Talk:Caron

The following discussion is an archived discussion of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the proposal was

The outcome of this poll was no consensus - bogdan 16:33, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

caron → háček – háček is the name found in the linguistic literature, along with the name cited by Peter T. Daniels, co-author of The World's Writing Systems. - FrancisTyers · 00:27, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

As has been pointed out below, as a note to the closing admin, the previous move poll, which was closed as described above, can be found here. Apologies for not noting this sooner. - FrancisTyers · 15:30, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

This poll will close at 0:22, 12 July 2006 (UTC) - Pending RfC input.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This article has been listed at Requests for Comment.

[edit] Survey

Add #'''Support''' or #'''Oppose''' followed by an optional one-sentence explanation, then sign your opinion with ~~~~

[edit] Support

1. This is the name that appears in English dictionaries. —Michael Z. 2006-07-07 00:53 Z
2. Support This is the name for the symbol that I learned in my Linguistics studies 30 years ago, and I never heard of 'caron' until today. -- Donald Albury^(Talk) 01:04, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
3. Support Háček is the term that is widely accepted and attested, while caron appears to be a neologism that hasn't yet caught on, particularly in linguistics. --Chris S. 01:13, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
4. Support As noted above, this was the name for the symbol I learned in my Linguistics studies 15 years ago, so the term háček was still in wide use in that field then. I had also never heard of the term caron until this discussion opened. My support has been increased with the new evidence from the Unicode standard that caron was in error.Derek Balsam 02:44, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

   Comment Once again, the word "caron is not an "error". It is a word found in international standards and industrial standards prior to the publication of Unicode and ISO/IEC 10646. The Unicode Technical Note calls it an "error" because Ken Whistler doesn't like it because he learned háček when doing linguistics in California some decades ago. Evertype 08:05, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

5. Support per http://www.unicode.org/notes/tn27/. +Hexagon1 ^(t) 04:01, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
6. Support a move to háček, the normal English term for this mark. --Cam 04:36, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
7. Support, the correct name. —Nightstallion (?) 09:37, 8 July 2006 (UTC)
8. Support wikipedia should use dictionary words as names for things whenever possible. Caron is not in any printed dictionary; háček is in many unabridged dictionaries. Additionally, from the unicode link above, it seems as if the consortium made up a word of some unclear French derivation. For those of you who think google is the ultimate authority on things internet, try looking for caron without unicode. Compare that to hacek without unicode or haemophilus.   — Chris Capoccia ^T⁄_C 14:34, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

   Comment It is not the case that the Unicode Consortium created this word, so that is not in itself a reason not to prefer caron. While caron may be a neologism, it seems to date to the 1970s; the use of háček in English is earliest attested in the OED in 1953, which as I have said is not a particularly impressive pedigree. Oxford is certain to enter caron in the dictionary at some point, too. Why wouldn't they? And as I have also said, the Unicode Technical Note about caron being a "mistake" likely reflects the opinion of Ken Whistler, who was trained in linguistics in California and certainly learned the word háček when he encountered it. That too is not a reason to prefer this diacriticked borrowing over the much more "English" name caron Evertype 19:36, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

   It wasn't invented by Unicode, it seems to have been invented at Adobe. Has anyone ever found one single verifiable reference of use of the term which does not stem from work at Adobe in the early-to-mid 1980s?? If so, it's not documented as such in the article. If probably being invented by monolingual [removed slur per above. - FrancisTyers · 08:50, 9 July 2006 (UTC)] without much knowledge of Eastern European languages or of linguistics makes a word "English", then "caron"[sic] is "English" to the hilt -- otherwise I'm not really sure in what respects it really qualifies... AnonMoos 23:45, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

   P.S. Would it be Original Research to speculate that the same guy at Adobe who came up with Guillemot also perpetrated "Caron"? AnonMoos 23:49, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

9. Support -- "Caron" seems to have been invented out of the blue by some unknown and probably unqualified individual at Adobe in the 80s, while linguists have been using "hachek" for many decades. I would support either "wedge (diacritic)" or "hachek" -- but not "caron"[sic], a neologistic term of unverifiable origin and unknown etymology which has in fact not been generally used by those who are most knowledgeable in the subject-areas involved. AnonMoos 23:38, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

   Comment "Seems to have been invented out of the blue" and "unqualified" are a bit unsubstantiated. Folk etymology at least suggests that the word may be a fusion of caret and macron. Evertype 08:05, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

