L2/06-104

Source: Rick McGowan
Subject: Konstantinov comment on Hebrew Maqaf
Date: April 6, 2006

At UTC #106, I was directed to extract the following comment
from the PRI feedback and submit to UTC for consideration at
a future meeting.

----------------

    Date/Time: Wed Jan 18 14:06:53 CST 2006
    Contact: future@shiny.co.il
    Name: Ilya Konstantinov
    Report Type: Public Review Issue
    Subject: Feedback for Unicode 5.0.0: HEBREW PUNCTUATION MAQAF is
    a Dash-character

    Hello,

    I wish to propose two changes to the property of
    U+05BE HEBREW PUNCTUATION MAQAF:

    Change #1:

    General Category: gc=Po (current) --> gc=Pd
    Relevant data file: UnicodeData.txt Change #2:

    Binary property Dash: False (current) --> True
    Relevant data file: PropList.txt

    The Maqaf character, in Hebrew, serves the same purpose a
    Hyphen does in English: connecting words together (as opposed
    to separating as performed by the Dash). It also looks like a
    horizontal line, albiet placed in the letter's head rather
    than middle.

    This change will both:

    1. Add to the correctness, and

    2. Allow the folding rule which turns all gc=Pd characters
    into HYPHEN-MINUS to function on the HEBREW PUNCTUATION MAQAF
    character. This is called for, since in modern computerized
    Hebrew texts, the HYPHEN-MINUS is often used instead of HEBREW
    PUNCTUATION MAQAF, being easier to enter from a standard keyboard.