L2/11-253 Title: WG2 Consent Docket Source: Ken Whistler Date: June 16, 2011 Action: For review by UTC The WG2 meeting #58 met in Helsinki, Finland, June 6 - 10, 2011. During that meeting a number of decisions were taken regarding new repertoire approved for ballot for 10646. The meeting also did the disposition of comments for the FCD for 10646 3rd Edition, which is the basis for the repertoire we will be releasing for Unicode 6.1. WG2 also did the disposition of comments for PDAM 1 to the 3rd Edition. Amendment 1 will be the basis for some future version of the Unicode Standard after Unicode 6.1. WG2 decided to reballot it as PDAM 1.2, rather than as an DAM. This consent docket focuses on issues of repertoire approval, code point moves, and character name changes which need to be addressed to keep the UTC approvals and the WG2 approvals in synch. Other issues from WG2 meeting #58 of interest to the UTC and which may require other discussion and action are covered by the WG2 Liaison Report by Peter Constable (L2/11-254) and/or the IR Head of Delegation Report by Debbie Anderson (L2/11-255). ================================================================== The disposition of comments for FCD 10646 3rd Edition is in L2/11-237. For the most part any changes made to the 3rd Edition were to bring the 3rd Edition into synch with items already approved by the UTC. However, there are several items of note for the consent docket. All of these involve removals from the 3rd Edition. A. LATIN LETTER MIDDLE DOT The disposition of comments removed U+A78F "LATIN LETTER GLOTTAL DOT" from the 3rd Edition, but moved it to the PDAM 1.2 ballot, with the reverted name "LATIN LETTER MIDDLE DOT". This means that the character will not be part of the repertoire for Unicode 6.1, but the UTC will still need to address the character in ballot comments for PDAM 1.2. Recommendation: Consistent with past positions by the UTC on this character, add a ballot comment asking for its removal from PDAM 1.2, referencing prior documents adduced to support that position, and perhaps strengthening the rationale further. B. Two Batak symbols The disposition of comments removed U+1BFA BATAK SYMBOL BINDU GODANG and U+1BFB BATAK SYMBOL BINDU PINARJOLMA from the 3rd Edition. In this case they were *not* added to the PDAM 1.2 ballot. This leaves the two characters in limbo. Basically, they are on hold and not under ballot, pending the provision of more evidence of their usage in plain text. Recommendation: No action needed right now. These will need to be further addressed only at the point that WG2 decides to progress them to a particular ballot again in the future. C. Meroitic Cursive: numbers and fractions The disposition of comments removed 40 number and fraction characters from the Meroitic Cursive block, based on the report that further information had been discovered which could have a bearing on the exact set of such number characters to be encoded. These were removed from the 3rd Edition, and were not added to PDAM 1.2. As a result, these 40 characters will also not be part of the prepertoire for Unicode 6.1. The characters are on hold in WG2. Recommendation: No action needed right now. The UTC approval of these characters can stand as is, and the UTC can revisit the set when a proposal for revision of these numbers and fraction characters is submitted. =================================================================== The disposition of comments for PDAM 1 to the 3rd Edition is in L2/11-238. Once again, the majority of changes noted in the disposition of comments were to bring Amendment 1 into synch with repertoire already reviewed and approved by the UTC. This section of the consent docket first lists those items which involve changes for characters which were already under ballot, and hence are discussed in the disposition of comments. Then it lists further additions approved by WG2 for PDAM 1.2, some of which have been reviewed by the UTC before (but not yet approved), and a few of which are new. D. Move of Bassa Vah full stop WG2 accommodated the removal of U+16AF5 BASSA VAH COMMA. But as part of the disposition, the gap in the chart was removed, and BASSA VAH FULL STOP was moved from U+16AF6 to U+16AF5. Recommendation: Approve the revised code point for U+16AF5 BASSA VAH FULL STOP. E. Move of two Armenian eternity signs WG2 agreed to move the two Armenian eternity signs which were in the ballot at 1F53E and 15F3F to the Armenian block. The UTC had not yet approved those two characters, but instead asked to only encode one Armenian eternity sign, and to do so in the Armenian block. Recommendation: Approve the two Armenian eternity signs at the revised code points in the Armenian block: U+058D RIGHT-FACING ARMENIAN ETERNITY SIGN U+058E LEFT-FACING ARMENIAN ETERNITY SIGN F. Renaming of MARKS CHAPTER SYMBOL WG2 agreed to add this Cyrillic-related religious symbol, but with a different name. Recommendation: Approve the revised name as: U+1F545 SYMBOL FOR MARKS CHAPTER G. Reordering of Duployan WG2 agreed to encode the Duployan shorthand characters. The repertoire and character names are the same as those already approved by the UTC, and there was one minor glyph fix. However, the approval for the main block of Duployan shorthand characters was based on a compromise proposal by Van Anderson and Michael Everson, which reordered the repertoire somewhat to reach consensus on the encoding. Recommendation: Reconfirm the approval of the 143 Duployan shorthand characters in the Duployan block (U+1BC00..U+1BC9F), with