From: jcowan@reutershealth.com
Date: Fri Apr 23 2004 - 11:59:05 EDT
I'm surfacing an issue from hebrew@unicode.org because it may have
wider applicability.
Currently, it's the rule that variation selector characters can't be
applied to combining characters. This is sensible in the case of true
diacritical marks: if two marks differ in shape, they ought in general
to be encoded separately, since marks are primarily shape-based rather
than functional in the first place.
It's not so clear, however, that this rule is appropriate when applied
to vowel signs. If some textual traditions represent vowels a and a'
differently whereas others unify them, and if the variation is not
predictable at the Unicode level, then it would seem appropriate to
provide a vowel sign for a and define a VSS <a, VS1> to represent a'
in those textual traditions in which it is in use. The alternative of
providing a distinct vowel sign a' and treating the difference as one of
spelling impacts backward compatibility and burdens textual processes.
Comments?
-- John Cowan jcowan@reutershealth.com www.reutershealth.com www.ccil.org/~cowan Promises become binding when there is a meeting of the minds and consideration is exchanged. So it was at King's Bench in common law England; so it was under the common law in the American colonies; so it was through more than two centuries of jurisprudence in this country; and so it is today. --Specht v. Netscape
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