These are display issues, not encoding issues,...
Not entirely. First I need to know what sequence of Unicode characters I should use to encode holam-waw and aleph with right holam. Garbage in, garbage out. Then I need to be sure that your sophisticated rendering system actually makes the required distinctions and is not confused by any rare cases.
In both these cases, the holam belongs to the preceding consonant, but is contextually shifted onto the following alef, vav or shin. I wasn't aware that this was in any doubt. So, for example the word for 'head' in Genesis 3:15 is encoded
resh + holam + zaqef qatan + alef + shin + shindot
The font takes care of shifting the holam from the left edge of resh over the right side of alef.
There is a document currently available at ftp://publisher.libronix.com/drop/Tiro/SBLHebrew-Distribution/SBLHebrew-MarkSequences.pdf...
Actually it is not currently available. Fortunately I downloaded it yesterday.
No, it's still there, but you have to go directly to the PDF: you can't navigate the directories.
...that displays every sequence of consonant + mark(s) that occurs in the BHS text and the Westminster morphological database, with post-context consonants. This doesn't give a perfect representation of what happens in every circumstance...
Maybe this is why it is missing an adequate representation of one of the commonest base character + mark sequence in the printed BHS text, holam + waw with the holam clearly shown above the right hand side of the waw. I am looking for example at your he - holam - waw sequences. The holam is shifted from the he onto the waw as I think it should be, but its positioning over the waw looks to be the same as in the waw - holam sequences (where there is no interference with cantillation marks). At least the distinction is nothing like as clear as in Genesis 4:13 in the printed BHS.
I'm looking into this. The substitution should result in a clear distinction, but there may be a problem in the lookups. I'll send you a PDF offlist once I have confirmed that it is working properly.
Regards, John
Tiro Typeworks www.tiro.com Vancouver, BC [EMAIL PROTECTED]
The sight of James Cox from the BBC's World at One,
interviewing Robin Oakley, CNN's man in Europe,
surrounded by a scrum of furiously scribbling print
journalists will stand for some time as the apogee of
media cannibalism.
- Emma Brockes, at the EU summit
