From: Peter Kirk (peterkirk@qaya.org)
Date: Fri Jan 02 2004 - 18:47:24 EST
I have found a new script which may need to be encoded in Unicode. Well,
I haven't found it myself, Zaza Alexidze has done that. I was previously
aware of this Caucasian Albanian script, but I have only just found out
that for the first time an extensive document - 300 pages of a
lectionary, dating probably from the 5th century CE - has been found
written in this alphabet, and in an ancient form of the Udi language. It
seems to be a truly separate alphabet, although distantly related to
Georgian and Armenian. But it is not even roadmapped for Unicode.
See
http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai113_folder/113_articles/113_zaza_script_ashes.html
and the related articles, also
http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/%7Ewschulze/Cauc_alb.htm and
http://titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de/armazi/sinai/2kor.htm.
These discoveries of a new ancient language and of a 5th century text of
much of the New Testament are also very significant in their respective
fields.
Note that this script should not be assigned quickly to the SMP. There
seems a real possibility of it being revived for the modern Udi language
- which lacks a satisfactory Latin or Cyrillic alphabet for its large
inventory of phonemes. If the script is brought back into current use,
it will be a candidate for the BMP.
-- Peter Kirk peter@qaya.org (personal) peterkirk@qaya.org (work) http://www.qaya.org/
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