   And in this context "folk etymology" really means unsubstantiated guessing on a level with "Port Out Starboard Home", or the various explanations offered for "whole nine yards". AnonMoos 08:42, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

   If it is a neologism, it still has an origin. Do you have a more plausible etymology? Evertype 09:14, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

10. Strong support. I am the former 85.70.5.66. I have just created an account. Given the number of edits in the last few days on 85.70.5.66, I hope I am not new enough for my vote to be discounted. The common argument that hacek is not an english word is based purely on the feeling of some individuals that if it doesn't sound right to them it's not english. If they object that the origins are czech and it can't be english if it's czech, I would beg those people to return robot to where it belongs and invent some purely english word, preferably ending on -on. Robot is also not an english world but a czech one. Like robot, hacek was used in english dictionaries and literature for a long time, and the fact that someone quite recently created a neologism that is heavily used in the computer/typesetting industry doesn't mean that the non-IT world prevalence of "hacek" should be ignored. Plus, I would like to ask some of the linguists here to explain the origins of the ending -on in english words, I suspect that the words like car-on are not english in its origins at all (maybe except from hardon), but they just sound better. Using a term because it "sounds" more english is not really a good idea. Azmoc 09:33, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

    Striking out vote from anonymous user. - FrancisTyers · 08:53, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

    In fact, you can check my IP, most of the participants are covered by nicks and therefore more anonymous than me. I also participated in the previous discussion, and I think that I can confirm that my IP didn't change since then. I don't see a reason for my vote to be discounted. Would you please un-strikeout my vote? 85.70.5.66 09:15, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

    I didn't see nothing in the guideline about striking out votes on straw polls if they are from IP users. AfD, RfA etc are for sure different, because they concern the structure of wikipedia community and you should be a part of the community to participate on the decision process, but this is a content dispute and I think that my support is valid as it is supported by an argument. However, the main argument for you is that the straw polls guideline doesn't mention ignoring votes from IP users. 85.70.5.66 09:23, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

    I registered, I hope my vote counts now. Azmoc 09:33, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

11. Weak support: Change from Weak oppose. I'm not an expert, but if the origins were in Czech, and term is widely used, I'd be OK to make this the main term. Making up an English word for something which exists in a foreign language sounds like something the Académie française would do. Stephen B Streater 09:20, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Oppose

1. Oppose. Háček is not an English word. č is never found in English words. Caron certainly has caught on in the field that concerns itself with alphabets, which is typography, not linguistics.--Prosfilaes 03:24, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

   Refer to Derek Balsam's response in the discussion section. +Hexagon1 ^(t) 04:28, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

2. Oppose. Háček isn't an English word. It may have some currency, and for that reason, it should redirect to this article, and this article should say "Caron, or háček". --Node 07:38, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
3. Oppose. Wikipedia editors often fall into the trap of looking for the right answer, rather than accepting that opinions differ and presenting them all without favour. Personally, I don't feel that the primary entry name should be a non-English word when an English word exists (which is why there is an entry on Beijing rather than 北京). But where multiple names are in use then I feel that the introduction should note all of them, rather than try to conform to one group's idea of "right". I observe "hacek" is used in the Unicode document, for example, and my dictionary uses "haček". Later in the article is the place to write of controversies (all sourced of course), and to indicate (if it is the case) if particular groups have strong opinions. The disagreements here surely mean that the only consensus can be to list all the names; endless seeking after consensus usually means that there is an attempt to exclude one opinion rather than list all of them neutrally. Or so it seems to me. Notinasnaid 09:12, 7 July 2006 (UTC) (Supplement: having looked again at the (Chambers) dictionary, I guess that it does bless haček as an English word. Not, I observe, Háček. I think we should be very careful in rejecting the view of dictionaries in favour of specialists who can't agree.) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Notinasnaid (talk • contribs).
4. Still Oppose. It now appears to me the the correct English term may be hacek or haček, rather than háček. Because of that ambiguity, caron may very well be the most common English term, whether or not correct. Hence I oppose the move as specified. — Arthur Rubin | (talk) 14:48, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

   Furthermore, WP:MoS does not insist (or, as far as I can tell, encourage) English words borrowed from another language to have the diacritics from that language. Names, yes. Terms, no. — Arthur Rubin | (talk) 14:48, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

