Re: Unicode has included the Inscriptions of Harappa/Mohenjadaro/Egypt...?

From: Curtis Clark (jcclark@csupomona.edu)
Date: Fri Jul 28 2000 - 12:44:57 EDT


At 10:42 PM 7/27/00 -0800, Padma kumar .R wrote:
      I am very much interested 2 know about whether the old inscriptions
on
  harappa, mohenjadaro, sumaria, egypt and like things are included in the
  unicode list... if so, are there any document of how to use or pronounce
  atleast some of the characters... and are there any fonts that supports
  this.... If you know please let me know it... i am deeply interested in
  this area...

The Unicode list is one of the last places to look for such information,
because Unicode is literally the last place an ancient script will end up,
only when it is well-understood and a clear need has been established. IIRC
the only extinct scripts in the BMP are Runic and Ogham, both with a
well-understood orthography and a large user base. Even Etruscan, which is
as well-understood as Runic, is scheduled for Plane 1. At the other
extreme, the unique, undeciphered Phaistos disk script was turned down for
inclusion. Someone else has commented on Egyptian hieroglyphs, and I would
venture that it will be a long time before there is enough consensus on the
Harappa or Mohenjo Daro scripts for them to be considered.

--
Curtis Clark                  http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
Biological Sciences Department             Voice: (909) 869-4062
California State Polytechnic University      FAX: (909) 869-4078
Pomona CA 91768-4032  USA                  jcclark@csupomona.edu



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Tue Jul 10 2001 - 17:21:06 EDT