This e-letter pertains to the document "Unicode Technical Report #15
Unicode Normalization Forms", located at
http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr15/
This normalization form is emerging as an intermediate to long-term
solution to several problems in implementating certain classes of
applications, e.g., terminal emulators, font subsystems, etc.
However, there is a small list of Unicode precomposed characters that
are excluded from this form of normalization. The list is at
ftp://ftp.unicode.org/Public/3.0-Update/CompositionExclusions-1.txt
I object to the Hebrew characters being in the exclusion table for
Unicode Normalization because they totally negate the intended benefit
for Yiddish-language applications of this normalization.
As for the Hebrew-language use of the affected characters, the
normalization process does no harm, since it is reversible.
Furthermore, it is only intended for applications that need to use it,
such as terminal emulators and so on.
The inclusion of Hebrew compositions in this normalization form would
not consitute a recommendation to prefer composition over
decomposition for the Hebrew or Yiddish languages or the Hebrew
script. Furthermore, any impact on Hebrew the language would
effectively be unnoticeable for real-world applications, since most
applications of the Hebrew script for the Hebrew language do not make
use of any compositions.
The following compositions are needed for Yiddish according to its
standard orthography.
1. FB1D # HEBREW LETTER YOD WITH HIRIQ (*)
2. FB1F # HEBREW LIGATURE YIDDISH YOD YOD PATAH
3. FB2B # HEBREW LETTER SHIN WITH SIN DOT
4. FB2E # HEBREW LETTER ALEF WITH PATAH
5. FB2F # HEBREW LETTER ALEF WITH QAMATS
6. FB35 # HEBREW LETTER VAV WITH DAGESH
7. FB3B # HEBREW LETTER KAF WITH DAGESH
8. FB44 # HEBREW LETTER PE WITH DAGESH
9. FB4A # HEBREW LETTER TAV WITH DAGESH
10. FB4C # HEBREW LETTER BET WITH RAFE
11. FB4E # HEBREW LETTER PE WITH RAFE
(*) Note: FB1D is not in the exclusion list, but belongs with the group of characters there. It is a new Unicode precomposed Hebrew character.
Mark H. David
Moderator, UYIP (Understanding Yiddish Information Processing)
http://www.uyip.org/
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