Last year's discussion https://mailman.uni-konstanz.de/pipermail/basex-talk/2010-October/000758.htm... Related discussion http://www.stylusstudio.com/xquerytalk/201012/003341.html
Anyways, proof that basex is "unfair":
$ basex -q 'doc("u.xml")/W'; echo <W> <X>AA AA</X> <X>BB BB</X> <X>CC CC</X> <X>DD DD</X> </W> $ basex -w -s method=text -q 'doc("u.xml")/W'; echo
AA AA BB BB CC CC DD DD
$ basex -q 'doc("u.xml")/W/X'; echo <X>AA AA</X> <X>BB BB</X> <X>CC CC</X> <X>DD DD</X> $ basex -w -s method=text -q 'doc("u.xml")/W/X'; echo AA AABB BBCC CCDD DD
Unfair!