[Taxacom] Language tags for scientific names

[Andy Mabbett]

In message <006f01c8d856$76e55ff0$2b4c4451 at magnifica2>, Paul van 
Rijckevorsel <dipteryx at freeler.nl> writes

>From: "Andy Mabbett" <andy at pigsonthewing.org.uk>
>Sent: Friday, June 27, 2008 1:09 PM
>
>>> Paul van Rijckevorsel <dipteryx at freeler.nl> writes
>>>The obvious reason is homonyms, such as Pieris japonica, which can be a
>>>butterfly (under the ICZN) or a shrub (under the ICBN)

>> It's not the job of language markup to resolve such ambiguities (though
>> the species microformat does).
>
>> Does <span lang="en">feet</span> refer to measurement or the things at
>> the end of legs? We don't use en-measurement and en-anatomy.

>That does not sound like any kind of argument.

I feel that the problem is with your perception, not the argument.

>If it is not the purpose of language markup to indicate different 
>languages why have language markup at all?

Where did I say that "it is not the purpose of language markup to 
indicate different languages"?

>Why then have a
><span lang="en">tree</span>
><span lang="nl">tree</span>
 >
>instead of leaving it to the reader to resolve the ambiguity?

Because those are different languages; not an ambiguity within one 
language.

-- 
Andy Mabbett