Re: ZWNJ in IDN (Burmese Issues)

From: Richard Wordingham (richard.wordingham@ntlworld.com)
Date: Wed Nov 23 2005 - 17:18:11 CST

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    Javier SOLA wrote:

    > The character for separation of words should be ZWSP (Zero Width Space),
    > and not ZWNJ. ZWNJ should normally be used for modification of rendering
    > of clusters.

    It so happens that a visible virama ('atha' in Burmese) often terminates a
    word. It doesn't always, because tone marks (some may not like the term)
    such as U+1038 MYANMAR SIGN VISARGA may follow. How appropriate would ZWSP
    be in the middle of words like 'Myanma(r)' and 'Yangon'? I believe there
    are unanalysable words where use of a subscript consonant (or kinzi) would
    be an inappropriate alternative, but I know far too little of Burmese to say
    for sure. A possible example might be THA, RA, NA, VIRAMA, ZWNJ, CA, CA,
    VIRAMA, CA, TA, AA 'transistor'.

    Moreover, Chapter 10 of the Unicode Standard (Version 4.x) gives U+1039,
    U+200C as the encoding of visible virama - perhaps it is an act of faith to
    assume U+1039 will be rendered as 'atha' unless immediately followed by a
    consonant.

    Richard.



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