7.7.5. SORT-STRING
locale- or national-language- specific sorting
This is hard to parse. I suggest:
The sort string is used to provide family name or
given name text that is to be used in sorting of
the formatted name and structured name types in the
context of a particular locale or national language.
I don't agree with the "context of a particular locale or national
language" part, as it seems to suggest that the collation is well-known
and defined somewhere else.
I would modify it by "an implied particular locale or national language."
That's better, yes.
Besides, the current special note "The sort string is used to provide
family name or given name text..." is ambiguous. How could the
sort-string be of use if one cannot tell whether it applies to the given
name or the family name.
Example 1
FN:Rene van der Harten
N:van der Harten;Rene;J.;Sir;R.D.O.N.
SORT-STRING:Harten
Example 2
FN:Rene van der Harten
N:van der Harten;Rene;J.;Sir;R.D.O.N.
SORT-STRING:Rene
In example 2 were specified (which is valid according to the
definition), I would collate "van der Harten" under R.
Correct. But that would be stupid. :) We can't save implementers from
their own stupidity, but I suppose we can help them understand that the
SORT-STRING is used for alphabetical sorting of family names containing
multiple words.