Michael Everson wrote:
Scholars of writing systems have always recognized the distinction. No one teaches that "The Greek script is derived from the Unified Twenty-Two Character West Semitic Abjad." They teach that "The Greek script is derived from the Phoenician script." They certainly do not teach that "The Greek script is derived from the Hebrew script."
Michael, I've read the same books that you have. Scholars of writing systems -- unless they are specialists in narrow fields, like Solomon Birnbaum -- tend to be generalists, and their intent is to classify, categorise and arrange writing systems in neat chronological tables. That's fine; that's their job.
But the majority of users of the Unicode standard are not scholars of writing systems, and the classification, categorisation and arrangement of scripts -- and I'll remind you that on the Qalam list Peter Daniels, a very noted scholar of writing systems, questioned the whole concept of 'scripts' -- is not what they are worrying about when they sit down to do *their* jobs. Semiticists have some particular concerns about your proposal that stem from how they do they job. Telling people whose job involves viewing the relationship of Near-Eastern writing in a particular way that a bunch of people who do a different job view it differently is not helpful.
Again, again, again: I am not opposing the encoding of the ancient North Semitic script under whatever name separate from 'modern' Hebrew, even though I don't think the distinction between the two is so clean as you claim. It is clean enough for most users. I just want to see if encoded and documented in such a way that it does not generate any more confusion than necessary for those users for whom the distinction is not only untidy but, in their work, traditionally non-existent.
John Hudson
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Tiro Typeworks www.tiro.com Vancouver, BC [EMAIL PROTECTED]
I often play against man, God says, but it is he who wants
to lose, the idiot, and it is I who want him to win.
And I succeed sometimes
In making him win.
- Charles Peguy
