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From: firth@sei.cmu.edu (Robert Firth)
Newsgroups: comp.std.internat,sci.lang
Subject: Re: Computers and human languages (was Re: What is a byte)
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Date: Fri, 18-Sep-87 09:22:09 EDT
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Posted: Fri Sep 18 09:22:09 1987
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Xref: mnetor comp.std.internat:244 sci.lang:1394

A long time ago, someone wrote...
 >>I was told once (by a respected linguist, as I recall) that English and
 >>Russian are the ONLY two languages written with unaccented alphabets.

We've beaten Russian to death, but did anyone point out that English also
requires diacritical marks above, beside, and below letters?  They are
fast being dumped into the can~on of history due to the uncoo"perative
ro^le of ASCII terminals, but even a soupc,on of an acquaintance with
the real language should convince you they are not just mediaeval relics!