Re: Small Alef (was Re: Standalone Superscript Alef (Item 8))

[Mete Kural <metekural at yahoo dot com>]

Salaam Mohammed,

> I would please ask you to at least read the point
> about Normalization of
> the Qur'an text in this post carefully and comment
> on it.

I can think of alternative ways of doing the
normalization you referred to. A more intelligent
algorithm could detect alef_maksura+superscript_alif
and other similar sequences and normalize them
accordingly. Such intelligent algorithms are necessary
in Arabic Quran searching anyways; for instance in
order to detect instances of the word "Allah" in
various grammatical contexts without including words
such as "allahumma" (refer to Abdulbaki's Quran
index).

We have sent each other tens of emails already
regarding this superscript alef issue and we do not
seem to agree on it. If I had the time right now I
could discuss this dagger alef issue with you further,
but unfortunately I do not. That is why I am not able
to respond to the points you make in your last email.
Insha'Allah in time our differences may resolve. But
at this time I will suggest you that if you wish to
submit a proposal for a new dagger alef codepoint
please do it as a seperate proposal. This way we
jointly propose on items that we agree on, and submit
seperate proposals for items that we do not agree on.
It is better than seperately submitting two different
proposals.

If you wish to get familiar with the process of
submitting a proposal to Unicode, we can submit the
joint proposal first so that you gain that experience.
And afterwards if you wish you can submit your dagger
alef proposal since you will already know the details
of submitting a proposal.

As I am telling you, unfortunately I won't be able to
allocate more time in the near future for discussing
the dagger alef issue with you. We may return to it at
a later date when I have more time.

Please respond to us regarding your decision.

Kind regards,
Mete