On 5 Jul 2013, at 08:04, Denis Jacquerye <moy...@gmail.com> wrote:

>> The problem is in pretending that a cedilla and a comma below are equivalent 
>> because in some script fonts in France or Turkey routinely write some sort 
>> of undifferentiated tick for ç. :-)
> 
> Sure they are not equivalent, but stop pretending it is only in some script 
> fonts, the page http://typophile.com/node/49347 has plenty of examples where 
> it is not in script fonts. In some languages the cedilla can have a shape 
> similar to that of a comma, it's a fact.

Yes, well, if there are non-script fonts which have this feature, it 
nevertheless derived from handwriting. Would any French primer for young 
children routinely use a full-formed C WITH COMMA BELOW C̦ c̦ regularly 
throughout? No. Would readers of Le Monde notice if all the fonts one day 
shifted to C̦ c̦? Of course they would -- and I'd wager €100 they would 
protest, and loudly. 

> Any native speaker will tell you the comma-like form and others are 
> acceptable.

Not by any means in all contexts. In genuine taste-tests, Ç ç would be 
universally selected as the "more correct" form by French users. C̦ c̦ would 
not be. 

> Just look at lemonde.fr or zaman.com.tr, both very popular newspapers use 
> webfonts with non classic cedilla (Le Monde uses TheMix —even in print it 
> uses TheAntiqua with their comma-like cedilla—

Well, *display fonts* are not the same as body text. Interestingly, TheMix 
distinguishes its cedilla from its true comma below be sloping the former 
somewhat noticeably; compare ş ţ with ș ț. And they get it wrong, too, because 
the shape for the Latvian letters is the sloped one and it should not be. 

> and Zaman uses a custom font with an attached tick-like cedilla). This is not 
> the majority but it is frequent enough.

That tick is certainly not a Romanian comma below; it is fused with the letter. 
And again, it is a specialty *display font*. 

I fought this battle back when I supported the Romanian disunification of their 
letters from the Turkish ones. We're just finishing the job now, as far as I 
can see. 

Michael Everson * http://www.evertype.com/



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