RE: Query for Validity of Thai Sequence

From: vunzndi@vfemail.net
Date: Sat Feb 10 2007 - 17:52:04 CST

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    Yes, inpratice one canuse the script of any language to write another
    language it is just a question of how big an adaption. Quite the
    reverse is true a writing system is designed not to use certain
    letters/ideogrammes so as to be different but at the same time is
    related in some way. Having one's own writing system is often seen as
    a matter of pride for many nations/ethnic-groups. I can think of few
    cases where the primary reason for choosing a writing system was
    praticality.

    Quoting Peter Constable <petercon@microsoft.com>:

    > Actually, I think actual adaptation of a script for use in other
    > languages has less to do with its adaptability and more to do with
    > things like prestige or regional importance by virtue of its use for
    > some major language(s). E.g. Arabic script wasn't adopted for
    > writing Turkish because the script was particularly adaptable for
    > that language.
    >
    > Peter
    >
    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: unicode-bounce@unicode.org [mailto:unicode-bounce@unicode.org]
    > On Behalf Of John Hudson
    > Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 10:06 AM
    > To: Eric Muller
    > Cc: Lokesh Joshi; Richard Wordingham; unicode@unicode.org
    > Subject: Re: Query for Validity of Thai Sequence
    >
    > Eric Muller wrote:
    >
    >>> Successful writing systems tend to get adapted for multiple languages,
    >
    >> The term "successful writing systems" makes me nervous, especially with
    >> the "tend to get adapted" part. Unless you define "successful" by "get
    >> adapted" (in which case you have a tautology), the value judgment is at
    >> best dubious. And anyway, your argument works equally well without
    >> "Successful", so why go there?
    >
    > That's an entirely fair comment. I was writing quickly, but I
    > suppose I was thinking of
    > 'successful' in terms of demonstrated adaptability. Thinking of a
    > script like Thai: this
    > is a writing system that has already been adapted to a number of
    > minority languages, ergo
    > 'successful' in this sense, and it is reasonable to think that it
    > might be adapted to
    > others. In any case, the basic point is that one shouldn't make
    > assumptions about how
    > characters will be used in such adaptations.
    >
    > JH
    >
    > --
    >
    > Tiro Typeworks www.tiro.com
    > Vancouver, BC john@tiro.ca
    >
    > Marie Antoinette was a woman whose core values were chocolate,
    > sex, love, nature and Japanese ceramics. Frankly, there are
    > worse principles of government than that. - Karen Burshtein
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >

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