Setting a Monolingual Linguistic Sort

A monolingual linguistic sort is the comparison and ordering of strings of characters in one language. It is usually used for European languages. The comparison is done in two stages. The first comparison concerns the major sort value of a character. The second comparison concerns the minor sort value of a character. Examples of major and minor sort values are shown in the following table:

Glyph	Major Sort Value	Minor Sort Value
a	15	5
A	15	10
ä	15	15
Ä	15	20

The major sort values are identical. The minor sort values are assigned for characteristics such as diacritical marks and case. The table is shown in ascending order: a has a smaller sort value than A.

You can choose a monolingual linguistic sort from a list of pre-defined sorts (called collations) or you can define a new sort. The pre-defined sorts are listed in the Existing Definitions dialog box that appears when you click Show Existing Definitions. Oracle Locale Builder allows you to view all the characteristics of any pre-defined monolingual linguistic sort.

You can define a new sort by modifying an existing sort or by entering all the data for a new sort. See Defining a New Monolingual Linguistic Sort.

Choosing the Collation Name from the Existing Definitions dialog box automatically completes the other field in the General monolingual sort definition dialog box:

• Collation ID: A numerical code that represents the chosen sort. It appears in parentheses after the Collation Name in the Existing Definitions dialog box .

Defining a New Monolingual Linguistic Sort

Each sort has several characteristics:

• Major/minor sort mapping
• Base letters
• Special letters
• Special uppercase letters
• Special lowercase letters
• Special base letters
• Combination letters

You can create a new monolingual linguistic sort by modifying an existing sort definition or by defining each sort characteristic. See Defining a New Monolingual Linguistic Sort.