3 new Asian fonts from SIL

From: Peter Constable (peter_constable@sil.org)
Date: Wed Apr 12 2000 - 14:22:49 EDT


       SIL International is very pleased to announce the availability
       of three new font packages for scripts of Asia - SIL Dai Banna,
       SIL Tai Dam and SIL Yi.

       SIL International is an organization of linguists dedicated to
       the study and promotion of the thousands of languages around
       the world. As a service to the general academic community, we
       are happy to make these packages available at no charge. You
       may (and are encouraged to) share this package with your
       friends and co-workers, as long as you abide by certain
       distribution restrictions detailed on the web pages for each
       package.

       SIL DAI BANNA

       The SIL Dai Banna Fonts are a new rendering of the New Tai Lue
       (Xishuangbanna Dai) script. Two font families, differing only
       in weight, allow for a wide range of uses. The fonts are
       available for both Macintosh and Windows systems and include
       keyboard definitions. As the New Tai Lue script is not yet part
       of the Unicode and ISO/IEC 10646 standards, these fonts use a
       custom, 8-bit codepage.

       The New Tai Lue script is used by approximately 700,000 people
       who speak the Tai Lue language in Yunnan, China. It is a
       simplification of the original Lanna script as used for the Tai
       Lue language for hundreds of years.

       For additional information or to download the SIL Dai Banna
       Fonts package, go to

              http://www.sil.org/computing/fonts/sildb/

       We particularly thank the staff of the Research Center for the
       Minority Languages of China for their assistance in developing
       this font package. The Research Center for the Minority
       Languages is part of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,
       Institute for Nationalities Studies located in Beijing, China.

       SIL TAI DAM

       The SIL Tai Dam Fonts are regular and bold versions of the
       traditional Tai Dam script and are closely based on handwritten
       letters. The fonts are available for both Macintosh and Windows
       systems and include keyboard definitions. As the Tai Dam script
       is not yet part of the Unicode and ISO/IEC 10646 standards,
       these fonts use a custom, 8-bit codepage.

       Over half a million Tai Dam people (also known as Black Tai or
       Tai Noir) live in northwestern Vietnam and northern Laos. Their
       language is a member of the Tai-Kadai language family and is
       closely related to Laotian and Standard Thai. The Tai Dam have
       a long tradition of literacy in the script rendered by the
       TaiHeritage font family. In more recent years, other
       orthographies, including romanizations, have come into use as
       well.

       For additional information or to download the SIL Tai Dam Fonts
       package, go to

              http://www.sil.org/computing/fonts/siltd/

       Special thanks are due to Mr. Faah Baccam, whose drawings have
       served as the basis for the development of these fonts. Any
       defects in the final digital designs, however, remain our
       responsibility. Suggestions for design improvements in any
       future edition, especially from Tai Dam users of the fonts, are
       welcome.

       SIL YI

       The SIL Yi Font is a single Unicode font for the standardized
       Yi script used by a large ethnic group in southwestern China.
       It can be used in certain Windows applications that support
       Unicode.

       The traditional Yi scripts have been in use for centuries, and
       have a tremendous number of local variants. The script was
       standardized in the 1970's by the Chinese government. In the
       process of standardization, 820 symbols from the traditional
       scripts of the Liangshan region were chosen to form a
       syllabary. The syllable inventory of a speech variety from Xide
       County, Sichuan was used as the phonological basis for
       standardization. For the most part there is one symbol per
       phonologically-distinct syllable and vice-versa. The direction
       of writing and reading was standardized as left-to-right.
       Punctuation symbols were borrowed from Chinese, and a diacritic
       was incorporated into the system to mark one of the tones.

       This font includes a complete set of Yi syllables and radicals
       (as defined in The Unicode Standard, Version 3.0), a basic set
       of Roman glyphs and various punctuation.

       For additional information or to download the SIL Yi Font
       package, go to

              http://www.sil.org/computing/fonts/silyi/

       -- SIL Non-Roman Script Initiative



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