   I also think you should have copied the votes from the previous unclosed discussion. — Arthur Rubin | (talk) 14:48, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

   Note to closing admin: Previous discussion (closed today) is here Septentrionalis 15:16, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

5. Continue to Oppose; prefer use of English term, whatever its history. (and why should I have to say this three times on one issue?) Septentrionalis 15:10, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

   Háček is the English term, according to most linguists. +Hexagon1 ^(t) 04:02, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

6. Oppose I have always heard it referred to as the caron with the non-English form as a mere side fact. WP:UE. Charles 18:14, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
7. Strongly oppose I do not think that it is a good idea to redirect this article to hacek or haček or háček or hachek. While that term does appear in the OED, its attested there only from 1953, which is not the noblest of pedigrees. General knowledge of the names of diacritical marks has a lot to do with character set technology, and for good or for ill, the name caron is not ever, ever going to go away. I am of course a fan of international standards, and am happy to conform to them wherever possible. It is certainly possible here, where there are four competing spellings for the alternative. I will note that the document referred to on the Unicode site, which states that "it should have been called háček" reflects the view of its three authors more than anything else, and one of those was trained in the US as an Americanist linguist, which is why he naturally prefers the term háček, because Americanist linguistics tends to use that term. This article should stay under the name caron. For my part, I am going to ask my friend Hugh McGregor Ross if he can help shed light on the earliest attestation of caron in standards, so we can clarify that much in the article as well. At the end of the day, BOTH of the words are neologisms new to the language. One is a borrowing from Czech not attested in the OED before 1953. The other seems to be a coinage (rather than a borrowing), perhaps based on the names of other typographical symbols, caret and macron. which seems to date from sometime in the 1970s. Neither of them seems to have an absolute claim of precedence over the other. I prefer the name caron because it is the formally standardized name. The trend is certainly for people concerned with fonts and keyboards and other aspects of character set technology and typography to use the standardized name. Further, it is simply simpler. It has one spelling, not three or four, and isn't festooned with non-English diacritics. I went to university. I learned the word háček. Later I learned the word caron. I don't believe as some have suggested that "in most linguistic literature the term háček prevails". Most linguistic literature doesn't discuss the names of diacritical marks. Typographic literature discusses the names of diacritical marks, and in that world, the term caron is prevailing. We should not add to the confusion by changing the name of this article. Evertype 09:50, 9 July 2006 (UTC)
8. Oppose as per Evertype. Fut.Perf. ☼ 10:26, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

   Weak oppose: In Czech, háček means 'little hook' ... In Slovak it is called mäkčeň ... in Croatian and Serbian kvaka or kvačica (also 'small hook'), katus ('roof') in Estonian and hattu ('hat') in Finnish so it seems a bit Czech-centric to use their term as the main definition. Stephen B Streater 08:23, 9 July 2006 (UTC) - change to weak support. Stephen B Streater 09:17, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

   The term has now become common in English and is found in many English dictionaries, including the Oxford one. Most linguists agree that it is the common English term, most typographers do not, and prefer caron instead due to it's use by the Unicode Consortium. +Hexagon1 ^(t) 08:32, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

9. Oppose: I prefer the English term when it exists. And this sign exists not only in Czech, but in Slovak, Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian, Lithuanian, Lavian, Finnish and Estonian too. Švitrigaila 11:26, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

   Háček is the English term, follow the discussion instead of voting blindly please. It's found in Oxford dictionaries and most linguists use it (as opposed to typographers, who prefer caron). +Hexagon1 ^(t) 01:48, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

10. Oppose: I had a pretty good idea what a caron is when I was invited to this survey. I had no idea what a háček is until just now. As far as I can tell caron is the much more common term in English. ፈቃደ (ውይይት) 14:29, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

    Háček is the most common English term, caron seems more common on the Net because of Unicode propagation, and even that is just limited to computers. Most linguists prefer háček, it's taught at uni's, it's in Oxford dictionaries, it's found in most linguistic literature. +Hexagon1 ^(t) 01:48, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

11. Oppose: since this is called something different in every language that uses it, let's title the page under the most widely and commonly used term in English, even if some professional linguists proscribe the Czech term. Jonathunder 16:15, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

