diff --git a/_future/textlanguageattr/README b/_future/textlanguageattr/README
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f3bb4916
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_future/textlanguageattr/README
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Removed because proper support on OS X doesn't come until 10.9 unless we use a font with an ltag table; none of the fonts I have come with ltag tables (none of the fonts on OS X do, or at least don't come with a sr entry in their ltag table, and OpenType has replaced ltag with what appears to be custom sub-tables of the GPOS and GSUB tables.)
diff --git a/_future/textlanguageattr/attrstr_darwin.m b/_future/textlanguageattr/attrstr_darwin.m
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1717d875
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_future/textlanguageattr/attrstr_darwin.m
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+struct fontParams {
+	uiDrawFontDescriptor desc;
+	uint16_t featureTypes[maxFeatures];
+	uint16_t featureSelectors[maxFeatures];
+	size_t nFeatures;
+	const char *language;
+};
+
+
+	// locale identifiers are specified as BCP 47: https://developer.apple.com/reference/corefoundation/cflocale?language=objc
+	case uiAttributeLanguage:
+		// LONGTERM FUTURE when we move to 10.9, switch to using kCTLanguageAttributeName
+		ensureFontInRange(p, start, end);
+		adjustFontInRange(p, start, end, ^(struct fontParams *fp) {
+			fp->language = (const char *) (spec->Value);
+		});
+		break;
+
+	desc = fontdescAppendFeatures(desc, fp->featureTypes, fp->featureSelectors, fp->nFeatures, fp->language);
diff --git a/_future/textlanguageattr/attrstr_unix.c b/_future/textlanguageattr/attrstr_unix.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..47d22b15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_future/textlanguageattr/attrstr_unix.c
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+	PangoLanguage *lang;
+
+	// language strings are specified as BCP 47: https://developer.gnome.org/pango/1.30/pango-Scripts-and-Languages.html#pango-language-from-string https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3066.txt
+	case uiAttributeLanguage:
+		lang = pango_language_from_string((const char *) (spec->Value));
+		addattr(p, start, end,
+			pango_attr_language_new(lang));
+		// lang *cannot* be freed
+		break;
diff --git a/_future/textlanguageattr/attrstr_windows.cpp b/_future/textlanguageattr/attrstr_windows.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f8238c7f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_future/textlanguageattr/attrstr_windows.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+	WCHAR *localeName;
+
+	// locale names are specified as BCP 47: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd373814(v=vs.85).aspx https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4646.txt
+	case uiAttributeLanguage:
+		localeName = toUTF16((char *) (spec->Value));
+		hr = p->layout->SetLocaleName(localeName, range);
+		if (hr != S_OK)
+			logHRESULT(L"error applying locale name attribute", hr);
+		uiFree(localeName);
+		break;
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/_future/textlanguageattr/common_attrlist.c b/_future/textlanguageattr/common_attrlist.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..680a2d09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_future/textlanguageattr/common_attrlist.c
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+	case uiAttributeLanguage:
+		return asciiStringsEqualCaseFold((char *) (attr->spec.Value), (char *) (spec->Value));
