Chookij> As I understand about ZWJ for Devanagari, ZWJ will be used when
Chookij> we don't want the ligature happending between the dead consonant
Chookij> and the live consonant. The dead consonant is the live consonant
Chookij> with VIRAMA. So, ZWJ will be following the VIRAMA.
True.
Chookij> I'm not too sure if I can guess some confusion but here is what I
Chookij> think. The dead consonant happends when the live consonant is
Chookij> applied with VIRAMA. If this dead consonant is followed by the
Chookij> live consonant, then the ligature between this dead consonat and
Chookij> the live consonant will happend.
True.
Chookij> If the dead consonant is applied with ZWJ and following by the
Chookij> live consonant, the dead consonant will be changed to "Half
Chookij> consonant" and connected to the live consonant.
Chookij> To me, they are just 2 ways to select which shaping you want.
You are right that these are just 2 ways to select the shaping you want.
The confusion is the view that *all* half-consonant formation *requires* the
ZWJ. In general, when constructing an akshara (consonant+consonant+...+vowel
group) with more than one consonant, the half-consonants form automatically
from dead consonants *without* the need for ZWJ, as long as the renderer does
not combine them to form a conjunct or ligature.
The need for ZWJ is then limited to stopping conjunct and ligature formation,
or rendering an explicit half-consonant by itself.
Chookij> So, ZWJ should be used with the dead consonant, otherwise there
Chookij> shouldn't be any shapes changed between 2 live consonant
Chookij> regardless of ZWJ is in between or not.
True.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Leisher
Computing Research Lab I have never made but one prayer to God,
New Mexico State University a very short one:
Box 30001, Dept. 3CRL "Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous."
Las Cruces, NM 88003 And God granted it. -- Voltaire, letter
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