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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>, Biblical Languages <biblical-languages AT lists.ibiblio.org>, UNICODE AT LSV.UKY.EDU, hebrewcomputing AT yahoogroups.com
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  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Unicode Holam proposals
  • Date: Sun, 01 Aug 2004 00:14:31 +0100

Please excuse the cross posting of an announcement which is relevant to members of several groups (and a few individuals receiving blind copies).

I have submitted to the Unicode Technical Committee, in the name of a small group of Hebrew experts, a new proposal for solving the long standing problem of distinguishing between Holam Male (full Holem) and Vav Haluma (consonantal Waw with defective Holem) in Unicode Hebrew texts. You may read this proposal (which is much shorter than the old proposal submitted in June) at http://www.qaya.org/academic/hebrew/Holam3.pdf, or ...Holam3.html. This proposal is based on using the ZERO WIDTH NON-JOINER character to distinguish between Holam Male and Vav Haluma. This proposal was based on the consensus preference of a number of experts in ancient and modern Hebrew who contributed to the discussion.

An alternative proposal has been submitted by Michael Everson, a generalist script expert and Indo-Europeanist with little knowledge of Hebrew, and Mark Shoulson, an American Jew. This alternative proposal (which should soon be available at http://www.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2840.pdf but is not what you currently get when you go to that URL) is for a new character for use as Holam Haser (defective Holem) only when used with Vav. This proposal is, in my opinion, based on clear misunderstandings of how the Hebrew script works.

The Hebrew experts involved in the discussions have clearly rejected the principle of encoding a new character for a variant Holam. Nevertheless, some influential people in the Unicode Consortium seem determined to impose on Hebrew script users a new character which they do not want. The alternative may not be rendered precisely correctly with some older rendering engines (but in practice probably can be by any engine which can handle right-to-left script), but it is based clearly on how the Hebrew script works.

I invite all interested parties, especially regular users of Hebrew script, to make comments on the proposal I have submitted, and on the alternative proposal if they are able to find it. Comments should be made directly to the Unicode Consortium via http://www.unicode.org/reporting.html, or by e-mail to human3 AT unicode.org. They should be made before the Unicode Technical Committee meeting which starts on 10th August. I will be happy to receive copies of any comments.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/





  • [b-hebrew] Unicode Holam proposals, Peter Kirk, 07/31/2004

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