Re: [OT] multilingual support in MS products (was Re: Kurdish ghayn)

At 10:58 AM 4/28/2003, John M. Fiscella wrote:

> Then how is the difference between <i><j> and <ij> distinguished in
> plaintext?

I think the point is that there is no distinction to be made in plain text. 
As Tom pointed out, despite all the special handling required in sorting, 
hyphenation, casing (and, I would add, letterspacing), /IJ/ 'must remain 
equivalent with I+J'. In plain text, this equivalency is all that matters, 
which is why I don't believe the /IJ/ and /ij/ characters are necessary at 
all. If the Dutch treated /IJ/ and /I/+/J/ differently at any time, there 
might be an argument for separately encoding them, but they don't: /IJ/ 
always and everywhere equals /I/+/J/, ergo there is not need for separate 
characters.

John Hudson

Tiro Typeworks          www.tiro.com
Vancouver, BC           tiro@xxxxxxxx

As for the technique of trimming the nib,
Do not be greedy!
I will not reveal its nuances; I withhold its secrets.
                  - Ibn al-Bawwab, Ra'iyyah