4 Default Text Structure

Indice

This chapter describes the default high-level structure for TEI documents. A full TEI document combines metadata describing it, represented by a teiHeader element, with the document itself, represented by a text element. This basic pair is represented by a TEI element. The teiHeader element is specified by the header module, which is fully described in chapter 2 The TEI Header. The remainder of the present chapter describes the text element and its high-level constituents.

A variant on this basic form, the teiCorpus, is also defined for the representation of language corpora, or other collections of encoded texts. A teiCorpus consists of one or more complete TEI elements, each combining a teiHeader and a text which itself carries a teiHeader. This permits the encoder to distinguish metadata applicable to the whole collection of encoded texts, which is represented by the outermost teiHeader, from that applicable to each of the individual TEI elements within the corpus. Further information about the organization and encoding of language corpora is given in chapter 15 Language Corpora.

In summary, when the default structure module is included in a schema, the following elements are available for the representation of the outermost structure of a TEI document:

As noted above, the teiHeader element is formally declared in the header module (see chapter 2 The TEI Header). A TEI document may also contain elements from the model.resourceLike class (such as a collection of facsimile images, or a feature system declaration) if the appropriate module is included in a schema (see further 11.1 Digital Facsimiles and 18.11 Feature System Declaration respectively). By default, however, this class is not populated and hence only the elements TEI, text, and teiCorpus are available as major parts of a TEI document. These three elements are provided by the textstructure module described by the present chapter.

TEI texts may be regarded either as unitary, that is, forming an organic whole, or as composite, that is, consisting of several components which are in some important sense independent of each other. The distinction is not always entirely obvious: for example a collection of essays might be regarded as a single item in some circumstances, or as a number of distinct items in others. In such borderline cases, the encoder must choose whether to treat the text as unitary or composite; each may have advantages and disadvantages in a given situation.

Whether unitary or composite, the text is marked with the text tag and may contain front matter, a text body, and back matter. In unitary texts, the text body is tagged body; in composite texts, where the text body consists of a series of subordinate texts or groups, it is tagged group. The overall structure of any text, unitary or composite, is thus defined by the following elements:

The overall structure of a unitary text is:
<TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0">
 <teiHeader>
<!-- .... -->
 </teiHeader>
 <text>
  <front>
<!-- front matter of copy text, if any, goes here -->
  </front>
  <body>
<!-- body of copy text goes here -->
  </body>
  <back>
<!-- back matter of copy text, if any, goes here -->
  </back>
 </text>
</TEI>
The overall structure of a composite text made up of two unitary texts is:
<TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0">
 <teiHeader>
<!-- .... -->
 </teiHeader>
 <text>
  <front>
<!-- front matter for composite text -->
  </front>
  <group>
   <text>
    <front>
<!-- front matter of first unitary text, if any -->
    </front>
    <body>
<!-- body of first unitary text -->
    </body>
    <back>
<!-- back matter of first unitary text, if any -->
    </back>
   </text>
   <text>
    <body>
<!-- body of second unitary text -->
    </body>
   </text>
  </group>
  <back>
<!-- back matter for composite text, if any -->
  </back>
 </text>
</TEI>

Finally, a floatingText element is provided for the case where one text is embedded within another, but does not contribute to its hierarchical organization, for example because it interrupts it, or simply quoted within it. This is useful in such common literary contexts as the ‘play within a play’ or the narrative interrupted by other (often deeply nested) multiple narratives.

Each of these elements is further described in the remainder of this chapter. Elements front and back are further discussed in sections 4.5 Front Matter and 4.7 Back Matter. The group and floatingText elements, used for more complex or composite text structures, are further discussed in section 4.3 Grouped and Floating Texts. Other textual elements, such as paragraphs, lists or phrases, which nest within these major structural elements, are discussed in chapter 3 Elements Available in All TEI Documents, in the case of elements which can appear in any kind of document, or elsewhere in the case of elements specific to particular kinds of document.

4.1 Divisions of the Body

In some texts, the body consists simply of a sequence of low-level structural items, referred to here as components or component-level elements (see section 1.3 The TEI Class System). Examples in prose texts include paragraphs or lists; in dramatic texts, speeches and stage directions; in dictionaries, dictionary entries. In other cases sequences of such elements will be grouped together hierarchically into textual divisions and subdivisions, such as chapters or sections. The names used for these structural subdivisions of texts vary with the genre and period of the text, or even at the whim of the author, editor, or publisher. For example, a major subdivision of an epic or of the Bible is generally called a ‘book’, that of a report is usually called a ‘part’ or ‘section’, that of a novel a ‘chapter’—unless it is an epistolary novel, in which case it may be called a ‘letter’. Even texts which are not organized as linear prose narratives, or not as narratives at all, will frequently be subdivided in a similar way: a drama into ‘acts’ and ‘scenes’; a reference book into ‘sections’; a diary or day book into ‘entries’; a newspaper into ‘issues’ and ‘sections’, and so forth.

Because of this variety, these Guidelines propose that all such textual divisions be regarded as occurrences of the same neutrally named elements, with an attribute type used to categorize elements independently of their hierarchic level. Two alternative styles are provided for the marking of these neutral divisions: numbered and un-numbered. Numbered divisions are named div1, div2, etc., where the number indicates the depth of this particular division within the hierarchy, the largest such division being ‘div1’, any subdivision within it being ‘div2’, any further sub-sub-division being ‘div3’ and so on. Un-numbered divisions are simply named div, and allowed to nest recursively to indicate their hierarchic depth. The two styles must not be combined within a single front, body, or back element.

4.1.1 Un-numbered Divisions

The following element is used to identify textual subdivisions in the un-numbered style:

  • div (partizione testuale) contiene una suddivisione del peritesto iniziale, del corpo del testo, o del peritesto finale

As a member of the class att.typed, this element has the following additional attributes:

  • att.typed assegna degli attributi generici utilizzabili per qualsiasi classificazione e sottoclassificazione di elementi
    typecaratterizza l'elemento utilizzando una classificazione o tipologia funzionale
    subtypestabilisce, se necessario, una sottocategorizzazione dell'elemento

Using this style, the body of a text containing two parts, each composed of two chapters, might be represented as follows:
<body>
 <div type="part" n="1">
  <div type="chapter" n="1">
<!-- text of part 1, chapter 1 -->
  </div>
  <div type="chapter" n="2">
<!-- text of part 1, chapter 2 -->
  </div>
 </div>
 <div type="part" n="2">
  <div n="1" type="chapter">
<!-- text of part 2, chapter 1 -->
  </div>
  <div n="2" type="chapter">
<!-- text of part 2, chapter 2 -->
  </div>
 </div>
</body>

4.1.2 Numbered Divisions

The following elements are used to identify textual subdivisions in the numbered style:

  • div1 (partizione testuale di livello 1) contiene una sezione di primo livello del peritesto iniziale, del corpo del testo, o del peritesto finale (la più ampia, se div0 non è usato, altrimenti la seconda in ordine gerarchico)
  • div2 (partizione testuale di livello 2) contiene una sezione di secondo livello del peritesto iniziale, del corpo del testo, o del peritesto finale
  • div3 (partizione testuale di livello 3) contiene una sezione di terzo livello del peritesto iniziale, del corpo del testo, o del peritesto finale
  • div4 (partizione testuale di livello 4) contiene una sezione di quarto livello del peritesto iniziale, del corpo del testo, o del peritesto finale
  • div5 (partizione testuale di livello 5) contiene una sezione di quinto livello del peritesto iniziale, del corpo del testo, o del peritesto finale
  • div6 (partizione testuale di livello 6) contiene una sezione di sesto livello del peritesto iniziale, del corpo del testo, o del peritesto finale
  • div7 (partizione testuale di livello 7) contiene la sezione più ristretta, ma più ampia di un paragrafo, del peritesto iniziale, del corpo del testo, o del peritesto finale

As members of the class att.typed these elements all bear the following additional attributes:

  • att.typed assegna degli attributi generici utilizzabili per qualsiasi classificazione e sottoclassificazione di elementi
    typecaratterizza l'elemento utilizzando una classificazione o tipologia funzionale
    subtypestabilisce, se necessario, una sottocategorizzazione dell'elemento

The largest possible subdivision of the body is div1 element and the smallest possible div7. If numbered divisions are in use, a division at any one level (say, div3), may contain only numbered divisions at the next lowest level (in this case, div4).

