From: Don Osborn (dzo@bisharat.net)
Date: Wed Oct 24 2007 - 17:36:44 CDT
I need to retrace & modify my words in one part here:
In regard to censusing the need for combining diacritic characters I wrote:
> All that said, I'd agree that it is hard to make such a determination
> and
> I'm not aware of anyone who has tried. In Africa, where this question
> is
> especially pertinent, orthographies are sometimes not as standardized
> as one
> would think or hope.
There have indeed been efforts to compile information on Latin extended
character and diacritic usage in African language orthographies, at least.
However, there have not to my knowledge been efforts specifically to census
the need for combining diacritics.
John Hudson did some extensive book research a few years ago (still would
like to see that).
Some of the older efforts are in a mixed list at
http://www.bisharat.net/A12N/#char (ALRC; Notation en Unicode). Rhonda
Hartell's 1993 compilation Alphabets of Africa was the data used in some of
the country links indicated in that section.
More recently, a database put together by Christian Chanard based on
Hartell's work has been made available at
http://sumale.vjf.cnrs.fr/phono/index.htm
Anyway, this is an issue in Africa, but we are not to the point of having
definitive data for the orthographies of the continent.
Don
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