Kenneth Whistler wrote:
> Because of their origin -- they are JIS X 0213 compatibility
> characters.
> They got into JIS X 0213 because they are used in a native Japanese
> katakana-based phonetic transcription system for Ainu. That phonetic
> transcription system starts with katakana and then adds a bunch
> of extended small forms to transcribe (presumably) final consonants
> that normal katakana does not handle well.
If these Ainu characters will be widely available in the near future, I
wonder whether they might end up to influence also Japanese transcriptions
of foreign words.
E.g. the current katakana transcriptions of "Whistler" or "Thomas" sound
something like "Wisutoraa" and "Tomaso". Using those characters, these could
perhaps become more faithful "Wistlaa" and "Tomas".
_ Marco
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