1. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method for building a symbol table for storing sort weights for a plurality of linguistic symbols used in a plurality of languages supported by a computer system, the method comprising: constructing the symbol table to contain a list of code points for a plurality of linguistic symbols used in a plurality of languages, wherein each entry in the list includes a code point uniquely identifying one linguistic symbol of the plurality of linguistic symbols and a sort weight for the one linguistic symbol uniquely identified by the code point, the sort weight including at least two of a script member value for the linguistic symbol, an alphabetic weight value for the linguistic symbol, a diacritic weight value for the linguistic symbol, and a case weight value for the linguistic symbol; providing a plurality of compression tables for the plurality of languages, each compression table pertaining to one of the supported languages and having a particular compression type identifying a number of symbols in a given compression in the compression table, wherein each entry in the compression table comprises a compression of symbols of the particular compression type, each compression of symbols in the plurality of compression tables being a grouping of two or more symbols treated as a single sort element for purposes of linguistic sorting such that an order of a given compression in the linguistic sorting is determined based on a compression type of the given compression, a first of the two or more symbols in the given compression and a predefined order of symbols; and for each code point in the symbol table, sorting the plurality of compression tables for the plurality of languages using a processor of the computer, based on the sort elements; identifying a highest compression type for compressions in the plurality of compression tables beginning with the symbol identified by the code point, wherein the identified highest compression type indicates the highest compression type, for the code point, in the plurality of compression tables for the plurality of languages; and storing, in the symbol table, a tag for the code point to indicate said highest compression type for the code point, wherein the tag for the code point is stored as a portion of the sort weight of the symbol identified by the code point, and wherein the sort weight of the symbol identified by the code point comprises a case weight value, and wherein the tag for the code point is stored as part of the case weight value for the code point.
1. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method for building a symbol table for storing sort weights for a plurality of linguistic symbols used in a plurality of languages supported by a computer system, the method comprising: constructing the symbol table to contain a list of code points for a plurality of linguistic symbols used in a plurality of languages, wherein each entry in the list includes a code point uniquely identifying one linguistic symbol of the plurality of linguistic symbols and a sort weight for the one linguistic symbol uniquely identified by the code point, the sort weight including at least two of a script member value for the linguistic symbol, an alphabetic weight value for the linguistic symbol, a diacritic weight value for the linguistic symbol, and a case weight value for the linguistic symbol; providing a plurality of compression tables for the plurality of languages, each compression table pertaining to one of the supported languages and having a particular compression type identifying a number of symbols in a given compression in the compression table, wherein each entry in the compression table comprises a compression of symbols of the particular compression type, each compression of symbols in the plurality of compression tables being a grouping of two or more symbols treated as a single sort element for purposes of linguistic sorting such that an order of a given compression in the linguistic sorting is determined based on a compression type of the given compression, a first of the two or more symbols in the given compression and a predefined order of symbols; and for each code point in the symbol table, sorting the plurality of compression tables for the plurality of languages using a processor of the computer, based on the sort elements; identifying a highest compression type for compressions in the plurality of compression tables beginning with the symbol identified by the code point, wherein the identified highest compression type indicates the highest compression type, for the code point, in the plurality of compression tables for the plurality of languages; and storing, in the symbol table, a tag for the code point to indicate said highest compression type for the code point, wherein the tag for the code point is stored as a portion of the sort weight of the symbol identified by the code point, and wherein the sort weight of the symbol identified by the code point comprises a case weight value, and wherein the tag for the code point is stored as part of the case weight value for the code point. 4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein a first compression table of the plurality of compression tables has a first compression type such that each compression in the first compression table has a first number of symbols, and wherein a second compression table of the plurality of compression tables has a second, different compression type such that each compression in the second compression table has a second number of symbols, the second number being different than the first number.