I previously posted the following questions to TEI-L, ANE, CAAL and
SGML-L. This is a cross-posted summary of the replies, please pardon any
duplication.
 
 
>1. Are there any present efforts to create WSDs (Writing System
>Declarations) that conform to the guidelines in TEI P2, Chapter WD
>(Draft Version 2, September 20, 1993) for any of the languages found in
>Labat's *Manuel dEpigraphie Akkadiene?
 
None of the responses received indicated the existence of any present
projects to create WSDs for any language written in Cuneiform script.
 
Note, copies of the TEI Writing System Declaration guidelines may be
obtained from the [log in to unmask] with the message "get P2WD.DOC"
or from the ftp site at sgml1.ex.ac.uk.
 
 
>2. Would anyone reading this message be interested in forming an ad hoc
>group for the purpose of creating such WSDs?
 
(Given the small number of replies, I thought it best to include the
relevant parts of all responses.  It has the advantage of conveying
interests and experience of the respondents in their own words.)
 
 
From Harry Gaylord ([log in to unmask])
 
Yes TEI would like very much to have a wsd for cuneiform. I am chairman of
the relevant technical group. Please would anyone wanting to cooperate on
this work contact me directly.
 
 
From Jill Hart ([log in to unmask])
 
I was very interested to see your message, and would also like to
know the answer to your first question. I am working on Hittite and
many years ago put some Hittite texts on computer, for which I had to
devise as it were a transliteration of the conventional transliterations,
marking Sumerograms and Akkadograms as well as normal Hittite spellings
with the limited means then available. The end-product of course
contained layers of interpretation which took it a long way from the
strings of raw cuneiform in the original texts. There is the problem of
multiple values of signs, and different cuneiform corpora from various sites
having their own selections of values, so producing a convention for
uniquely representing each sign would only be the first step. Susan Hockey
at CETH would be an ideal person to talk to about this: I've tried to
forward your message to her, but she's probably seen it anyway. I look
forward to seeing what replies you get from elsewhere.
Best wishes, Jill Hart.
 
 
From Steve Tinney ([log in to unmask]
 
A friend on the ANE list forwarded your appeal to me, and I thought I
should at least touch base. I must say up-front that I am sceptical
about the value of such encodings because I don't really see who would
use them for publication, or what benefit they would bring over and
above the other methods of disseminating the material. I'm willing
to be convinced, though! I have something of an insider's view on this,
so I may be missing more general points.
 
 Steve
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Tinney                                        Babylonian Section
                   University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania
[log in to unmask]                     Phila, PA. 215-898-4047
 
 
From: C. M. Sperberg-McQueen  ([log in to unmask])
 
>1. Are there any present efforts to create WSDs (Writing System
>Declarations) that conform to the guidelines in TEI P2, Chapter WD
>(Draft Version 2, September 20, 1993) for any of the languages found in
>Labat's *Manuel dEpigraphie Akkadiene?
 
As you know from Harry Gaylord's reply to you, there have been none
yet, but the TEI would certainly like to encourage such efforts.
 
>2. Would anyone reading this message be interested in forming an ad hoc
>group for the purpose of creating such WSDs?
 
You may count me in --- not as a reader of cuneiform, but as someone
interested in ensuring that WSDs can be made to work properly for
such scripts.
 
 
From Lloyd Anderson ([log in to unmask])
 
Am very much interested in what you propose for Cuneiform, but interpretation
is always involved to the extent of identifying which sign is present (though
not necessarily in identifying what its transliteration value is, etc.).  I
assume you mean a coding of the Cuneiform signs as Cuneiform signs?
 
I have investigated the matter of a standard coding for the purposes of the
international code standard committees.  Do you have recommended lists?  I
forget just now which ones came most hightly recommended, but I think it was
near 200-300 interpretations for a total of some 600 signs?  Or the reverse of
that?
 
At Ecological Linguistics we are very interested in producing fonts for these,
and I am sending you a sample of the quality we produced for the very small set
of Persian Cuneiform.  There are of course violent stylistic preferences in the
field, open (line-drawn) vs. filled (black) signs, etc.
 
What is not possible for computer coding is to represent a photograph of some
specialist's hand drawing of the signs, since there are no two tokens of the
same sign in that sense.
 
I have not posted this to any of the other lists, although am on the CAAL, and
I thought ANE but did not yet at least receive your message through them.  What
are the other lists you mention?
 
Lloyd Anderson, Ecological Linguistics
 
 
From Neel Smith ([log in to unmask])
 
I would be very interested in a cuneiform wsd -- or wsd's, since it
seems to me that, e.g., Akkadian and Hittite (the only two cuneiform
languages I've studied) would require separate (although in some ways
quite similar) wsd's.
 
Neel Smith
[log in to unmask]
 
 
From: Jeff Lloyd ([log in to unmask])
 
Patrick Durusau,
 
I have rather belatedly come to your message of last week concerning
WSDs. I find the idea very interesting, especially in my own interest
of Ugaritic texts. At the moment I am writing up my PhD to a deadline
of the end of this month, so I am unable to contribute much at the
moment, although I imagine that by mid-march (when I've recovered) I
would be able to devote some time to this.
 
My original question on Ugaritic encoding stems from my inputting of
Ug texts onto my own computer in order to search for specific text,
etc. I use a transliteration font at the moment, but if I want to
send my data to colleagues, the text becomes garbled. Some kind of
ASCII compatible standard would be ideal. I am unaware of the TEI
guidelines you mention in your original posting. Do you have an
electronic version that you could send me to look over?
 
I wish you luck with your idea, and if I continue at Edinburgh after
I finish, I will be in touch in the spring.
 
Best wishes,
 
Jeff LloydJeff Lloyd                               [log in to unmask]
New College                              [log in to unmask]
University of Edinburgh
Scotland