Revision 720671 of lang

<p class="note">{{HTMLSidebar("Global_attributes")}}</p>
<p>The <strong>lang</strong> <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Global_attributes">global attribute</a> participates in defining the language of the element, the language that non-editable elements are written in or the language that editable elements should be written in. The tag contains one single entry value in the format defines in the <a class="external" href="https://www.ietf.org/rfc/bcp/bcp47.txt" title="https://www.ietf.org/rfc/bcp/bcp47.txt"><em>Tags for Identifying Languages (BCP47)</em></a> IETF document. If the tag content is the <em>empty string</em> the language is set to <em>unkn</em><em>own</em>; if the tag content is not valid, regarding to BCP47, it is set to <em>invalid</em>.</p>
<p>Even if the <strong>lang</strong> attribute is set, it may not be taken into account, as the <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Global_attributes/xml:lang"><strong>xml:lang</strong></a> attribute has priority. Read the <a href="/en-US/docs/Determining_the_language_of_element" title="en/Determining the language of element">algorithm determining the language</a> of an element's content to see how the language is determined in all cases.</p>
<p>For the CSS pseudo-class {{ cssxref(":lang") }}, two invalid language names are different if their names are different.</p>
<h2 id="Specifications">Specifications</h2>
<table class="standard-table">
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <th scope="col">Specification</th>
   <th scope="col">Status</th>
   <th scope="col">Comment</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('HTML WHATWG', "dom.html#the-lang-and-xml:lang-attributes", "lang")}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('HTML WHATWG')}}</td>
   <td>No change from latest snapshot, {{SpecName('HTML5.1')}}</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('HTML5.1', "dom.html#the-lang-and-xml:lang-attributes", "lang")}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('HTML5.1')}}</td>
   <td>Snapshot of {{SpecName('HTML WHATWG')}}, no change from {{SpecName('HTML5 W3C')}}</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('HTML5 W3C', "dom.html#the-lang-and-xml:lang-attributes", "lang")}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('HTML5 W3C')}}</td>
   <td>Snapshot of {{SpecName('HTML WHATWG')}}, behavior with <strong>xml:lang</strong> and language determination algorithm defined. It also is a true global attribute.</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('HTML4.01', 'struct/dirlang.html#h-8.1', 'lang')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('HTML4.01')}}</td>
   <td>Supported on all elements but {{HTMLElement("applet")}}, {{HTMLElement("base")}}, {{HTMLElement("basefont")}}, {{HTMLElement("br")}}, {{HTMLElement("frame")}}, {{HTMLElement("frameset")}}, {{HTMLElement("iframe")}}, {{HTMLElement("param")}}, and {{HTMLElement("script")}}.</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>
<h2 id="Browser_compatibility">Browser compatibility</h2>
<p>{{ CompatibilityTable() }}</p>
<div id="compat-desktop">
 <table class="compat-table">
  <tbody>
   <tr>
    <th>Feature</th>
    <th>Chrome</th>
    <th>Firefox (Gecko)</th>
    <th>Internet Explorer</th>
    <th>Opera</th>
    <th>Safari</th>
   </tr>
   <tr>
    <td>Basic support</td>
    <td>{{ CompatVersionUnknown() }}</td>
    <td>{{ CompatVersionUnknown }}</td>
    <td>{{ CompatVersionUnknown() }}</td>
    <td>{{ CompatVersionUnknown() }}</td>
    <td>{{ CompatVersionUnknown() }}</td>
   </tr>
  </tbody>
 </table>
</div>
<div id="compat-mobile">
 <table class="compat-table">
  <tbody>
   <tr>
    <th>Feature</th>
    <th>Android</th>
    <th>Chrome for Android</th>
    <th>Firefox Mobile (Gecko)</th>
    <th>IE Mobile</th>
    <th>Opera Mobile</th>
    <th>Safari Mobile</th>
   </tr>
   <tr>
    <td>Basic support</td>
    <td>{{ CompatVersionUnknown() }}</td>
    <td>{{ CompatVersionUnknown() }}</td>
    <td>{{ CompatVersionUnknown }}</td>
    <td>{{ CompatVersionUnknown() }}</td>
    <td>{{ CompatVersionUnknown() }}</td>
    <td>{{ CompatVersionUnknown() }}</td>
   </tr>
  </tbody>
 </table>
</div>
<h2 id="See_also">See also</h2>
<ul>
 <li>All <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Global_attributes">global attributes</a>.</li>
</ul>