Re: Apostrophes (was Re: Exemplar Characters)

From: Chris Harvey (chris@languagegeek.com)
Date: Wed Nov 16 2005 - 08:22:20 CST

  • Next message: JR: "RE: Exemplar Characters"

    Ysgrifennodd Kenneth Whistler <kenw@sybase.com> ar y 15-11-2005 am 18:40:
    > Either
    > one could be the best, depending on the orthographic tradition,
    > its use with other languages (with which it might need to share
    > letters and keyboards, for example, as in the French/Breton case),
    > or other concerns.

    With these points in mind, I would think that, for North American
    aboriginal languages, U+2019 is preferable because there are often many
    English and French words intermixed in native language text, and having
    various apostrophes for the different languages seems like trouble.

    > U+0027 is weighted towards ASCII compatibility
    > U+02BC is weighted towards ease of word selection
    > U+2019 avoids glyph ambiguity, and is more available for input than
    > U+02BC
    >
    > You just have to take some bad with the good for each, and make a
    > choice.

    Most of the native speakers I’ve worked with were not aware that there is
    a choice, or perceive a semantic difference between straight and curly
    quotes. When presented with choices, the vast majority choose the curly
    variety U+2019. This curly variety is also what usually shows up in
    pubished texts, largely following English or French typographical
    tradition.

    Thanks to everyone (Michael, Philippe, Ken, Marc, and others) for helping
    me with these questions.

    Chris Harvey

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