My original query has generated some interesting sidelines but no solution, at least none that I can see. So, with all due apologies, I shall presume on your patience by restating my query. In (English) typography the spacing after a period within a sentence is less that that after a period at the end of a sentence. Since the days of Plain TeX, one achieved the proper spacing after an intra- sentence period by entering “.\<space>”. My problem is that this no longer seems to work with recent versions of ConTeXt/MKII: “.\<space>” does not seem to have any effect at all. So, how are we now to get the proper spacing after an intra-sentence period? Are there some language/spacing commands that need to be invoked in the prelims now? Sample text: \starttext A. E. Samuels and other scholars. The community of time{-}keepers. A.\ E.\ Samuels and other scholars. The community of time{-}keepers. \stoptext Alan