Fw: [Biblical-languages] A threat to the integrity of the Hebrew
language?
Peter_Constable at sil.org
Peter_Constable at sil.org
Mon Jul 21 18:47:21 EDT 2003
Joan Wardell wrote on 07/21/2003 12:08:48 PM:
> The only apparent way to get a reasonable canonical/store order is to
> propose new characters to the Unicode Committee which have the correct
> properties or do something to prevent canonical ordering from occurring
> (Ken Whisler has suggested the CJG character).
Note: the CGJ (combining grapheme joiner) is not a new character; it
already exists in Unicode. This would be a new function for that character,
however.
> This is not a formal
> proposal to the Unicode Committee, by the way.
I'm not sure what the referent of "this" is. The suggestion of using CGJ to
deal with the problem in question has not been written up and submitted as
a formal proposal. The document that I authored and that started this
discussion, however, can be considered a formal proposal.
> In my opinion, Constable's proposal was extremely well thought out and
the
> only change I would suggest is to deprecate the existing Hebrew vowels
> rather than separate modern Hebrew from biblical. I see no need to do
that.
At least some have suggested that in the aftermath to my proposal document,
and I can see why: there are valid reasons for having the same characters
used for vowels for both Modern and Biblical Hebrew. Unfortunately, there
would be a significant problem with deprecating the existing vowels and
replacing them with new ones: existing implementations and data (including
legacy mapping tables and legacy data) all assume the current vowel
characters in Unicode.
My preference has always been to see the canonical combining classes fixed,
though that would involve other potential problems, which is why that kind
of change in Unicode has, in general, been considered impossible. But,
perhaps what has been considered impossible might yet still be somehow
possible?
- Peter
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Peter Constable
Non-Roman Script Initiative, SIL International
7500 W. Camp Wisdom Rd., Dallas, TX 75236, USA
Tel: +1 972 708 7485
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