lg element content model prevents accurate encoding

[martindholmes]

We have a number of instances where poems are published or republished with ellipses such that a stanza appears only in the form of its head. Here is one such (stanza XVII):

https://hcmc.uvic.ca/~vicpoems/page_images/blackwoods/048/blackwoods_48_301_678_thedevilslastwalk.jpg

This has been discussed extensively on TEI-L, resulting in this feature request:

#1877

which is languishing in a corner for some reason. However, in the meantime, I would like to be able to encode such features using <gap/> inside the <lg> element. However, the content model of <lg> prevents this, be requiring that there must also be:

<choice>
               <ref name="tei_model.lLike"/>
               <ref name="tei_model.stageLike"/>
               <ref name="tei_model.labelLike"/>
               <ref name="tei_lg"/>
</choice>

none of which we need. It should be possible to encode a stanza with a head and a gap, but no lines (because of the gap), so I think this content model should also allow model.global.

[ebeshero]

@martindholmes Well, apparently we can encode this:

 <lg>
            <label>XVII</label>
            <gap/>
  </lg>

and it's valid. That would cover the example in the picture from Blackwood's where we see a stanza number.

And (as you indicate), what's not valid is this encoding:

 <lg>
            <gap/>
  </lg>

One possible solution might be to encode an empty <l/> inside this as if to say there's some implied lineation here. I'm not sure it's the right thing to do, but I think in defense of the current content model, there's an expectation that an <lg> is a wrapper for something to do with poetic lines, whether it be a label or a speech act in a play.

[ebeshero]

Of course if we approve and develop the proposed <elision> element of #1877 we'll want to make sure it's an option here, too. It seems <elision> would go in model.global.edit as well, keeping company with <gap>.

[hcayless]

Is the label actually part of the line group here? I think we basically had this discussion in #1419 (mutatis mutandis), but Syd couldn't come up with a workable content model. I'd be willing to take another stab at it, but if he couldn't do it, it doesn't bode all that well...

[ebeshero]

@hcayless I'd argue that yes, the <label> belongs semantically in the <lg> as a label for it.

[ebeshero]

Just a comment in reviewing #1419 , it may be daunting or beyond us to allow <gap/> alone inside <lg>, but #1877 is giving us something more expressive to say about something omitted, and it doesn't seem like it would be so difficult to add an element to model.global.edit.

[hcayless]

In any case, I think this is the same issue, unless I'm misunderstanding. I didn't want a label in my line group for #1419, just a gap, but I think it's the same idea. I don't know how Syd tried rewriting the content model, but reading a bit more closely, it seems the issue was <gap>'s membership in model.global.edit, meaning a deterministic content model that permits a <gap> to substitute for a <l> would entail some infrastructural changes. Council in 2016 seems to have decided that it wasn't worth doing that, but maybe 2019 Council will feel differently :-).

[hcayless]

@ebeshero unless I'm mistaken, Syd was saying we'd have to do the opposite, create a version of model.global.edit without <gap>, and use that. I'm not completely convinced of that...

[ebeshero]

On the matter of <label> inside <lg>, we have one example in the Guidelines that surprised me a little from Rime of the Ancient Mariner: See https://www.tei-c.org/release/doc/tei-p5-doc/en/html/CO.html#CONONO

<lg>
 <l>The self-same moment I could pray</l>
 <l>And from my neck so free</l>
 <l>The albatross fell off, and sank</l>
 <l>Like lead into the sea.</l>
 <label place="margin">The spell begins to break</label>
</lg>

The prose says this phenomenon of Coleridge's marginal glosses on his own poem could be called a descriptive label, and in any event as such, is tucked into the <lg>. This makes sense to me because the <lg> serves as a contextual wrapper for such a descriptive notation.

[martindholmes]

It seems odd that we're allowed to use label + gap, but not head + gap (where the stanza number is actually a head, in my view). I agree that if we had a proper element for elision, then there could be an alternative to the required content block which forces us to have a line, allowing instead a minimal content model including the elision element and a few other things.

Another option would be to add gap to model.lLike, so it could satisfy the required block. That makes sense to me; it's a gap where a line would be expected.

[raffazizzi]

VF2F subgroup thinks should not be addressed until #1877 is addressed because that might solve the problem.

[ebeshero]

Council VF2F 2020-10-24: This is blocked until #1877 is resolved.

[hcayless]

Presumably this is no longer blocked, as #1877 is closed.