Kevin M Randall said:
Aha, I get it now. It looks like Heidrun is asking if maybe the LC-PCC PS should be turned into an
alternative, and generalized from "English" to "language of the cataloging
agency".
Yes, that was exactly my point. Sorry if I didn't make myself clear.
It would, of course, have to be emphasized that this alternative should
only be used if it's not possible to describe the symbol in the language
of the element.
I think the PS is a matter of expediency, and is probably meant to be used as a last
resort. I'm not sure I'd like to see this as an actual alternative in RDA; it would seem
to be legitimizing mixed-language ("nonsense") title strings which I really
think should be kept to the barest minimum.
What strikes me as odd is that RDA is not very consistent here. With
respect to a symbol in a title, we're supposed to describe it in the
language of the title - regardless of which language this is. But if we
abridge a statement of responsibility naming more than three persons
etc. (2.4.1.5, optional omission), we're compelled to do this in the
language of the agency. So, an American cataloger would e.g. write "with
contributions by XY [and 21 others]", whereas German catalogers must use
a German phrase in the square brackets. They have to write "with
contributions by XY [und 21 anderen]" (a mixture of languages which
looks decidedly odd to me), even if they would be perfectly able of
doing it in English.
Heidrun
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Prof. Heidrun Wiesenmueller M.A.
Stuttgart Media University
Faculty of Information and Communication
Wolframstr. 32, 70191 Stuttgart, Germany
www.hdm-stuttgart.de/bi
