Peter T. Daniels wrote:

>
> Michael Everson wrote:
>
> <the same thing all over again>
>
> Don't send email copies of list postings.

Damn.

The first copy I received was the email copy, so my reply went to him
instead of to the list.

If he can't even abide by the most basic list etiquette, why is he
allowed to post?

Here's the reply:

Michael Everson wrote:

> A 48-key keyboard has a key (with §/±) to the
> left of the 1 key and also has a key (with `/~)
> to the left of the z key.

Then what do they put in Opt-6, which is §, and S-O-=, which is ±?

And in the Opt and S-O positions of the extra key?

> > > Vais live in an English-speaking country, and any
> >> Vai who uses a computer will already be literate
> >> in English, or will have to become so if he or
> >> she wishes to use any software in the foreseeable
> >> future. (One would like to see basic software
> >> like Firefox localized into Vai, but it would be
> >> unrealistic to hope that much more will ever be
> >> localized and maintained for this market.)
> >
> >Ethnologue lists 69,000 English-speakers (1993) out of 3.4 million
> >(1989), or 2%, and literacy of 25% for the country.
>
> Ethnologue (15th edition, 2005) says:
>
> "89,500 in Liberia (1991 L. Vanderaa CRC).
> Population total all countries: 105,000. [...]
> Language use: 20% use English, 10% mende, 5% Gola
> as second language. Language Development:
> Literacy rate in second language 10%."
>
> What I said remains true: English is the official
> language of Liberia, and Vais who use computers
> will encounter it and the Latin alphabet. Indeed,
> they must already, as surely road signs are
> written in Latin. And computer hardware keyboards
> they use will be engraved with QWERTY.

And how many of those 89,500 Vai-speakers are among the 69,000
English-speakers?

> > > >> Façade, naïve, résumé. All English words
> > > >> correctly spelled with diacritical marks.
> >
> >> >All those words are correctly spelled without the diacritics.
> > >
> >> Not in good typography, they aren't. Consult
> >> Bringhurst or any other work on good typography.
> >
> >Orthography is not determined by typographers; it is registered by
> >lexicographers.
>
> Yes, and lots of lexicographers, informed by good
> typography and tradition, prefer façade, naïve,
> résumé to facade. Do what thou wilt.

Lexicographers do not _prefer_. They _report_.
--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@...