Element list

This is more of a brief reference sheet than an exhaustive list of TEI elements: it is intended to provide you with a way to look up the most commonly used elements, grouped together for the exercises in which we’ll be encountering them. For detailed information about the contents and semantics of these elements (and for other more arcane elements), have a look at the TEI Guidelines.

Elements (in alphabetical order) TEI The outermost (or root) element for any TEI P5 conformant document. It groups together the TEI header and the document text. It must have the TEI namespace specifed, and should have an xml:lang attribute, i.e. TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" xml:lang="en". ab An anonymous block, that is, a paragraph-like chunk that does not carry the semantic weight of a paragraph. Use type and maybe subtype to categorize. abbr An abbreviation; may be used alone or, when inside choice, in combination with expan which holds an expanded reading. add A handwritten addition. The hand attribute indicates the handwriting in which the addition is made. This attribute contains an identifier which points to a hand element in the profileDesc of the TEI header; this hand element contains an extended description of the handwriting, ink, and other details. addSpan An empty element which marks the starting point for a handwritten addition that either is too long to be encoded with add, or overlaps an element boundary. Its spanTo attribute points to an anchor element which marks the endpoint of the added material. The hand attribute indicates the handwriting in which the addition is made (see above for details). anchor An anchor point, usually used as a place for some other element (such as a note) to point to, using the anchor’s xml:id attribute. app Contains one entry in a critical apparatus, with an optional lemma and at least one reading. argument A short summary or description of the contents of the following section. Contains one or more p or lg elements. back Contains the back matter of the document, if any: indices, appendices, epilogues, colophons, errata lists, etc. May be subdivided into div elements if necessary. bibl Used to encode bibliographical references, either in a list (using listBibl) or in running prose. body Contains the main body of the document, not including front matter and back matter. The body element typically includes one or more div elements. It may start with a head. (Think about where the head belongs—is it the heading for the body, or the heading for the first division?) castGroup A grouping of related items in a cast list, containing one or more castItem elements and an optional head and trailer. castItem An item in a cast list, containing a role and an optional roleDesc. castList A cast list in a dramatic text, listing the roles in the drama. It consists of one or more castItem or castGroup elements. cb An empty element which marks the break between one column and the next. Equivalent to milestone unit="column". choice Groups together two or more alternate encodings of a phrase-level passage, using the elements listed below. closer Very similar to opener, but located at the end of the div instead of at the beginning. corr A corrected reading of a typographical error or oddity in the original; may be used alone or, when inside choice, in combination with sic, which holds the original reading. damage A damaged portion of the original text; the type attribute allows you to classify the damage, and the extent attribute allows you to indicate the extent of the damage. date Used to encode dates. The when attribute can be used to encode a regularized form of the date (e.g.

