UAX #29 rev. 49, Section 4.2.1: should the text note that U+058A is ALetter and U+30A0 is Katakana by default?

Section 4.2.1 says hyphens are better kept out of the default word definition and names U+058A ARMENIAN HYPHEN and U+30A0 KATAKANA-HIRAGANA DOUBLE HYPHEN. Table 3 puts U+058A in ALetter and U+30A0 in Katakana, so by default they do not break words between letters of those classes.

Consequence

Armenian letters around U+058A and Katakana letters around U+30A0 form one word by default.

Proposed correction

Note in Section 4.2.1 that U+058A is ALetter and U+30A0 is Katakana in the default rules.

Issued by

Unicode Consortium — Unicode Technical Committee

Act

UAX #29 revision 49 (Unicode 18.0.0)

Place

Section 4.2.1, against Table 3

Record

Question of reading or data

Class

Question of reading or data

Where it arose

The text of the act

Arxo's conclusion

Confirmed

Official text

Unchanged at last check

Last checked

2026-10-31

Evidence

Contradiction within the text. Quotations are verbatim from the official material; translations are ours and marked.

it is better overall to keep the hyphen out of the default definition. Hyphens include U+002D HYPHEN-MINUS, U+2010 HYPHEN, possibly also U+058A ARMENIAN HYPHEN, and U+30A0 KATAKANA-HIRAGANA DOUBLE HYPHEN.

Katakana | Script = KATAKANA, or any of the following:

U+30A0 ( ゠ ) KATAKANA-HIRAGANA DOUBLE HYPHEN

ALetter | Alphabetic = Yes, or any of the following characters:

U+058A ( ֊ ) ARMENIAN HYPHEN

How to check it without Arxo's tools

1. Open UAX #29 revision 49 (Unicode 18.0.0), Unicode Consortium and find Section 4.2.1, against Table 3; Table 3, row Katakana; Table 3, row ALetter. Compare the text with the quotation above. A copy is kept in this register: 60fb49ee640a154d-tr29-49.html (SHA-256 60fb49ee640a154d9e40468306c6b283edcef73be3af5ede778107b4787bdec8, copy of the official file).
2. The finding holds if the quoted passages read as shown and the comparison gives the result stated at the top of this page. If it does not, write to us with the record ID.

How this finding was made

AI agents read the annexes and the data files and compared them; the examples were run through published implementations. An AI coordinator checked each place against the full annex and the trackers, and two further AI models checked the report before filing.

Responsible institutions

• Unicode Consortium — publishes the annex and the Unicode Character Database

Reported to

Responses

No response recorded.

History

1. 2026-10-31Confirmed by Arxo
2. 2026-10-31Entered in the register
3. 2026-10-31Reported to Unicode Consortium (e-mail)

Cite this record

Arxo Law, Arxo Findings Register, ARXO-2026-0470, https://arxo.io/findings/ARXO-2026-0470/ (status as of 2026-10-31). Data: ARXO-2026-0470.json.