Re: Meaning of the words "grapheme" and "orthography" (R101 of PLS Disp. of Comm.)

Issue R101
 
Proposed Classification: Clarification / Typo / Editorial 
 
Resolution: Rejected
 
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Dear Mark Alexandre,
 
We have summarised your comment and identified two requests.
 
#1. Rename the 'orthography' attribute to 'script' or 'scriptcode'
within 
    the grapheme element.
 
#2. Having liberated the name orthography, rename the grapheme element 
    'orthography' (preference), 'spelling', writing' or even 'graphia'
 
We resolve to remove the 'orthography' attribute from the grapheme
element 
because we do not see its value and recognize the benefits of supporting
a 
mixture of script types within a grapheme element (which occurs in
Japanese, 
for example). Consequently, the request to rename the attribute is
inapplicable. 
The name 'orthography' is however liberated.
 
The element named 'grapheme' [1] almost always involves a sequence of
graphemes. 
However, it is not a requirement for the element to contain a sequence
of graphemes; 
only one grapheme (smallest orthographic unit) is permissible (minimum
requirement). 
The grapheme or sequence of graphemes given in the 'grapheme' element
corresponds 
to the phoneme or sequence of phonemes given in the 'phoneme' element. 
This is in accordance with the notion of "grapheme-to-phoneme
conversion" (or, 
in layman's terms, letter-to-sound conversion). The name of the element
'grapheme' 
goes hand-in-hand with the name of the element 'phoneme', which has been
borrowed 
from SSML 1.0 [2] because it has a similar usage. 
 
Future revisions of PLS may wish to define the pronunciation of
orthographic 
units larger than the grapheme, such as 'morpheme' or 'affix' (as is
common in 
system internal lexicons). Grapheme, morpheme, affix, locution... are
all terms 
that refer to orthographic units. A generic term such as 'orthography', 
'spelling' or 'writing' etc. for this element seems inappropriate at
this stage 
given that it would probably have to be changed to 'grapheme' in future.
It is 
thus our opinion that the current name 'grapheme' is the best name for
this 
element.
 
Please note that our reply is in accordance with two further public
comments 
closely related to yours [3] [4].
 
Please indicate whether you are satisfied with the VBWG's resolution,
whether you think there has been a misunderstanding, or whether you wish
to register an objection.
 
Paolo Baggia, editor PLS spec
 
[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/2006/WD-pronunciation-lexicon-20060131/#S4.5
[2] http://www.w3.org/TR/speech-synthesis/#S3.1
[3] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-voice/2006AprJun/0107.html
[4] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-voice/2006AprJun/0120.html
 
 

 



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