From: James Kass (jameskass@att.net)
Date: Thu Mar 31 2005 - 04:15:53 CST
Sinnathurai Srivas asks:
> My question is
>
> 1/ What is the definition of Visarga
TAMIL LETTER VISARGA (U+0B83) has the same character properties as
TAMIL LETTER KA (U+0B95). Both are "Lo" (Letter Other) and both have
combining class zero. In the notes which are in the detail associated
with the Unicode character charts, TAMIL LETTER VISARGA is given an
alias of "aytham" - which means the standard considers the character
named TAMIL LETTER VISARGA to be the Tamil aytham.
The DEVANAGARI SIGN VISARGA, in contrast, is not classed as "Lo", but
rather it is classed as "Mc" (Mark, spacing combining).
> 2/ Why Aytham is still called VisargaL?
It is because of a guarantee of stability in the standard. Once a
character has been named, the name should never be changed. There are
a few mistakes which are in the standard and can't be fixed. One of the
most well-known mistakes concerns a Gothic script letter, the name in the
standard actually has a typographical error.
> 3/ Do I need to write about the definition of Aytham and how it may not be
> VisargaL at all.
If some applications still treat aytham as a combining character instead of
a spacing character, then it might be necessary to contact the designers of
the specific applications. Sometimes updates are slow.
Best regards,
James Kass
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