SPPS 139: Setting Signs for Europe

More than 20 years have passed since the introduction of the Universal Character Set. However, legacy applications still cannot even render German umlauts correctly. Part of this problem is a hidden political agenda: Consciously or unconsciously, patterns of the Cold War are continued in the interaction between Western and Eastern European languages.

Bernd Kappenberg examines in his book

Setting Signs for Europe
Why Diacritics Matter for European Integration
With a foreword by Peter Schlobinski

the current use of diacritical marks in Western Europe. Considering international, EU, and national law and referring to landmark court decisions, Kappenberg answers the question: „Is there a right to diacritical marks in people–s names?“