[WMASTERS] Inclusiveness

[George Hart <ghart@socrates.berkeley.edu>]

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I would feel a lot less nervous if we could just include all of the symbols
in general use.  That includes both kSa and sri.  I would note that
Vaishnavas habitually put "sri" at the top of all documents -- why should
we neglect this large and important community (consisting of both Brahmin
and non-Brahmin adherents -- even some Dalits!) that has contributed to
much to Tamil?

It is my opinion that we are not in the business of legislating how the
language should be written -- just settling on an encoding that will be
usable by all Tamilians is enough.  That means we should accomodate
everyone who wants to use the language and adhere to what has become a
standard (the new orthography, the grantha letters, etc.)  In this regard,
I do not see much need for Tamil numerals -- they are not used anymore, as
far as I can see.  But if there is space for them, I have no objections.  I
have never EVER encountered the special symbols for "10," "100," except in
encyclopedia articles.

GH




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