On 11/12/2001 01:36:35 AM Peter_Constable wrote:
>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
>
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>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@...>