UAX #14 rev. 57, Section 5.1 B2: is the Spanish parenthetical em dash a default behaviour or a tailoring?

The B2 description says that in Spanish the dashes around a parenthetical should not be broken from the contained text; one paragraph earlier it says line breaks can occur before and after an EM DASH. The rules follow the first sentence: LB17 covers only B2 SP* × B2, and LineBreakTest.txt expects breaks between EM DASH and a following or preceding letter. The description does not say that the Spanish convention needs tailoring, and Section 8 does not mention it.

Consequence

“a —b— c”: the rules allow a line to end with the opening dash and to start with the closing dash.

Proposed correction

If the convention requires tailoring, say so in the B2 description and refer to Section 8.

Issued by

Unicode Consortium — Unicode Technical Committee

Act

UAX #14 revision 57 (Unicode 18.0.0)

Place

Section 5.1, class B2

Record

Question of reading or data

Class

Question of reading or data

Where it arose

The text of the act

Arxo's conclusion

Confirmed

Official text

Unchanged at last check

Last checked

2026-10-31

Evidence

Contradiction within the text. Quotations are verbatim from the official material; translations are ours and marked.

Some languages, including Spanish, use EM DASH to set off a parenthetical, and the surrounding dashes should not be broken from the contained text.

Line breaks can occur before and after an EM DASH.

How to check it without Arxo's tools

1. Open UAX #14 revision 57 (Unicode 18.0.0), Unicode Consortium and find Section 5.1, class B2. Compare the text with the quotation above. A copy is kept in this register: 296df5332aefe695-tr14-57.html (SHA-256 296df5332aefe695b4951b511288b118bc6a7b43db7fadfd60f6062096acc7c0, copy of the official file).
2. The finding holds if the quoted passages read as shown and the comparison gives the result stated at the top of this page. If it does not, write to us with the record ID.

How this finding was made

AI agents read the annexes and the data files and compared them; the examples were run through published implementations. An AI coordinator checked each place against the full annex and the trackers, and two further AI models checked the report before filing.

Responsible institutions

• Unicode Consortium — publishes the annex and the Unicode Character Database

Reported to

Responses

No response recorded.

History

1. 2026-10-31Confirmed by Arxo
2. 2026-10-31Entered in the register
3. 2026-10-31Reported to Unicode Consortium (e-mail)

Cite this record

Arxo Law, Arxo Findings Register, ARXO-2026-0464, https://arxo.io/findings/ARXO-2026-0464/ (status as of 2026-10-31). Data: ARXO-2026-0464.json.