meaning of 字面分布

[r12a]

http://w3c.github.io/clreq/#line_composition_rules_for_punctuation_marks
http://w3c.github.io/clreq/zh/#line_composition_rules_for_punctuation_marks

"在繁、簡中文排版中，標點符號的字面分布與形態差異為二者主要的分歧點（詳見3.1.2 標點符號的字形、尺寸與字面分布節）。進行版式配置時，需要多加留意。"

Is it correct to translate this as:

"Major typesetting differences between Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese include the positioning of punctuation and terminological variations (see ...)."

[VirgilMing]

I don't think you should translate 形态差异 into "terminological variations." It should be "structure variation" or "silhouette variation." Positional difference could be further clarified, as in letter face.

[r12a]

but what does 形态差异 actually mean? The terms 'structure variation' and 'silhouetter variation' don't help me understand the text any better.

[VirgilMing]

Well... It means the difference like between ‘’ “” (curly quotation marks) and 「」『』(corner brackets), they are semantically same (omitting the difference of single and double ones) in both writing systems, but they are used in different appearances in different writing systems or (mostly for Simplified Chinese) different text directions. 形态 itself means shape or structure, thus my previous suggestions.

And if I got it right, some font will render corner brackets slightly differently according to text direction. Though this might be prior to digital typesetting was even invented.

[realfish]

“形態差異” here means glyphic variations.

[r12a]

i know of a number of things that distinguish SC from TC, and they include:

1. position of punctuation marks relative to the character frame
2. stroke composition of characters with the same meaning
3. terminological differences (eg. word for 'computer' is different)
4. choice of punctuation marks for the same function

i'm hoping that the chinese text above calls out two of those things, but it's not clear to me yet which two.

[VirgilMing]

You can say 形态差异 is about item 2 and 4. 

Virgil Ming

On Thu, Jun 18, 2015 at 11:10 PM, r12a notifications@github.com wrote:

i know of a number of things that distinguish SC from TC, and they include:

1. position of punctuation marks relative to the character frame
2. stroke composition of characters with the same meaning
3. terminological differences (eg. word for 'computer' is different)
4. choice of punctuation marks for the same function

i'm hoping that the chinese text above calls out two of those things, but it's not clear to me yet which two.

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub:
#59 (comment)

[realfish]

Depending on this context, “字面分布差異” refers to the position of the specific glyph’s outline (inked parts), which is relative to the bounding box.

“形態差異” refers to the glyph itself (e.g. ‘ ’ “ ” vs. 「」『』).

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However, I think there is an ambiguous wording among the leading texts in 3.1 and the texts in 3.1.2.

在繁、簡中文排版中，標點符號的字面分布與形態差異為二者主要的分歧點 (See at 3.1)

繁、簡中文的標點符號在字形上未有顯著差異 (See at 3.1.2)

To my understanding, the former one means that the semantically same mark may have different glyphic variants (different visual shapes).

The latter one means that when referring to the same character (punctuation mark), there is no difference at the Unicode point level. This case distinguishes from the variations of the Han characters.

[bobbytung]

Maybe we should ask @ethantw for what's the meaning.
I think 字面分布 means punctuation's position in a full width space, Traditional Chinese in the middle and Simplified in lower left corner.
And 形態差異 means half width and full width, usually in Traditional Chinese all full width but in Simplified some of them will be half width.

[ethantw]

I think 字面分布 means punctuation's position in a full width space, Traditional Chinese in the middle and Simplified in lower left corner.

Yes.

And 形態差異 means half width and full width, usually in Traditional Chinese all full width but in Simplified some of them will be half width.

Also the differences between curve and cornered quotations.