Re: Handling Aboriginal Languages

Hello Brian,

I'm not familiar with Tlicho (also referred to as Tłįchǫ Yatiì or
Dogrib) specifically, but here are a few comments to add to those
above:

Please make sure to use the *correct* glottal stop for Tlicho.

Ɂ 0241 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER GLOTTAL STOP ← this
ɂ 0242 LATIN SMALL LETTER GLOTTAL STOP ← and this
ʔ 0294 LATIN LETTER GLOTTAL STOP ← not this!

For more on the use of the Glottal Stop in Unicode see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glottal_stop_(letter)#Computer_encoding
http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2962.pdf

The latter makes specific reference to Dogrib.

You can see some samples of Tlicho text and discussion of the
standardization of the orthography in:

2002 Keren Rice and Leslie Saxon, "Issues of standardization and
community in aboriginal language lexicography." In Making
Dictionaries: Preserving Indigenous Languages of the Americas, ed. by
William Frawley, Kenneth C. Hill, and Pamela Munro. University of
California Press, pp. 125-154.

Which can be viewed online at Google books:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/9osau3

As far as input is concerned, as Addison and John pointed out, your
options are best compared in light of what you know about your users.

But how feasible it will be for users to install keyboard layouts is
another question. You might also consider additionally adding support
for Javascript to input non-ASCII characters, several Wikipedias have
done this successfully.

Finally, I would point out that what you see at http://www.tlicho.ca
is not Unicode.

If you need further information or pointers, I'd recommend contacting
Bill Poser (http://billposer.org).

-- 
Patrick Hall
http://blogamundo.net/dev

Received on Thursday, 15 January 2009 10:19:51 UTC