Hello,
I propose a patch for texinfo.texi to change the node
@code{@@documentlanguage}, to move away from considering that US English
is the default @documentlanguage. Instead, I think that we should
consider that no @documentlanguage means an unspecified document
language. The defaults would still correspond to English (or possibly
US English when there is a difference) when defaults are needed.
This is not the same as having US English as default @documentlanguage,
for example the strings are not translated at all instead of using the
en translation.
Note that no @documentlanguage meaning an unspecified language is
already true for Plaintext, Info and LaTeX output, and partly for
DocBook and HTML.
The patch also removes a paragraph stating that the main dialect is
assumed, which, as far as I can tell is not particularly true (it may
be, but it is completly out of Texinfo).
The next step could be to avoid setting lang attributes to en if
@documentlanguage is not explicitly set such that language is more
unspecified.
The patch is not the important part here, the important part is the
decision about considering that no @documentlanguage means an
unspecified document language.
--
Pat
diff --git a/doc/texinfo.texi b/doc/texinfo.texi
index 355459d6be..8c5990639a 100644
--- a/doc/texinfo.texi
+++ b/doc/texinfo.texi
@@ -11880,13 +11880,7 @@ @node @code{@@documentlanguage}
the command name, optionally followed by an underscore and two-letter
ISO@tie{}3166 two-letter country code (@var{cc}). If you have a
multilingual document, the intent is to be able to use this command
-multiple times, to declare each language change. If the command is
-not used at all, the default is @code{en_US} for US English.
-
-As with GNU Gettext (@pxref{Top,,, gettext, Gettext}), if the country
-code is omitted, the main dialect is assumed where possible. For
-example, @code{de} is equivalent to @code{de_DE} (German as spoken in
-Germany).
+multiple times, to declare each language change.
@cindex Document strings, translation of
This command changes the translation of various @dfn{document strings}
@@ -11894,11 +11888,15 @@ @node @code{@@documentlanguage}
``Function'' in defuns (@pxref{Definition Commands}), and so on.
Optionally, this command may also affect how @command{texi2any}
sorts indices (@pxref{Global Customization Variables}, under
-@code{DOCUMENTLANGUAGE_COLLATION}).
+@code{DOCUMENTLANGUAGE_COLLATION}). If the document language is not
+specified, the default english document strings are output as is.
Note that in Info output, some strings, such as ``Node:'', ``Next:'',
``Menu:'', etc., are keywords and so are not translated.
+In HTML output @code{@@documentlanguage} sets the @code{body} element
+@code{lang} attribute.
+
In DocBook output @code{@@documentlanguage} sets the language for
following sections.
