Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Trevor Peterson <06PETERSON AT cua.edu>]

>===== Original Message From Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org> =====
>Did Giuseppe give any reason for preferring the less specific
>characters? It would seem to me generally preferable to use the Hebrew
>block characters for Hebrew annotations, especially when the specific
>use is as text critical annotations. Also it will work with current
>implementations, whereas use of U+0307 and U+030A probably will not.

I emphasized "brief" because the referenced message contained the sum of the 
discussion. I suspect that he was thinking generic characters would be 
better, 
since it is not just Hebrew and Aramaic scholars who need to indicate degrees 
of certainty. (I'm not that familiar with how this is done in other 
languages. 
I would assume, though, that the convention is not unique to NWS 
scholarship.) 
If in fact the convention transcends various languages and scripts, it would 
make sense not to confine it to one language block.

Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics