From: Thomas M. Widmann (thomas@widmann.uklinux.net)
Date: Mon May 26 2003 - 17:44:23 EDT
Peter_Constable@sil.org writes:
> [...]
>
> Thomas M. Widmann wrote on 05/26/2003 06:01:39 AM:
> [...]
> > > I agree the EMPTY SET symbol is the right character to use. It
> > > has the right semantics, and in most fonts it will look
> > > sufficiently different from the IPA vowel symbol O WITH STROKE.
> >
> > The only alternative I can think of would be U+0030 DIGIT ZERO, but
> > that would look wrong in most fonts.
>
> EMPTY SET is probably the better choice for that reason.
But the question is whether it is the right one nevertheless.
As Pullum writes in his "Phonetic Symbol Guide":
Null Sign
This has has no phonetic value, [...]
Dinnsen (1974, 43) uses the slightly different null set symbol <∅>
as the notation for a phonological segment "specified minus for all
features" [...]
I cannot represent the graphical page here, but his NULL SIGN is quite
slender, very much like a zero with a stroke, while the null set
symbol seems to be just as wide as it is tall, just as the EMPTY SET
symbol shown in the Unicode book.
I tend to agree with him that the normal visual representation of this
character in linguistics is different -- for instance, it was quite
slender in all the books I quoted earlier.
> > If U+2205 EMPTY SET is indeed the right character, it might be an
> > idea to give it an extra name (LINGUISTIC NULL or LINGUISTIC
> > ZERO), since its meaning is of course not "empty set" but rather
> > "empty element".
>
> An annotation about could be added, though I probably wouldn't
> suggest an alias: it isn't commonly known as "linguistic null" or
> "linguistic zero".
Yes, I think you're right that an annotation is best -- but only if
EMPTY SET is indeed the right character. I'm increasingly of the
opinion that a different character might be needed.
> If you want to see an annotation, you could make such a request to
> UTC.
Yes. Or I could suggest a new character, I guess.
/Thomas
--
Thomas Widmann, MA member of the steering group for europa.*
Mavisbank Gardens, Glasgow, Scotland, EU
thomas@widmann.uklinux.net http://www.widmann.uklinux.net
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Mon May 26 2003 - 18:34:34 EDT