expanded Content Model

(#PCDATA)*

Tagged Sample

ISO-specific, inside <doc-ident> 

...
<iso-meta>
 <title-wrap xml:lang="en">...</title-wrap>
 <doc-ident>
  <sdo>ISO</sdo>
  <proj-id>...</proj-id>
  <language>en</language>
  <release-version>IS</release-version>
  <urn>urn:iso:std:iso:2560:ed-3:v1:en</urn>
 </doc-ident>
 <std-ident>
  <originator>ISO</originator>
  <doc-type>is</doc-type>
  <doc-number>2560</doc-number>
  <edition>3</edition>
  <version>1</version>
 </std-ident>
 ...  
</iso-meta>
...