Why are you using TEI for this purpose?
 
In any event, it sounds as though your list needs labels. From
teicore2.dtd:
 
<!ELEMENT %n.list; - - ((%n.head)?, ( ((%n.item)+) |
                             ((%n.headLabel)?, (%n.headItem)?,
                             (%n.label;, %n.item;)+))) >
 
Though I don't use TEI very much, I'd think that your enumerators
go in labels as content, which you can mark up. This would be like
a DL in HTML, or a Variablelist in Docbook.
 
Regards,
 
--
Terry Allen ([log in to unmask]) O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
Editor, Digital Media Group 101 Morris St.
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Current HTML 2.0 spec:
  ftp://ds.internic.net/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-html-spec-05.txt