AW: AW: sharp s (Eszett)

[Martin Duerst]

There is also a clear difference in pronounciation,
at least in the standard German pronounciation
(and this, besides typewriter history, may be another
reason why sharp s is not used in Switzerland: The
pronounciation difference disappears in most if not
all Swiss dialects).

strase -> short 'a', voiced 's'
strasse -> short 'a', non-voiced 's'
strasze (sz=sharp s) -> long 'a', non-voiced 's'

This distinction became clearer with the recent German
spelling reform. Before, there were other rules that
affected whether to use a sharp s or not.
(growing up in Switzerland, I never had to learn them)

While pronunciation differences alone are clearly not
useful to decide whether to allow a character in IDNs,
I hope this will help to make everybody understand why
Germans and Austrians care about sharp s.

Regards,   Martin.

At 23:28 08/03/10, Georg Ochsner wrote:
>> -----Urspr$B%F%7(Bngliche Nachricht-----
>> Von: Harald Tveit Alvestrand
>> Gesendet: Montag, 10. M$B%F!"(Brz 2008 14:58
>> An: Georg Ochsner; 'John C Klensin'; idna-update at alvestrand.no
>> Betreff: Re: AW: sharp s (Eszett)
>
>> --On Sunday, March 09, 2008 17:34:15 +0100 Georg Ochsner
>> <g.ochsner at revolistic.com> wrote:
>> 
>> > I personally do not think at all that "everybody" would expect two
>> German
>> > words to match where sharp and double s are transposed. As I said
>> before
>> > the opposite is the case, changing sharp s into "ss" and vice verse
>> can
>> > even lead to words with different meanings. At least it will lead to
>> wrong
>> > spelling, and I hope nobody working on standards finds this a trifle.
>> 
>> can you give an example or two of two words where the only difference is
>> that one is spelled with "$B%F](B (eszett) and the other one is spelled with
>> "ss"?
>
>Examples:
>
>Ma$B%F]F(B = measures, dimensions
>Masse = bulk, mass
>
>Bu$B%F]F(B = penance, atonement, forfeit
>Busse = buses
>
>Georg
>
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#-#-#  Martin J. Du"rst, Assoc. Professor, Aoyama Gakuin University
#-#-#  http://www.sw.it.aoyama.ac.jp       mailto:duerst at it.aoyama.ac.jp