Re: chinese word mode

[Eric Abrahamsen]

Xue Fuqiao <address@hidden> writes:

> Looks interesting, although sometimes it can be ambiguous.
>
> For example:
>
> * `化妆和服装' can split into either `化妆 和 服装' or `化妆 和服 装';
> * In `这个门把手坏了', `把手' is a word, but in `请把手拿开', `把手' is not a word;
> * In `将军任命了一名中将', `中将' is a word, but in `产量三年中将增长两倍', `中将' isn't a
> word any more.
>
> How do you solve this problem?

Short answer: you don't! When I first started looking at this issue, I
was considering all kinds of complicated solutions involving external
libraries by people smarter than me, who presumably had a system for
syntactical analysis.

Then someone pointed me at thai-word.el, which takes the "dumb"
approach -- scanning forward for the longest string in a word list --
and I realized if I was going to get anything actually completed, this
would have to do.

Mainly the point is making navigation through Chinese prose a little
less annoying, not producing a "correct" solution. As you note, there
will always be ambiguities that can't be resolved.

Eric