#534 add <space> to att.typed

[Wout Dillen]

As per discussion on TEI-L ('space in manuscripts' - 7 Nov 2014), I would like to suggest <space> to be added to att.typed. I believe that <space>'s currently allowed attributes are too limiting, focussing only on the document [size (@quantity & @unit), rendition (@rend)], and not on the text.

<space>s come in all different shapes and sizes: sometimes it’s just a blank space, at other times some part of the <space> is filled with a symbol, character, etc. which you could mark up using the @rend attribute. (e.g.: <space @rend="symbol">?</space>). But that does not allow you to group gaps together from a textual point of view. A plausible genetic query would be: 'give me all the places in the manuscript(s) where the author was still undecided about his protagonist’s name'. Some of those places will be rendered as symbols (?), some as blanks ( ), some as initials (M), some as a combination (M-), making @rend useless for this query. Adding <space> to att.typed could solve this problem, allowing for the classification of different types of <spaces>.

In addition to adding <space> to att.typed, James Cummings also suggested to change the element description, which currently says: "indicates the location of a
significant space in the copy text". I agree with James that the word 'copy' should be left out of the description, because it is not necessary and potentially confusing.