diff --git a/_future/textlanguageattr/drawtext_example.c b/_future/textlanguageattr/drawtext_example.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e006e7e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_future/textlanguageattr/drawtext_example.c
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+before "or any combination of the above"
+
+	// thanks to https://twitter.com/codeman38/status/831924064012886017
+	next = "\xD0\xB1\xD0\xB3\xD0\xB4\xD0\xBF\xD1\x82";
+	uiAttributedStringAppendUnattributed(attrstr, "multiple languages (compare ");
+	start = uiAttributedStringLen(attrstr);
+	end = start + strlen(next);
+	uiAttributedStringAppendUnattributed(attrstr, next);
+	spec.Type = uiAttributeItalic;
+	spec.Value = uiDrawTextItalicItalic;
+	uiAttributedStringSetAttribute(attrstr, &spec, start, end);
+	spec.Type = uiAttributeLanguage;
+	spec.Value = (uintptr_t) "ru";
+	uiAttributedStringSetAttribute(attrstr, &spec, start, end);
+	uiAttributedStringAppendUnattributed(attrstr, " to ");
+	start = uiAttributedStringLen(attrstr);
+	end = start + strlen(next);
+	uiAttributedStringAppendUnattributed(attrstr, next);
+	spec.Type = uiAttributeItalic;
+	spec.Value = uiDrawTextItalicItalic;
+	uiAttributedStringSetAttribute(attrstr, &spec, start, end);
+	spec.Type = uiAttributeLanguage;
+	spec.Value = (uintptr_t) "sr";
+	uiAttributedStringSetAttribute(attrstr, &spec, start, end);
+	uiAttributedStringAppendUnattributed(attrstr, " \xE2\x80\x94 may require changing the font)");
+
+	uiAttributedStringAppendUnattributed(attrstr, ", ");
diff --git a/_future/textlanguageattr/fontmatch_darwin.m b/_future/textlanguageattr/fontmatch_darwin.m
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cd4df7a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_future/textlanguageattr/fontmatch_darwin.m
@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+// note: this doesn't work for languages; we have to parse the ltag table
+
+// fortunately features that aren't supported are simply ignored, so we can copy them all in
+// LONGTERM FUTURE when we switch to 10.9, the language parameter won't be needed anymore
+// LONGTERM FUTURE and on 10.10 we can use OpenType tags directly!
+CTFontDescriptorRef fontdescAppendFeatures(CTFontDescriptorRef desc, const uint16_t *types, const uint16_t *selectors, size_t n, const char *language)
+{
+	CTFontDescriptorRef new;
+	CFMutableArrayRef outerArray;
+	CFDictionaryRef innerDict;
+	CFNumberRef numType, numSelector;
+	const void *keys[2], *values[2];
+	size_t i;
+	CFArrayRef languages;
+	CFIndex il, nl;
+	CFStringRef curlang;
+	char d[2];
+
+	outerArray = CFArrayCreateMutable(NULL, 0, &kCFTypeArrayCallBacks);
+	if (outerArray == NULL) {
+		// TODO
+	}
+	keys[0] = kCTFontFeatureTypeIdentifierKey;
+	keys[1] = kCTFontFeatureSelectorIdentifierKey;
+	for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
+		numType = CFNumberCreate(NULL, kCFNumberSInt16Type,
+			(const SInt16 *) (types + i));
+		numSelector = CFNumberCreate(NULL, kCFNumberSInt16Type,
+			(const SInt16 *) (selectors + i));
+		values[0] = numType;
+		values[1] = numSelector;
+		innerDict = CFDictionaryCreate(NULL,
+			keys, values, 2,
+			// TODO are these correct?
+			&kCFCopyStringDictionaryKeyCallBacks,
+			&kCFTypeDictionaryValueCallBacks);
+		if (innerDict == NULL) {
+			// TODO
+		}
+		CFArrayAppendValue(outerArray, innerDict);
+		CFRelease(innerDict);
+		CFRelease(numSelector);
+		CFRelease(numType);
+	}
+
+	// now we have to take care of the language
+	if (language != NULL) {
+		languages = CTFontDescriptorCopyAttribute(desc, kCTFontLanguagesAttribute);
+		if (languages != NULL) {
+			nl = CFArrayGetCount(languages);
+			d[0] = language[0];
