Corner case usage for \va_#\va* (or even \vp_#\vp*)

[DavidHaslam]

One of the lines describing \va_#\va* is as follows:

The content within the marker pair should only contain the alternate verse number, and not include any formatting/presentation characters (e.g. brackets or parentheses)

However, some Bible translations present a need for an alternative verse reference for a verse that actually is in the next or previous chapter.

An example is the versification in Hosea for some Spanish Bibles.

Chapter 13 verse 16 becomes chapter 14 verse 1, with all the subsequent verses in chapter 14 being incremented accordingly.

To record this the translator (or transcriber of a historic Bible) might wish to have:

\v 16 \va 14:1\va* Samaria será asolada porque se rebeló contra su Dios: caerán a cuchillo: sus niños serán estrellados, y sus preñadas serán abiertas.

But the use of "14:1" as the content within the marker pair goes against the strict advice in the USFM User Reference.

What is the official policy for marking such a corner case?

[DavidHaslam]

The same translation has a similar case in Jonah.

Chapter 1 verse 17 becomes chapter 2 verse 1, etc.

\v 17 \va 2:1\va* Mas Jehová había aparejado un gran pez, que tragase a Jonás; y estuvo Jonás en el vientre del pez tres días y tres noches.

NB. Even if the versification was done the other way round, the need to record the alternate verse reference for a verse that "jumps chapters" would still exist.

[KentSpiel]

\va 14:1\va* does not not include any formatting/presentation characters. IMO it is correct as is.

[cmahte]

David,

The chapter verse separator isn't a 'presentation character like a bracket or parenthesis', but rather a chapter verse separator. What is indicated by this note is that the markup meaning "alternate verse number" is carried by the tag, and not by the expected parenthesis or brackets that will convey that in print. This allows for various publishing modes to customize the markup to fit that particular venue (epub, web, app, etc.) There is no limitation on punctuation within the tag, only that the tag will provide the meaning it describes.

However, in corner cases like you describe it is worth considering there is also a similar tag \ca which semantically should be used where an alternate chapter is presented. However, I've never seen an implementation of \ca other than the change to actual chapter marker. It's also worth considering whether the alternate chapter is required or would just become confusing. Unless out of sequence alternate verses are common, a verse +1 the last chapter next to verse 1 should convey the meaning without the chapter appearing. It's probably less likely that just the verse number would be misunderstood than a chapter:verse. That's a question for the receiving body, however. If there's already a precedent, it likely will be the deciding factor.