LINGUIST List 2.606

Wed 02 Oct 1991

FYI: African Font Encoding

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  • John E. Koontz, Re: 5.0349 African Font Encoding (TeX) (1/254)

    Message 1: Re: 5.0349 African Font Encoding (TeX) (1/254)

    Date: Wed, 02 Oct 1991 08:38:47
    From: John E. Koontz <koontzalpha.bldr.nist.gov>
    Subject: Re: 5.0349 African Font Encoding (TeX) (1/254)
    Reposted from: Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 5, No. 0349. Tuesday, 1 Oct 1991. Date: Tue, 1 Oct 1991 17:41 +0100 From: KNAPPENVKPMZD.KPH.Uni-Mainz.de Subject: FC font encoding scheme (for TeX) -- 2nd draft Second Draft for the African Font Encoding Scheme FC This is the second draft for the FC font encoding scheme. I want to fix this scheme at 1-nov-1991 and change it no more. If you see any flaw in it, complain now, before it is too late. I'm nearly ready with a METAFONT fount according to the fc scheme, and I want to make it accesible to the public in the beginning of 1992. It will be copyrighted, but free according to the GNU licence. Send any suggestions to: knappenvkpmzd.kph.uni-mainz.de or to: J"org Knappen Institut f"ur Kernphysik Postfach 39 80 D-W 6500 Mainz Allemagne The TUG (TeX User Group) conference of Cork 1990 has proposed a 256 character font encoding scheme well suited for european languages. This scheme does not fit for the various african languages with latin writing. So I want to propose a scheme suited for the so called critical languages of africa. It should be named FC or FCM for aFrican Computer. The coding is arbitrary besides the following rules: * The lower 128 codes are identical to the Cork scheme * A glyph also occurring in the Cork scheme is placed on the same code point as in the Cork scheme * Each letter from the 128-char cm-font is saved (Thus !', \L,\O etc. will work) * The uppercase/lowercase mechanism holds The following languages are covered: Akan, Bamileke, Basa (Kru), Bemba, Bete, Ciokwe, Dinka, Efik, Ewe-Fon, Fulani (Fulful), G\~a, Ganda, Gbaya, Hausa, Igbo, Kamba, Kanuri, Kikuyu, Kikongo, Kpelle, Krio, Luba, Mandekan (Bambara), Mende, More, Ngala, Nyanja, Oromo, Rundi, Kinya Rwanda, Sango, Shona, Somali, Songhai, Sotho (two different writing systems), Suaheli, Tiv, Tsonga, Yao, Yoruba, Xhosa and Zulu. Also covered are: Maltese and Sami (European languages not covered by the Cork scheme). Not included are: Tamasheq (Berber): The UNESCO suggests an alphabet with hooktop t, s, and z. Since I have not seen this in real print, I'm not sure about the relevance of this alphabet, I don't even know if it was adopted by one coutry in which Tamasheq is spoken. Nama: The symbols for the click sounds in Nama are not included. They can, however, be created by macro calls. Serer: I have a secondary reference that Serer uses hooktop p. If I had a primary reference, this character is a candidat for inclusion. \.Igb\.o: The catholic orthography includes an horizontal crossed o, which is not included in the fc scheme, since this system is considered obsolete. I tried to consult the most recent dictionaries. A good part of the mentioned languages has not yet a standardised writing system. I considered accents which are only tonal marks and optional in writing not to be a part of a letter. These should be created by using floating accents. (Even double accenting is possible, e.g. Open e with tilde and acute.) Accented letters, where the accent is a part of the letter, are included. Here are first the changes since the first draft: I newly included: A with trema Ezh T with tail Latin letter Iota Double universal accent I moved to other code points: Open E with Tilde O with macron I removed: A with circumflex A with grave U with circumflex W with breve small raised w Only by typo, in some versions an A with acute occured. This was never really in and is not included now. Support is weak for the following characters: E with acute C with cedilla G with dot above A with trema Enj These are the most likely ones to dissappear for new insertions. If you know facts supporting them, let me know. The table: octal code description 200 Capital letter hooktop B 201 Capital letter hooktop D 202 Capital letter open E (\varepsilon-like) 203 Capital letter reversed