+			if (d[0] >= 'A' && d[0] <= 'Z')
+				d[0] += 'a' - 'A';
+			d[1] = language[1];
+			if (d[1] >= 'A' && d[1] <= 'Z')
+				d[1] += 'a' - 'A';
+			for (il = 0; il < nl; il++) {
+				char c[2];
+		
+				curlang = (CFStringRef) CFArrayGetValueAtIndex(languages, il);
+				// TODO check for failure
+				CFStringGetBytes(curlang, CFRangeMake(0, 2),
+					kCFStringEncodingUTF8, 0, false,
+					(UInt8 *) c, 2, NULL);
+				if (c[0] >= 'A' && c[0] <= 'Z')
+					c[0] += 'a' - 'A';
+				if (c[1] >= 'A' && c[1] <= 'Z')
+					c[1] += 'a' - 'A';
+				if (c[0] == d[0] && c[1] == d[1])
+					break;
+			}
+			if (il != nl) {
+				uint16_t typ;
+		
+				typ = kLanguageTagType;
+				il++;
+				numType = CFNumberCreate(NULL, kCFNumberSInt16Type,
+					(const SInt16 *) (&typ));
+				numSelector = CFNumberCreate(NULL, kCFNumberCFIndexType,
+					&il);
+				values[0] = numType;
+				values[1] = numSelector;
+				innerDict = CFDictionaryCreate(NULL,
+					keys, values, 2,
+					// TODO are these correct?
+					&kCFCopyStringDictionaryKeyCallBacks,
+					&kCFTypeDictionaryValueCallBacks);
+				if (innerDict == NULL) {
+					// TODO
+				}
+				CFArrayAppendValue(outerArray, innerDict);
+				CFRelease(innerDict);
+				CFRelease(numSelector);
+				CFRelease(numType);
+			}
+			CFRelease(languages);
+		}
+	}
+
+	keys[0] = kCTFontFeatureSettingsAttribute;
+	values[0] = outerArray;
+	innerDict = CFDictionaryCreate(NULL,
+		keys, values, 1,
+		// TODO are these correct?
+		&kCFCopyStringDictionaryKeyCallBacks,
+		&kCFTypeDictionaryValueCallBacks);
+	CFRelease(outerArray);
+	new = CTFontDescriptorCreateCopyWithAttributes(desc, innerDict);
+	CFRelease(desc);
+	CFRelease(innerDict);
+	return new;
+}
diff --git a/_future/textlanguageattr/ui.h b/_future/textlanguageattr/ui.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2c3c9ec7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_future/textlanguageattr/ui.h
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+after UnderlineColor, before feature tags
+
+	// TODO document that this will also enable language-specific font features (TODO on DirectWrite too?)
+	// TODO document that this should be strict BCP 47 form (A-Z, a-z, 0-9, and -) for maximum compatibility
+	uiAttributeLanguage,		// BCP 47 string
diff --git a/_future/verticaltext/README b/_future/verticaltext/README
index 1bac02e5..7f30a15c 100644
--- a/_future/verticaltext/README
+++ b/_future/verticaltext/README
@@ -12,3 +12,6 @@ If readded, this will need to be a layout-wide setting, not a per-character sett
 More links:
 https://www.w3.org/TR/2012/NOTE-jlreq-20120403/#line-composition
 https://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/notes.html
+
+TODO indicate where in the attributes.c file that block of code should go (or drop it entirely for the reasons listed above)
+TODO same for ui.h
diff --git a/common/attrlist.c b/common/attrlist.c
index 20aaf97f..7ea65fa6 100644
--- a/common/attrlist.c
+++ b/common/attrlist.c
@@ -342,9 +342,6 @@ static int specsIdentical(struct attr *attr, uiAttributeSpec *spec)
 			attr->spec.G == spec->G &&
 			attr->spec.B == spec->B &&
 			attr->spec.A == spec->A;
-	case uiAttributeLanguage:
-		return asciiStringsEqualCaseFold((char *) (attr->spec.Value), (char *) (spec->Value));
-	// TODO
 	// TODO use boolsEqual() on boolean features
 	}
 	// handles the rest
diff --git a/darwin/attrstr.m b/darwin/attrstr.m
index f4644b37..3e5797b4 100644
--- a/darwin/attrstr.m
+++ b/darwin/attrstr.m
@@ -74,7 +74,6 @@ struct fontParams {
 	uint16_t featureTypes[maxFeatures];
 	uint16_t featureSelectors[maxFeatures];
 	size_t nFeatures;
-	const char *language;
 };
 
