L2/04-292

Title: Manichaean Joining Types and Shaping Behavior
Source: Rick McGowan
Date: 2004-07-20

With regard to Michael Everson's 2003 Revised Proposal to Encode the Manichaean Script (L2/03-099, WG2 N 2544), available here: http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2003/03099-n2544-manichaean.pdf I was asked by UTC to provide information on joining type and behavior (Action 94-A37).

This document represents my preliminary analysis and is subject to revision.

The shaping behavior is similar to Arabic. Most letters have the familiar 4 forms. Arabic has no letters that are of the "Left Joining" type (according to TUS 4.0, section 8.2, pages 199, 203, 204).  Manichaean, however, does seem to have four such letters, as shown in the chart below.

Manichaean Joining Types

This analysis is based on a table found on the Titus web site here: http://titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de/unicode/iranian/3tagung.htm which is reproduced herein (below).

 Hex LETTER   Joining Type   Notes 
00MANICHAEAN PUNCTUATION FLEURONN  
01MANICHAEAN PUNCTUATION DOT WITHIN DOT N 
02MANICHAEAN PUNCTUATION SINGLE THICK DOT N 
03MANICHAEAN PUNCTUATION SINGLE THIN DOT N 
04MANICHAEAN PUNCTUATION TWO DOTSN  
05MANICHAEAN PUNCTUATION LINE FILLERN  
     
10MANICHAEAN LETTER ALAPHLeft  
11MANICHAEAN LETTER BETHDual  
12MANICHAEAN LETTER GAMALDual  
13MANICHAEAN LETTER GHAMALDual  
14MANICHAEAN LETTER DALATHDual  
15MANICHAEAN LETTER HEN  
16MANICHAEAN LETTER WAWDual  
17MANICHAEAN LETTER ZAINDual 1
18MANICHAEAN LETTER HETHLeft  
19MANICHAEAN LETTER TETHDual  
1AMANICHAEAN LETTER YUDHDual  
1BMANICHAEAN LETTER KAPHDual  
1CMANICHAEAN LETTER LAMADHLeft  
1DMANICHAEAN LETTER DHALATHDual  
1EMANICHAEAN LETTER MIMDual  
1FMANICHAEAN LETTER NUNDual 2
     
20MANICHAEAN LETTER SEMKATHDual  
21MANICHAEAN LETTER AYINLeft  
22MANICHAEAN LETTER PEDual  
23MANICHAEAN LETTER SADHERight  
24MANICHAEAN LETTER JAIN? 3
25MANICHAEAN LETTER QAPHDual  
26MANICHAEAN LETTER RISHRight  
27MANICHAEAN LETTER SHINN  
28MANICHAEAN LETTER TAWDual  
29MANICHAEAN COMBINING SINGLE DOTN  
2AMANICHAEAN COMBINING DOUBLE DOTN  
2BMANICHAEAN COMBINING ABBREVIATION DOTS N 
2CMANICHAEAN COMBINING PLURAL DOTSN  
2DMANICHAEAN LENGTHENERCausing 4

Notes to the joining type table

Num Notes
1The character MANICHAEAN LETTER ZAIN may have Right joining type rather than dual, but available evidence is insufficient to make a determination.
2The character MANICHAEAN LETTER NUN is hypothesized to have dual joining type, but no medial form actually exists in the table.
3Joining types for the character MANICHAEAN LETTER JAIN cannot be found in the table, so it is unknown at this time.
4The character MANICHAEAN LENGTHENER is presumed to be like a Tatweel and is given the same joining type.

Chart (image) of joining types from the Titus web site

 

(The image above is scaled to 20% for viewing here.
You can click to view or print full size. 386k)

Character Properties

Here I am proposing to treat the Manichaean punctuation marks as "Right to left" (R) as in Hebrew, rather than as "Arabic Letter" (AL) as are the punctuation marks in Syriac. The point is debatable, but may not make any significant difference. The Manichaean letters are all strong right-to-left. The combining marks are treated like other marks above (value 230), and the lengthener is treated like Tatweel.

Punctuation Marks

xx00;MANICHAEAN PUNCTUATION FLEURON;Po;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx01;MANICHAEAN PUNCTUATION DOT WITHIN DOT;Po;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx02;MANICHAEAN PUNCTUATION SINGLE THICK DOT;Po;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx03;MANICHAEAN PUNCTUATION SINGLE THIN DOT;Po;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx04;MANICHAEAN PUNCTUATION TWO DOTS;Po;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx05;MANICHAEAN PUNCTUATION LINE FILLER;Po;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;

Manichaean Letters

xx10;MANICHAEAN LETTER ALAPH;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx11;MANICHAEAN LETTER BETH;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx12;MANICHAEAN LETTER GAMAL;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx13;MANICHAEAN LETTER GHAMAL;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx14;MANICHAEAN LETTER DALATH;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx15;MANICHAEAN LETTER HE;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx16;MANICHAEAN LETTER WAW;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx17;MANICHAEAN LETTER ZAIN;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx18;MANICHAEAN LETTER HETH;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx19;MANICHAEAN LETTER TETH;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx1A;MANICHAEAN LETTER YUDH;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx1B;MANICHAEAN LETTER KAPH;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx1C;MANICHAEAN LETTER LAMADH;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx1D;MANICHAEAN LETTER DHALATH;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx1E;MANICHAEAN LETTER MIM;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx1F;MANICHAEAN LETTER NUN;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx20;MANICHAEAN LETTER SEMKATH;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx21;MANICHAEAN LETTER AYIN;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx22;MANICHAEAN LETTER PE;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx23;MANICHAEAN LETTER SADHE;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx24;MANICHAEAN LETTER JAIN;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx25;MANICHAEAN LETTER QAPH;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx26;MANICHAEAN LETTER RISH;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx27;MANICHAEAN LETTER SHIN;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;
xx28;MANICHAEAN LETTER TAW;Lo;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;

Manichaean Combining Marks

xx29;MANICHAEAN COMBINING SINGLE DOT;Mn;230;NSM;;;;;N;;;;;
xx2A;MANICHAEAN COMBINING DOUBLE DOT;Mn;230;NSM;;;;;N;;;;;
xx2B;MANICHAEAN COMBINING ABBREVIATION DOTS;Mn;230;NSM;;;;;N;;;;;
xx2C;MANICHAEAN COMBINING PLURAL DOTS;Mn;230;NSM;;;;;N;;;;;

Manichaean Other

xx2D;MANICHAEAN LENGTHENER;Lm;0;R;;;;;N;;;;;

Linebreaking Behavior

Manichaean linebreaking behavior should be similar to Arabic and Syriac behavior with respect to the letters of the alphabet. As far as I can discover from the proposal and some printed examples, the several punctuation marks should be treated like other ordinary stand-alone symbols.

Rev 1, 2004-07-20