<date when="2001">The first year
              of the new century</date>

<date
              when="2005-05-29">Sun, 29 May 05</date>

). dateline Used within opener and closer to encode the date and place of writing. Contains words and phrase-level encoding. del A deletion. The hand attribute indicates the handwriting in which the addition is made (see above for details). delSpan An empty element which marks the starting point for a deletion that is either too long to be encoded with del or that overlaps an element boundary. Its spanTo attribute points to an anchor element which marks the endpoint of the deleted material. The hand attribute indicates the handwriting in which the deletion is made (see above for details). distinct Used for linguistically distinct words (e.g. dialect words, regionally accented words). div A division of a text: for instance, an act, a chapter, a section, a poem, a letter… Use the type attribute to indicate what kind of division. emph Used to encode emphasized words or phrases. expan The expanded reading of an abbreviation; typically used inside choice, in combination with abbr which holds the corresponding abbreviated reading. Rarely used alone. foreign Used for foreign-language words when no other element (e.g. quote) is already present. front Contains the front matter of the document, if any: title pages, tables of contents, introductory essays, and so forth. The front element contains an optional titlePage and may be subdivided into div elements. gap A gap in the original text (either from damage, deletion, excerption, or some other cause). The desc child element provides a description of what is missing, and the reason attribute provides the reason for the omission. group This element is used to represent documents which contain more than one independent text. It appears instead of body in the overall TEI document structure, and groups together multiple text elements, with an optional front and back. handShift An empty element which marks the boundary point at which a change of handwriting takes place. Its new attribute indicates the handwriting that begins at the point being marked. The new attribute functions just like the hand attribute, in pointing to a hand element in the TEI header, which provides detailed information on the handwriting in question. head The heading of a division: contains words and phrase-level encoding. head may appear at the start of div, but also at the start of body, front, back, list, and lg. hi Used to encode words or phrases which are highlighted for reasons which the encoder either does not know or chooses not to analyse. item An item in a list: contains an optional label followed by words and phrase-level encoding, or a series of paragraphs. l A single verse line: contains words and phrase-level elements. May have a met attribute to formally specify the metrical pattern. label The label of an item (e.g. a letter, number, or word indicating its order or other facts about it): contains words and phrase-level encoding. Note that label can also be the first element inside a paragraph. lb An empty element which marks a typographical line break. Equivalent to milestone unit="line". lem A lemma; e.g., the reading from the base text. lg A group of verse lines: contains one or more l elements. May have a rhyme attribute to formally specify the rhyme scheme, e.g. lg rhyme="ABAB". list A list: contains a series of item elements. mentioned Used for words which are mentioned but not used (for instance, for spelling or definition purposes). milestone An empty element which marks a boundary point in the text according to some standard reference system, such as signatures, scrolls, leaves. Use the unit attribute to indicate the reference system whose units are being marked at this point. name Used to encode all kinds of names, i.e. proper nouns and noun-phrases. If you want to distinguish between different kinds of names, you can use the type attribute (e.g. name type="person"). TEI also includes specific elements for different kinds of names (e.g. persName) for projects that need more detailed encoding. The rs element is a more generic version of name, which may be used to encode common nouns and noun phrases. note A note (a footnote, endnote, marginal note, or inline note). Link the note to the point where it’s anchored using xml:id and target. note contains most anything, including words and phrase-level encoding, or one or more p elements. opener This element may appear at the start of a div, text, front, or back, and it groups together the elements that appear at the start of a letter or similar document: the date and place of writing (using dateLine, and the salutation to the person being addressed (using salute). orig An unmodernized reading in the original; may be used alone or, when inside choice, in combination with reg, which holds a regularized reading. p A prose paragraph: contains words and phrase-level encoding. pb An empty element which marks the break between one page and another. By convention, information stored in the attributes of pb refer to the page that follows the break. Equivalent to milestone unit="page". ptr Indicates a reference to some other XML element (either in the current document or some other accessible document) by pointing to it with a URI on the target attribute. Must not have content. E.g., ptr target="#art08_sec08"/. postscript Used to encode a postscript, e.g. of a letter. q Used to encode passages surrounded by quotation marks, when you don’t want to bother with a more precise element like said. Roughly the same as hi rend="surrounded-with-quotation-marks". quote Used to encode quotations from other sources; contains words and phrase-level encoding. rdg A single reading, e.g. from a particular witness. ref Indicates a reference to some other XML element (either in the current document or some other accessible document) by pointing to it with a URI on the target attribute. May (and probably should) have content. E.g., the IP clause]]>. reg A modernization of a reading in the original; may be used alone or, when inside choice, in combination with orig, which holds the corresponding unmodernized reading. restore Indicates restoration of text to an earlier state by cancellation of a marking or instruction; in particular, useful to indicate that a deletion was restored, e.g. by the notation stet. rhyme May be optionally used to indicate the portion of the metrical line that rhymes, and with its label attribute which part of the rhyme scheme is in play. role The name of a role in a cast list. roleDesc The description of a role in a cast list. rs Used to encode all kinds of references to people, places, and things; i.e., nouns and noun phrases. If you want to distinguish between different categories of entity being referred to, you can use the type attribute (e.g. rs type="person"). The name element is a more specialized version of rs, reserved for proper nouns and noun-phrases. said Passages spoken aloud or thought, e.g. by a character in a novel. seg General-purpose prhase-level segment: use type and maybe subtype to categorize. salute Used within opener and closer to encode the salutation to the person being addressed (e.g. Dear Sir, or I remain faithfully yours…). Contains words and phrase-level encoding. sic A typographical error or oddity in the original; may be used alone or, when inside choice, in combination with corr, which holds a corrected reading. signed Used within closer to encode the signature or name of the person writing. Contains words and phrase-level encoding. soCalled Used to encode (or express) authorial distance; e.g., phrases that were or should be in scare quotes. sp A dramatic speech; usually begins with a speaker element, followed by a p or lg. speaker A speaker identification printed in the text. stage A stage direction. The type attribute may be used to identify the kind of stage direction; suggested values include: business costume delivery entrance exit location narrative novelistic subst Groups together an add and a del so that the addition is understood as being a substitution for the deletion. supplied Indicates that a given word or passage cannot be read in the original and is being supplied (either through editorial judgment or from some other textual source). teiHeader The wrapper for all of the document’s metadata. The elements that go inside the TEI header are too numerous to list usefully here; see the templates for details. term Used to encode specialized terminology; often associated with a gloss. text The wrapper element which contains all of the document’s content. The text element is most often used for a single work (i.e. a single published document, or a single aesthetic unit such as a play or a work of fiction). Terms like single work and aesthetic unit need to be defined by the individual project. A text element contains an optional front, a mandatory body, and an optional back. trailer This element is used for things that come at the very end of the document or section, such as The End. unclear Indicates that a given word or passage is unclear, but not entirely illegible (expresses uncertainty rather than absolute lack of information); multiple alternative readings may be grouped in a choice element.