- From: John Hudson <john@tiro.ca>
- Date: Fri, 3 Feb 2017 16:52:53 -0800
- To: fantasai <fantasai.lists@inkedblade.net>, Jonathan Kew <jfkthame@gmail.com>, www-style@w3.org
On 03/02/17 16:07, fantasai wrote: > I'd like to check with John Daggett on this point... in the meantime, > what's the use case for having one font use one language value and a > different font use a different one--is that ever a thing that happens? The first use case is OpenType fonts with different Language System coverage, one of which might be suitable for the document language without that language being included in the font Language System coverage. My usual example for this is a document in Macedonian being displayed using a font that contains an SRB (Serbian) Language System but not an MKD (Macedonian) Language System. This is not unusual, as font developers at the time such a font is made might only have reliable information about specific language typographic norms, e.g. Serbian, and not be aware that the same norms are suitable for Macedonian. The second use case arises from the fact that an OpenType Language System tag is not, in fact, a natural language tag directly analogous to a document language tag. An OT Language System tag in combination with an OT Script tag, indicates a particular typographic form of a writing system. In some cases, this can be mapped directly to a document language tag, in some cases it might be better mapped to a locale, and some registered Language System tags indicate notation systems that are not specific to any individual language. So, the two phonetic notation system tags for IPA and Americanist transcription — IPPH and APPH, respectively — will be essential for enabling appropriate phonetic forms of some Greek letters that in a font may differ from the default Greek alphabet style. This is only possible if authors are able to directly specify the appropriate OT Language System tags independently of document language tagging. There is third use case, but it is very peculiar, and I don't think I've actually seen a font built in this way: it is possible that a combination of OT Script and Language System tags can be used to identify a typographic convention for a script that is particular to a locale. So, for example, if one examines German and French editions of classical Greek texts of the 19th Century, one observes fairly regular and differing conventions regarding use of the long and short forms of the letter beta (I forget the exact conventions; I recall that one uses the long form only at the beginning of a word). These conventions could be captured in an OT font, using contextual substitutions under particular Language System tags, in such a way that text in Greek characters (<grek> Script tag) could be processed according to either FRA (French) or DEU (German) Language System. In that case, the Language System tag isn't indicating the document language — Greek — at all, but rather a convention for Greek typography associated with French or German publishing conventions. JH -- John Hudson Tiro Typeworks Ltd www.tiro.com Salish Sea, BC tiro@tiro.com NOTE: In the interests of productivity, I am currently dealing with email on only two days per week, usually Monday and Thursday unless this schedule is disrupted by travel. If you need to contact me urgently, please use some other method of communication. Thank you.
Received on Saturday, 4 February 2017 00:53:29 UTC