the revised ordering as documented in L2/11-215. H. DOUBLE HYPHEN WG2 added the double hyphen character. The UTC saw and discussed the proposal, but hasn't approved it yet, because we were waiting for WG2 action. Recommendation: Accept the double hyphen, based on WG2 N3983 = L2/11-038. U+2E40 DOUBLE HYPHEN I. Two emoticons WG2 added two more emoticons, based on the German proposal which the UTC reviewed. WG2 did not add the "Elite" emoticon, which caused objections in the UTC. Recommendation: Accept the following two emoticons, based on WG2 N3982 = L2/11-037. U+1F641 SLIGHTLY FROWNING FACE U+1F642 SLIGHTLY SMILING FACE J. Half diacritics WG2 added five combining half diacritics, in the Combining Half Marks block, as a means of resolving the requirement for the representation of triple diacritic marks. This followed some recommendations from the UTC as the least damaging way to address the perceived need, while not introducing new mechanisms. It is recognized (by most, anyway), that these half diacritics won't do the job very well, but at least they will terminate the requests for triple diacritic marks. Recommendation: Accept the following five half diacritic marks, based on WG2 N4078 = L2/11-224. U+FE27 COMBINING LIGATURE LEFT HALF BELOW U+FE28 COMBINING LIGATURE RIGHT HALF BELOW U+FE29 COMBINING TILDE LEFT HALF BELOW U+FE2A COMBINING TILDE RIGHT HALF BELOW U+FE2B COMBINING CONJOINING MACRON BELOW K. Tirhuta script WG2 approved the Tirhuta script. This was a proposal that the UTC saw, but has not yet approved. Recommendation: Accept 82 characters for the Tirhuta script, in a new block Tirhuta, with the range U+11480..U+114DF, based on WG2 N4035 = L2/11-175. L. Old Italic additions WG2 approved the addition of U+1031F OLD ITALIC LETTER ESS, which the UTC already approved. So there is no synchronization issue for that character. However, WG2 declined to approve U+1032F OLD ITALIC LETTER TTE. The (predictable) issue was whether a character specifically for Rhetic should be encoded as part of the Old Italic script or as a separate "Alpine" script. We can expect further discussion of the issue, based on Chris Little's document WG2 N4046 = L2/11-146R. Recommendation: Note the need to write a ballot comment on PDAM 1.2 requesting the addition of U+1032F OLD ITALIC LETTER TTE (and addressing the script (dis)unification issue). M. Punctuation for Old Hungarian WG2 approved two punctuation marks for Old Hungarian. The UTC had reviewed the proposal and had no particular objections to these two characters, but had delayed approval, pending action on the Old Hungarian proposal itself. Recommendation: Approve the following two punctuation marks, based on the Old Hungarian ad hoc report (WG2 N4110 = L2/11-242), which refers back to the older document trail, including the justification for these two marks: U+2E41 REVERSED COMMA U+2E42 DOUBLE LOW-REVERSED-9 QUOTATION MARK N. Old Hungarian WG2 also approved the encoding of the Old Hungarian script. The details are in the Old Hungarian ad hoc report (WG2 N4110 = L2/11-242). Of note is the fact that the ad hoc recommended reverting the script name to "Old Hungarian" as the most widely known English name for the script, instead of the compromise term "Hungarian Runic", which had been agreed upon at the Dublin WG2 meeting. For details of the repertoire decisions, including a number of character name changes, see the ad hoc report document. Recommendation: Approve 109 characters for the Old Hungarian script, in a new block Old Hungarian, with the range U+10C80..U+10CFF, based on WG2 N4110 = L2/11-242, which refers back to the older document trail. O. Characters for German dialectology There was an extensive discussion of the proposal for encoding characters needed for the German dialectological system known as "Teuthonista" at WG2. WG2 ended up accepting the ad hoc report, encoding 85 characters scattered in 4 blocks (two of which are new). The details are summarized in the ad hoc report, WG2 N4106 = L2/11-240. Although there are still a few outstanding issues, I think the ad hoc cleared away many problem characters and resulted in a usable collection for Teuthonista. The UTC should synch its approval to those results first. Refinement of the details can be accomplished later, as needed, during the ballot review period. Recommendation: After review of the ad hoc report in L2/11-240, approve 85 characters for German dialectology. The details of character code points, names, glyphs, and the two new blocks can be picked up from L2/11-240. There are two glyph corrections to be noted for AB5D and AB5E in that document. P. Wingdings/Webdings WG2 also had extensive discussions of the proposal to encode Wingdings and Webdings. The UTC reviewed the original proposal that was forwarded to WG2, but declined to approve the set, pending the outcome of the expected discussion in WG2. The net of the ad hoc discussion in WG2 was to unify a few more of the Wingdings, modify some glyphs, and move some code points. Essentially the entire collection of Wingdings 1, 2, and 3 was either unified with existing characters or approved for encoding. Only some of the Webdings were approved, pending further discussion in the future by other national bodies. The outcome in WG2 is summarized in Michel Suignard's document WG2 N4115 = L2/11-247. Recommendation: After review of L2/11-247, approve 506 symbols for Wingdings and Webdings in 10 blocks (3 of which are new). The details of character code points, names, glyphs, and the three new blocks can be picked up from L2/11-247.