Script (Unicode): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 06:48, 7 May 2007

Revision as of 20:09, 7 May 2007

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{{Unicode_scripts}}

In [[Unicode]], a '''script''' is an abstract coherent and unified [[writing system]] supporting one or more concrete writing systems which in turn support the written forms of one or more languages. For example the [[Latin_characters_in_Unicode|Latin]] script supports alphabets such as: [[English language|English]], [[French language|French]], [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]] and many others. . Some scripts support one and only one writing system and language, for example: [[Armenian language|Armenian]] . Other scripts, like [[Latin_characters_in_Unicode|Latin]], support many different writing systems: [[English_alphabet|English]], [[French_alphabet|French]], [[German_alphabet|German]], [[Italian_alphabet|Italian]], and [[Latin_alphabet|Latin]] to name just some of the languages supported by the Latin script. Some languages also make use of multiple alternate writing systems. [[Turkish language|Turkish]], for example, used [[Arabic_alphabet|Arabic]] lettering before the 20th century and transitioned to [[LatinRoman alphabet|Roman]] in the early part of the 20th century. For a list of languages supported by each script see the [[List_of_languages_by_writing_system|list of languages by writing system]].

When multiple languages make use of the same script, there are frequently some differences: particularly in diacritics and other marks. For example, Swedish and English both use the Latin script. However, [[Swedish language|Swedish]] includes the character ‘å’ (sometimes called a “Swedish O”) while English has no such character. Nor does English make use of the diacritic combining circle above for any character. In general the languages sharing the same scripts share many of the same characters. Despite these peripheral differences in the Swedish and English writing systems they are said to use the same Latin script. So the Unicode abstraction of writing systems is a basic organizing technique. The differences between different alphabets or writing systems remain and are supported through Unicode’s flexible scripts, combining marks and collation algorithms.

While all characters have the property of belonging to a script, many characters, such as symbols, indicate “common” or “inherited” for their script property. The unified diacritical characters and unified punctuation characters frequently have the “common” or “inherited” script property. However, the individual scripts often have their own punctuation and diacritics. So many scripts include not only letters, but also diacritic and other marks, punctuation, numerals and even their own idiosyncratic symbols and space characters.