--- In qalam@yahoogroups.com, Michael Everson <everson@...> wrote:

>
> In point of fact, we have worked to encode Vai because Vai people
> wanted us to because they want to use Vai on computers.

Is it only those Vai who are already literate in English who wish to
keyboard Vai? For many scripts this is so. It is becoming the case
for Cree, although I saw it at an earlier stage where the Cree were
still using the syllabic typewriter.

It seems only equitable, however, that the Vai should be able, as
the English are, to sit down and keyboard their own set of visual
glyphs, transferring a visual image from mind to screen.

It seems equitable also that they should have an input method that
requires them to choose a glyph from the set they are familiar with
and not the 'superset'.

While Richard W. has shown us the Bible, and it may well be that the
Bible uses the full set, like Cree there is a whole other world,
less visible, of unpublished text where the Vai use their own
orthography and write as they choose.

If there is in fact a dual orthography this should be understood and
not compared to our expectations of one standardized orthography?

Suzanne