Re: Tamil u,uu matra consonants - Orthographic variation

From: SS (sisrivas@blueyonder.co.uk)
Date: Wed Jun 09 2010 - 15:12:30 CDT

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    Ah,

    There is two items to consider
    1/ The fonts are separated fo separate use (complex rendered and not complex
    rendered)
    2/ If the same font is doing both functions, then the fallback for
    non-complex rendered shapes will need to be used (which will be an unknown
    dependency) if NZWJ is to work. otherwise it will be another form of
    scrrible, as you may observe in displaced combukaL.

    Sinnathurai

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: "N. Ganesan" <naa.ganesan@gmail.com>
    To: "SS" <sisrivas@blueyonder.co.uk>; "Unicode Mailing List"
    <unicode@unicode.org>
    Sent: 09 June 2010 20:26
    Subject: Re: Tamil u,uu matra consonants - Orthographic variation

    I don't understand your statement.

    Without ZWNJ, how can a user distinguish between a ligated u,uu matra
    consonant
    with an unligated one.

    Often both forms appear on the same page, so with the same font, to show
    both ortho variants, it is simple and easy-to-explain if ZWNJ is employed.

    N. Ganesan

    On Wed, Jun 9, 2010 at 2:04 PM, SS <sisrivas@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
    >
    > Ganesan,
    >
    > Rather than ZWNj, it would be better to allow fonts that do not complex
    > render so we can extend thse easily to simple devices, such as
    > fridge/freezers and may be simple mobli phone texts.
    >
    > What we need is
    > 1/the removal of dotted circles
    > 2/ allow a complex renderd font to have fallback matras
    > 3/ allow non-complex rendered font to only have fallback matars.
    >
    > i'll up date the early draft, that is being worked on
    > http://www.araichchi.net/kanini/unicode/unipool/Unicode%20Proposal_Ta%20i,ii,u,uu.pdf
    >
    > Sinnathurai
    >
    >
    > ----- Original Message -----
    > From: N. Ganesan
    > To: Unicode Mailing List ; doug@ewellic.org
    > Cc: UnicoRe Mailing List
    > Sent: 09 June 2010 19:36
    > Subject: Tamil u,uu matra consonants - Orthographic variation
    >
    > Doug Ewell asked:
    > >>"SS" <sisrivas at blueyonder dot co dot uk> wrote:
    >
    > >> To the point, There are usage samples, there were/are
    > >> publications/magazines even run by the then leader of the current
    > >> chief minister of Tamil Nadu state.
    > >>
    > >> There are usage samples. Widespread!, this will be done eventually as
    > >> with other rollbacks of the past, in a controlled manner.
    >
    > >Is this something that is proposed for the future, or it something that
    > > has already been adopted now or is scheduled for adoption by a
    > >siginificant proportion of Tamil speakers? Can I find out about it in
    > >newspapers or periodicals, or Internet locations, other than those
    > >controlled by the group(s) promoting the reform?
    >
    > >Note that the question is not "Is this a desirable reform?" nor "Will
    > >this reform make the Tamil language easier to read and write?"
    >
    > Doug,
    >
    > There was a political leader called Periyar EVR:
    > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periyar_E._V._Ramasamy
    > EVR trained politicians defeated Congress party in 1967
    > elections in Tamil Nadu and ever since, Dravidian
    > movement parties (spun from EVR's original party) has
    > ruled the Indian state until now. EVR was never
    > interested in elections, but only concentrated on
    > social movements.
    >
    > For 75 years, EVR's party magazines use vocalised
    > consonants with u, uu matras unligated at least
    > in some pages in every issue of their daily newspaper,
    > Viduthalai & books they print. Recently they asked
    > for the ways how to do this & who will do the fonts.
    > Note that there are political parties in Tamil Nadu
    > who want to give that option also for the readers
    > in their magazines, official websites.
    >
    > Let me give an example. A 1982 issue of a magazine,
    > called Pulavar. The editor is Secretary, Grand Council
    > of Tamil Teachers, India. A 12.5 Mb file:
    > http://www.naalorunool.com/ebooks/15/1472/TM1472.pdf
    > (From Pollachi Nasan's library & thanks to P. Nasan
    > for sending the link).
    > There are many, many examples like this in Tamil script
    > in the last 75 years and also in contemporary use.
    > We will compile and upload in a website.
    >
    > As Universal Character set encoding, this minority
    > tradition also needs to get into the Unicode Standard.
    > Note the parallel in Malayalam, a close script to Tamil.
    > Since both options co-exist often in the same page in magazines
    > for ligate and non-ligate u, uu matra consonants,
    > it's better to allow this option in fonts with ZWNJ joiner
    > of u & uu matras in Tamil script for the user community.
    >
    > There is a major Classical Tamil conference happening
    > in Coimbatore between June 23 - 27. Some from Unicode
    > Tech Committee are attending as well. So, will work on all this
    > with experts and officials some time in the future.
    >
    > (a) Tamil grammar defines from 12th century, all the
    > syllables with matra signs as Dependent letters "cArbezuttu",
    > much like what Unicode does. You can compare
    > Unicode characters with Tamil word, ezuttu in Tamil grammar
    > and sequences as cArbezuttu. To teach to students,
    > the dependent nature of all the uyirmey with matra signs,
    > allowing this in the Standard and fonts (from Microsoft, Apple, ...)
    > will be useful.
    >
    > (b) In English, we have both Capital and Small letters
    > derived from monumental and minuscule traditions.
    > As the two orthographic variants, explained above, for
    > Tamil u, uu matra consonants are allowed in Unicode,
    > it will be useful to mix these two styles and will be useful
    > in calligraphy and rich text publishing. It will break the monotony,
    > for example, the headings can be in ligate forms
    > but body of a text can be in unligate forms of u, uu matras.
    >
    > N. Ganesan
    >
    >



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