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No, not an attribute on the root element (we thought that was a good idea for
about a minute, then rejected it for the same reasons).  Language would be a
top-level element (i.e. immediately subordinate to the root) as it is now.  But
the content of the element would become insignificant, and the language itself
would be represented as an attribute.   --Ray

Rick Beaubien wrote:

> I think I can see a couple of possible problems with this suggestion:
>
> 1) As an attribute on the root <mods> element, language could not be
> repeated,  I think.  The material being described may be in more than one
> language.  The language element can be repeated as needed to cover all of
> languages applicable to the material being described.
> 2) Using an attribute on the root <mods> element could invite confusion
> about whether it represented the language of the material being described
> or the content of the <mods> element.
>
> Rick
>
> At 09:48 AM 12/17/02 -0800, you wrote:
> >Ray;
> >
> >If you wanted to avoid having an empty Language element you could always
> >carry the language of the record as an attribute of the Record element
> >itself.  This would allow language to have consistent behaviour across all
> >elements - it's always an attribute and child elements inherit the
> >attribute of the parent unless overridden.
> >
> >j.
> >RLG
> >Mountain View CA
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Rick Beaubien
> Lead Software Engineer, Research and Development
> Library Systems Office
> Room 386 Doe Library
> University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000
> 510-643-9776