- X-convention
The x-convention or iksokodo or iksa-sistemo is a surrogate writing system for Esperanto that is compatible with
ASCII -only systems such as certain e-mail clients.Since Esperanto does not use the letter
X in its native words, many Esperanto enthusiasts have taken to using the letter to signal a diacritical mark that is not available in 7-bit ASCII, placing the "x" after the letter that would have the diacritic in aUnicode -compliant application.For example, the Section 3 of the
Declaration of Boulogne reads in part::"Ĉar la aŭtoro de la lingvo Esperanto tuj en la komenco rifuzis unu fojon por ĉiam ĉiujn personajn rajtojn kaj privilegiojn rilate tiun lingvon, tial Esperanto estas nenies propraĵo.
Using the x-convention to transmit the document over 7-bit ASCII e-mail, the excerpt would read:
:"Cxar la auxtoro de la lingvo Esperanto tuj en la komenco rifuzis unu fojon por cxiam cxiujn personajn rajtojn kaj privilegiojn rilate tiun lingvon, tial Esperanto estas nenies proprajxo.
Just six mass replace operations would be necessary on either end.
Arguments for
Perceived advantages include:
*It is easy to convert to other encodings;
*It is easy to type from any keyboard without needing special software or settings; for this reason, it has been used as aninput method for many computer programs;
*Since x alphabetically follows all letters in the Esperanto alphabet except z, words written in the x-system can be automatically alphabetized in the correct order, with ĉ (cx) following c;
*With x as a non-Esperanto letter, confusion between h used to indicate a diacritic and the Esperanto letter h is avoided.Arguments against
Perceived disadvantages of the system include:
*The x-system is different from the h-system recommended byL. L. Zamenhof for occasions when diacritics are unavailable;
*Some French words have the string "ux" (such as "Bordeaux"). If these are present in an Esperanto text using the x-system, and the text is automatically converted to another encoding, this will be incorrectly changed.
*Some argue that it looks strange and awkward.External links
* [http://akademio-de-esperanto.org/oficialaj_informoj/oficialaj_informoj_6_2007.html "Pri apartaj teknikaj bezonoj rilate al niaj alfabeto kaj ortografio"] (declaration of the
Akademio de Esperanto January 21 2007) eo icon
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.