L2/04-226 June 7, 2004 Statement of the Society of Biblical Literature on ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N2746R2 Background: The Society of Biblical Literature is a non-profit membership organization representing scholars engaged in the study of biblical literature. Presently it represents more than 6,000 such scholars worldwide. A large number of its members are actively engaged in work with Semitic languages, both in their original scripts as well as in transliteration. That work encompasses a variety of contexts, ranging from teaching to research and publication. Support for N2746R2: The Society of Biblical Literature supports the adoption of N2746R2 as written. Narrative Statement: There has been a large amount of misinformed debate about this proposal on one or more public mailing lists. While the technical merit of the proposal speaks for itself, there are several persistent errors in arguments against this proposal that should be dispelled. 1. It is the case that Semitic scholars often use either Hebrew or Latin transliteration to represent Semitic languages. In works on comparative Semitic languages, it is not uncommon to find Latin transliteration used exclusively. This is not because Semitic scholars are making any claim about how the original scripts should be treated by Unicode, but because it is a useful custom that has evolved based upon a particular view of the development of Semitic languages and writing. It should be noted that this view evolved prior to and completely separate from the character/glyph model used by the Unicode consortium. 2. Contrary to some claims in the public debate, this proposal will have no impact on Semitic scholars who wish to continue represent Phoenician, or other Semitic language texts in either Hebrew or Latin transliteration. Respectfully submitted: Patrick Durusau Director of Research and Development Society of Biblical Literature Patrick.Durusau@sbl-site.org Chair, V1 - Text Processing: Office and Publishing Systems Interface Co-Editor, ISO 13250, Topic Maps -- Reference Model