Re: Language Tagging And Unicode

From: John Cowan (jcowan@reutershealth.com)
Date: Wed Jan 19 2000 - 16:05:01 EST

"Robert A. Rosenberg" wrote:

> "Purport[s]" is correct. It does not distinguish between the Russian and
> Serbian versions of the 5 letters as it should (they are NOT the same
> letter - only letters that serve the same purpose in the two languages).

The Latin-1 coded character set does not distinguish between the
American English U and the British English U, either. They do not serve
the same function, because in American English the "u" must be omitted
from "vigour", or the result is incorrect.

Two letters that serve "the same purpose" in two languages, and are historically
identical, *are* the same letter. 

-- 

Schlingt dreifach einen Kreis vom dies! || John Cowan <jcowan@reutershealth.com>
Schliesst euer Aug vor heiliger Schau,  || http://www.reutershealth.com
Denn er genoss vom Honig-Tau,           || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
Und trank die Milch vom Paradies.            -- Coleridge (tr. Politzer)

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