    Háček is the most common English term, caron seems more common on the Net because of Unicode propagation, and even that is just limited to computers. Most linguists prefer háček, it's taught at uni's, it's in Oxford dictionaries, it's found in most linguistic literature. +Hexagon1 ^(t) 01:48, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

12. Oppose, keep title "Caron", official name used in Unicode character descriptions, and most common name used by English speakers, regardless of etymology. — Jul. 9, '06 [17:57] <freak|talk>

    Háček is the most common English term, caron seems more common on the Net because of Unicode propagation, and even that is just limited to computers. Most linguists prefer háček, it's taught at uni's, it's in Oxford dictionaries, it's found in most linguistic literature. +Hexagon1 ^(t) 01:48, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

13. Oppose, Hacek is not an English word, nor is caron a neologism. Caron is the English name for the character and therefore the article should remain here. -- Jordi·✆ 18:15, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

    Háček is the most common English term, caron seems more common on the Net because of Unicode propagation, and even that is just limited to computers. Most linguists prefer háček, it's taught at uni's, it's in Oxford dictionaries, it's found in most linguistic literature. +Hexagon1 ^(t) 01:48, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

14. Oppose - an English word, seems to be commonly used.--Aldux 01:09, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

    Háček is the English term, follow the discussion instead of voting blindly please. It's found in Oxford dictionaries and most linguists use it (as opposed to typographers, who prefer caron. +Hexagon1 ^(t) 01:48, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

15. Oppose for several good reasons given above. Thumbelina 17:29, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

    Yes, those reasons are very persuasive indeed. +Hexagon1 ^(t) 01:48, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

16. Oppose — why use the Czech name when the diacritic is used in several languages? Caron is a more general term. — Gareth Hughes 23:31, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

    Háček is the English term. It's found in Oxford dictionaries and most linguists use it (as opposed to typographers, who prefer caron. It's taught at universities and is in linguistic literature. +Hexagon1 ^(t) 01:48, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

• CommentLet's face it. Wikipedia is full of incompetent _people who look at two words and say .. yup, this sounds more english, I will pick this, without even looking at the discussion. That's why wikipedia will never work as an encyclopedia. Azmoc 00:19, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Neutral

1. Neutral. I agree with both sentiments. Háček is certainly not an Enlish word and shouldn’t be used for an article title if a more common English word exists. However, Caron is fairly inappropriate as well because by my impression it’s not used outside of the Adobe-influenced circles. This is not a frivolous problem for Wikipedia, but unfortunately this particular diacritic is not used enough by English speakers to warrant a more common English name, and I am equivocal. I’ll let the democratic mob decide. — Jéioosh 09:02, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Comment As an alternative, I have been thinking of wedge (linguistics) or wedge (orthography) wedge (diacritic)?. It seems neutral enough, and it can be used to describe the usage, controversy, and history of háček and caron. --Chris S. 19:29, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Comment It's not "Adobe-influenced circles". It's the name the character bears in the Universal Character Set, the name it bears in ISO/IEC 8859, and (I must check this) also the name it bore in ISO 6937 (the first edition of which was published in 1983). The UCS is on everybody's computer now. And so are tools which tell the user that "č" is "c with caron". Evertype 19:57, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Per this site, 'caron' in ISO 8879 mapped to 'hacek' in ISO DIS 6862.2 in Unicode Version 1.0. For example, unicode 010C was called 'Ccaron' in ISO 8879 and 'LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C HACEK'in ISO DIS 6862.2. -- Donald Albury^(Talk) 00:24, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

That "site" states plainly "May 1, 1996: This file is obsolete. It was made for Unicode Version 1.0, and has neither been updated nor verified for use with any subsequent version of the standard. Use this data entirely at your own risk.". Unicode 1.0 usedd "hacek" and this was changed with the merger with ISO/IEC 10646, which used standardized character names (that is, names which were already part of other formal standards (ISO/UEC 8859 if not others). ISO 6862, by the way is a "Mathematical coded character set for bibliographic information interchange". Evertype 07:42, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Discussion

Add any additional comments

Please check http://www.unicode.org/notes/tn27/ before you vote.

U+02C7 CARON

U+030C COMBINING CARON

The "caron" should have been called hacek and combining hacek. The term "caron" is suspected by some to be an invention of some early standards body, but it has also been claimed by others to have been in use at Linotype before the days of digital typography. Its true origin may be lost in the mists of time.

