CJKV Information Processing, 2nd Edition

Character Set Standard Oddities

|

179

Since GB 18030 is so important today, because it is the most important GB standard to

date, it should be pointed out that GB 7589-87 62-11 and Unicode 99 correspond to

GB 18030 < 56>, and that GB 7590-87 48-24 and Unicode 654 correspond to GB

18030 <9 5>.

Given the relative size of Unicode and GB 18030, the occurence of incomplete ideograph

pairs has clearly diminished, but given the open-ended nature of the writing system, one

clearly cannot claim that this phenomenon has been eliminated.

Simplied Ideographs Without a Traditional Form

Although it is obvious that all traditional ideograph forms need not have a corresponding

simplied form—either because their form is already considered simple enough, or

because its use is relatively rare (only commonly used ideographs tend to develop

simplied forms)—there are instances of simplied ideographs that lack a corresponding

traditional form. I must point out that while it is generally the case that simplied forms

have a corresponding traditional form, it is not an absolute requirement, because it is

possible to coin new characters that use simplied components.

In general, the lack of a corresponding traditional forms can be considered a limitation

of the character set, and is indeed a character set oddity. As a real-world example of this

phenomenon, consider 4724 (󵈎), which ...