At 00:12 -0600 2002-06-03, Peter_Constable@sil.org wrote:
>(1) The first problem is the need for a glottal character for Limbu (ie,
>Limbu language written in Devanagri script, as opposed to Limbu script,
>which already has a symbol for glottal). The Limbu language committee has
>decided that this character should be represented using what looks pretty
>much like the IPA glottal symbol (U+0294), though in a Devanagari font it
>would have to be designed to match Devanagari characters.
I see this in version 2 of the Nepali White Paper
http://www.cicc.or.jp/english/hyoujyunka/mlit3/7-7-2.pdf
>The question is whether there is any problem using U+0294, and whether
>proposing a Devanagari-specific character would be a better option. One
>particular problem I can think would be likely to occur would be rendering
>engines such as Uniscribe or whatever is coded into host environments like
>Java for "Hindi" support would not be able to cope with U+0294 occuring in
>the midst of a Devanagari sequence. E.g. I could easily imagine something
>like Uniscribe failing to reordering U+093F before a glottal U+0294.
That almost answers my first question. Does Devanagari glottal have
an inherent vowel? If it does, encode a new character.
>(2) The second problem involves nukta (U+093C). In better-known languages,
>nukta can occur only on consonants, but for certain lesser-known
>languages, it can occur on vowels as well. Yet some implementations might
>not recognise a sequence like < consonant, vowel, nukta > as valid. For
>instance, I understand that if Uniscribe encountered such a sequence, it
>would assume you've left out a consonant immediately before the nukta,
>and it would display a dotted circle to indicate where a missing base
>character should go.
So what would you suggest? A vocalic-nukta? I wouldn't like that. In
Cham, independent vowels can take dependent vowel signs. In
Devanagari, I guess that doesn't occur, but the Brahmic model
shouldn't be understood to preclude this behaviour.
>Our people in South Asia have told me the nukta can occur on vowels in the
>range U+093e..U+094c, though my contact has told me that he himself has
>only seen this on 093E, 0940, 0941 and 094B.
Um, that's AA, II, U, and O. What does the nukta make them sound like?
-- Michael Everson *** Everson Typography *** http://www.evertype.com
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