 static void ensureFontInRange(struct foreachParams *p, size_t start, size_t end)
@@ -258,15 +257,6 @@ static int processAttribute(uiAttributedString *s, uiAttributeSpec *spec, size_t
 		if (spec->Value == uiDrawUnderlineColorCustom)
 			CFRelease(color);
 		break;
-	// locale identifiers are specified as BCP 47: https://developer.apple.com/reference/corefoundation/cflocale?language=objc
-	case uiAttributeLanguage:
-		// LONGTERM FUTURE when we move to 10.9, switch to using kCTLanguageAttributeName
-		ensureFontInRange(p, start, end);
-		adjustFontInRange(p, start, end, ^(struct fontParams *fp) {
-			fp->language = (const char *) (spec->Value);
-		});
-		break;
-	// TODO
 	default:
 		// handle typographic features
 		ap.p = p;
@@ -285,7 +275,7 @@ static CTFontRef fontdescToCTFont(struct fontParams *fp)
 	CTFontRef font;
 
 	desc = fontdescToCTFontDescriptor(&(fp->desc));
-	desc = fontdescAppendFeatures(desc, fp->featureTypes, fp->featureSelectors, fp->nFeatures, fp->language);
+	desc = fontdescAppendFeatures(desc, fp->featureTypes, fp->featureSelectors, fp->nFeatures);
 	font = CTFontCreateWithFontDescriptor(desc, fp->desc.Size, NULL);
 	CFRelease(desc);			// TODO correct?
 	return font;
diff --git a/darwin/fontmatch.m b/darwin/fontmatch.m
index 9acb2edf..0c87a427 100644
--- a/darwin/fontmatch.m
+++ b/darwin/fontmatch.m
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ CTFontDescriptorRef fontdescToCTFontDescriptor(uiDrawFontDescriptor *fd)
 // fortunately features that aren't supported are simply ignored, so we can copy them all in
 // LONGTERM FUTURE when we switch to 10.9, the language parameter won't be needed anymore
 // LONGTERM FUTURE and on 10.10 we can use OpenType tags directly!
-CTFontDescriptorRef fontdescAppendFeatures(CTFontDescriptorRef desc, const uint16_t *types, const uint16_t *selectors, size_t n, const char *language)
+CTFontDescriptorRef fontdescAppendFeatures(CTFontDescriptorRef desc, const uint16_t *types, const uint16_t *selectors, size_t n)
 {
 	CTFontDescriptorRef new;
 	CFMutableArrayRef outerArray;
@@ -265,10 +265,6 @@ CTFontDescriptorRef fontdescAppendFeatures(CTFontDescriptorRef desc, const uint1
 	CFNumberRef numType, numSelector;
 	const void *keys[2], *values[2];
 	size_t i;
-	CFArrayRef languages;
-	CFIndex il, nl;
-	CFStringRef curlang;
-	char d[2];
 