E (like \exists) 204 Capital letter long F 205 Capital letter E with ha\v{c}ek 206 Capital letter ipa Gamma 207 Capital letter double barred H 210 Capital letter hooktop K 211 Capital letter Enj 212 Capital letter open O (reversed C) 213 Capital letter N with acute 214 Capital letter Esh 215 Capital letter Eng 216 Capital letter Round V 217 Capital letter hooktop Y 220 Capital letter G with dot above 221 Capital letter M with acute 222 Capital letter S with ha\v{c}ek 223 Capital letter N with dot above 224 Capital letter N with line below 225 Capital letter S with dot below 226 Capital letter Ezh 227 Capital letter crossed T 230 Capital letter E with dot above 231 Capital letter E with dot below 232 Capital letter I with tilde 233 Capital letter T with tail 234 ligature t-esh 235 ligature fj 236 Lowercase letter crossed d 237 double grave accent 240 Lowercase letter hooktop b 241 Lowercase letter hooktop d 242 Lowercase letter open e 243 Lowercase letter inverted e 244 Lowercase letter long f 245 Lowercase letter e with ha\v{c]ek 246 Lowercase letter ipa gamma 247 Lowercase letter crossed h 250 Lowercase letter hooktop k 251 Lowercase letter enj 252 Lowercase letter open O 253 Lowercase letter n with acute 254 Lowercase letter esh 255 Lowercase letter eng 256 Lowercase letter round v (\upsilon) 257 Lowercase letter hooktop y 260 Lowercase letter g with dot above 261 Lowercase letter m with acute 262 Lowercase letter s with ha\v{c}ek 263 Lowercase letter n with dot above 264 Lowercase letter n with line below 265 Lowercase letter s with dot below 266 Lowercase letter ezh 267 Lowercase letter crossed t 270 Lowercase letter e with dot above 271 Lowercase letter e with dot below 272 Lowercase letter i tilde 273 Lowercase letter t with tail 274 double universal accent 275 inverted exclamation mark 276 inverted question mark 277 universal accent 300 Capital letter Iota 301 Capital letter I with dot below 302 Capital letter Open E with tilde 303 Capital letter A with tilde 304 Capital letter A with trema 305 Capital letter Open O with tilde 306 Capital letter ligature AE 307 Capital letter C with cedilla 310 Capital letter E with grave 311 Capital letter E with acute 312 Capital letter E with circumflex 313 Capital letter E with trema 314 Capital letter E with line below 315 Capital letter E with macron 316 Capital letter E with tilde 317 Capital letter I with diaresis 320 Capital letter crossed D (Edh) 321 Capital letter N with tilde 322 Capital letter O with grave 323 Capital letter O with dot above 324 Capital letter O with circumflex 325 Capital letter O with tilde 326 Capital letter O with trema 327 Capital letter ligature OE 330 Capital letter crossed O (\O) 331 Capital letter O with dot below 332 Capital letter O with line below 333 Capital letter O with macron 334 Capital letter O with ha\v{c}ek 335 Capital letter U with dot below 336 Capital letter U with tilde 337 cross piece for polish L and l (and maybe other letters, like I and J) 340 Lowercase letter iota 341 Lowercase letter i with dot below 342 Lowercase letter open e with tilde 343 Lowercase letter a with tilde 344 Lowercase letter a with trema 345 Lowercase letter open o with tilde 346 Lowercase letter ligature ae 347 Lowercase letter c with cedilla 350 Lowercase letter e with grave 351 Lowercase letter e with acute 352 Lowercase letter e with circumflex 353 Lowercase letter e with trema 354 Lowercase letter e with line below 355 Lowercase letter e with macron 356 Lowercase letter e with tilde 357 Lowercase letter i with diaresis 360 Lowercase letter d with tail (note: not edh!) 361 Lowercase letter n with tilde 362 Lowercase letter o with grave 363 Lowercase letter o with dot above 364 Lowercase letter o with circumflex 365 Lowercase letter o with tilde 366 Lowercase letter o with trema 367 Lowercase letter ligature oe 370 Lowercase letter crossed o (\o) 371 Lowercase letter o with dot below 372 Lowercase letter o with line below 373 Lowercase letter o with macron 374 Lowercase letter o with ha\v{c}ek 375 Lowercase letter u with dot below 376 Lowercase letter u with tilde 377 Lowercase letter scharfes s (\ss) J"org Knappen email: knappenvkpmzd.physik.uni-mainz.de Institut f"ur Kernphysik Postfach 3980 D-W6500 Mainz Allemagne