I wrote:
> Vowel marks appearing to the left of the
> consonants are pronounced before them; those to the right, after them.
This leads to an interesting, if so far theoretical, Unicode question:
how to encode abjads and abugidas that have vowel signs which are
pronounced *before* the base consonant. Two Unicode principles,
logical order and base-before-combining, are thus put into conflict.
In (Feanorian) Tengwar itself, the reading order is actually
language-dependent: thus "Quenya" (a Quenya word) is written
QU-e-N-y-a (where caps are base, smalls are combining), but
"Sindarin" (a Sindarin word) would be "S-N-i-D-R-a-N-i", if written with
base-before-combining, or "S-i-N-D-a-R-i-N" if written with logical order,
in which case the default grapheme clusters have to be broken up using
complex rendering code in order to get i over N and a over R.
The problem could be sidestepped with a grapheme-cluster encoding such as
is used for Ethiopic, but the feel is very different: Ethiopic vowel
signs are normally treated as part of the letter, whereas Tengwar
vowel signs are more like typical abjad signs: partly optional
indications of "colorings" to the fundamental consonant structure.
Unicode tribal elders are invited to mention which of the two conflicting
principles they reckon to be the more important.
--
John Cowan http://www.ccil.org/~cowan cowan@ccil.org
Please leave your values | Check your assumptions. In fact,
at the front desk. | check your assumptions at the door.
--sign in Paris hotel | --Miles Vorkosigan
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