## Text Encoding Initiative

### The XML Version of the TEI Guidelines

# <timeline>

`<timeline>` | (timeline) provides a set of ordered points in time which can be linked to elements of a spoken text to create a temporal alignment of that text.

Attributes

(In addition to global attributes and those inherited from metadata)

`origin` | designates the origin of the timeline, i.e. the time at which it begins.
| Datatype: IDREF
| Values: must point to one of the `<when>` tags in its content.
| Default: #REQUIRED
Note | If the time of the origin is not known, it should be given an absolute value in descriptive terms, e.g. ‘sometime on the night of the murder’ or ‘unknown’.

`unit` | specifies the unit of time corresponding to the `interval` value of the timeline or of its constituent points in time.
| Datatype: NMTOKEN
| Values: a semi-closed list of recognized time units such as ‘millisecond’, ‘second’, ‘minute’.
| Default: #IMPLIED
`interval` | specifies the numeric portion of a time interval
| Datatype: CDATA
| Values: -1 or any nonnegative number
| Default: #IMPLIED

Note

The value -1 indicates uncertainty about all the intervals in the timeline; 0 indicates that all the intervals are evenly spaced, but the size of the intervals is not known; positive values indicate evenly spaced values of the size specified. If individual points in time in the timeline are given different values for the `interval` attribute, those values locally override the value given in the timeline.

Example

    <timeline id="tl1" origin="w0" unit="centisecond">
       <when id="w0" absolute="sometime Monday morning before Christmas"/>
       <when id="w1" interval="-1" since="w0"/>
       <when id="w2" interval="10" since="w1"/>
       <when id="w3" interval="20" since="w2"/>
       <when id="w4" interval="15" since="w3"/>
       <when id="w5" interval="25" since="w4"/>
       <when id="w6" interval="10" since="w5"/>
    </timeline>

Module Declared in file teilink2.dtd; Additional tag set for Linking and Segmentation: enabled by TEI.linking
Class metadata
Data Description one or more points in time, one of which is its origin
May contain when
May occur within ab abbr activity actor add addName addrLine address admin affiliation analytic app argument author authority back bibl biblFull biblScope biblStruct birth bloc body byline camera caption case castGroup castItem castList cell channel cit cl classCode closer colloc constitution corr country creation damage date dateRange dateStruct dateline def del derivation descrip dictScrap distance distinct distributor div div0 div1 div2 div3 div4 div5 div6 div7 docAuthor docDate docEdition docImprint docTitle domain edition editor education emph entry entryFree epigraph epilogue etym expan extent factuality figDesc figure firstLang foreName foreign form front funder fw gen genName geogName gloss gram gramGrp graph group head headItem headLabel hi hyph imprimatur imprint interaction item itype l label lang langKnown language lbl lem lg lg1 lg2 lg3 lg4 lg5 list listBibl locale m measure meeting mentioned metDecl monogr mood name nameLink note num number occasion occupation offset ofig opener orgDivn orgName orgTitle orgType orig orth otherForm p per performance persName phr placeName pos preparedness principal prologue pron pubPlace publicationStmt publisher purpose q quote rdg rdgGrp re ref reg region rendition residence resp respStmt restore role roleDesc roleName row rs s salute seg sense series set settlement sic signed soCalled socecStatus sound sp speaker sponsor stage street stress subc supplied surname syll symbol table tagUsage tech term termEntry text tig time timeRange timeStruct title titlePage titlePart tns tr trailer trans u unclear usg view w wit witDetail witList witness writing xr xref
Declaration

    <!ELEMENT timeline %om.RR; (when)+>
    <!ATTLIST timeline
          %a.global;
          origin IDREF #REQUIRED
          unit NMTOKEN #IMPLIED
          interval CDATA #IMPLIED>

See further 14.5.2 Placing Synchronous Events in Time

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