Re: agenda+ Diacritics in WCAG

On Tue, 7 Apr 2026 at 03:56, Addison Phillips <addisoni18n@gmail.com> wrote:

> It would be useful to know what they are actually trying to achieve.
> Sometimes "removing diacritics" is a naive thing that (for example)
> English speakers try to do (because, generally speaking, they are
> affectations in English).
>


I'd assume they are referring to languages that normally aren't marked, but
can be marked for pedagogical reasons or to add clarity. Arabic, Lithuanian
and a range of African languages come to mind.

There are no lists of such languages. It would also have to be orthography
specific not just language specific.

The only language independent way of achieving this that would also work
with any tech stack would be having both versions of the text stored and
switching between them.


>
> The meaning of "diacritic" itself is complex. Some diacritics alter or
> hint the pronunciation of the base letter. Other diacritics are used to
> form an entirely different letter. Diacritics are not just used with the
> Latin script. There is also the tendency to confuse "combining mark"
> with "diacritic". Without knowing what or why, it's difficult to make
> progress--and there might be better approaches than removing information
> from the text.
>
> Look forward to the conversation.
>
> Addison
>
> On 4/6/2026 5:39 AM, Fuqiao Xue wrote:
> > The WCAG 3 Text & Wording subgroup is defining use of diacritics for
> > languages "where they are optional". Here's their current
> > draft/working document for that provision:
> >
> >
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z_Xuava_GS-Fwfk4Hg8KYDr1WcjgcuswKmTELukzvwo/edit?usp=sharing
> >
> >
> > They are asking us to help them on principles or practices that may
> > guide this work.
> >
> > Some of the specific concerns are around:
> >
> > 1. Identifying the applicable languages. Is there a list, or
> > especially some programmatic standard to identify those?
> > 2. How assistive technology actually handles (or should handle!) cases
> > like this. Is requiring the full-diacritic version the right answer?
> > 3. Expectations around burden/effort. It was brought up that having
> > both versions in a datastore, and a user-visible toggle, is a big change.
> >
> > They are happy to answer questions, or have a joint call to talk about
> > this.
> >
> > Any thoughts?
> >
> --
> Internationalization is not a feature.
> It is an architecture.
>
>
>

-- 
Andrew Cunningham
lang.support@gmail.com