Re: [unicode] Re: Ligatures For Indic languages

From: AbhijitDutta अभिजित অভিজিত্ (dabhijit@in.ibm.com)
Date: Fri May 30 2008 - 05:47:28 CDT

  • Next message: vunzndi@vfemail.net: "Re: [unicode] Re: Ligatures For Indic languages"

    I agree with this view.

    The only gap that I can "point" to is the fact that there is no
    _comprehensive_ *documentation* of the "A+B+C+ ..x" model and their basis.

    We attempted this in 2001 and portions are available in the TDIL magazines
    for 2002 (see Mahesh's link) . The Late Dr. Joshi was an expert on these
    aspects of Indic orthography. We continue to act on his goals.

    I also want to re-iterate that "glyph-formation" is connected with the
    Input Method. The Sinhala approach of forming their characters - while
    almost identical to those of Indian scripts - and subject to the same
    principles - is determined by slight changes in their keyboard design. (
    e.g. the "Kombuva" range of "Two-part or Split matras" which are similar to
    those in Tamil and Bengali are generated in visual sequence and not
    linguistic sequence. )

    So, while the basis for character-generation would be the same in Sinhala.
    Its handling by the Layout Engine would be different.

    Regards,
    Abhijit Dutta
    ____________________________

    unicode-bounce@unicode.org wrote on 30/05/2008 02:37:41 PM:

    > Most Indian script enthusiasts are quite satisfied with the current
    > state of generating ligatures. Unicode encoding and shaping rules
    > have found their way to common usage as well as high quality
    > printing. There is no reason, incentive nor inclination for creating
    > any standard for a ligature collection. Nor does it gurantee the
    > quality of Indic script printing.
    >
    > The CJK approach of pages after pages of encoded letters or
    > ligatures or conjuncts is not needed for Indic scripts. We are proud
    > of the logical structure of our scripts that allows thousands of
    > shapes to be generated from a couple of hundred basic codes. The
    > enhancements needed to achieve this have been researched well,
    > standardized into Unicode and implemented for daily and specialist use.
    >
    > Vinod Kumar

    > On 5/30/08, Mahesh T. Pai <paivakil@gmail.com> wrote:
    > mpsuzuki@hiroshima-u.ac.jp said on Fri, May 30, 2008 at 04:02:53PM
    +0900,:
    >
    >
    > > I'm interested in if Bureau of Indian Standards has any plan
    > > to define a standard of precomposed ligature collection (to
    > > guarantee the quality of Indic script printing), and asked
    > > such question to BIS, but I couldn't receive any comments.
    >
    >
    > This is something I have raised in more than one forum, but
    > unfortunately, I have no affiliations, and I am not a developer, so
    > have been unable to follow through. :(
    >
    > The TDIL may be the more appropriate forum - but it is part of a
    > government behemoth. But they have defined a minimal set of glyphs for
    > Malayalam - and I guess the position is same for Devanagari
    > too. Devanagari is described in one of the files downloadable from
    > http://tdil.mit.gov.in/news.htm .
    >
    >
    >
    > --
    > Mahesh T. Pai <<>> http://paivakil.blogspot.com/



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