This sounds a lot like what is being proposed, modulo a name-change: we're working on a Samaritan proposal, Hebrew's already there, and Michael has proposed Old Canaanite, which for some reason he has chosen to call Phoenician. The name may be ill-chosen, and it isn't too late to change it, but it sounds like you're in general agreement with me and Peter Kirk.If I had to take a position right now, I would think that encoding Old Canaanite (not Phoenician) and Samaritan is useful, but I would leave Aramaic, et al. for more expert, soul-searching discussion.
I am not sure what Dean means by Old Canaanite; if he means Proto-Sinaitic (where the ALPA was still an actual hieroglyph of a bull's head) then I do distinguish that from Phoenician, just as I distinguish Phoenician (etc) from Samaritan on the one hand and (Jewish/Square) Hebrew on the other.
As have most other students of writing systems for generations. -- Michael Everson * * Everson Typography * * http://www.evertype.com
