Sorting Fields

[yakatz]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
Some citation tools - for example biblatex - support fields specifically for overriding the sorting of references, i.e. sortname, sorttitle, presort
I specifically need to override the name used to sort some authors and also I would like to sort empty author names at the end instead of the beginning.

Describe the solution you'd like
CSL to allow for fields designed for overriding sorting.

Describe alternatives you've considered

1. For items with blank author, adding fake author names with zzz - the fake name is then shown in the generated output
2. Misusing other fields for sorting.

[bdarcus]

I ... need to override the name used to sort some authors

Can you give an example or two of this?

[yakatz]

I have two major uses for this:

1. I have a specific author who isn't alphabetized correctly for my specific need. The need is too specific to try to adjust the automatic sorting.
2. I have a few "citations" which need to be included, but aren't really proper citations (more likely should be footnotes, but I can't use them). These citations don't have authors at all and (in this CSL anyway) a blank author is sorted at the very beginning of the list instead of the end. I would like a way to force it to the end.

[bdarcus]

On 1, would those be personal names? I was just wondering if it might include organizational names somehow.

Am just having a hard time imaging the details.

[yakatz]

For example, let's say the authors name is in a different language, where it is pronounced as starting with f. When it is spelled in English, it is spelled starting with a v, but that doesn't match the real pronunciation. We want to alphabetize it based on the way we pronounce it as that is what people expect.

[bdarcus]

OK, that's helpful.

Not sure when or if this sort of feature would be added here, however.

But part of the context of my questions is I've also been experimenting with a kind of next-gen version of CSL, that has included discussion of the biblatex sorting design with its current maintainer.

bdarcus/csln#64

Can you comment on his answer on sortname here? Can you solve that issue in biblatex using his suggestion?

bdarcus/csln#64 (comment)