I thought I'd include the relevant text to simplify following the discussion. Stephen B Streater 11:16, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Again, please note that this document reflects the view of its three authors more than anything else, and one of those was trained in the US as an Americanist linguist, which is why he naturally prefers the term háček, because Americanist linguistics tends to use that term. Evertype 11:39, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

repeatedly archiving the move discusson and then almost immediately restarting it is achiveing nothing and is an insult to those who have already voted. Plugwash 00:49, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

I'm sorry you feel that way... did you vote in the last discussion? I felt, and I hope some people would agree with me that the last discussion was getting bogged down in personalities rather than facts. Furthermore, the amount of incivility seemed to me at least to be causing issues with communication. Regardless, the poll had already over-run without consensus, and there were two options, either to keep it open for longer or close it as no-consensus and re-open it. I decided on the latter, and although I would be happy for my actions to be criticised and reversed, I still believe I did the right thing. - FrancisTyers · 01:18, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Regarding Prosfilae's comment: "...the field that concerns itself with alphabets, which is typography, not linguistics". Alphabets are certainly a subject of typography. But typography does not lay sole claim to the subject of alphabets. Alphabets are indeed a proper subject of linguistics and always have been. Per Wikipedia's own article Linguistics, "The study of writing systems themselves is in any case considered a branch of linguistics." Writing systems are part of any linguist's education, and linguists have often been the inventors of writen systems such as the IPA. So it's simply incorrect to say that linguistics is not the field concerned with alphabets. Derek Balsam 03:56, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Then let's note that the linguists behind the IPA don't agree on háček as the name either; if you turn to page 184 of the 1999 edition of the Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, you'll see it called "wedge; háček", IMO because they recognized that háček was not a proper English name for anything. Anyway, linguistics may study writing systems, but rarely at this level; a caron is merely one symbol in one writing system to them, but something a typographer working on pan-Europeans fonts works with day in and day out.--Prosfilaes 05:26, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Riight... so you're saying that printing machines should have more of a say in what a book made of, since they work with it day in, day out. No, that doesn't make any sense. Typography is simply the layout of the written expression of speech, it couldn't have more to do with linguistics. How can someone study writing systems and ignore diacritics? Ok, I'll learn Japanese, but I'll only learn every fifth kanji stroke, everything else is just a minor detail. Just to give any idea what difference diacritics make to the word háček in Czech: háček /ɦʌːʧɛk/ vs. hacek /ɦaʦɛk/. Ignoring this as a minor detail is absurd, especially for a linguist/typographer. And if háček isn't a proper English name, why is it taught in universities, why is it in academic books? Why does the term caron seem to be confined to the internet, and mostly due to the Unicode name (which is acknowledged as an error)? PS: I've worked with fonts before. I din't care what the symbols were called, or anything about them. I just imitated their general shape. I may have produced thousands of diacritics, never knowing what they were, and how they are used. A linguist has to know this, that's his job. +Hexagon1 ^(t) 07:40, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes, printers know a lot more about what a book is made of than a writer does. How many writers know the first thing what glues bind books the best, or what papers are good for what purposes? You can study writing systems and ignore a particular diacritic the same way you can study poetry and not be familiar with every poem. Unless a linguist works with Czech or a few other languages, there's no reason for them to know the first thing about a caron, and even a scholar in writing systems has no need to obsess over one diacritic in one writing system. I can't imagine how you edited fonts without knowing anything about what you were working with, but I can't say it says much for your scholarship in the field.

The Unicode name did not come out of nowhere; it's used in the Adobe name lists that predate Unicode, for example. That acknowledgement doesn't have the full support of the Unicode Consortium, as Cam points out below. [1] lists the letters used in English; as you will note, č isn't one of them. An English name has to be written using English letters, and even in the most broad sense, č isn't one of them. Why is it, that of all the IPA characters given names by the Handbook of the IPA, the caron is the only one not unambigiously given one name? Again, I suspect it was because neither wedge nor háček were satisfactory, since wedge was too ambigious and háček is just not English.--Prosfilaes 08:12, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

