Unicode Mail List Archive: Re: Apostrophes (was Re: Exemplar Characters) (original) (raw)

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Ysgrifennodd Kenneth Whistler <kenw@sybase.com> ar y 15-11-2005 am 18:40:
> Either
> one could be the best, depending on the orthographic tradition,
> its use with other languages (with which it might need to share
> letters and keyboards, for example, as in the French/Breton case),
> or other concerns.

With these points in mind, I would think that, for North American
aboriginal languages, U+2019 is preferable because there are often many
English and French words intermixed in native language text, and having
various apostrophes for the different languages seems like trouble.

> U+0027 is weighted towards ASCII compatibility
> U+02BC is weighted towards ease of word selection
> U+2019 avoids glyph ambiguity, and is more available for input than
> U+02BC
>
> You just have to take some bad with the good for each, and make a
> choice.

Most of the native speakers I’ve worked with were not aware that there is
a choice, or perceive a semantic difference between straight and curly
quotes. When presented with choices, the vast majority choose the curly
variety U+2019. This curly variety is also what usually shows up in
pubished texts, largely following English or French typographical
tradition.

Thanks to everyone (Michael, Philippe, Ken, Marc, and others) for helping
me with these questions.

Chris Harvey

-- Gwlad heb iaith, gwlad heb galon ᑭᑕᐢᑭᓇᐤ ᑳᓀᓱᐏᑌᐦᐃᓇᑿᐣ, ᑮᐢᐱᐣ ᐃᔨᐣᑐ ᐱᑭᐢᑵᐏᐣ ᐘᓂᑎᔭᐦᑭ (A country without its language is a country without a heart) www.languagegeek.com www.indigenous-language.org

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