From: Andrew West (andrewcwest@gmail.com)
Date: Thu May 12 2011 - 16:23:25 CDT
On 10 May 2011 21:19, fantasai <fantasai.lists@inkedblade.net> wrote:
>
> "Which scripts are written vertically?"
>
> But the answer given does not answer the question. The only script
> it lists explicitly is Mongolian; the rest of the text is just some
> background information on what vertical layout might entail.
>
> I would actually like to have a definitive answer to this question. :)
The definitive answer is "any script may be written vertically" (or
diagonally, or upsidedown, or in spirals ...). Ogham was customarily
written vertically up and down the edges of stones ~1500 years ago,
but is written horizontally in medieval manuscripts, and is
customarily written in horizontal orientation on computers and in
electronic texts. In my opinion, it would be perverse to categorize
Ogham (or Hanunóo or Batak) as a vertical script.
I think you need to clarify what exactly you mean, and why you need
such a list. From the list of scripts you give, it seems you mean
something like "What scripts are now or have in the past been commonly
written in a vertical orientation with respect to the medium on which
they are written?", for which there is no clearcut answer (there are
many scripts not yet encoded in Unicode, such as Tangut, Jurchen,
Large Khitan, Small Khitan, Nüshu, etc. which used to be customarily
written vertically on traditional media but which would probably be
written horizontally in electronic texts). A list like this seems to
me to be arbitrary and of very little use, as it does not distinguish
between those scripts that used to be, and sometimes still are,
written in a vertical orientation, but which are more commonly written
in a horizontal orientation nowadays, and those scripts which are
typically written in a vertical orientation in normal use. From a
computer processing perspective, I would suggest that a list of
scripts that should preferably be rendered in a vertical orientation
is a far more useful list. For such a list I would include only:
Mong Mongolian
Phag Phags-pa
Andrew
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