Re: Phonetics

> > This is the part where I disagree. If your abstract caracters are not
>based
> > on their encoding, nor on the actual appearence, then what are they
>based
> > on? I mean, I don't see a reason to postulate a metaphysical
>intermediate
> > level here.
>
>It may be metaphysical, but that intermediate level is nonetheless
>explicitly defined in the Unicode Standard.  The supposition is that
>"a with a macron" exists, as a conceptual entity, between and
>independently of any particular graphic realization (glyph or
>combination of glyphs) and any particular sequence of code points
>(single character or multiple characters in different orders).
Yes, independant of any particular realization (no specified line width
etc.), but are you really claiming that it's independant of ANY realization?
How do you tell, then, whether something is "conceptually" a-with-a-macron,
if the item's actual identity doesn't matter? Could that last question mark
"actually" be a small kappa, despite it both looking like, being encoded as,
and being used a question mark? How about this "S" here? The logo printed on
my mouse? My left ear?

....I suspect you're rather trying to say there's a THIRD level of encoding
too, abov Unicode but still grounded in data - within the font-rendering
code maybe?


> > And I got the impression that Philip was suggesting that cedilla and
>comma
> > belo' are "the same diacritic" in some manner independant of their
>encoding,
> > appearence or history...
>
>Well, I can easily imagine that "squiggle attached to the bottom
>middle" might be an underlying concept that gets realized as either a
>cedilla or a comma depending on context or geographical location or
>whatever. That was presumably the position of the Unicode Consortium
>prior to 1999... but apparently no longer. :)
>
>--
>Mark J. Reed
"Squiggle attached to the bottom of a letter" is certainly a concept - it's
just not limited to a comma and a cedilla. Not even if combined with
"squiggle with a hook to the left", nor "squiggle that represents a palatal
variant of a sound".

John Vertical

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