- From: Lisa Seeman <seeman@netvision.net.il>
- Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2002 22:50:29 -0700
- To: "W3c-Wai-Gl@W3.Org (E-mail)" <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
- Cc: er@uts.cc.utexas.edu, "W3c-Wai-Pf@W3.Org (E-mail)" <w3c-wai-pf@w3.org>
An interesting perspective from Esther Raizen, controversial but interesting Her second idea, could be modified to just not requiring full vowels but just enough to differentiate separate meaning is supported by the current wording of the guideline yes the academics will be some what upset If we do consider modifying the ancient and historical Hebrew vowel system then may I recommend that we add a header setting which allows most renderings to not show the vowels encoded. Otherwise we may find ourselves in an area of religious sensitivities. Such a heading setting (through PF) would also make people more comfortable about making mistakes in their vowels. Forwarded with permission All the best, Lisa Seeman UnBounded Access Widen the World Web http://www.UBaccess.com -----Original Message----- From: esther raizen [mailto:er@uts.cc.utexas.edu] Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2002 6:05 AM To: Lisa Seeman Subject: RE: Hebrew screen readers Lisa, This is what I expected, more or less. Development for commercial purposes will always require a high return on the investment, which in itself is very high. An affordable solution will probably have to come from academia, and even there you will rarely find the willingness to absorb the cost and create a tool that is available to the public at no cost or at a nominal cost. I hope that the Technion takes it on in some way. As for vowels: There are two reasons why vocalization is difficult. One is technical, that is, how to physically insert vowels into a text (for which, as you write, a number of very reasonable solutions exist; I have been doing it for years, and although I still view it as a daunting task, it is not impossible at all). The second, which is more significant, is the simple fact that very few people know how to vocalize Hebrew. This is normally done by a professional, which again involves high costs. People will not vocalize their texts because they will not know how to do that, and even if they can do it technically, most people will not want to appear ignorant by entering sequences of wrong vowels. This is enough to kill the whole endeavor, I am afraid. Unless we advocate one of two things: Writing Hebrew in Latin characters (people will jump through the roof, but this is not such a terrible idea if one uses it for special purposes). If, as I wrote to you in an earlier message, this is somehow done as hidden text behind the Hebrew presentation, and the screen reader reads the hidden rather than the visible text, the only work involved on the part of the author would be to write the passage twice, once in Hebrew and once in Latin characters. This is much easier than vocalizing. Deciding on a reduced, and, therefore, non-grammatical, vocalization system, where you have one symbol for each vowel irrespective of its historical origin. Thus, the noun ganav, thief, written gimel-patach-nun-dagesh-kamatz-bet, and the verb ganav, he stole, written gimel-kamatz-nun-patach-bet will be both written gimel-a-nun-a-bet. Again, people will jump through the roof, but that is the reality of all script reforms, and as long as one views it as a solution to a specific problem which does not have to apply to the language in general there is a chance that with good reasoning it will be accepted. Accessibility is the best reasoning I can think of. Feel free to forward this message to people-- I will be glad to communicate with others on the matter. Best, Esther -- Esther Raizen, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Coordinator of Hebrew language program, Dept. of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures Graduate Advisor, Center for Middle Eastern Studies The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX 78712 Phone: 512-475-6654 e-mail: er@uts.cc.utexas.edu web page: http://www.lamc.utexas.edu/hebrew
Received on Wednesday, 28 August 2002 00:52:10 UTC