Changing how citeproc (?) decides between 'single' and 'multiple'

liam.mchugh.russell

I am using juris-m, but I think that my question applies to the csl interpreter more generally. I am using OSCOLA csl, but again, the point applies more generally.

Plurals for (non-page) pinpoint identifiers are not working the way that I would like them to. Currently, if I pinpoint to paragraphs 7 and 8, Zotero correctly renders it as paras 7-8. However, if I am referencing subparagraphs or multiple paragraphs, it defaults to para. Thus, paragraphs 7, 8 renders as para 7, 8; and paragraphs 15(1)-15(2) renders as para 15(1)-15(2), rather than as paras 15(1)-15(2).

I am not sure how the csl engine decides between plurals and singular in cases like this, but if it would be possible to change this behaviour, I think it would be preferable.

bwiernik

This is controlled by the coding of the style. @adamsmith coded OSCOLA with extensive feedback by the legal scholars who requested it, so I assume the choice here was made intentionally.

liam.mchugh.russell

Sorry, I have been unclear. So far as I understand, the only part of the OSCOLA style that determines how pinpoint identifiers are rendered is the following:

<term form="short" name="paragraph">
<single>para</single>
<multiple>paras</multiple>
</term>

This is the correct form of the plural as per the OSCOLA guide.

However, my issue is not with how a particular CSL style renders plural pinpoints, but with how the CSL engine (citeproc?) decides when to use multiple, and when to use single.

But I may be incorrect that this decision in entirely in Zotero's implementation of CSL. Is there some part of the individual csl styles that indicates how this decision should be made?

bwiernik

No, this really isn't an issue with citeproc-js, but with the coding of the style. When the locators are actually called by the style later, there is no plural attribute given (e.g., <label variable="locator" form="short" strip-periods="true"/>). plural defaults to "false" when unspecified, so the style just needs to have plural="contextual" added wherever the locator label is called.

@adamsmith You know this style much better than I do—the labels should be pluralized contextually, correct?

@damnation

adamsmith

No, @bwiernik misread the specs here. plural defaults to false for cs:term, but to contextual for cs:label
See: http://docs.citationstyles.org/en/stable/specification.html#label

This is indeed citeproc-js and it'd be helpful if @fbennett could chime in (it's his code and I know he's thought a lot about this).

bwiernik

Sorry, mea culpa.

liam.mchugh.russell

I should note that for the two use cases mentioned in the specification (i.e. two numbers connected by a hyphen, two numbers connected by an ampersand), the behaviour is as expected. It's only with more complicated numbering is used, or when two numbers are used with a comma that the behaviour was different than I expected.
I do realize that this may have been a deliberate decision.

fbennett

(I'm on the road at the moment, but should be able to respond by the weekend. Sounds like maybe the processor should be a little more aggressive with the plural setting - will look forward to discussion.)

fbennett

@liam.mchugh.russell: There have been changes to singular/plural handling since these posts. I think this has been resolved - if that's not right, feel free to ping back.