Using this style, the body of a text containing two parts, each composed of two chapters, might be represented as follows:
<body>
 <div1 type="part" n="1">
  <div2 type="chapter" n="1">
<!-- text of part 1, chapter 1 -->
  </div2>
  <div2 type="chapter" n="2">
<!-- text of part 1, chapter 2 -->
  </div2>
 </div1>
 <div1 type="part" n="2">
  <div2 n="1" type="chapter">
<!-- text of part 2, chapter 1 -->
  </div2>
  <div2 n="2" type="chapter">
<!-- text of part 2, chapter 2 -->
  </div2>
 </div1>
</body>

4.1.3 Numbered or Un-numbered?

Within the same front, body, or back element, all hierarchic subdivisions must be marked using either nested div elements, or div1, div2 etc. elements nested as appropriate; the two styles must not be mixed.

The choice between numbered and un-numbered divisions will depend to some extent on the complexity of the material: un-numbered divisions allow for an arbitrary depth of nesting, while numbered divisions limit the depth of the tree which can be constructed. Where divisions at different levels should be processed differently (for example to ensure that chapters, but not sections, begin on a new page), numbered divisions slightly simplify the task of defining the desired processing for each level, though this distinction could also be made by supplying this information on the type attribute of an un-numbered div. Some software may find numbered divisions easier to process, as there is no need to maintain knowledge of the whole document structure in order to know the level at which a division occurs; such software may, however, find it difficult to cope with some other aspects of the TEI scheme. On the other hand, in a collection of many works it may prove difficult or impossible to ensure that the same numbered division always corresponds with the same type of textual feature: a ‘chapter’ may be at level 1 in one work and level 3 in another.

Whichever style is used, the global n and xml:id attributes (section 1.3.1.1 Global Attributes) may be used to provide reference strings or labels for each division of a text, where appropriate. Such labels should be provided for each section which is regarded as significant for referencing purposes (on reference systems, see further section 3.10 Reference Systems).

As indicated above, the type and subtype attributes provided by the att.typed class may be used to provide a name or description for the division. Typical values might be ‘book’, ‘chapter’, ‘section’, ‘part’, or (for verse texts) ‘book’, ‘canto’, ‘stanza’, or (for dramatic texts) ‘act’, ‘scene’. The following extended example uses numbered divisions to indicate the structure of a novel, and illustrates the use of the attributes discussed above. It also uses some elements discussed in section 4.2 Elements Common to All Divisions and the p element discussed in section 3.1 Paragraphs.
<div1 type="book" n="I" xml:id="JA0100">
 <head>Book I.</head>
 <div2 type="chapter" n="1" xml:id="JA0101">
  <head>Of writing lives in general, and particularly of Pamela, with a word
     by the bye of Colley Cibber and others.</head>
  <p>It is a trite but true observation, that examples work more forcibly on
     the mind than precepts: ... </p>
<!-- remainder of chapter 1 here -->
 </div2>
 <div2 type="chapter" n="2" xml:id="JA0102">
  <head>Of Mr. Joseph Andrews, his birth, parentage, education, and great
     endowments; with a word or two concerning ancestors.</head>
  <p>Mr. Joseph Andrews, the hero of our ensuing history, was esteemed to
     be the only son of Gaffar and Gammar Andrews, and brother to the
     illustrious Pamela, whose virtue is at present so famous ... </p>
<!-- remainder of chapter 2 here -->
 </div2>
<!-- remaining chapters of Book 1 here -->
 <trailer>The end of the first Book</trailer>
</div1>
<div1 type="book" n="II" xml:id="JA0200">
 <head>Book II</head>
 <div2 type="chapter" n="1" xml:id="JA0201">
  <head>Of divisions in authors</head>
  <p>There are certain mysteries or secrets in all trades, from the highest
     to the lowest, from that of <term>prime-ministering</term>, to this of
  <term>authoring</term>, which are seldom discovered unless to members of
     the same calling ... </p>
  <p>I will dismiss this chapter with the following observation: that it
     becomes an author generally to divide a book, as it does a butcher to
     joint his meat, for such assistance is of great help to both the reader
     and the carver. And now having indulged myself a little I will endeavour
     to indulge the curiosity of my reader, who is no doubt impatient to know
     what he will find in the subsequent chapters of this book.</p>
 </div2>
 <div2 type="chapter" n="2" xml:id="JA0202">
  <head>A surprising instance of Mr. Adams's short memory, with the
     unfortunate consequences which it brought on Joseph.
  </head>
  <p>Mr. Adams and Joseph were now ready to depart different ways ... </p>
 </div2>
</div1>
As an alternative (or complement) to this use of the type attribute to characterize neutrally named division elements, the modification mechanisms discussed in section 23.3 Personalization and Customization may be used to define new elements such as <chapter>, <part>, etc. To make this simpler, a single member model class is defined for each of the neutrally named division elements: model.divLike (containing div), model.div1Like (containing div1), model.div2Like (containing div2), etc. For example, suppose that the body of a text consists of a series of diary entries, each of which is potentially divided into entries for the morning and the afternoon. This might be represented in any of the following ways. First, using the un-numbered style:
<body>
 <div type="entry" n="1">
  <div type="morning" n="1.1">
   <p>....</p>
  </div>
  <div type="afternoon" n="1.2">
   <p>....</p>
  </div>
 </div>
 <div type="entry" n="2">
  <div type="morning" n="2.1">
   <p>....</p>
  </div>
  <div type="afternoon" n="2.2">
   <p>....</p>
  </div>
 </div>
<!-- ...-->
</body>
Equivalently, using the numbered style:
<body>
 <div1 type="entry" n="1">
  <div2 type="morning" n="1.1">
   <p>....</p>
  </div2>
  <div2 type="afternoon" n="1.2">
   <p>....</p>
  </div2>
 </div1>
 <div1 type="entry" n="2">
  <div2 type="morning" n="2.1">
   <p>....</p>
  </div2>
  <div2 type="afternoon" n="2.2">
   <p>....</p>
  </div2>
 </div1>
<!-- ...-->
</body>
Now, assuming a customization in which a new element <diaryEntry> has been added to the model.divLike class:
<body>
 <my:diaryEntry type="entry" n="1">
  <my:diaryEntry type="morning" n="1.1">
   <p>....</p>
  </my:diaryEntry>
  <my:diaryEntry type="afternoon" n="1.2">
   <p>....</p>
  </my:diaryEntry></my:diaryEntry>
 <my:diaryEntry type="entry" n="1">
  <my:diaryEntry type="morning" n="1.1">
   <p>....</p>
  </my:diaryEntry>
  <my:diaryEntry type="afternoon" n="1.2">
   <p>....</p>
  </my:diaryEntry></my:diaryEntry>
<!-- ...-->
</body>
And finally, assuming a customization in which three new elements have been added: <diaryEntry> to the model.div1Like class, and <amEntry> and <pmEntry> both to the model.div2Like class:
<body>
 <p>
<!-- .... -->
 </p>
 <my:diaryEntry type="entry" n="1">
  <my:amEntry type="morning" n="1.1">
   <p>....</p>
  </my:amEntry>
  <my:pmEntry type="afternoon" n="1.2">
   <p>....</p>
  </my:pmEntry></my:diaryEntry>
 <my:diaryEntry type="entry" n="1">
  <my:amEntry type="morning" n="1.1">
   <p>....</p>
  </my:amEntry>
  <my:pmEntry type="afternoon" n="1.1">
   <p>....</p>
  </my:pmEntry></my:diaryEntry>
<!-- ... -->
</body>

More information about the customization techniques exemplified here is provided in 23.3 Personalization and Customization.

4.1.4 Partial and Composite Divisions

In most situations, the textual subdivisions marked by div or div1 (etc.) elements will be both complete and identically organized with reference to the original source. For some purposes however, in particular where dealing with unusually large or unusually small texts, encoders may find it convenient to present as textual divisions sequences of text which are incomplete with reference to the original text, or which are in fact an ad hoc agglomeration of tiny texts. Moreover, in some kinds of texts it is difficult or impossible to determine the order in which individual subdivisions should be combined to form the next higher level of subdivision, as noted below.

To overcome these problems, the following additional attributes are defined for all elements in the att.divLike class:

  • att.divLike identifica un insieme di attributi comuni a tutti gli elementi che si comportano come partizioni testuali
    org (organizzazione) specifica come è organizzato il contenuto della partizione testuale
    sampleindica se la partizione è un campione del testo originario e, in tal caso, da quale parte di questo è tratta
  • att.fragmentable groups structural elements which may be fragmented, usually as a consequence of some overlapping hierarchy.
    partspecifies whether or not its parent element is fragmented in some way, typically by some other overlapping structure : for example a speech which is divided between two or more verse stanzas, a paragraph which is split across a page division, a verse line which is divided between two speakers.