If they don't want to know the first thing about the háček, why then are they at the háček/caron page at the Wikipedia? And languages change, foreign words are adopted. A millenia ago, the letters é, á etc. would have no place in English either, but today they occur in many words borrowed from other languages. And if háček isn't English, I'll ask again - why is it taught in universities, why is it in academic books? Why is in dictionaries? The note isn't an offical Unicode document, but it's written by 3 very prominent linguists/typographers, and important enough to be released as a Unicode Technical Note. PS: You'll note that Adobe is a computer company. Per my post above, I belive 'caron' is restricted to computers, and derivatives of the Unicode standard. +Hexagon1 ^(t) 15:17, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

It isn't correct to say that the UTN was written by three "very prominent linguists/typographers". Ken Whistler was trained in Chinese and Americanist linguistics, but Rick McGowan while he speaks Japanese and has studied writing systems is "just" a programmer, and Asmus Freytag is a physicist. All are friends of mine. None work as linguists currently and none of them has ever been a typographer. If you want the opinion of an actual "prominent linguist/typographer" associated with the Unicode standard, you can ask me, and I prefer caron to háček or haček or hacek or hachek. Evertype 07:56, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Mr. Everson, I fully respect your authority on this matter, but your explanation "if you want a prominent person's opinion, ask me" is not a really good argument and I think that you know that. Would you please clarify why you prefer caron to hacek? Is it because it sounds better in English than hacek? Or is there another reason, better than personal preference? As I already said before, I don't think that words ending on -on like caron, coupon or encephalon are "english" in their origins. 85.70.5.66 08:19, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

If Rick McGowan has studied writing systems his opinion is valuable, and the fact that the other two are not prominent linguists doesn't detract the fact that their opinion was considered valuable enough to be considered a Unicode Technical Note. While you are a linguist, you are focused in the computer fields of typography, in which the term caron prevails. (Mostly due to the Unicode standard) At universities, in dictionaries, in most linguistic literature the term háček prevails. +Hexagon1 ^(t) 08:29, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Please pay attention. Of course all three of them have studied writing systems. Everyone associated with Unicode has done at least some study. Ken is the trained linguist. He's the one who strongly prefers háček. Your appeal to authority was to those three, and because they are "prominent linguist/typesetters". Only Ken has a degree in linguistics, and none of the three are typesetters. A Unicode Technical Note is, by the way, informative, and is not a part of the formal standard in any way. You suggested that the opinion of a person associated with the Unicode Standard who was a linguist and typesetter was important, and a bit tongue-in-cheek I noted that I disagree with Ken. He likes háček; I like caron. BOTH of the words are neologisms new to the language. One is a borrowing from Czech not attested in the OED before 1953. The other seems to be a coinage (rather than a borrowing), perhaps based on the names of other typographical symbols, caret and macron. which seems to date from sometime in the 1970s. Neither of them seems to have an absolute claim of precedence over the other. I prefer the name caron because it is the formally standardized name. The trend is certainly for people concerned with fonts and keyboards and other aspects of character set technology and typography to use the standardized name. Further, it is simply simpler. It has one spelling, not three or four, and isn't festooned with non-English diacritics. I went to university. I learned the word háček. Later I learned the word caron. I don't believe that "in most linguistic literature the term háček prevails". Most linguistic literature doesn't discuss the names of diacritical marks. Typographic literature discusses the names of diacritical marks, and in that world, the term caron is prevailing. We should not add to the confusion by changing the name of this article. Evertype 08:51, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

If they teach háček at uni, then that's the proper name. Caron is a neologism used by die-hard typesetters. You yourself said you learnt the word caron after you learned háček in uni. I'd prefer the acedemic name, and this is a Wikipedia, not a device to promote linguistic change. +Hexagon1 ^(t) 00:29, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Caron is not a neologism; it's over twenty years old, almost as old as any example of "háček" in English, and the OED apparently lists the first usages of "háček" as clearly foreign words. It's not typesetters who came up with caron, it's typographers, the people who actually worry about the pieces of foreign letters the most. Given that caron is in common use on the internet, I fail to see why using it is promoting linguistic change any more than using any other word.--Prosfilaes 01:45, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Twenty years old is actually less than half as long as the use of hachek in English -- and most of the people who have been using "caron" have been lazily following along behind Adobe corporation documentation, directly or indirectly. AnonMoos 13:01, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

