I can confirm the otherwise is being executed. I added the following:

                        <xsl:otherwise>
                        <xsl:element name="Emphasis">
                                                <xsl:attribute name="type">

<xsl:text>normal</xsl:text>
<!-- <xsl:value-of select="key ('style:find_style', @text:style-name)/style:text-properties/@fo:font-weight"/> -->
</xsl:attribute>
<xsl:value-of select="."/>
</xsl:element>
<xsl:apply-templates/>
</xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>

And those elements were created with a normal @type attribute. When i commented out that line, and substituted the key function on the next line, i get a "" value for the type attribute.

 <xsl:otherwise>
  <Emphasis type="{key('style:find_style',@text:style-name)/
                   style:text-properties/@fo:font-weight}">
    <xsl:value-of select="."/>
  </Emphasis>
  <xsl:apply-templates/>
 </xsl:otherwise>

 <xsl:otherwise>
  <xsl:comment>
    text:style-name=<xsl:value-of select="@text:style-name"/>
    key=<xsl:value-of select="key('style:find_style',@text:style-name)"/>
    count=<xsl:value-of select="count(key('style:find_style',
                                      @text:style-name))"/>
    lookup=<xsl:value-of select="//style:style[@style:name=
                                       current()/@text:style-name]"/>
    count=<xsl:value-of select="count(//style:style[@style:name=
                                       current()/@text:style-name])"/>
  </xsl:comment>
  <Emphasis type="{key('style:find_style',@text:style-name)/
                   style:text-properties/@fo:font-weight}">
    <xsl:value-of select="."/>
  </Emphasis>
  <xsl:apply-templates/>
 </xsl:otherwise>

--
XSLT/XQuery training:   after http://XMLPrague.cz 2011-03-28/04-01
Vote for your XML training:   http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/s/i/
Crane Softwrights Ltd.          http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/s/
G. Ken Holman                 mailto:gkholman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Male Cancer Awareness Nov'07  http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/s/bc
Legal business disclaimers:  http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/legal