Re: LaTeX (was Re: Intergermansk)

On Thu, Jan 27, 2005 at 02:39:55PM -0500, Paul Bennett wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Pascal A. Kramm" <pkramm@...>
> Date: Wednesday, January 26, 2005 5:30 pm
> Subject: Re: Intergermansk
>
> > >It may be noted, tho, that my lect - unlike BP's, I know -
> > >doesn't like syllable-final [x]. I actually had an interesting
> > >example of this today; a guy at the maths institute was
> > >introducing me and some other students to the wonders of
> > >LaTeX, and told us that the name, by the decree of Knuth, is to
> > >be pronounced as [la'tEx] - afterwards, he and everyone else said
> > >[lA'tES], except me, who for no specific reason maintained the
> > >final velar, despite the foreign flair it gives.
> >
> > Over here, I always hear it pronounced /lateks/.
>
> TeX is correctly written {T}{subscript-E}{X} (lower case {e} is the
> preferred substitution in ASCII), and pronounced /tex/. AFAICT,
> LaTeX should be written and pronounced accordingly.
Is it pronounced [tex] or [tEx]? I've always pronounced it either
[tEx] or [tEks], and LaTeX as [lejtEx] or [lejtEks].


> > (Not that I would evertouch it with pincers, mind you, but I don't
> > need it as I'm avoidinganything maths-related like the plague, as
> > far as possible).
>
> LaTeX is useful for so much more beyond mathematical texts, though.
> Got a conlangy idea that needs a weird diacritic? Want to publish it
> in an unambiguous way? Write in LaTeX, and publish in PDF. Maybe
> you've got something in a complex writing system? Add Metafont to
> the mix, and you're good to go.
[...]

<shameless plug> And for an example of how LaTeX can be used to make
the most incredible diacritical conscript systems you can think of,
have a look at the Ebisédian documents. All the PDF's and PS's are
produced by LaTeX:

	http://conlang.eusebeia.dyndns.org/ferochromon/ebisedian.html

Note especially such entries as _K00'i_ in the lexicon, which appears
as smallcaps K with a caret over it, ø with macron AND acute
simultaneously, and i. Note also entries such as _ngi~si'_, which
sports an undertilde.

In the Ebisédian grammar, some samples are given where a single glyph
simultaneously has an undertilde, a macron, a smooth breathing (I call
it the "teardrop" accent), and an acute. The only word processor
capable of typesetting this, AND doing it in a NICE way, is TeX/LaTeX.

</shameless plug>


T

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