For example, an encoder might choose to transcribe only the first two thousand words of each chapter from a novel. In such a case, each chapter might conveniently be regarded as a partial division, and tagged with a div element in the following form:
<div
  n="xx"
  sample="initial"
  part="Y"
  type="chapter">
 <p> ... </p>
</div>
where xx represents a number for the chapter, and the part attribute takes the value Y to indicate that this division is incomplete in some respect. Other possible values for this attribute indicate whether material has been omitted initially (I), finally (F), or in the middle (M) of the division, while the gap element (3.4.3 Additions, Deletions, and Omissions) may be used to indicate exactly where material has been omitted:
<div n="xx" part="M" type="chapter">
 <p> ... </p>
 <gap extent="2" reason="sampling"/>
 <p> ... </p>
</div>
The samplingDecl element in the TEI Header should also be used to record the principles underlying the selection of incomplete samples, as further described in section 2.3.2 The Sampling Declaration.
The following example demonstrates how a newspaper column composed of very short unrelated snippets may be encoded using these attributes:
<div1 type="storylist" org="composite">
 <head>News in brief</head>
 <div2 type="story">
  <head>Police deny <soCalled>losing</soCalled> bomb</head>
  <p>Scotland Yard yesterday denied claims in the Sunday
     Express that anti-terrorist officers trailing an IRA van
     loaded with explosives in north London had lost track of
     it 10 days ago.</p>
 </div2>
 <div2 type="story">
  <head>Hotel blaze</head>
  <p>Nearly 200 guests were evacuated before dawn
     yesterday after fire broke out at the Scandic
     Crown hotel in the Royal Mile, Edinburgh.</p>
 </div2>
 <div2 type="story">
  <head>Test match split</head>
  <p>Test Match Special next summer will be split
     between Radio 5 and Radio 3, after protests this
     year that it disrupted Radio 3's music schedule.</p>
 </div2>
</div1>

The org attribute on the div1 element is used here to indicate that individual stories in this group, marked here as div2, are really quite independent of each other, although they are all marked as subdivisions of the whole group. They can be read in any order without affecting the sense of the piece; indeed, in some cases, divisions of this nature are printed in such a way as to make it impossible to determine the order in which they are intended to be read. Individual stories can be added or removed without affecting the existing components.

This method of encoding composite texts as composite divisions has some limitations compared with the more general and powerful mechanisms discussed in section 4.3.1 Grouped Texts. However, it may be preferable in some circumstances, notably where the individual texts are very small.

4.2 Elements Common to All Divisions

The divisions of any kind of text may sometimes begin with a brief heading or descriptive title, with or without a byline, an epigraph or brief quotation, or a salutation such as one finds at the start of a letter. They may also conclude with a brief trailer, byline, postscript, or signature. Many of these (e.g. a byline) may appear either at the start or at the end of a text division proper.

To support this heterogeneity, the TEI architecture defines five classes, all of which are populated by this module:

  • model.divTop raggruppa elementi che si presentano all'inizio di una partizione testuale
    model.divTopPartraggruppa elementi che possono presentarsi solo all'inizio di una partizione testuale
    model.divWrapperraggruppa gli elementi che appaiono all'inizio di una partizione testuale
  • model.divBottom groups elements which can occur at the end of a text division; for example, trailer, byline, etc.raggruppa gli elementi che appaiono alla fine di una partizione testuale, per esempio trailer, byline, ecc.
    model.divBottomPartraggruppa elementi che possono presentarsi solo alla fine di una partizione testuale
    model.divWrapperraggruppa gli elementi che appaiono all'inizio di una partizione testuale
  • model.divTopPart raggruppa elementi che possono presentarsi solo all'inizio di una partizione testuale
    model.headLikeraggruppa elementi utilizzati per fornire un titolo all'inizio di una partizione testuale
    openerraggruppa dateline, byline, formule introduttive o di saluto ed espressioni simili utilizzate all'inizio di una partizione testuale, soprattutto in una lettera
  • model.divBottomPart raggruppa elementi che possono presentarsi solo alla fine di una partizione testuale
    closerraggruppa dateline, byline, formule conclusive o di saluto ed espressioni simili utilizzate alla fine di una partizione, soprattutto in una lettera
    postscriptcontiene un post scriptum, come nel caso di una lettera
    signed (firma) contiene una formula conclusiva o di saluto posposta rispetto a una prefazione, lettera di dedica, o altra partizione testuale.
    trailercontiene una formula di chiusura o un elemento a piè di pagina che compare alla fine di una sezione di testo
  • model.divWrapper raggruppa gli elementi che appaiono all'inizio di una partizione testuale
    argumentlista formale o descrizione degli argomenti contenuti in una sezione di testo
    bylinecontiene la principale dichiarazione di responsabilità per un'opera così come appare sul corrispondente frontespizio oppure all'inizio o alla fine dell'opera stessa
    datelinecontiene una breve descrizione di luogo, data, ora, ecc. di produzione di una lettera, un articolo di giornale o altro tipo di testo; viene anteposto o posposto a mo' di elemento di apertura o chiusura
    docAuthor (autore del documento) contiene il nome dell'autore del documento, come indicato nel frontespizio (spesso ma non sempre contenuto all'interno dell'elemento byline)
    docDate (data del documento) contiene la data del documento così come riportata di norma nel frontespizio
    epigraphcontiene una citazione, anonima o attribuita, che appare all'inizio di una sezione o capitolo, o sul frontespizio
    meetingnei riferimenti biliografici, contiene una descrizione di un incontro o convegno dal quale deriva l'unità bibliografica.
    salute (formula di saluto) contiene una formula introduttiva o di saluto anteposta rispetto a una prefazione, una lettera di dedica o altra partizione testuale, oppure una formula conclusiva o di saluto alla fine di una lettera, prefazione, ecc

4.2.1 Headings and Trailers

The head element is used to identify a heading prefixed to the start of any textual division, at any level. A given division may contain more than one such element, as in the following example:
<div1 n="Etym">
 <head>Etymology</head>
 <head>(Supplied by a late consumptive usher to a
   grammar school)</head>
 <p>The pale Usher — threadbare in coat, heart,
   body and brain; I see him now. He was ever
   dusting his old lexicons and grammars, ...</p>
</div1>

Unlike some other markup schemes, the TEI scheme does not require that headings attached to textual subdivisions at different hierarchic levels have different identifiers. All kinds of heading are marked identically using the head tag; the type or level of heading intended is implied by the immediate parent of the head element, which may for example be a div1, div2, etc., an un-numbered div, or any member of the model.listLike class. However, as with div elements, the encoder may choose to extend the model.headLike class of which head is the sole member to include other such elements if required.

In certain kinds of text (notably newspapers), there may be a need to categorize individual headings within the sequence at the start of a division, for example as ‘main’ headings, or ‘detail’ headings: this may readily be done using the type or subtype attribute. Specific elements are provided for certain kinds of heading-like features, (notably byline, dateline, and salute; see further section 4.2.2 Openers and Closers), but the type or subtype attributes must be used to discriminate among other forms of heading. These attributes are provided, as elsewhere, by the att.typed attribute class of which the head element is a member.

In the following example, taken from a British newspaper, the lead story and its associated headlines have been encoded as a div element, with appropriate model.divTop elements attached:
<div type="story">
 <head rend="underlined" type="sub">President pledges safeguards for 2,400 British
   troops in Bosnia</head>
 <head rend="scream" type="main">Major agrees to enforced no-fly zone</head>
 <byline>By George Jones, Political Editor, in Washington</byline>
 <p>Greater Western intervention in the conflict in
   former Yugoslavia was pledged by President Bush ...</p>
</div>

In older writings, the headings or incipits may be longer than in modern works. When heading-like material appears in the middle of a text, the encoder must decide whether or not to treat it as the start of a new division. If the phrase in question appears to be more closely connected with what follows than with what precedes it, then it may be regarded as a heading and tagged as the head of a new div element. If it appears to be simply inserted or superimposed—as for example the kind of ‘pull quotes’ often found in newspapers or magazines, then the quote, q, or cit element may be more appropriate.

The trailer element, which can appear at the end of a division only, is used to mark any heading-like feature appearing in this position, as in this example:
<div type="book" n="I">
 <head>In the name of Christ here begins the
   first book of the ecclesiastical history of Georgius Florentinus,
   known as Gregory, Bishop of Tours.</head>
 <div>
  <head>Chapter Headings</head>
  <list>
   <item>
<!-- chapter head -->
   </item>
<!-- further chapter heads omitted -->
  </list>
 </div>
 <div>
  <head>In the name of Christ here begins Book I of the history.</head>
  <p>Proposing as I do ...</p>
  <p>From the Passion of our Lord until the death of Saint Martin four
     hundred and twelve years passed.</p>
  <trailer>Here ends the first Book, which covers five thousand, five
     hundred and ninety-six years from the beginning of the world down
     to the death of Saint Martin.</trailer>
 </div>
</div>

4.2.2 Openers and Closers

In addition to headings of various kinds, divisions sometimes include more or less formulaic opening or closing passages, typically conveying such information as the name and address of the person to whom the division is addressed, the place or time of its production, a salutation or exhortation to the reader, and so on. Divisions in epistolary form are particularly liable to include such features. Additional elements for the detailed encoding of personal names, dates, and places are provided in chapter 13 Names, Dates, People, and Places. For simple cases, the following elements should be adequate:

  • byline contiene la principale dichiarazione di responsabilità per un'opera così come appare sul corrispondente frontespizio oppure all'inizio o alla fine dell'opera stessa
  • dateline contiene una breve descrizione di luogo, data, ora, ecc. di produzione di una lettera, un articolo di giornale o altro tipo di testo; viene anteposto o posposto a mo' di elemento di apertura o chiusura
  • salute (formula di saluto) contiene una formula introduttiva o di saluto anteposta rispetto a una prefazione, una lettera di dedica o altra partizione testuale, oppure una formula conclusiva o di saluto alla fine di una lettera, prefazione, ecc
  • signed (firma) contiene una formula conclusiva o di saluto posposta rispetto a una prefazione, lettera di dedica, o altra partizione testuale.

