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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">I do have a couple of phonetic fonts:<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>SILDoulosIPA, SILManuscriptIPA, SILSophiaIPA, and WP Phonetic, the first three in harmony with and probably designed and provided by the International Phonetics Association, which are suitable for phonemic representation.</SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"></SPAN></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"></SPAN>On the other hand, diacritics over vowels seem hardly less convenient than dotting i’s and j’s, and crossing f’s, t’s, and x’s.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And, frankly, I find them visually more appealing than dots and colons alongside letters. Aesthetics ('readability'?) is a factor to consider in designing alphabets and other language scripts.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">So I have also configured my keyboard to produce the characters I use, such as<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"> ā ă á à â ä<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">(I suppose for these to come through properly, email settings must be configured to read html?)</SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">In this case, alt-shift-<underline> produces macronized ā; other combinations provide other results.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>One could just as easily configure the keyboard to produce such a character by striking a single key, e.g. ;\; or ‘5’.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> This method doesn't work on my email -- I can't type in my email program and get these results; but by typing my comments in a Word document and then <EM>pasting</EM> that text <EM>into</EM> my email, the characters are preserved.</SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">The keyboard-stroke-combinations that produce letters with macrons, breves, acutes, graves, tildes (for nasalized vowels), cedillas, umlauts, and whatever else, are more convenient than switching fonts back and forth, and than using two (or more) methods of representation, dependent on the medium. </SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">Locally and privately various systems of notation have always been used, and probably always will be used. As readership widens, it becomes necessary to follow a common standard, or for agreement to change those standards. </SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">I would like to know if (re-)configuring the keyboard works for others, to poroduce macronized vowels -- actually, if there is someone for whom it does <EM>not</EM> work, and why not? Are there other necessary symbols that seem irreproducible on the keyboard?</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">Dale Milne<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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