Dear Syndicate, The current bibliography handler uses the following for authors:
\type{\author[junior]{firstnames}[inits]{von}{surname}}
Now in Arabic we have something similar to the 'von' field: the definite
article 'al-', 'ibn', etc. Just as with 'von' we want to ignore them in
the alphabetical sorting. [On the other hand, ConTeXt cannot currently
sort its own bbl files alphabetically]. See the linked picture for a
real-life example (the top-right of the page contains both Dutch and
Arabic examples):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rnimlactrlqz6ak/arabic-dutch-bib.jpg?dl=0Now the {von} field works for these Arabic prefixes, but there is an issue: There can be no space between 'al-' and what follows (e.g. 'al-Haq'). But the {von} field by default adds a space (von Corbin). So what to do? One solution is to use \setuppublicationlist[vonsep=] (see also attached):
==========
\starttext
\setuppublications[alternative=apa]
\setuppublicationlist[vonsep=]
\startpublication[k=corbin81,
t=book,
a=Corbin,
y=1981,
s=Corbin81]
\author[]{Henry}[H.]{von }{Corbin}
\title{The Concept of Comparative Philosophy}
\pubname{Golgonooza Press}
\city{Ipswich, United Kingdom}
\pubyear{1981}
\stoppublication
\startpublication[k=haq,
t=book,
a=Haq,
y=1994,
s=Haq94]
\author[]{Syed Nomanul}[S.]{al-}{Haq}
\title{Names, Natures, and Things}
\pubname{Kluwer}
\city{Dordrecht}
\pubyear{1994}
\stoppublication
\startpublication[k=ragep93,
t=book,
a={Ragep},
y=1993,
s=FJRg93]
\author[]{F.~J.}[F.~J.]{ibn al-}{Ragep}
\title{Memoir on Astronomy}
\pubname{Springer Verlag}
\city{New York}
\pubyear{1993}
\stoppublication
\placepublications [criterium=all] % inherits from \setuppublications
% \completepublications[criterium=cite] % only works with criterium=all
\stoptext
==========
\setuppublicationlist[vonsep=] kills the space after the prefix, but that
means that for every 'von', 'van', 'abu', and the like we have to add the
space manually in the {von} field (as in the above example).
If we don't want to use \setuppublicationlist[vonsep=] then we have to define a command for 'al-' that gobbles the space:
% \define \GobbleSpace{\ignorespaces}
% \define \Al{al-\GobbleSpace}
If one is using lots of Arabic names and few, e.g., Dutch names, then
using the [vonsep=] approach seems better. But in the upcoming bib module
we may want a better solution so that bbl files can be more consistent and
portable. Any thoughts are appreciated, and
Best wishes Idris -- Idris Samawi Hamid Professor of Philosophy Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO 80523
test-bib-arabic.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document
test-bib-arabic.tex
Description: TeX document
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