Re: XML Blueberry (non-ASCII name characters in Japan)

[John Cowan <jcowan@reutershealth.com>]

Elliotte Rusty Harold wrote:

 > I think this is an incorrect presumption and is corrupting the
 > discussion. The presumption must be that XML should not change. It
 > is incumbent on those who wish it to change to produce good and
 > solid reasons why it needs to change.

The solid reason is that there are people in this world who
cannot write XML documents in their native language and writing
system.

 > XML was specifically
 > designed to be stable on the order of thousands of years.

Is there documentary evidence anywhere of this claim?
XML is an industry consortium product: as a rule, corporations have
trouble looking past the next quarter.

Even ISO standards are re-evaluated every five years to see if
changes are required.

 > So far, despite the hundreds of emails on the subject,

Let's not overdo it.  This will be #129.

 > What words can be used that are not now used that people
 > would actually need to use in markup?

Do you expect someone to generate a list of all the nouns, verbs,
and adjectives in Amharic, Burmese, Canadian aboriginal languages, 
Cherokee, Dhivehi, Khmer, Oromo, Syriac, Tigre, and Yi?

 > For instance, I'm not willing to break compatibility
 > for Deseret or Tengwar.

I would be willing to permanently exclude archaic and synthetic
scripts from XML names.  The Hurrians, Hittites, and Mohenjo-Darans
are not going to complain.

 > Of the scripts and languages in question,
 > the only one that gives me pause is Ethiopic because that's the
 > only one that has a large user community that is not yet adequately
 > (though perhaps imperfectly) addressed.

What makes them superior in this respect to Burmese, Dhivehi, Khmer,
or Yi?

 > (Question for the Japanese
 > experts: are there any words that cannot be written in Katakana or
 > Hiragana?

By definition no, in the same way that any English word can be
written in IPA transcription.

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