Preliminary Recommendations

E.1. origin

The main parameters dealing with the origin of a text are:

E.1.1. people

-- the various people whose work helped to shape the text.

The roles that are relevant include:

E.1.1.1. author

-- the person who writes the text, whose original work it is.

E.1.1.2. editor

-- anyone who alters or advises alteration in the text once it is produced, or who prepares it for a change of form.

E.1.1.3. publisher

] -- the person identified as legally responsible for the act of publication.

E.1.1.4. rights holder

-- anyone with a legal right in the published work.

E.1.1.5. translator

-- a person who translates a text into another language.

E.1.1.6. adapter

-- a person who alters a text in order to make it suitable for another artistic genre (e.g. screenplay, TV series, illustrated comic book).

Each of these roles may be played by two or more people, or two or more may be conflated in a single person. For each person involved it may be relevant to know:

E.1.1.*.1. age

-- at  the time of composition; between the ages of 16 and 60 broad indications of decade will do; works by children and Senior Citizens should be marked as such since they are known to differ linguistically from mainstream adult text.

E.1.1.*.2. sex

 

E.1.1.*.3. language background

-- native  language, followed by any other language learned in infancy. Other languages that are relevant to the text should also be noted.

E.1.1.*.4. domicile

-- at the time of composition, if relevant and discoverable.

E.1.2. processes

-- production processes that are thought to have had an influence on the text. This is a broad and vague category that is not likely to be used much, since there is only rarely a backwash effect of production processes on the text.

E.1.3. circumstances

-- any material or other circumstances that are thought to be relevant to the structure or contents of the text. Another broad category, with no fixed values.

E.1.4. timing

-- matters of dating and timing that are relevant to the construction of the text. Some indication of the year of composition is normally considered to be necessary.