LL-L "Orthography" 2003.02.27 (14) [E/German]

Thu Feb 27 23:48:06 UTC 2003

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From: Roger Thijs, Euro-Support, Inc. <roger.thijs at euro-support.be>
Subject: LL-L "Orthography" 2003.02.27 (10) [E]

A spelling checker for Letzebuergesch is in development.
Just for info,
Roger

>From the website of "Luwemburger Wort" (in German)

Rechtschreibung: Warten auf "Cortina"

Das Projekt zur Entwicklung einer luxemburgischen Computer
Rechtschreibprüfung macht Fortschritte, obwohl in der Öffentlichkeit bisher
wenig davon zu sehen war.

(mth) - Still war es geworden um das Cortina-Projekt, das im Dezember 2000
gestartet wurde. Ziel war es, Rechtschreibprüfung für die Luxemburger
Sprache zu entwickeln. Die grüne Abgeordnete Renée Wagner wollte in einer
parlamentarischen Anfrage von den zuständigen Ministerinnen für Kultur und
Erziehung erfahren , ob das ehrgeizige Projekt nicht etwa stillschweigend
gestorben sei. Auf der Website des Projekts sei zu lesen, dass zur Zeit die
Arbeit an dem luxemburgischen Spellchecker eingestellt worden sei, so die
Parlamentarierin.
Erziehungsministerin Anne Brasseur gab in ihrer Antwort jedoch Entwarnung.
Die zweite Phase des Projekts sei abgeschlossen und es stünden bereits
mehrere Versionen der Rechtschreibprüfung im Internet zum kostenlosen
Herunterladen bereit, so Anne Brasseur. Das Kulurministeriums finanziere
auch im laufenden Jahr die Weiterentwicklung des Spellcheckers, so die
Ministerin. Vor allem das Wörterbuch des Systems soll ständig erweitert
werden. Zur Zeit sind rund 120.000 Wörter enthalten. Die neue Luxemburger
Rechtschreibung und die berühmte "Eifeler Regel" werden selbstverständlich
berücksichtigt.

Eigenständige Version vor dem Sommer?
Die Rechtschreibprüfung ist bisher in verschiedenen Ausführungen verfügbar ,
die allerdings noch als Demonstrationsversionen gelten. Neben mehreren
Webbrowser -gestützten Versionen gibt es Client-Versionen für Microsoft Word
unter Windows und Mac OS, sowie für Sun StarOffice. Die fest auf einem PC
installierten Clients setzen eine Internetverbinung zu einem
Wörterbuch-Server voraus. Das hat den Vorteil, dass die Betreiber des
CRP-Gabriel Lippmann das Wörterbuch ständig erweitern und korrigieren
können. Eine ?Stand-Alone?-Version , die ohne Internetverbindung auskommt,
soll noch im ersten Quartal 2003 vorgestellt werden.

----------

From: Roger Thijs, Euro-Support, Inc. <roger.thijs at euro-support.be>
Subject: LL-L "Orthography" 2003.02.27 (10) [E]

> From: "Roger Thijs, Euro-Support, Inc." <roger.thijs at euro-support.be>
> A spelling checker for Letzebuergesch is in development.

A small addendum:

The page with details about the spelling checker
(project Cortina)
http://www.crpgl.lu/cortina/

Most recent law concerning orthography (pdf)
http://www.etat.lu/memorial/memorial/a/1999/a1121108.pdf

Government page about language policy:
http://www.gouvernement.lu/tout_savoir/population_langues/situling.html

Regards;
Roger

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From: Ian James Parsley <parsleyij at yahoo.com>
Subject: Orthography

Roger,

Thanks for an excellent and fascinating piece.

In theory I agree 100% - a single standard orthography
is desirable for the reasons you outline (and I would
be quite happy to write _realise_ and _judgement_ if
it made such an orthography possible!)

In practice, I doubt it would be possible for English,
never mind Scots.

This is because language is of course dependent on
those who *use* it. If roughly a quarter of the
population writes 'North-west', another quarter
'North-West', another quarter 'Northwest' and another
quarter 'North West', who decides which is 'allowed'?
More to the point, does that decision make any
difference at all to what people actually write? In
fact, the evidence I know of (Spanish in Spain 1959,
German in Germany/Austria/Switzerland 1995) indicates
if anything that attempts to enforce a single
orthography, or indeed any orthographic change, only
*increase* division.

Furthermore, such are the different influences on
English, it would be almost impossible to agree single
forms in all cases - one man's 'phonological logic' is
another's 'etymological inaccuracy'.

The reality is that over time, for a variety of
reasons, people choose certain forms over others - and
indeed these decisions are often (but not always)
fairly logical.

I've little doubt it's possible in some languages, but
for English and Scots I don't expect to see it.

Best wishes,

=====
------------------
Ian James Parsley
www.ianjamesparsley.net
+44 (0)77 2095 1736
JOY - "Jesus, Others, You"

----------

From: Ian James Parsley <parsleyij at yahoo.com>
Subject: Orthography

Sandy,

Haha - I like it! You forgot to mention that, by my
own standards, I'm utterly incompetent!

I would make two distinctions.

Firstly, I used the present tense deliberately, and
also mentioned in another post that literature was not
a good place to go for evidence of any *system*. Burns
et al were not seeking a standard orthography (or
anything even approaching), therefore were perfectly
entitled to do what they wanted. However, most Scots
activists are now convinced of the need for a written
standard of some sort (I personally am an exception
here, I'm not at all convinced, but that's another
post...), and if that is what they seek, then they
need to be aware that a standard would be a *system*,
not just a 'standard spelling' for each and every word
entirely independent of all others.

Secondly, there is a distinction between creative and
informal writing and formal texts. The above points
only apply to formal texts. That is because the
purpose of a standard (if there is one) is surely to
provide a written form that is neat, consistent - in
short, easy to learn (not for learners of Scots, but
for Scots speakers themselves). Creative writers
should continue to do whatever they like - it's their
language!

Off now to fetch another can of worms...

=====
------------------
Ian James Parsley
www.ianjamesparsley.net
+44 (0)77 2095 1736
JOY - "Jesus, Others, You"

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