The byline and dateline elements are used to encode headings which identify the authorship and provenance of a division. Although the terminology derives from newspaper usage, there is no implication that dateline or byline elements apply only to newspaper texts. The following example illustrates use of the dateline and signed elements at the end of the preface to a novel:
<div type="preface">
 <head>To Henry Hope.</head>
 <p>It is not because this volume was conceived and partly
   executed amid the glades and galleries of the Deepdene,
   that I have inscribed it with your name. ... I shall find a
   reflex to their efforts in your own generous spirit and
   enlightened mind.
 </p>
 <closer>
  <signed xml:lang="el">D.</signed>
  <dateline>Grosvenor Gate, May-Day, 1844</dateline>
 </closer>
</div>
Where a sequence of such elements appear together, either at the beginning or end of an element, it may be convenient to group them together using one of the following elements:
  • opener raggruppa dateline, byline, formule introduttive o di saluto ed espressioni simili utilizzate all'inizio di una partizione testuale, soprattutto in una lettera
  • closer raggruppa dateline, byline, formule conclusive o di saluto ed espressioni simili utilizzate alla fine di una partizione, soprattutto in una lettera
The following examples demonstrate the use of the opener and closer grouping elements:
<div type="narrative" n="6">
 <head>Sixth Narrative</head>
 <head>contributed by Sergeant Cuff</head>
 <div type="fragment" n="6.1">
  <opener>
   <dateline>
    <name type="place">Dorking, Surrey,</name>
    <date>July 30th, 1849</date>
   </dateline>
   <salute>To <name>Franklin Blake, Esq.</name> Sir, —</salute>
  </opener>
  <p>I beg to apologize for the delay that has occurred in the
     production of the Report, with which I engaged to furnish you.
     I have waited to make it a complete Report ...</p>
  <closer>
   <salute>I have the honour to remain, dear sir, your
       obedient servant </salute>
   <signed>
    <name>RICHARD CUFF</name> (late sergeant in the
       Detective Force, Scotland Yard, London). </signed>
  </closer>
 </div>
</div>
<div type="letter" n="14">
 <head>Letter XIV: Miss Clarissa Harlowe to Miss Howe</head>
 <opener>
  <dateline>Thursday evening, March 2.</dateline>
 </opener>
 <p>On Hannah's depositing my long letter ...</p>
 <p>An interruption obliges me to conclude myself
   in some hurry, as well as fright, what I must ever be,</p>
 <closer>
  <salute>Yours more than my own,</salute>
  <signed>Clarissa Harlowe</signed>
 </closer>
</div>

For further discussion of the encoding of dates and of names of persons and places, see section 3.5.4 Dates and Times and chapter 13 Names, Dates, People, and Places.

4.2.3 Arguments, Epigraphs, and Postscripts

The argument element may be used to encode the prefatory list of topics sometimes found at the start of a chapter or other division. It is most conveniently encoded as a list, since this allows each item to be distinguished, but may also simply be presented as a paragraph. The following are thus both equally valid ways of encoding the same argument:
<div type="chap" n="6">
 <argument>
  <p>Kingston — Instructive remarks on early English history
     — Instructive observations on carved oak and life in general
     — Sad case of Stivvings, junior — Musings on antiquity
     — I forget that I am steering — Interesting result
     — Hampton Court Maze — Harris as a guide.</p>
 </argument>
 <p>It was a glorious morning, late spring or early summer, as you
   care to take it ...</p>
</div>
<div type="chap" n="6">
 <argument>
  <list type="inline">
   <item>Kingston</item>
   <item>Instructive remarks on early English history</item>
   <item>Instructive observations on carved oak and life in
       general</item>
   <item>Sad case of Stivvings, junior</item>
   <item>Musings on antiquity</item>
   <item>I forget that I am steering</item>
   <item>Interesting result</item>
   <item>Hampton Court Maze</item>
   <item>Harris as a guide.</item>
  </list>
 </argument>
 <p>It was a glorious morning, late spring or early summer, as you
   care to take it ...</p>
</div>
An epigraph is a quotation from some other work, a saying, or a motto, appearing on a title page, or at the start of a division. It may be encoded using the special-purpose epigraph element, as in the following example:
<titlePage>
 <docAuthor>E. M. Forster</docAuthor>
 <docTitle>
  <titlePart>Howards End</titlePart>
 </docTitle>
 <epigraph>
  <q>Only connect...</q>
 </epigraph>
</titlePage>
When an epigraph contains a quotation, this may often be associated with a bibliographic reference. In such cases, it is recommended additionally to group the quotation and its source together using the cit element, as in the following example:
<div n="19" type="chap">
 <head>Chapter 19</head>
 <epigraph>
  <cit>
   <quote>I pity the man who can travel
       from Dan to Beersheba, and say <q>'Tis all
         barren;</q> and so is all the world to him
       who will not cultivate the fruits it offers.
   </quote>
   <bibl>Sterne: Sentimental Journey.</bibl>
  </cit>
 </epigraph>
 <p>To say that Deronda was romantic would be to
   misrepresent him: but under his calm and somewhat
   self-repressed exterior ...</p>
</div>

For discussion of quotations appearing other than as epigraphs refer to section 3.3.3 Quotation.

A postscript is a passage added after the signature of a letter or, less frequently, the main portion of the body of a book, article, or essay. In English a postscript is often abbreviated as P.S. or PS, and postscripts are often introduced by labels with one of these abbreviations, as in the following example.
<div type="letter">
 <opener>
  <dateline>
   <placeName>Newport</placeName>
   <date when="1761-05-27">May ye 27th 1761</date>
  </dateline>
  <salute>Gentlemen</salute>
 </opener>
 <p>Capt Stoddard's Business
 <lb/>calling him to Providence, have
 <lb/>got him to look at Hopkins brigantine
 <lb/>&amp; if can agree to Purchase her, shall
 <lb/>be much oblig'd for your further
 <lb/>assistance herein, &amp; will acquiesce with
 <lb/>whatever you &amp; he shall Contract
 <lb/>for — I Thank you for your
 <lb/>
  <unclear>Line</unclear> respecting the brigantine &amp; Beg
 <lb/>leave to Recommend the Bearer
 <lb/>to you for your advice &amp; Friendship
 <lb/>in this matter</p>
 <closer>
  <salute>I am your most humble servant</salute>
  <signed>Joseph Wanton Jr</signed>
 </closer>
 <postscript>
  <label>P.S.</label>
  <p>I have Mollases, Sugar,
  <lb/>Coffee &amp; Rum, which
  <lb/>will Exchange with you
  <lb/>for Candles or Oyl</p>
 </postscript>
</div>

4.2.4 Content of Textual Divisions

Other than elements from the model.divWrapper, model.divTop, or model.divBottom classes, every textual division (numbered or un-numbered) consists of a sequence of ungrouped macro.component elements (see 1.3 The TEI Class System). The actual elements available will depend on the modules in use; in all cases, at least the component-level structural elements defined in the core will be available (paragraphs, lists, dramatic speeches, verse lines and line groups etc.). If the drama module has been selected, then other component- or phrase- level items specialized for performance texts (for example, cast lists or camera angles) will be available, as defined in chapter 7 Performance Texts) will be available. If the dictionary module is in use, then dictionary entries, related entries, etc. (as defined in chapter 9 Dictionaries) will also be available; if the module for transcribed speech is in use, then utterances, pauses, vocals, kinesics, etc., as defined in chapter 8.3 Elements Unique to Spoken Texts will be available; and so on.

Where a text contains low-level elements from more than one module these may appear at any point; there is no requirement that elements from the same module be kept together.

4.3 Grouped and Floating Texts

The group element discussed in 4.3.1 Grouped Texts should be used to represent a collection of independent texts which is to be regarded as a single unit for processing or other purposes. The floatingText element discussed in 4.3.2 Floating Texts should be used to represent an independent text which interrupts the text containing it at any point but after which the surrounding text resumes.