You see that's exactly it - "is in common use on the internet,". Not in linguistic literature. Not taught in universities. Not in Oxford dictionaries. The only reason caron propagated this far is because of the Unicode standard's mistake. +Hexagon1 ^(t) 01:52, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Hexagon prefers háček because he's Czech. That's fine, but the rest of the argument is bogus. Clearly there are two words in use for this diacritic. I have edited the article to reflect this. In linguistics, háček is preferred, though linguists also use the term wedge and inverted circumflex, inverted hat as noted in the article. In typography, caron is now the preferred term, probably because of the use of the term in International Standards like ISO/IEC 6937, ISO/IEC 8859, and ISO/IEC 10646. Hugh McGregor Ross is looking through his files now to see if he can find anything specific, but he does recall discussion about the name during the preparation of ISO 6937. And stop saying that Unicode made a mistake. It's not a mistake. Unicode used names from ISO/IEC 10646, and ISO/IEC 10646 used names from pre-existing ISO standards. Evertype 14:05, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes, foreign words are adopted. But the general trend in English is to drop diacritics, even ordinary ones from Spanish and French. You'll note that a Google search on Dvorak brings up an article on Antonin Dvorak on the first page, and (more tellingly) Dvorák, Antonín on the second. Even on names, the caron is dropped. If this were hacek versus caron, I might be arguing a different way.--Prosfilaes 16:24, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

I would agree that diacritics tend to be dropped, which is probably why the OED lists "hacek" as an alternative spelling, along with "háček" in their dictionary of the English language. - FrancisTyers · 16:37, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Ah, well if the internet says so. Never mind the countless books and people who spell it the correct way. Also you'll note that the háček isn't found on the default US nor UK keyboards yet, which may be a major factor preventing it's adoption on digital media, causing use of caron on computers, as opposed to linguistics-oriented literature which by far favours the use of háček over caron. And diacritics may be dropped, so what? But what has this got to do with this vote? Are you arguing that we should move this article to "hacek" because at a certain point in the future, the diacritics from háček may or may not be dropped? +Hexagon1 ^(t) 04:00, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

The reason why it's not on the keyboards and not in the common single-byte character sets designed for English is because it's not an English letter, and the webpage of Michael Everson, which lists the characters of the alphabets of European languages, does not list it as a letter. Háček is not acceptable because it's not an English word, and it's blatantly not an English word because it uses a letter that's not used in English. The last thing English needs is another random addition to its orthography.--Prosfilaes 04:39, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

You seem a bit confused. Háček is not a letter, it is a diacritic. -- Donald Albury^(Talk) 10:07, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes, but č is a letter. If you proposing that háček leads the introduction of a new productive diacritic into English, I find that far more horrifying.

Well that's fascinating, but this isn't a vote whether to adopt háčeks into English orthorgaphy, it's a vote on where the article should be located. Háček is an English word. It is found in linguistic literature, university lectures, dictionaries, etc. (I'm stating that for the third time, it is a point you have repeatedly ignored). Caron is limited to the field of computers, it was invented early 90s by Linotype. Caron seems to be the more common term on computers simply because of the Unicode Consortium's mistake of labelling the háček as such, instead of the correct term 'háček', but in academic circles (notably in the field of linguistics), háček is by far the more common term, with caron being about as common as "the v-shaped inverted hat thing". +Hexagon1 ^(t) 08:09, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Actually if you simply Google "caron ˇ" you get 16,300 hits, and if you Google "háček ˇ" you get 11,100. "By far the more common term"? Evertype 09:12, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Actually if you simply bothered to read my post you'd see the sentence "Caron seems to be the more common term on computers simply because of the Unicode Consortium's mistake of labelling the háček as such". +Hexagon1 ^(t) 00:29, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

This has probably been mentioned in the past, but the Unicode Technical Note linked above is not official Unicode Consortium opinion, it's the opinion of some experts. (I still stand by my vote in support of a move.) --Cam 04:40, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Just some interesting references: [2] is a speculative account of why the IPA does not use the háček; [3] shows that in Unicode Version 1.0, while the SGML used 'caron', the Unicode character name used 'hacek'; [4] shows that 'hacek' was the old name for what is now called 'caron' in unicode; [5] indicates that 'caron' is the French equivalent of 'háček' and [6] makes the comment that typographers know the caron also by its Czech name, hacek, pronounced “haa-check”. If 'caron' is French, then the issue comes down to which foreign language term should we use? While it doesn't work in French, 'caron' might be from some cognate of 'crown', which would be a descriptive name for the symbol. -- Donald Albury^(Talk) 10:45, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

