> the currently active value for xml:lang is
> 
> <xsl:value-of select="ancestor-or-self::*/@xml:lang[1]"/>
> 
Not quite; that select expression returns the set of xml:lang values on all
ancestor nodes (the [1] does nothing, as an element can't have two xml:lang
attributes), and the xsl:value-of then selects the string value of the first
one in document order, which is the outermost.

Correct is:

<xsl:value-of select="(ancestor-or-self::*/@xml:lang)[last()]"/>

or (perhaps marginally faster)

<xsl:value-of select="ancestor-or-self::*[@xml:lang][1]/@xml:lang"/>

Mike Kay


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