  • group contiene il corpo di un testo composito, che raggruppa cioè un insieme di testi distinti (o più insiemi di testi) considerati come unità per determinati scopi, per esempio l'opera completa di un autore, una serie di saggi, ecc.
  • floatingText contiene un unico testo di qualsiasi tipo, sia esso unitario o composito, che interrompe il testo che lo contiene in un qualsiasi punto e dopo il quale il testo circostante riprende

4.3.1 Grouped Texts

Examples of composite texts which should be represented using the group element include anthologies and other collections. The presence of common front matter referring to the whole collection, possibly in addition to front matter relating to each individual text, is a good indication that a given text might usefully be encoded in this way; this structure may be found useful in other circumstances too.

For example, the overall structure of a collection of short stories might be encoded as follows:
<text>
 <front>
  <docTitle>
   <titlePart> The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
   </titlePart>
  </docTitle>
  <docImprint>First published in <title>The Strand</title>
     between July 1891 and December 1892</docImprint>
<!-- any other front matter specific to this collection -->
 </front>
 <group>
  <text>
   <front>
    <head rend="italic">Adventures of Sherlock
         Holmes</head>
    <docTitle>
     <titlePart>Adventure I. —</titlePart>
     <titlePart>A Scandal in Bohemia</titlePart>
    </docTitle>
    <byline>By A. Conan Doyle.</byline>
   </front>
   <body>
    <p>To Sherlock Holmes she is always
    <emph>the</emph> woman. ... </p>
<!-- remainder of A Scandal in Bohemia here -->
   </body>
  </text>
  <text>
   <front>
    <head rend="italic">Adventures of Sherlock Holmes</head>
    <docTitle>
     <titlePart>Adventure II. —</titlePart>
     <titlePart>The Red-Headed League</titlePart>
    </docTitle>
    <byline>By A. Conan Doyle.</byline>
   </front>
   <body>
    <p>I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day
         in the autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation
         with a very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair …
    </p>
<!-- remainder of The Red Headed League here -->
   </body>
  </text>
  <text>
   <front>
    <head rend="italic">Adventures of Sherlock Holmes</head>
    <docTitle>
     <titlePart>Adventure XII. —</titlePart>
     <titlePart>The Adventure of the Copper Beeches</titlePart>
    </docTitle>
    <byline>By A. Conan Doyle.</byline>
   </front>
   <body>
    <p>
     <q>To the man who loves art for its
           own sake,</q> remarked Sherlock Holmes ...
        
    
<!-- remainder of The Copper Beeches here -->
        
         ... she is now the head of a private school
         at Walsall, where I believe that she has
         met with considerable success.</p>
   </body>
  </text>
<!-- end of The Copper Beeches -->
 </group>
</text>
<!-- end of the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes -->

A text which is a member of a group may itself contain groups. This is quite common in collections of verse, but may happen in any kind of text. As an example, consider the overall structure of a typical collection, such as the Muses Library edition of Crashaw's poetry. Following a critical introduction and table of contents, this work contains the following major sections:

  • Steps to the Temple (a collection of verse first published in 1648)
  • Carmen deo Nostro (a second collection, published in 1652)
  • The Delights of the Muses (a third collection, published in 1648)
  • Posthumous Poems, I (a collection of fragments all taken from a single manuscript)
  • Posthumous Poems, II (a further collection of fragments, taken from a different manuscript)

Each of the three collections published in Crashaw's lifetime has a reasonable claim to be considered as a text in its own right, and may therefore be encoded as such. It is rather more arbitrary as to whether the two posthumous collections should be treated as two groups, following the practice of the Muses Library edition. An encoder might elect to combine the two into a single group or simply to treat each fragment as an ungrouped unitary text.

The Muses Library edition reprints the whole of each of the three original collections, including their original front matter (title pages, dedications etc.). These should be encoded using the front element and its constituents (on which see further section 4.5 Front Matter), while the body of each collection should be encoded as a single group element. Each individual poem within the collections should be encoded as a distinct text element. The beginning of the whole collection would thus appear as follows (for further discussion of the use of the elements div and lg for textual subdivision of verse, see section 3.12.1 Core Tags for Verse and chapter 6 Verse):
<text>
 <front>
  <titlePage>
   <docTitle>
    <titlePart>The poems of Richard Crashaw</titlePart>
   </docTitle>
   <byline>Edited by J.R. Tutin</byline>
  </titlePage>
  <div type="preface">
   <head>Editor's Note</head>
   <p>A few words are necessary ... </p>
  </div>
 </front>
 <group>
  <text>
   <front>
    <titlePage>
     <docTitle>
      <titlePart>Steps to the Temple, Sacred Poems</titlePart>
     </docTitle>
    </titlePage>
    <div type="address">
     <head>The Preface to the Reader</head>
     <p>Learned Reader, The Author's friend will not usurp much
           upon thy eye ... </p>
    </div>
   </front>
   <group>
    <text>
     <front>
      <docTitle>
       <titlePart>Sospetto D'Herode</titlePart>
      </docTitle>
     </front>
     <body>
      <div1 type="book" n="Herod I">
       <head>Libro Primo</head>
       <epigraph>
        <l>Casting the times with their strong signs</l>
       </epigraph>
       <lg n="I.1" type="stanza">
        <l>Muse! now the servant of soft loves no more</l>
        <l>Hate is thy theme and Herod whose unblest</l>
        <l>Hand (O, what dares not jealous greatness?) tore</l>
        <l>A thousand sweet babes from their mothers' breast,</l>
        <l>The blooms of martyrdom ...</l>
       </lg>
      </div1>
     </body>
    </text>
    <text>
     <front>
      <docTitle>
       <titlePart>The Tear</titlePart>
      </docTitle>
     </front>
     <body>
      <lg n="I">
       <l>What bright soft thing is this</l>
       <l>Sweet Mary, thy fair eyes' expense?</l>
      </lg>
     </body>
    </text>
<!-- remaining poems of the Steps to the Temple appear here, each tagged as a distinct text element -->
   </group>
   <back>
<!-- back matter for the Steps to the Temple -->
   </back>
  </text>
  <text>
<!-- start of Carmen deo Nostro -->
   <front/>
   <group>
    <text/>
    <text/>
<!-- more texts here -->
   </group>
  </text>
  <text>
<!-- start of The Delights of the Muses -->
   <group>
    <text/>
    <text/>
<!-- more texts here -->
   </group>
  </text>
 </group>
 <back>
<!-- back matter for the whole collection -->
 </back>
</text>

The group element may be used in this way to encode any kind of collection of which the constituents are regarded by the encoder as texts in their own right. Examples include anthologies or collections of verse or prose by multiple authors, florilegia, or commonplace books, journals, day books, etc. As a fairly typical example, we consider The Norton Book of Travel, an anthology edited by Paul Fussell and published in 1987 by W. W. Norton. This work comprises the following major sections:

  1. Front matter (title page, acknowledgments, introductory essay)
  2. The Beginnings
  3. The Eighteenth Century and the Grand Tour
  4. The Heyday
  5. Touristic Tendencies
  6. Post Tourism
  7. Back matter (permissions list, index)

Each titled section listed above comprises a group of extracts or complete texts from writers of a given historical period, preceded by an introductory essay. For example, the second group listed above contains, inter alia, the following:

  1. Prefatory essay
  2. Five letters by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
  3. An extract from Swift's Gullivers Travels
  4. Two poems by Alexander Pope
  5. Two extracts from Boswell's Journal
  6. A poem by William Blake

Each group of writings by a single author is preceded by a brief biographical notice. Some of the extracts are quite lengthy, containing several chapters or other divisions; others are quite short. As the above list indicates, the texts included range across all kinds of material: verse, prose, journals and letters.