I will note that the reference on why the IPA doesn't use the caron would rather assume racism then recognize that the caron is a diacritic, and is wrong in saying that the ezh developed from the yogh (as the essay linked from the bottom of both of those pages will show.)--Prosfilaes 16:24, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

For those who say that "háček" is not English, it appears in the Oxford English Dictionary (full edition online to subscribers at www.oed.com) with full diacritics. However, it seems like "caron" is the French name as Donald points out above [7]. The word "caron" does not appear in the Oxford English Dictionary. - FrancisTyers · 11:08, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes, English is quite prolific at borrowing. I would note that we blithely use 'tilde' (Spanish), 'cedillo' (Spanish), 'breve' (Latin), 'umlaut' (German), 'macron' (Greek) and 'ogonek' (Polish) as names of diacritics. -- Donald Albury^(Talk) 13:10, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

• Yes; having consulted the OED for the first discussion, I will add, as Francis does not, that they cite four grammars of Czech for háček (oldest 1953); three (and arguably four) of these treat it as a non-English term; and two of them translate it. Septentrionalis 15:05, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
  • "English doesn't borrow from other languages. English follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over, and goes through their pockets for loose grammar. " — Arthur Rubin | (talk) 15:10, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

You are quite right, the etymology is given:

[a. Czech, dim. form of hák hook.]

And the definition is given:

A name for the diacritic {nfhacek}, which is used in Baltic and Slavonic languages.

- FrancisTyers · 15:30, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

I forget to note that "Also hacek" is given under the "Other spellings" tab. - FrancisTyers · 15:36, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

That caron is a French word appears to be pure speculation, and I suspect it's just a wrong-headed guess. The háček is not used in the French language, and the single source cited above has no explanation and no references—probably compiled from Web sources. Does someone have a French dictionary or other real source? —Michael Z. 2006-07-07 14:02 Z

I have checked in a number of French dictionaries and it doesn't appear. However, it should be noted that these dictionaries were in no way as comprehensive as the Oxford English, and I originally checked in the Oxford Shorter (a two volume version, and anything but short) and "háček" did not appear in there. If anyone has access to a comprehensive French dictionary it would be nice to know. - FrancisTyers · 14:26, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

The site that says that 'caron' is French belongs to the Association Typographique Internationale, which presumably has better knowledge of these sorts of things than most web sites. -- Donald Albury^(Talk) 14:39, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Hm. It's not clear what that site says, since the page in question has no title, notes, or references (it also appears to say that "hacek accent" is the only English name). —Michael Z. 2006-07-07 15:35 Z

For what it's worth, caron does not appear to be an entry in the 8th or 9th editions of the Dictionary of the French Academy. (Warning: clumsy navigation) --Cam 14:42, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. Unlike English, French does have an official, authoritatively-defined vocabulary; by definition, French is exactly what the Académie says it is. Caron is not a French word, despite that a typography site has presented on a web page. —Michael Z. 2006-07-07 15:35 Z

Also note fr:Hatchek, which does not mention caron as a French synonym [machine translation]. —Michael Z. 2006-07-07 15:37 Z

But caron is the term used in the French translation of Unicode character names. Evertype 11:45, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

This is not an indication of caron's French origin. It probably just means that the Unicode translators didn't know the name fr:hatchek. —Michael Z. 2006-07-08 15:35 Z

I didn't suggest that the term had an origin in French. I said that it is a term in use in French. And the French Unicode translators were quite expert so it is quite a claim to make that they were really "unaware" if hatchek actually has currency in French. I do not know that it does. What is its provenance? It is not in my large Collins-Robert dictionary. Evertype 16:20, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

That's funny, I had always had this vague idea, that I am now learning is incorrect, that caron was a French word. It's funny to see that the French wiki actually calls it hatchek! In fact, it looks like all the languages with this article do, except for Swedish! ፈቃደ (ውይይት) 14:44, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

I don't have strong feelings either way, but as the poll seems to be evenly split, we could consider redirecting both to a more neutral name, perhaps caron/háček. Stephen B Streater 11:35, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

1. Ah, a flood of users just voted without looking at any of the discussion and understanding - frankly - anything. I would agree with the caron/háček proposal. Seems a fair compromise without anyone's head exploding. Meanwhile, I have listed this at "Request for Comment" +Hexagon1 ^(t) 01:48, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.