Script (Unicode): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 23:34, 2 May 2007

Revision as of 01:20, 3 May 2007

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{{main|Writing system}}

'''Writing system''' is sometimes treated as a synonymn for script. However it also can be used as the specific concrete writing ssystem supported by a script. For example the Vietnamese writing system is supported by the Latin script. Most writing systems can be broadly divided into threeseveral categories: '''logographic''', '''syllabic''' and, '''alphabetic''' (or '''segmental'''), '''abugida''', '''abjad''' and '''featural'''; however, all threefeatures of any of these may be found in any given writing system in varying proportions, often making it difficult to purely categorise a system uniquely. The term '''complex system''' is sometimes used to describe those where the admixture makes classification problematic. Unicode supports all of these types of writing systems throug its scripts.

{| class="prettytable"

! Type of writing system !! What each symbol represents !! Example

|-

| [[Logogram|Logographic]] || [[morpheme]] || [[Chinese character]]s

|-

| [[Syllabary|Syllabic]] || syllable || Japanese ''[[kana]]''

|-

| [[Alphabet|Alphabetic]] || [[phoneme]] (consonant or vowel) || [[Latin alphabet]]

|-

| [[Abugida]] || phoneme (consonant+vowel) || Indian ''[[Devanāgarī]]''

|-

| [[Abjad]] || phoneme (consonant) || [[Arabic alphabet]]

|-

| [[Featural_alphabet|Featural]] || phonetic feature || Korean ''[[hangul]]''

|}

''See also'': [[phonemic orthography|''phonemic'' and ''phonetic'' orthography]].

Unicode supports all of these types of writing systems throug its numerous scripts. Unicode also adds further properties to characters to help differentiate the various characters and the ways they behave within Unicode text processing algorithms.

== Character cateegories within scripts ==