0 and 1 is the mathematical model that represents how things are done in computer. The discussion is about what we want to use the computer for.
We do not want some one to use the computer as the platform for destroying the only surviving scientific writing system. We want to use the computer to do the writing like we did it in palm leaves or paper, or even better. Not detroy an entire writing system. It is not properfor UC to add new characters to Tamil, even further, not proper to add characters as duplicates, when there is already a representation, but it does not look the same as some other writing system. The proper way to do is scientifically and structurally analyse and provide for future expansion for furthering the scientific system, not randomly borrow from some other random based systems and pave the way for the destruction of the Tamil writing system, just like some others have already caved in. this is just a dictatorial route assisted by UC. text to speach is a simple matter. like you said synthesised speech is another possibility. however it should not be a pre-defined database of phonemes. that is what is the difference in computer term. It is significant for UC, because UC is embarked on eliminating the very structure of Tamil writing and replace it with an alient and non-scientific random system. This is because tamils are minority and not for any other technical or philosopical reason. 0bb6 represent sound. Tamil alphabet do not represent sounds. Is this hard to understand. UC can not rewrite Tamil grammar, which states about PoAs and defines these are the alphabets. Do you think for example, Microsoft has the right to change English grammar, just becaus it thinks for technical nor political nor financial nor racial reasons it is advatageous to do that for them. In the name of encoding, UC can not hide behind and lay the foundation for the destruction of Tamil writing system. Sinnathurai --- On Fri, 26/11/10, Mike Maxwell <[email protected]> wrote: From: Mike Maxwell <[email protected]> Subject: [indic] Re: Revisit Tamil sRi definition in Unicode. To: [email protected] Date: Friday, 26 November, 2010, 15:06 Sinnathurai Srivas wrote (I'm combining a couple of his emails here): > Now, for science,for understanding purpose, I simply wrote, if we want > to build a proper humanoid we need to build the mechanical (or > biological) speech organs, not create a limited database of > sounds/phonemes. Is this something difficult to understand? It is difficult to understand why you think this, since speech synthesis (aka text-to-speech) has been done electronically, not mechanically, for decades. But more to the point of the discussion about Unicode, this has absolutely nothing to do with Unicode. > Is it wrong to catergorically stating that we need to prserve this > Places of Articulation for the sake of the world, not just for > tamil alone? I have not heard of anyone trying to destroy points of articulation. They existed long before Tamil was written, and Unicode will not change that. > So it may be that Unicode Consortium should leave Tamil alone, rather > than trying to change it like ilogically and dictatorially introduce > U+0bb6. Because that is the only scientific system that humans have in > their hand. The Unicode Consortium is not trying to change the Tamil writing system. Rather, it is creating another way to represent the symbols of the writing system--so in addition to palm leaves, stone, papyrus, paper, or whatever other ways there are of writing Tamil texts, there is now a way of doing it with 0s and 1s, and making groups of those 0s and 1s appear on computer screens or printed pages as letters, thereby allowing people to read Tamil texts on computers. U+0BB6 happens to be another set of 0s and 1s, and if you don't like that number or its visual representation on the computer screen, there's no dictator forcing you to use it. In fact, you don't need to use a computer at all; you can continue to use paper and pencil or ink. -- Mike Maxwell [email protected] "A library is the best possible imitation, by human beings, of a divine mind, where the whole universe is viewed and understood at the same time... we have invented libraries because we know that we do not have divine powers, but we try to do our best to imitate them." --Umberto Eco
