On 11/11/2001 11:45:38 AM Michael Everson wrote:

>This is historical and it is interesting.
>
>What would a classification based on "script properties" entail, and
>why would it be interesting?

I agree that the history is interesting because it tells us how things
came to be, and it tells us how things can change to be other types of
things.

A classification based on script properties is interesting because it
helps us understand what they can potentially be like and how they work.
It helps people who are trying to learn about the full range of varieties
to begin understanding from a small set of prototypical examples that
covers a majority and then work gradually out to the less typical
varieties. It may also help people involved in trying to develop certain
kinds of automated processing to divide the potential problems into
different subtypes that may have their own issues. For example, if someone
is developing text-to-speech processes, they may want to develop different
varieties of algorithms depending on the nature of the relationship
between structural elements and the linguistic objects being represented.

I'm sure others might be able to think of other reasons why a
classification based on script properties is interesting.

What does it entail? Defining an explicit set of classifying criteria
based on a consistent set of principles (e.g. all classes are defined in
terms of the same set of properties) that are clearly applicable to
prototypical examples and that bring to light patterns that someone finds
interesting (for whatever purposes).

And, no, it does not entail that every object must fit cleanly into
exactly one class without any fuzzy boundaries. These things are defined
with respect to prototypes. The objects don't have to be free of fuzzy
boundaries, but the yardstick has to be well-defined.


- Peter


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Peter Constable

Non-Roman Script Initiative, SIL International
7500 W. Camp Wisdom Rd., Dallas, TX 75236, USA
Tel: +1 972 708 7485
E-mail: <peter_constable@...>