Other elements within Option breaking in Framemaker processing

I've encountered a strange problem with enclosing other elements within 
the Option element when that Option element is at the start of a Para in 
a Listitem; I suppose it may be a wider problem, but I've only tested 
this extensively with Option.

The publishing system I'm using throws DocBook XML through template 
document in Framemaker 7 and produces a final PDF.  I've set up the EDD 
and template document to format ListItems in Itemizedlists as 
bullet-pointed paragraphs using a particular paragraph style in 
Framemaker.  The template/EDD knows to put text in an Option element in 
a particular font, and to italicize text in the Replaceable element.

So, in Docbooking out some options for a UNIX command, I have XML like:

<itemizedlist>
   <listitem>
     <para>
       <option>-f</option>, 
<option>--foo=<replaceable>SOMETHING</replaceable></option> specify some 
behavior in which <replaceable>SOMETHING</replaceable> represents some 
variable value.
     </para>
   </listitem>
   <listitem>
     <para>
       <option>--snafu=<replaceable>OTHERTHING</replaceable></option> 
specify some behavior in which <replaceable>OTHERTHING</replaceable> 
represents some variable value.</para></listitem>
   <listitem>
     <para>
       <option>-b</option>, 
<option>--bar=<replaceable>THIRD</replaceable></option> specify some 
behavior in which <replaceable>THIRD</replaceable> represents some 
variable value.
     </para>
   </listitem>
</itemizedlist>

The first and third items in that itemized list process exactly as 
expected: they're in the bullet-pointed paragraph style; "-f", "--foo=", 
"-b", and "--bar=" are set in the specified font; "SOMETHING" and 
"THIRD" are set in the italicized version of that font.  Great.

The weird thing that I can't figure out is how the *second* item in that 
itemized list gets messed up.  It gets formatted in the regular body 
text paragraph style, and sets "--snafu=" in the regular text font, BUT 
does set "OTHERTHING" in both the font specified for Option elements and 
in the italics specified for Replaceable elements.

The only different is that the second Listitem>Para begins with an 
Option element that contains a Replaceable element, whereas the first 
and third begin with an Option element that contains no other elements, 
and the Option element that contains a Replaceable occurs later in the 
Listitem>Para.

I've tried putting in a random character outside the Option element of 
the second Listitem above, like so:
<listitem>
   <para>
     X<option>--snafu=<replaceable>OTHERTHING</replaceable></option> 
specify some behavior in which <replaceable>OTHERTHING</replaceable> 
represents some variable value.</para></listitem>
... and that processes beautifully (except that it has this random 
unwanted character in it).  I've also tried moving the Replaceable 
element outside of the main Option element, though keeping it in its own 
Option element, like so:
<listitem>
   <para>
 
<option>--snafu=</option><option><replaceable>OTHERTHING</replaceable></option> 
specify some behavior in which <replaceable>OTHERTHING</replaceable> 
represents some variable value.</para></listitem>
...and that processes beautifully too, though the XML seems somewhat 
inelegant.

Essentially, whenever I put an Option element that contains another 
element (it's not just Replaceable) at the *start* of a paragraph, it 
breaks the paragraph formatting instructions and some of the element 
formatting instructions that Framemaker usually knows about.  But I can 
put Option elements that contain another element anywhere except the 
start of the paragraph, and they're fine.

There must be _something_ in my Framemaker template/EDD that's getting 
confused, but no matter how I stare at it (or twiddle the XML), I can't 
figure out what (not that these processing instructions are terribly 
complicated!).

Does anyone have any thoughts about what I might look for that is 
gremlining this stuff?

Cheers,
Carl

-- 
Carl E. Anderson  mailto:  http://www.ncipher.com/
nCipher Corporation Ltd.   +44 1223 723690   Fax: +44 1223 723601