The easiest way of encoding such an anthology is to treat each individual extract as a text in its own right. A sequence of texts by a single author, together with the biographical note preceding it, can then be treated as a single group element within the larger group formed by the section. The sequence of single or composite texts making up a single section of the work is likewise treated, together with its prefatory essay, as a single group within the work. Schematically:
<text>
<!-- the whole anthology -->
 <front>
<!-- title page, acknowledgments, introductory essay -->
 </front>
 <group>
<!-- body of anthology starts here -->
  <group>
   <head>The Beginnings</head>
<!-- sequence of texts or groups -->
  </group>
  <group>
<!-- The Eighteenth Century and the Grand Tour -->
   <text>
<!-- prefatory essay by editor -->
   </text>
   <group>
<!-- Section on Lady Mary Wortley Montagu starts -->
    <text>
<!-- biographical notice by editor -->
    </text>
    <text>
<!-- first letter -->
    </text>
    <text>
<!-- second letter -->
    </text>
<!-- ... -->
   </group>
<!-- end of Montagu section -->
   <text>
<!-- single text by Jonathan Swift starts -->
    <front>
<!-- biographical notice by editor -->
    </front>
    <body/>
   </text>
<!-- end of Swift section -->
   <group>
<!-- Section on Alexander Pope starts -->
    <text>
<!-- biographical notice by editor -->
    </text>
    <text>
<!-- first poem -->
    </text>
    <text>
<!-- second poem -->
    </text>
   </group>
<!-- end of Pope section -->
<!-- ... -->
  </group>
<!-- end of 18th century section -->
  <group>
   <head>The Heyday</head>
<!-- texts and subgroups -->
  </group>
<!-- ... -->
 </group>
<!-- end of the anthology proper -->
 <back>
<!-- back matter for anthology -->
 </back>
</text>
Note that the editor's introductory essays on each author may be treated as texts in their own right (as the essays on Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and Alexander Pope have been treated above), or as front matter to the embedded text, as the essay on Swift has been. The treatment in the example is intentionally inconsistent, to allow comparison of the two approaches. Consistency can be imposed either by treating the Swift section as a group containing one text by Swift and one by the editor, or by treating the Montagu and Pope sections as text elements containing the editor's essays as front matter. Marked in the second way, the Pope section of the book would look like this:
<text>
<!-- Section on Alexander Pope starts -->
 <front>
<!-- biographical notice by editor -->
 </front>
 <group>
  <text>
<!-- first poem -->
  </text>
  <text>
<!-- second poem -->
  </text>
 </group>
</text>
<!-- end of Pope section-->

The essays on ‘The Eighteenth Century and the Grand Tour’ and other larger sections could also be tagged as ‘front’ matter in the same way, by treating the larger sections as text elements rather than group elements.

Where, as in this case, an anthology contains different kinds of text (for example, mixtures of prose and drama, or transcribed speech and dictionary entries, or letters and verse), the elements to be encoded will of course be drawn from more than one module. The elements provided by the core module described in chapter 3 Elements Available in All TEI Documents should however prove adequate for most simple purposes, where prose, drama, and verse are combined in a single collection.

For anthologies of short extracts such as commonplace books, it may often be preferable to regard each extract not as a text in its own right but simply as a quotation or cit element. The following component-level elements may be used to encode quotations of this kind:
  • cit (citazione) Un acitazione da un altro documento accompagnata da riferimenti bibliografici alla fonte.
  • quote (citazione) contiene una frase o un brano attribuito dall'autore o dal narratore a soggetti esterni al testo
For example, the chapter of ‘extracts’ which appears in the front matter of Melville's Moby Dick might be encoded as follows:
<div n="2" type="chap">
 <head>Extracts</head>
 <head>(Supplied by a sub-sub-Librarian)</head>
 <p>It will be seen that this mere painstaking burrower and
   grubworm of a poor devil of a Sub-Sub appears to have gone
   through the long Vaticans and street-stalls of the earth,
   picking up whatever random allusions to whales he could
   anyways find ...
   Here ye strike but splintered hearts together — there,
   ye shall strike unsplinterable glasses!</p>
 <p>
  <cit>
   <quote>And God created great whales.</quote>
   <bibl>Genesis</bibl>
  </cit>
  <cit>
   <quote>
    <l>Leviathan maketh a path to shine after him;</l>
    <l>One would think the deep to be hoary.</l>
   </quote>
   <bibl>Job</bibl>
  </cit>
  <cit>
   <quote>By art is created that great Leviathan,
       called a Commonwealth or State — (in Latin,
   <mentioned xml:lang="la">civitas</mentioned>), which
       is but an artificial man.</quote>
   <bibl>Opening sentence of Hobbes's Leviathan</bibl>
  </cit>
 </p>
</div>
For more information on the use of the quote and bibl elements, see sections 3.3.3 Quotation and 3.11 Bibliographic Citations and References respectively.

4.3.2 Floating Texts

An important characteristic of the unitary or composite text structures discussed so far is that they can be regarded as forming what is mathematically known as a tesselation covering the whole of the available text (or text division) at each hierarchic level. Just as an XML document has a single root element containing a single tree, each node of which forms a properly nested sub-tree, so it seems natural to think of the internal structure of a text as decomposable hierarchically into subparts, each of which is a properly nested subtree. While this is undoubtedly true of a large number of documents, it is not true of all. In particular, it is not true of texts which are only partly tesselated at a given level. For example, if a text A is contained by text B in such a way that part of B precedes A and part follows it, we cannot tesselate the whole of B. In such a case, we say that text A is a ‘floating’ text.

The floatingText element is a member of the model.divPart class, and can thus appear within any division level element in the same way as a paragraph. For example, texts such as the Decameron or the Arabian Nights might be regarded as containing many floating texts embedded within another single text, the framing narrative, rather than as groups of discrete texts in which the fragments of framing narrative are regarded as front or back matter.

As an example, we consider an 18th century text The Lining to the Patch-Work Screen, by Jane Barker (1726). This lengthy narrative contains nearly a hundred distinct ‘tales’ embedded (as the title suggests) in a single patchwork. The work begins by introducing the central character, Galecia, but within a few pages launches into a distinct narrative, the story of Captain Manly:
<p>Galecia one Evening setting alone in her Chamber by a clear Fire,
and a clean Hearth ... reflected on the Providence of our
All-wise and Gracious Creator.... </p>
<p>She was thus ruminating, when a Gentleman enter'd the Room, the
Door being a jar... calling for a Candle, she beg'd a thousand
Pardons, engaged him to sit down, and let her know, what had so long
conceal'd him from her Correspondence.
</p>
<pb n="5"/>
<floatingText>
 <body>
  <head>The Story of <hi>Captain Manly</hi>
  </head>
  <p>Dear Galecia, said he, though you partly know the loose, or rather
     lewd Life that I led in my Youth; yet I can't forbear relating part of
     it to you by way of Abhorrence...
  
<!-- Captain Manly's story here -->
     I had lost and spent all I had in the World; in which I verified the
     Old Proverb, That a Rolling Stone never gathers Moss,
  </p>
 </body>
</floatingText>
<pb n="37"/>
Following the conclusion of Captain Manly's tale, we are returned to Galecia, and almost immediately after that into two further stories. However, the Galecia narrative returns between each of the texts, which is why we choose to represent them as floatingTexts:
<p>The Gentleman having finish'd his Story, Galecia waited on him to
the Stairs-head; and at her return, casting her Eyes on the Table, she
saw lying there an old dirty rumpled Book, and found in it the
following story: </p>
<floatingText>
 <body>
  <p> IN the time of the Holy War when
     Christians from all parts went into the Holy Land to oppose the Turks;
     Amongst these there was a certain English Knight...</p>
<!-- rest of story here -->
  <p>The King graciously pardoned the Knight; Richard was kindly receiv'd
     into his Convent, and all things went on in good order: But from hence
     came the Proverb, We must not strike <hi>Robert</hi> for
  <hi>Richard.</hi>
  </p>
 </body>
</floatingText>
<pb n="43"/>
<p>By this time Galecia's Maid brought up her Supper; after which she
cast her Eyes again on the foresaid little Book, where she found the
following Story, which she read through before she went to bed.
</p>
<floatingText>
 <body>
  <head>The Cause of the Moors Overrunning
  <hi>Spain</hi>
  </head>
  <p>King ———— of Spain at his Death, committed the Government of his
     Kingdom to his Brother Don ——— till his little Son should come of
     Age ...</p>
  <p>Thus the little Story ended, without telling what Misery
     befel the King and Kingdom, by the Moors, who over ran the Country for
     many Years after. To which, we may well apply the Proverb,
  <quote>
    <l>Who drives the Devil's Stages,</l>
    <l>Deserves the Devil's Wages</l>
   </quote>
  </p>
 </body>
</floatingText>
<p>The reading this Trifle of a Story detained Galecia from her Rest
beyond her usual Hour; for she slept so sound the next Morning, that
she did not rise, till a Lady's Footman came to tell her, that his
Lady and another or two were coming to breakfast with her...
</p>

In other multi-narrative texts, the individual nested tales may have greater significance than the framing narratives, and it may therefore be preferable to treat the fragments of framing narrative as front or back matter associated with each nested tale. This is commonly done, for example, in texts such as Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, where each tale is typically presented with front matter in which the teller of the tale is introduced, and back matter in which the pilgrims comment on it.

