At 00:12 -0600 2002-06-03, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >(1) The first problem is the need for a glottal character for Limbu (ie, >Limbu language written in Devanagri script, as opposed to Limbu script, >which already has a symbol for glottal). The Limbu language committee has >decided that this character should be represented using what looks pretty >much like the IPA glottal symbol (U+0294), though in a Devanagari font it >would have to be designed to match Devanagari characters.
I see this in version 2 of the Nepali White Paper http://www.cicc.or.jp/english/hyoujyunka/mlit3/7-7-2.pdf >The question is whether there is any problem using U+0294, and whether >proposing a Devanagari-specific character would be a better option. One >particular problem I can think would be likely to occur would be rendering >engines such as Uniscribe or whatever is coded into host environments like >Java for "Hindi" support would not be able to cope with U+0294 occuring in >the midst of a Devanagari sequence. E.g. I could easily imagine something >like Uniscribe failing to reordering U+093F before a glottal U+0294. That almost answers my first question. Does Devanagari glottal have an inherent vowel? If it does, encode a new character. >(2) The second problem involves nukta (U+093C). In better-known languages, >nukta can occur only on consonants, but for certain lesser-known >languages, it can occur on vowels as well. Yet some implementations might >not recognise a sequence like < consonant, vowel, nukta > as valid. For >instance, I understand that if Uniscribe encountered such a sequence, it >would assume you've left out a consonant immediately before the nukta, >and it would display a dotted circle to indicate where a missing base >character should go. So what would you suggest? A vocalic-nukta? I wouldn't like that. In Cham, independent vowels can take dependent vowel signs. In Devanagari, I guess that doesn't occur, but the Brahmic model shouldn't be understood to preclude this behaviour. >Our people in South Asia have told me the nukta can occur on vowels in the >range U+093e..U+094c, though my contact has told me that he himself has >only seen this on 093E, 0940, 0941 and 094B. Um, that's AA, II, U, and O. What does the nukta make them sound like? -- Michael Everson *** Everson Typography *** http://www.evertype.com