Special terminology, irony, and other forms of textual highlighting
Encoding of specialized language, including technical terminology, ironic usage, and words which are being discussed as words rather than used
The TEI provides a number of elements to encode words whose usage is not naturalized within the text but which the text instead points out as words. This pointing out might be signalled renditionally (by italics, quotation marks, or some other typographical feature), or it might be signalled rhetorically, by a particular phrasing. The elements that fall into this category include:
- soCalled: this element is used for words from which the narrator expresses a distance or ironic stance. See example 1.
- term: this element is used for words which are presented as specialized terminology. See examples 2 and 3.
- gloss: this element should be used for words which are used as glosses or definitions of some other word. See example 3.
- mentioned: this element should be used for words which are referred to as words, rather than being actually used as part of the meaning of the sentence. See example 4.
The domain of mentioned and term overlap to some extent in their application, and it may be useful to think of term as being in some cases a special case of mentioned: in other words, as a case where a word is mentioned for purposes of definition. For this reason it is not necessary to nest mentioned inside term; term alone will do.
Some typical verbal signals that indicate the applicability of mentioned, even where no quotation marks or italics are present: how do you say/pronounce X...?, ...the word X..., what do they call an X in such-and-such a language?
Examples
Example 1.
Even with all his self-proclaimed <soCalled rend="pre(“) post(&rdquo)">talents</soCalled>, he cut a pretty poor figure on the dance floor.
Example 2.
The <term rend="pre(“) post(&rdquo)">topgallant</term> is the first sail we’ll discuss today.
Example 3.
The <term rend="slant(italic)">carp</term> (<gloss>a bottom-feeding fish of the family Cyprinidae</gloss>)...
Example 4.
The word <mentioned rend="pre(“) post(&rdquo)">phthisis</mentioned> is nearly unpronounceable by the novice.
Example 5.
Did you pronounce <mentioned lang="fr">oeillet</mentioned> correctly?