Font-related problem for linguists

[Michael Cysouw]

This is a crucial argument, and might indeed point to some leverage at Unicode.

On 2 Mar 2012, at 15:36, Don Killian wrote:

> Unicode has done something similar with U+0067 g and U+0261 ɡ (and numerous other examples), which also resemble each other, so it wouldn't be the first time.

Wikipedia says about U+0261 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_velar_plosive:

"The Unicode character "Latin small letter G" (U+0067) renders as either an opentail G or a looptail G depending on font, while the character "Latin small letter script G" (U+0261) is always an opentail G"

That situation is indeed rather similar to the "a/ɑ" problem, so contrary to my earlier opinion, this might count as prior art at any Unicode hearing.

best
michael