Re: "Eyebrow Repha" (Marathi and other languages)

From: James E. Agenbroad (jage@loc.gov)
Date: Wed Mar 25 1998 - 15:33:09 EST


On Wed, 25 Mar 1998, Timothy Partridge wrote:

> Jim Agenbroad said:
> > At R5 on page 6-39 ZWJ is used with Devanagari for one purpose; at
> > figure 6-15, on page 6-37 ZWJ is used with Devanagari for another purpose.
> > Both are valid purposes, but how would rendering software ascertain which
> > purpose was intended?
>
> Surely there is no ambiguity. On page 6-37 ZWJ is used to create
> half-consonant forms of consonants, rather than the usual behviour. On page
> 6-39 ZWJ is used to create the half-consonant form of RA, namely the
> eyelash-RA. Isn't R5 simply confirming that RA does have a half-consonant
> form and showing what it looks like?
>
> Quote with emphasis added:
> R5 If the dead consonant RAd precedes ZERO WIDTH JOINER, then the
> *half consonant* form RAh, known as eyelash-RA, is used instead of
> RAsup. This form of RA is commonly used in writing certain languages
> such as Marathi.
>
> Tim
>
> --
> Tim Partridge. Any opinions expressed are mine only and not those of my employer
>
>
                                                Wednesday, Mdarch 25, 1998
Tim,
     There are several half forms of RAd: RAh, RAsub and RAsup; if the
only form that can be displayed independently using ZWJ is RAh it would
help if this were stated in the text accompanying figure 6-15 on page
6-37. If there is some other (non-ZWJ) way to display RAsub and RAsup
half forms independently an explanation of it should be of interest to
anyone wanting to describe Devanagari conjunct formation using a
Unicode(tm) Standard based application. If there is no way to do so it
would help to know that too.
     Regards,
          Jim Agenbroad ( jage@LOC.gov )
     The above are purely personal opinions, not necessarily the official
views of any government or any agency of any.
Phone: 202 707-9612; Fax: 202 707-0955; US mail: I.T.S. Dev.Gp.4, Library
of Congress, 101 Independence Ave. SE, Washington, D.C. 20540-9334 U.S.A.



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