[citeproc-js] Greek Language and Apostrophe

azvd
When Greek language is selected in Preferences/Export, citations that contain apostrophe, if exported with several styles (Chicago, MLA and others), cause Firefox to freeze.

For example: Book title: Paul’s Return

The problem did not exist a few months ago. My guess is it started after a recent update, I am not sure which one though.

Thanks for your help!
  • dstillman
    I can't reproduce that. Can you provide a Report ID and precise steps to reproduce?

    https://www.zotero.org/support/reporting_problems
  • azvd
    Report ID 828321054

    Thank you for replying.
  • dstillman
    Still need precise steps to reproduce, but first try temporarily disabling your other Firefox extensions in case those are interfering.
  • azvd
    OSX El Capitan 10.11.2
    Firefox 43.0.4
    Zotero 4.0.28.10

    1. Open Firefox/Zotero
    2. Create New Item/Book
    3. Type a Book title that includes an apostrophe (Paul's Return)
    4. Go to Zotero Preferences/Export
    5. Select Default Output Format: Modern Language Association 7th edition
    6. Select language: Greek (Ελληνικά)
    7. Click OK
    8. Drag Paul's Return to an open Microsoft Word document

    Result: Firefox freezes (application not responding), needs Force Quit.
    All Firefox extensions (except Zotero) were disabled.
  • azvd
    It may help to know that in Zotero 4.0.26.4 the problem did not exist, yet a space was added before the apostrophe (Paul ’s Return instead of Paul’s Return).

    The above procedure (1-8) causes Firefox to freeze with Zotero 4.0.28.3 and 4.0.28.10.
  • dstillman
    OK, thanks. This likely started in 4.0.28.6 — it's due to a bug in the citation processor (citeproc-js) that occurs when straight quotes are defined in the locale file, which is the case for Greek. (I didn't see this originally because it doesn't happen with curly quotes like the one in your original example, only straight quotes.)

    fbennett will need to fix this in the processor. As a workaround in the meantime you'll need to switch to English for the locale when generating citations.

    I'm curious, though — the Greek locale defines these quotes:

    <term name="open-quote">‘</term>
    <term name="close-quote">’</term>
    <term name="open-inner-quote">'</term>
    <term name="close-inner-quote">'</term>
    <term name="page-range-delimiter">–</term>
    The English locale defines these:

    <term name="open-quote">“</term>
    <term name="close-quote">”</term>
    <term name="open-inner-quote">‘</term>
    <term name="close-inner-quote">’</term>
    <term name="page-range-delimiter">–</term>
    Does the Greek locale make sense to you? Not sure about the absence of double quotes, but using straight quotes doesn't seem right for anything.
  • adamsmith
    edited January 8, 2016
    Wikipedia says
    «…» and “…” for Greece. It does suggest straight quotes for Hebrew, though, so this would still be a fatal bug:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_mark#Summary_table_for_all_languages

    edit: also, fbennett added those quotation marks with the following note:
    <!-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-English_usage_of_quotation_marks differs, but the characters below are directly from a Greek-speaking style author -->
  • azvd
    Greek grammar is specific for outer quotes, they are « and ».
    Greek locale is wrong (in fact I was, it was me that first translated the terms, five years ago).
    As for the nested quotations, single curly ones are fine, there is no definite rule about them.

    So, I believe the following should solve the problem:

    <term name="open-quote">«</term>
    <term name="close-quote">»</term>
    <term name="open-inner-quote">‘</term>
    <term name="close-inner-quote">’</term>
    <term name="page-range-delimiter">–</term>

    On behalf of Greek Zotero users, thank you all!
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