xml:lang

The xml:lang attribute specifies the primary language used in contents and attributes containing text content of particular elements.

It is a universal attribute allowed in all XML dialects to mark up the natural human language that an element contains.

There is also a lang attribute (without namespace). If both of them are defined, the one with namespace is used and the one without is ignored.

All elements are using this attribute.

<svg viewBox="0 0 200 100" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
  <text xml:lang="en-US">This is some English text</text>
</svg>

Usage notes

<language-tag>

This value specifies the language used for the element. The syntax of this value is defined in the BCP 47 specification.

The most common syntax is a value formed by a lowercase two-character part for the language and an uppercase two-character part for the region or country, separated by a minus sign, e.g. en-US for US English or de-AT for Austrian German.

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• XML specification of xml:lang
• BCP 47 specification for tags for identifying languages