Re: PDF and Unicode (was: Boreanesian in the Web (was: Why Triggers?))

> -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
> Van: Constructed Languages List
> [mailto:CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU]Namens Christophe Grandsire
> Verzonden: vrijdag 26 oktober 2001 8:38
> Aan: CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU
> Onderwerp: Re: PDF and Unicode (was: Boreanesian in the Web (was: Why
> Triggers?))
>
> En réponse à Dungeonmaster <dungeonmaster@...>:
>
> >
> > The file is 109 kB in size and can be found at:
> >
> > www.almaran.net/resources/IPA-SAMPA-table.pdf
> >
>
> He he, the file took exactly forty seconds to appear (time for
> calling Acrobat
> Reader included). Moreover, even when it had appeared I had to
> wait, because it
> took nearly one minute to show all the vertical dotted lines (and
> it did that
> again each time I was moving the page).
And what happened when you first downloaded it and then loaded it in Acrobat
Reader? I still don't understand what is going wrong with your system...

> I'm right now in the process of making an ASCII-IPA
> transliteration. Basically,
> I'm trying to make things a little more systematic, to make it easier to
> remember the different correspondances. But I'm also trying to keep some
> resemblance with IPA and SAMPA, so it's quite difficult. What do
> you think?
> Should I keep some compatibility with SAMPA or can I go as I
> want?
The problem, imo, is that there are alreayd too many transliterations. Off
course, one simple system would be best, but fat chance that everyone here
is going to switch to one new system. So I would still have to go look up
everything each time I needed it.

I myself use IPA-Unicode, because it is complete and single-character, so it
reads more fluently. If I need to post here, I either link toPDF, or
transcribe to SAMPA using my slf-made chart.

> My point is
> to make a system that is easy to use for conlangers (even the
> ones who love
> weird sounds) and that you don't need to relearn it completely.
> And I want a
> more systematic use of one character diacritics (like \ as used
> by X-SAMPA).
> For instance, I'm planning to use ! as a click marker (so for
> instance /p!/:
> bilabial click).
>
> What do you think of it?
I am afraid it is a waste of time, unless you want to use it purely for your
own stuff. Even then, you would have to translate if you want to publish on
this list... I think it is more worthwhile to invent another conlang, or
convince the internet software companies to switch to Unicode.

Maarten van Beek

Reply