It seems the general rule is that when set for 5 data
bits, you want
to be able to talk to mechanical 5-bit machines, so the timing is set to
match what they expect.
Sure. I think I've seen at least one serial chip which allowed you to set
1, 1.5 or 2 stop bits for any word length. But in general if there were
only 2 choices for stop bits (1 signal or bit to control it), then it was
1 or 2 stop bits for 6,7,8 data bit codes and 1 or 1.5 stop bits for 5
bit codes.
-tony