 	outerArray = CFArrayCreateMutable(NULL, 0, &kCFTypeArrayCallBacks);
 	if (outerArray == NULL) {
@@ -297,60 +293,6 @@ CTFontDescriptorRef fontdescAppendFeatures(CTFontDescriptorRef desc, const uint1
 		CFRelease(numType);
 	}
 
-	// now we have to take care of the language
-	if (language != NULL) {
-		languages = CTFontDescriptorCopyAttribute(desc, kCTFontLanguagesAttribute);
-		if (languages != NULL) {
-			nl = CFArrayGetCount(languages);
-			d[0] = language[0];
-			if (d[0] >= 'A' && d[0] <= 'Z')
-				d[0] += 'a' - 'A';
-			d[1] = language[1];
-			if (d[1] >= 'A' && d[1] <= 'Z')
-				d[1] += 'a' - 'A';
-			for (il = 0; il < nl; il++) {
-				char c[2];
-		
-				curlang = (CFStringRef) CFArrayGetValueAtIndex(languages, il);
-				// TODO check for failure
-				CFStringGetBytes(curlang, CFRangeMake(0, 2),
-					kCFStringEncodingUTF8, 0, false,
-					(UInt8 *) c, 2, NULL);
-				if (c[0] >= 'A' && c[0] <= 'Z')
-					c[0] += 'a' - 'A';
-				if (c[1] >= 'A' && c[1] <= 'Z')
-					c[1] += 'a' - 'A';
-				if (c[0] == d[0] && c[1] == d[1])
-					break;
-			}
-			if (il != nl) {
-				uint16_t typ;
-		
-				typ = kLanguageTagType;
-				il++;
-				numType = CFNumberCreate(NULL, kCFNumberSInt16Type,
-					(const SInt16 *) (&typ));
-				numSelector = CFNumberCreate(NULL, kCFNumberCFIndexType,
-					&il);
-				values[0] = numType;
-				values[1] = numSelector;
-				innerDict = CFDictionaryCreate(NULL,
-					keys, values, 2,
-					// TODO are these correct?
-					&kCFCopyStringDictionaryKeyCallBacks,
-					&kCFTypeDictionaryValueCallBacks);
-				if (innerDict == NULL) {
-					// TODO
-				}
-				CFArrayAppendValue(outerArray, innerDict);
-				CFRelease(innerDict);
-				CFRelease(numSelector);
-				CFRelease(numType);
-			}
-			CFRelease(languages);
-		}
-	}
-
 	keys[0] = kCTFontFeatureSettingsAttribute;
 	values[0] = outerArray;
 	innerDict = CFDictionaryCreate(NULL,
diff --git a/darwin/uipriv_darwin.h b/darwin/uipriv_darwin.h
index 281a4b57..c3de53e2 100644
--- a/darwin/uipriv_darwin.h
+++ b/darwin/uipriv_darwin.h
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ extern void doManualResize(NSWindow *w, NSEvent *initialEvent, uiWindowResizeEdg
 
 // fontmatch.m
 extern CTFontDescriptorRef fontdescToCTFontDescriptor(uiDrawFontDescriptor *fd);
-extern CTFontDescriptorRef fontdescAppendFeatures(CTFontDescriptorRef desc, const uint16_t *types, const uint16_t *selectors, size_t n, const char *language);
+extern CTFontDescriptorRef fontdescAppendFeatures(CTFontDescriptorRef desc, const uint16_t *types, const uint16_t *selectors, size_t n);
 extern void fontdescFromCTFontDescriptor(CTFontDescriptorRef ctdesc, uiDrawFontDescriptor *uidesc);
 
 // attrstr.m
diff --git a/examples/drawtext/attributes.c b/examples/drawtext/attributes.c
index b4a697a8..fbcdd797 100644
--- a/examples/drawtext/attributes.c
+++ b/examples/drawtext/attributes.c
@@ -130,32 +130,6 @@ static void setupAttributedString(void)
 
 	uiAttributedStringAppendUnattributed(attrstr, ", ");
 
