diff --git a/parsers/src/util/macro_tests.rs b/parsers/src/util/macro_tests.rs
index 70bbffb90979a522a5c35ed135f3353cbb7aa87f..a477ed9495478865fcdc96bb0bcaa984cbf01d69 100644
--- a/parsers/src/util/macro_tests.rs
+++ b/parsers/src/util/macro_tests.rs
@@ -139,6 +139,23 @@ fn empty_unexpected_attribute() {
     }
 }
 
+#[test]
+#[cfg_attr(
+    feature = "disable-validation",
+    should_panic = "unexpected result: Ok("
+)]
+fn empty_ignores_xml_lang() {
+    #[allow(unused_imports)]
+    use core::{
+        option::Option::{None, Some},
+        result::Result::{Err, Ok},
+    };
+    match parse_str::<Empty>("<foo xmlns='urn:example:ns1' xml:lang='bar'/>") {
+        Ok(Empty) => (),
+        other => panic!("unexpected result: {:?}", other),
+    }
+}
+
 #[test]
 #[cfg_attr(
     feature = "disable-validation",
diff --git a/xso-proc/src/compound.rs b/xso-proc/src/compound.rs
index bf149119932d4e15b4785cbe673fd3edfba1ee2f..d91fa8c3a5244afcb623e17d61faec5974d8ea0b 100644
--- a/xso-proc/src/compound.rs
+++ b/xso-proc/src/compound.rs
@@ -396,7 +396,11 @@ impl Compound {
             }
         }
 
-        let mut discard_attr = TokenStream::default();
+        // We always implicitly discard the `xml:lang` attribute. Its
+        // processing is handled using the `#[xml(language)]` meta.
+        let mut discard_attr = quote! {
+            let _ = #attrs.remove(::xso::exports::rxml::Namespace::xml(), "lang");
+        };
         for (xml_namespace, xml_name) in self.discard_attr.iter() {
             let xml_namespace = match xml_namespace {
                 Some(v) => v.to_token_stream(),
diff --git a/xso/ChangeLog b/xso/ChangeLog
index f00527a662f386444d2c3609f7d0dd369a4aed61..002c8236c57d6ac501b4c36082f22fcb618c8282 100644
--- a/xso/ChangeLog
+++ b/xso/ChangeLog
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@ Version NEXT:
 
         This change overall allows for more flexibility in the implementation
         of text codecs.
+      - `xml:lang` attributes are now silently discarded during
+        deserialisation unless captured by `#[xml(attribute = "xml:lang")]` or
+        equivalent. This is because `xml:lang` is special as per
+        XML 1.0 § 2.12 and it is generally preferable to allow it to occur
+        anywhere in the document.
     * Added
       - Support for child elements in derive macros. Child elements may also
         be wrapped in Option or Box or in containers like Vec or HashSet.