So, well, what do you want to know? I don't know if you're looking for more
detail on how Unicode might be harmful, or for suggestions on how to make it
less so. Unfortunately I'm a little pressed for time at the moment, so I
can't give you the full dissertation.
But I can give you this:
http://www.enteract.com/~greyno/lang/shina/tahajji.gif. It's a chart of
lettering from a Shina elementary school writing book that I found in the
library this weekend. I took a quick look at the character charts (version
2 I'm afraid) and didn't find any Arabiform letters with the "=" affix.
Also, it looks like the bottom have of the listing shows di/tri-graphs for
aspirated consonants. I know Unicode has the "special ha" for e.g. Urdu,
which would presumably be used here. But suppose our pals in Shinaland
(somewhere in Pakistan/India/Afghanistan) are like our correspondants in
Chechnya, and they insist that such digraphs be treated as single letters.
I don't believe Unicode as it currently stands provides for this. So here's
a practical question: assume that they do all the right things and put a
proposal through the appropriate bodies and Unicode ends up working for
them. How much time and money will it have cost?
Sincerely,
Gregg
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Everson [mailto:everson@indigo.ie]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 1999 4:25 AM
> To: Unicode List
> Subject: RE: A basic question on encoding Latin characters
>
>
> Ar 17:35 -0700 1999-09-28, scríobh Reynolds, Gregg:
> >I'll top that: I think there is substantial risk that
> Unicode will hasten
> >rather than prevent the demise of endangered languages. [...]
> >Technological instruments like Unicode, far from being
> >ideologically neutral (as some messages on this list have
> strongly implied),
> >are just as freighted politically as any other Big Project
> (dams, roads,
> >etc), and must be viewed in a much broader context than the merely
> >technical.
>
> So, Gregg, you're suggesting, well, what?
>
> --
> Michael Everson * Everson Gunn Teoranta * http://www.indigo.ie/egt
> 15 Port Chaeimhghein Íochtarach; Baile Átha Cliath 2; Éire/Ireland
> Guthán: +353 1 478 2597 ** Facsa: +353 1 478 2597 (by arrangement)
> 27 Páirc an Fhéithlinn; Baile an Bhóthair; Co. Átha Cliath; Éire
>
>
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