CJKV Information Processing, 2nd Edition

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CHAPTER 2

Writing Systems and Scripts

Reading the introductory chapter provided you with a taste of what you can expect to

learn about CJKV information processing in this book. Let’s begin the journey with a

thorough description of the various CJKV writing systems that serve as the basis for the

characters set standards that will be covered in Chapter 3.

Mind you, we have already touched upon this subject, though briey, in the introductory

chapter, but there is a lot more to learn! Aer reading this chapter, you should have a rm

grasp of the types of characters, or character classes, used to write CJKV text, specically

the following:

Latin characters—including transliteration and romanization systems•

Zhuyin—also called • bopomofo

Kana—• hiragana and katakana

Hangul syllables—including • jamo, the elements from which they’re made

Ideographs—originating in China•

Non-Chinese ideographs—originating in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam•

Knowing that each of these character classes exhibits its own special characteristics and

oen has locale-specic usages is important to grasp. is information is absolutely cru-

cial for understanding discussions elsewhere in this book. Aer all, many of the problems

and issues that caused you to buy this book are the result of the complexities of these writ-

ing systems. is is not a bad thing: the complexities and challenges that we face are what

make ...