> For CITE, the language of the cited document can be specified in a
> multiple of ways, e.g. in HTTP headers or, if it is an HTML document,
> inside the document itself. Any attribute that specifies the language in
> the citing document would thus normally be superfluous.

Let me give an example:

  <p cite="http://example.com/origineel.nl.xh2 ">
   This is a translation, since most people who read my site don't speak
   Dutch.
  </p>

So the source is written in Dutch, that could be an article, or a poem 
and you want to cite a part of that on your site and make it readable 
for non Dutch people. What to do? Translate.

So the language of the document is EN, the language of the cited 
document is NL. If I want to show that metadata to my visitor, by using 
CSS for instance, I don't want to check the HTTP header and use some 
server-side logic to write it down in my document. I just want an 
attribute to mention the resource language.

Like HREFLANG acted in HTML 4.01, purely for metadata. (Although I agree 
that the new HREFLANG is much more useable.)


-- 
  Anne van Kesteren
  <http://annevankesteren.nl/ >