RE: Perception that Unicode is 16-bit (was: Re: Surrogate space i

[Peter_Constable]

On 02/26/2001 03:21:15 AM Marco Cimarosti wrote:

>But would you say, following your definition, that the subset of the CJK
>Script used to write Mandarin in Mainland China should be called "The
>Chinese Simplified *Alphabet*"?

It is a writing system, but not an alphabetic one.


>- "Alphabet" is a specific class of scripts, whose principal
characteristic
>is that tends to map each sign to one of the language's phonemes.

I would have used the term "alphabetic" to describe such scripts, and
"alphabet" to refer to alphabetic writing systems.


- Peter


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Peter Constable

Non-Roman Script Initiative, SIL International
7500 W. Camp Wisdom Rd., Dallas, TX 75236, USA
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