250	Proposal to Specify Optional Conjuncts in Malayalam	2013.04.29
Status:	Closed
Originator:	UTC
Informal Discussion:	Unicode Mail List (Join)
Formal Feedback:	Contact Form
Resolution:	Closed. A new proposal will be written, based on comments and discussion, and a new PRI will be forthcoming.

Description of Issue:

In Malayalam there are two prevailing orthographies, traditional and reformed. Both are written using the same Malayalam character set. The difference between them is typically manifested only by the font. Traditional orthography accommodates more full conjuncts, while the reformed orthography would use visibile virama (Chandrakkala) separated sequences for many of those full conjuncts.

This proposal specifies the further use of ZWJ and ZWNJ in sequences in the Malayalam script to indicate preferences for optional display of conjuncts. Such sequences are intended to indicate the preferences, both for rendering systems that support the reformed Malayalam orthography and for systems that support the traditional Malayalam orthography.

See the background document for details of the proposal.

The UTC is seeking feedback on this proposal, regarding its advisability and potential impacts on implementations, as well as any suggestions for alternative approaches to the issues raised in the background document.

For information about how to discuss this issue and how to supply formal feedback, please see the feedback and discussion instructions. The accumulated feedback received so far on this issue is shown below, or you can look at a full page view.