It is important to distinguish between the uses of floatingText and quote. Whereas the semantics of quote suggest that its content derives from a source external to the current text, floatingText carries no such implication and is simply used whenever the richer content model that it provides is required to support the markup of a part of a text that is presented as a discrete ‘inclusion.’ In some cases, such inclusions could be considered external (e.g., enclosures, attachments, etc.); often however, as in the examples above, the included text bears no signs of emanating from outside.

floatingText and quote may be used in combination. For a text with rich internal structure that is quoted at length, floatingText might be used within quote. Also, like a unitary text, floatingText may include one or more quoted sections, each marked with a quote element.

4.4 Virtual Divisions

Where the whole of a division can be automatically generated, for example because it is derived from another part of this or another document, an encoder may prefer not to represent it explicitly but instead simply mark its location by means of a processing instruction, or by using the special purpose divGen element:

  • divGen (partizione testuale generata automaticamente) indica la posizione in cui deve apparire una partizione testuale generata automaticamente da un'applicazione che elabora testi

This element is made available by the model.divGenLike class of which it is the sole element. The divGen element is a member of the att.typed class, from which it inherits the type and subtype attributes. It may appear wherever a div or div1 (div2, etc.) element may appear.

For example, if the table of contents (toc) for a given work is simply derived by copying the first head element from each div element in a text, it might be more easily encoded as follows:
<divGen type="toc"/>
Similarly, in a digital edition combining a transcribed version of some text with a translated version of it, it may be desired to represent the transcript, the translation, and an aligned version of the two as three distinct divisions. This could be achieved by an encoding like the following:
<div>
<!-- transcript here-->
</div>
<div>
<!-- translation here -->
</div>
<divGen type="alignment"/>
The processing to be carried out when a divGen element is rendered will be determined by the application program or stylesheet in use: the function of the TEI markup is simply to identify the location at which the virtual division is to be generated, and also to provide some information about the kind of division to be generated. As such it may be regarded as a special kind of processing instruction, and could equally well be represented by one.

4.5 Front Matter

By front matter we mean distinct sections of a text (usually, but not necessarily, a printed one), prefixed to it by way of introduction or identification as a part of its production. Features such as title pages or prefaces are clear examples; a less definite case might be the prologue attached to a play. The front matter of an encoded text should not be confused with the TEI header described in chapter 2 The TEI Header, which serves as a kind of front matter for the computer file itself, not the text it encodes.

An encoder may choose simply to ignore the front matter in a text, if the original presentation of the work is of no interest, or for other reasons; alternatively some or all components of the front matter may be thought worth including with the text as components of the front element.19 With the exception of the title page, (on which see section 4.6 Title Pages), front matter should be encoded using the same elements as the rest of a text. As with the divisions of the text body, no other specific tags are proposed here for the various kinds of subdivision which may appear within front matter: instead either numbered or un-numbered div elements may be used. The following suggested values20 for the type attribute may be used to distinguish various kinds of division characteristic of front matter:

preface
A foreword or preface addressed to the reader in which the author or publisher explains the content, purpose, or origin of the text.
ack
A formal declaration of acknowledgment by the author in which persons and institutions are thanked for their part in the creation of a text.
dedication
A formal offering or dedication of a text to one or more persons or institutions by the author.
abstract
A summary of the content of a text as continuous prose.
contents
A table of contents, specifying the structure of a work and listing its constituents. The list element should be used to mark its structure.
frontispiece
A pictorial frontispiece, possibly including some text.

The following extended example demonstrates how various parts of the front matter of a text may be encoded. The front part begins with a title page, which is presented in section 4.6 Title Pages below. This is followed by a dedication and a preface, each of which is encoded as a distinct div:
<div type="dedication">
 <p>To my parents, Ida and Max Fish</p>
</div>
<div type="preface">
 <head>Preface</head>
 <p>The answer this book gives to its title question is <q>there is
     and there isn't</q>.</p>
 <p>Chapters 1–12 have been previously published in the
   following journals and collections:
 <list>
   <item>chapters 1 and 3 in <title>New literary History</title>
   </item>
   <item>chapter 10 in <title>Boundary II</title> (1980)</item>
  </list>.
   I am grateful for permission to reprint.</p>
 <signed>S.F.</signed>
</div>
The front matter concludes with another div element, shown in the next example, this time containing a table of contents, which contains a list element (as described in section 3.7 Lists). Note the use of the ptr element to provide page-references: the implication here is that the target identifiers supplied (fish1, fish2, etc.) will correspond with identifiers used for the div elements containing chapters of the text itself. (For the ptr element, see 3.6 Simple Links and Cross-References.)
<div type="contents">
 <head>Contents</head>
 <list>
  <item>Introduction, or How I stopped Worrying and Learned to Love
     Interpretation <ptr target="#fish1"/>
  </item>
  <item>
   <list>
    <head>Part One: Literature in the Reader</head>
    <item n="1">Literature in the Reader: Affective Stylistics
    <ptr target="#fish2"/>
    </item>
    <item n="2">What is Stylistics and Why Are They Saying Such
         Terrible Things About It? <ptr target="#fish3"/>
    </item>
   </list>
  </item>
 </list>
</div>
<div xml:id="fish1">
 <head>Introduction</head>
<!-- .... -->
</div>
<div xml:id="fish2">
 <head>Literature in the Reader</head>
<!-- .... -->
</div>
<div xml:id="fish3">
 <head>What is stylistics?</head>
<!-- .... -->
</div>
Alternatively, the pointers in the index might link to the page breaks at which a chapter begins, assuming that these have been included in the markup:

<!-- .... --><item n="1">Literature in the Reader: Affective Stylistics
<ref target="#fish-p24">24</ref>
</item>
<!-- .... -->
<div type="chapter">
 <head>Literature in the Reader</head>
 <pb xml:id="fish-p24"/>
<!-- .... -->
</div>
<!-- .... -->
The following example uses numbered divisions to mark up the front matter of a medieval text. Note that in this case no title page in the modern sense occurs; the title is simply given as a heading at the start of the front matter. Note also the use of the type attribute on the div elements to indicate document elements comparatively unusual in modern books such as the initial prayer:
<front>
 <div1 type="incipit">
  <p>Here bygynniþ a book of contemplacyon, þe whiche
     is clepyd <title>þE CLOWDE OF VNKNOWYNG</title>,
     in þe whiche a soule is onyd wiþ GOD.</p>
 </div1>
 <div1 type="prayer">
  <head>Here biginneþ þe preyer on þe prologe.</head>
  <p>God, unto whom alle hertes ben open, &amp; unto whome alle wille
     spekiþ, &amp; unto whom no priue þing is hid: I beseche
     þee so for to clense þe entent of myn hert wiþ þe
     unspekable 3ift of þi grace, þat I may parfiteliche
     loue þee &amp; worþilich preise þee. Amen.</p>
 </div1>
 <div1 type="preface">
  <head>Here biginneþ þe prolog.</head>
  <p>In þe name of þe Fader &amp; of þe Sone &
     of þe Holy Goost.</p>
  <p>I charge þee &amp; I beseeche þee, wiþ as moche
     power &amp; vertewe as þe bonde of charite is sufficient
     to suffre, what-so-euer þou be þat þis book schalt
     haue in possession ...</p>
 </div1>
 <div1 type="contents">
  <head>Here biginneþ a table of þe chapitres.</head>
  <list>
   <label>þe first chapitre </label>
   <item>Of foure degrees of Cristen mens leuing; &amp; of þe
       cours of his cleping þat þis book was maad vnto.</item>
   <label>þe secound chapitre</label>
   <item>A schort stering to meeknes &amp; to þe werk of þis
       book</item>
   <label>þe fiue and seuenti chapitre</label>
   <item>Of somme certein tokenes bi þe whiche a man may proue
       wheþer he be clepid of God to worche in þis werk.</item>
  </list>
  <trailer>&amp; here eendeþ þe table of þe chapitres.</trailer>
 </div1>
</front>

If, however, the table of contents can be automatically generated from the remainder of the text, it may be preferable simply to mark its presence, either by means of an empty divGen element or by using an appropriate processing instruction.

4.6 Title Pages

Detailed analysis of the title page and other preliminaries of older printed books and manuscripts is of major importance in descriptive bibliography and the cataloguing of printed books; such analysis may require a rather more detailed module than that proposed here. The following elements are suggested as a means of encoding the major features of most title pages:

  • titlePage (frontespizio) contiene il frontespizio di un testo compreso nel peritesto iniziale o finale
  • docTitle (titolo del documento) contiene il titolo del documento in tutti i suoi elementi costitutivi, come specificato nel frontespizio
  • titlePart contiene una sezione o partizione del titolo di un'opera, come specificato nel frontespizio
    typespecifica il ruolo di tale sezione o partizione all'interno del titolo
  • argument lista formale o descrizione degli argomenti contenuti in una sezione di testo
  • byline contiene la principale dichiarazione di responsabilità per un'opera così come appare sul corrispondente frontespizio oppure all'inizio o alla fine dell'opera stessa
  • docAuthor (autore del documento) contiene il nome dell'autore del documento, come indicato nel frontespizio (spesso ma non sempre contenuto all'interno dell'elemento byline)
  • epigraph contiene una citazione, anonima o attribuita, che appare all'inizio di una sezione o capitolo, o sul frontespizio
  • imprimatur contiene una dichiarazione formale che autorizza la pubblicazione di un'opera, di solito riportata sul recto o sul verso del frontespizio
  • docEdition (edizione del documento) contiene una dichiarazione editoriale così come riportata nel frontespizio di un documento
  • docImprint (sigla editoriale del documento) contiene la dichiarazione di pubblicazione (luogo e data di pubblicazione, casa editrice) così come riportata di norma in fondo al frontespizio
  • docDate (data del documento) contiene la data del documento così come riportata di norma nel frontespizio
  • graphic indica la posizione di un grafico, di una illustrazione o immagine.