-	// thanks to https://twitter.com/codeman38/status/831924064012886017
-	next = "\xD0\xB1\xD0\xB3\xD0\xB4\xD0\xBF\xD1\x82";
-	uiAttributedStringAppendUnattributed(attrstr, "multiple languages (compare ");
-	start = uiAttributedStringLen(attrstr);
-	end = start + strlen(next);
-	uiAttributedStringAppendUnattributed(attrstr, next);
-	spec.Type = uiAttributeItalic;
-	spec.Value = uiDrawTextItalicItalic;
-	uiAttributedStringSetAttribute(attrstr, &spec, start, end);
-	spec.Type = uiAttributeLanguage;
-	spec.Value = (uintptr_t) "ru";
-	uiAttributedStringSetAttribute(attrstr, &spec, start, end);
-	uiAttributedStringAppendUnattributed(attrstr, " to ");
-	start = uiAttributedStringLen(attrstr);
-	end = start + strlen(next);
-	uiAttributedStringAppendUnattributed(attrstr, next);
-	spec.Type = uiAttributeItalic;
-	spec.Value = uiDrawTextItalicItalic;
-	uiAttributedStringSetAttribute(attrstr, &spec, start, end);
-	spec.Type = uiAttributeLanguage;
-	spec.Value = (uintptr_t) "sr";
-	uiAttributedStringSetAttribute(attrstr, &spec, start, end);
-	uiAttributedStringAppendUnattributed(attrstr, " \xE2\x80\x94 may require changing the font)");
-
-	uiAttributedStringAppendUnattributed(attrstr, ", ");
-
 	// TODO randomize these ranges better
 	// TODO make some overlap to test that
 	// TODO also change colors to light foreground dark background
diff --git a/ui_attrstr.h b/ui_attrstr.h
index 3206efe4..0fb4a586 100644
--- a/ui_attrstr.h
+++ b/ui_attrstr.h
@@ -15,10 +15,6 @@ _UI_ENUM(uiAttribute) {
 	// TODO ensure the color in the case we don't specify it is the text color?
 	uiAttributeUnderlineColor,	// enum uiDrawUnderlineColor
 
-	// TODO document that this will also enable language-specific font features (TODO on DirectWrite too?)
-	// TODO document that this should be strict BCP 47 form (A-Z, a-z, 0-9, and -) for maximum compatibility
-	uiAttributeLanguage,		// BCP 47 string
-
 	// These attributes represent typographic features. Each feature
 	// is a separate attribute, to make composition easier. The
 	// availability of for each attribute are defined by the font; the
diff --git a/unix/attrstr.c b/unix/attrstr.c
index cf5bc509..88eabef4 100644
--- a/unix/attrstr.c
+++ b/unix/attrstr.c
@@ -142,7 +142,6 @@ static int processAttribute(uiAttributedString *s, uiAttributeSpec *spec, size_t
 	struct foreachParams *p = (struct foreachParams *) data;
 	GClosure *closure;
 	PangoUnderline underline;
-	PangoLanguage *lang;
 	struct otParam op;
 
 	switch (spec->Type) {
@@ -226,14 +225,6 @@ static int processAttribute(uiAttributedString *s, uiAttributeSpec *spec, size_t
 			break;
 		}
 		break;
-	// language strings are specified as BCP 47: https://developer.gnome.org/pango/1.30/pango-Scripts-and-Languages.html#pango-language-from-string https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3066.txt
-	case uiAttributeLanguage:
-		lang = pango_language_from_string((const char *) (spec->Value));
-		addattr(p, start, end,
-			pango_attr_language_new(lang));
-		// lang *cannot* be freed
-		break;
-	// TODO
 	default:
 		// handle typographic features
 		op.p = p;
diff --git a/windows/attrstr.cpp b/windows/attrstr.cpp
index d0a4b3cc..ad2fad0e 100644
--- a/windows/attrstr.cpp
+++ b/windows/attrstr.cpp
@@ -112,7 +112,6 @@ static int processAttribute(uiAttributedString *s, uiAttributeSpec *spec, size_t
 	WCHAR *wfamily;
 	size_t ostart, oend;
 	BOOL hasUnderline;
-	WCHAR *localeName;
 	struct otParam op;
 	HRESULT hr;
 
@@ -230,15 +229,6 @@ static int processAttribute(uiAttributedString *s, uiAttributeSpec *spec, size_t
 			break;
 		}
 		break;
-	// locale names are specified as BCP 47: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd373814(v=vs.85).aspx https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4646.txt
-	case uiAttributeLanguage:
-		localeName = toUTF16((char *) (spec->Value));
-		hr = p->layout->SetLocaleName(localeName, range);
-		if (hr != S_OK)
-			logHRESULT(L"error applying locale name attribute", hr);
-		uiFree(localeName);
-		break;
-	// TODO
 	default:
 		// handle typographic features
 		op.p = p;