Simple jQuery List Filter Plugin - v2

This is a simple jQuery List Filter Plugin. After a version based on work by Mark van der Velden > http://blog.dynom.nl I decided to see if there was a better/faster way of filtering. For discussion and origin see http://ben.peachey-schoorl.com/work_blog/2011/02/simple-jquery-list-filter-plugin/

by Ben Peachey

HTML

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://pother.ca/CssBase/css/base.css">
<script src="https://rawgit.com/Potherca/9905c2cdb07c2ac2a35c4bb34fbb6620/raw/removeDiacritics.js"></script>
<h1>Simple jQuery List Filter Plugin - v2</h1>
<h2>Introduction</h2>
<p> 
    This is a simple jQuery List Filter Plugin. After a version based on work by  <a href="http://blog.dynom.nl">Mark van der Velden</a> I decided to see if there was a better/faster way of filtering
</p>

<p>
    As an extra exercise I added a flag for case-sensitivity and the possibility to ignore <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacritics" title="a glyph added to a letter" >diacritics</a>
</p>


<p>
    For discussion and origin see <a href="http://ben.peachey-schoorl.com/work_blog/2011/02/simple-jquery-list-filter-plugin/">this blog post</a>
</p>

<h2>Demo</h2>
<div> 
    <input type="text" name="filter" id="a-search-filter" />
</div> 
<div id="a-list-of-items"> 
    <ul>
        <li><span>Ahoj všetci!</span></li>
        <li><span>Ahoj všichni!</span></li>
        <li><span>Bonjou mond!</span></li>
        <li><span>Bonjour tout le monde!</span></li>
        <li><span>Bună ziua lume!</span></li>
        <li><span>Ciao mondo!</span></li>
        <li><span>Dia duit ar domhan!</span></li>
        <li><span>Habari dunia!</span></li>
        <li><span>Halló heimur!</span></li>
        <li><span>Hallo Welt!</span></li>
        <li><span>Hallo wereld!</span></li>
        <li><span>Hallo wêreld!</span></li>
        <li><span>Halo dunia!</span></li>
        <li><span>Hei, verden!</span></li>
        <li><span>Hej världen!</span></li>
        <li><span>Hej Verden</span></li>
        <li><span>Helló világ!</span></li>
        <li><span>Hello world!</span></li>
        <li><span>Helo byd!</span></li>
        <li><span>Hola, món!</span></li>
        <li><span>¡Hola, mundo!</span></li>
        <li><span>Kaixo mundua!</span></li>
        <li><span>Merhaba dünya!</span></li>
        <li><span>Moikka...

JavaScript

/* THE DEMO */
$(function() {
    $('#a-search-filter').filterFor('li');
});

/* THE ACTUAL CODE */
/*global jQuery*/

/**
 * If not sort-item-selector is given, the entire text of the list-selector is used.
 */
(function($) {

    'use strict';

    // Based on source code at http://lehelk.com/2011/05/06/script-to-remove-diacritics/

    function removeDiacritics(p_sSubject) {
        var aDiacritics, sKey, sSubject;

        sSubject = p_sSubject;

        aDiacritics = {
            'A': /[\u0041\u24B6\uFF21\u00C0\u00C1\u00C2\u1EA6\u1EA4\u1EAA\u1EA8\u00C3\u0100\u0102\u1EB0\u1EAE\u1EB4\u1EB2\u0226\u01E0\u00C4\u01DE\u1EA2\u00C5\u01FA\u01CD\u0200\u0202\u1EA0\u1EAC\u1EB6\u1E00\u0104\u023A\u2C6F]/g,
            'AA': /[\uA732]/g,
            'AE': /[\u00C6\u01FC\u01E2]/g,
            'AO': /[\uA734]/g,
            'AU': /[\uA736]/g,
            'AV': /[\uA738\uA73A]/g,
            'AY': /[\uA73C]/g,
            'B': /[\u0042\u24B7\uFF22\u1E02\u1E04\u1E06\u0243\u0182\u0181]/g,
            'C': /[\u0043\u24B8\uFF23\u0106\u0108\u010A\u010C\u00C7\u1E08\u0187\u023B\uA73E]/g,
            'D': /[\u0044\u24B9\uFF24\u1E0A\u010E\u1E0C\u1E10\u1E12\u1E0E\u0110\u018B\u018A\u0189\uA779]/g,
            'DZ': /[\u01F1\u01C4]/g,
            'Dz': /[\u01F2\u01C5]/g,
            'E': /[\u0045\u24BA\uFF25\u00C8\u00C9\u00CA\u1EC0\u1EBE\u1EC4\u1EC2\u1EBC\u0112\u1E14\u1E16\u0114\u0116\u00CB\u1EBA\u011A\u0204\u0206\u1EB8\u1EC6\u0228\u1E1C\u0118\u1E18\u1E1A\u0190\u018E]/g,
            'F': /[\u0046\u24BB\uFF26\u1E1E\u0191\uA77B]/g,
            'G': /[\u0047\u24BC\uFF27\u01F4\u011C\u1E20\u011E\u0120\u01E6\u0122\u01E4\u0193\uA7A0\uA77D\uA77E]/g,
            'H': /[\u0048\u24BD\uFF28\u0124\u1E22\u1E26\u021E\u1E24\u1E28\u1E2A\u0126\u2C67\u2C75\uA78D]/g,
            'I': /[\u0049\u24BE\uFF29\u00CC\u00CD\u00CE\u0128\u012A\u012C\u0130\u00CF\u1E2E\u1EC8\u01CF\u0208\u020A\u1ECA\u012E\u1E2C\u0197]/g,
            'J': /[\u004A\u24BF\uFF2A\u0134\u0248]/g,
            'K':...