Together with the figure element described in chapter 14 Tables, Formulæ, Graphics and Notated Music, these elements constitute the model.titlepagePart class. Any number of elements from this class can appear grouped together within a titlePage element. The figure element is included so as to enable encoders to record the presence of complex non-textual material on a title page. For simple cases such as printers' ornaments or illustrations the graphic element discussed in section 3.9 Graphics and other non-textual components should be adequate.

The elements listed above, together with the head element, also constitute the class model.pLike.front. The elements in this class can appear within a minimal front element without any need to group them together and encode a complete title page.

Encoders wishing to add new elements to either class may do so using the methods described in section 23.3 Personalization and Customization. Two examples of the use of these elements follow. First, the title page of the work discussed earlier in this section:
<front>
 <titlePage>
  <docTitle>
   <titlePart type="main">Is There a Text in This Class?</titlePart>
   <titlePart type="sub">The Authority of Interpretive Communities</titlePart>
  </docTitle>
  <docAuthor>Stanley Fish</docAuthor>
  <docImprint>
   <publisher>Harvard University Press</publisher>
   <pubPlace>Cambridge, Massachusetts</pubPlace>
   <pubPlace>London, England</pubPlace>
  </docImprint>
 </titlePage>
</front>
Second, a characteristically verbose 17th century example. Note the use of the lb tag to mark the line breaks of the original where necessary:
<titlePage>
 <docTitle>
  <titlePart type="main">THE
  <lb/>Pilgrim's Progress
  <lb/>FROM
  <lb/>THIS WORLD,
  <lb/>TO
  <lb/>That which is to come:</titlePart>
  <titlePart type="sub">Delivered under the Similitude of a
  <lb/>DREAM</titlePart>
  <titlePart type="desc">Wherein is Discovered,
  <lb/>The manner of his setting out,
  <lb/>His Dangerous Journey; And safe
  <lb/>Arrival at the Desired Countrey.</titlePart>
 </docTitle>
 <epigraph>
  <cit>
   <quote>I have used Similitudes,</quote>
   <bibl>Hos. 12.10</bibl>
  </cit>
 </epigraph>
 <byline>By <docAuthor>John Bunyan</docAuthor>.</byline>
 <imprimatur>Licensed and Entred according to Order.</imprimatur>
 <docImprint>
  <pubPlace>LONDON,</pubPlace>
   Printed for <name>Nath. Ponder</name>
  <lb/>at the <name>Peacock</name> in the <name>Poultrey</name>
  <lb/>near <name>Cornhil</name>, <docDate>1678</docDate>.
 </docImprint>
</titlePage>

Where, as here, it is considered important to encode salient features of the way a title page was originally rendered, the techniques exemplified in 2.3.4 The Tagging Declaration may also be useful.

Where title pages are encoded, their physical rendition is often of considerable importance. One approach to this requirement would be to use the seg tag, described in chapter 16 Linking, Segmentation, and Alignment, to segment the typographic content of each part of the title page, and then use the global rend attribute to specify its rendition. Another would be to use a module specialized for the description of typographic entities such as pages, lines, rules, etc., bearing special-purpose attributes to describe line-height, leading, degree of kerning, font, etc. Further discussion of these problems is provided in chapter 11 Representation of Primary Sources.

4.7 Back Matter

Conventions vary as to which elements are grouped as back matter and which as front. For example, some books place the table of contents at the front, and others at the back. Even title pages may appear at the back of a book as well as at the front. The content model for back and front elements are therefore identical.

The following suggested values may be used for the type attribute on all division elements, in order to distinguish various kinds of division characteristic of back matter:

appendix
An ancillary self-contained section of a work, often providing additional but in some sense extra-canonical text.
glossary
A list of terms associated with definition texts (‘glosses’): this should be encoded as a <list type="gloss"> (see section 3.7 Lists).
notes
A section in which textual or other kinds of notes are gathered together.
bibliogr
A list of bibliographic citations: this should be encoded as a listBibl (see section 3.11 Bibliographic Citations and References).
index
Any form of index to the work.
colophon
A statement appearing at the end of a book describing the conditions of its physical production.

No additional elements are proposed for the encoding of back matter at present. Some characteristic examples follow; first, an index (for the case in which a printed index is of sufficient interest to merit transcription):
<back>
 <div type="index">
  <head>Index</head>
  <list type="index">
   <item>Actors, public, paid for the contempt attending
       their profession, <ref>263</ref>
   </item>
   <item>Africa, cause assigned for the barbarous state of
       the interior parts of that continent, <ref>125</ref>
   </item>
   <item>Agriculture
   <list type="indexentry">
     <item>ancient policy of Europe unfavourable to, <ref>371</ref>
     </item>
     <item>artificers necessary to carry it on, <ref>481</ref>
     </item>
     <item>cattle and tillage mutually improve each other, <ref>325</ref>
     </item>
     <item>wealth arising from more solid than that which proceeds
           from commerce <ref>520</ref>
     </item>
    </list>
   </item>
   <item>Alehouses, not the efficient cause of drunkenness, <ref>461</ref>
   </item>
  </list>
 </div>
</back>
Note that if the page breaks in the original source have also been explicitly encoded, and given identifiers, the references to them in the above index can more usefully be recorded as links. For example, assuming that the encoding of page 461 of the original source starts like this:
<pb xml:id="P461"/>
then the last item above might be encoded more usefully in either of the following forms:
<item>Alehouses, not
the efficient cause of drunkenness, <ref target="#P461">461</ref>
</item>
<item>Alehouses, not the efficient cause of drunkenness, <ptr target="#P461"/>
</item>
Next, a back-matter division in epistolary form:
<back>
 <div type="letter">
  <head>A letter written to his wife, founde with this booke
     after his death.</head>
  <p>The remembrance of the many wrongs offred thee, and thy
     unreproued vertues, adde greater sorrow to my miserable state,
     than I can utter or thou conceiue. ...
     ... yet trust I in the world to come to find mercie, by the
     merites of my Saiuour to whom I commend thee, and commit
     my soule.</p>
  <signed>Thy repentant husband for his disloyaltie,
  <name>Robert Greene.</name>
  </signed>
  <epigraph xml:lang="la">
   <p>Faelicem fuisse infaustum</p>
  </epigraph>
  <trailer>FINIS</trailer>
 </div>
</back>
And finally, a list of corrigenda and addenda with pseudo-epistolary features:
<back>
 <div type="corrigenda">
  <head>Addenda</head>
  <salute xml:lang="la">M. Scriblerus Lectori</salute>
  <p>Once more, gentle reader I appeal unto thee, from the shameful
     ignorance of the Editor, by whom Our own Specimen of
  <name>Virgil</name> hath been mangled in such miserable manner, that
     scarce without tears can we behold it. At the very entrance, Instead
     of <q xml:lang="grc">προλεγομενα</q>, lo!
  <q xml:lang="grc">προλεγωμενα</q> with an Omega!
     and in the same line <q xml:lang="la">consulâs</q> with a circumflex!
     In the next page thou findest <q xml:lang="la">leviter perlabere</q>,
     which his ignorance took to be the infinitive mood of
  <q xml:lang="la">perlabor</q> but ought to be
  <q xml:lang="la">perlabi</q> ... Wipe away all these
     monsters, Reader, with thy quill.</p>
 </div>
</back>

4.8 Module for Default Text Structure

The module described by the present chapter has the following components:

Modulo textstructure: Struttura standard del testo

The selection and combination of modules to form a TEI schema is described in 1.2 Defining a TEI Schema

Note
19
This decision should be recorded in the samplingDecl element of the header.
↵
20
As with all lists of ‘suggested values’ for attributes, it is recommended that software written to handle TEI-conformant texts be prepared to recognize and handle these values when they occur, without limiting the user to the values in this list.
↵

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  1. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
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TEI Guidelines Version 2.3.0. Last updated on 17th January 2013. This page generated on 2013-01-17T21:45:59Z