[Kannada] (Fwd) [indic] Re: Kannada characters to be encoded

[Pavanaja U.B.]

------- Forwarded message follows -------
From:           	"Pavanaja U.B." <pavanaja at vishvakannada.com>
To:             	indic at unicode.org
Date sent:      	Fri, 27 Aug 2004 10:18:50 +0530
Subject:        	[indic] Re: Kannada characters to be encoded
Copies to:      	Eric Muller <emuller at adobe.com>
Priority:       	normal

>Date sent:      	Thu, 26 Aug 2004 07:55:38 -0700
>From:           	Eric Muller <emuller at adobe.com>
>
> Kannada
> 
> pCBA KANNADA INVISIBLE LETTER

I can not figure out what is the purpose of this character.
 
> pCBB KANNADA VOWEL SIGN A

In reality, this character is needed only if the entire model of Unicode for Kannada (and 
Indic) is changed. As per the grammer of Kannada (and Indic), consonants have to be 
treated without the implied vowel sign "a". Unless this model is adopted, the addition of 
vowel sign A does not serve any purpose. At present Unicode treats all consonants with the 
implied vowel sign A. 

> pCD1 KANNADA DIACRITIC SIGN UDATTA
>  * used above any character
> pCD2 KANNADA DIACRITIC SIGN ANUDATTA
>  * used below any character
> pCD3 KANNADA DIACRITIC SIGN GURU-GRAVE
>  * used above any character
> pCD4 KANNADA DIACRITIC SIGN LAGHU-ACUTE
>  * used above any character
> pCF9 KANNADA DIACRITIC SIGN DEERGHA SWARITHA
>  * used above any character

All these can be borrowed from Devanagari.

> pCF5 KANNADA SIGN REPH

There is absolutely no need of this. Reph is not a character at all. It is just a glyph.

In conclusion, I can say that the characters present in Unicode as of now is adequate for 
Kannada. 

We will need some more characters in Kannada script for Tulu and Kodava languages. I 
had a preliminary round of discussions with the president of Tulu Academy in this context. 
He has agreed to convene a meeting to draft the  proposal for including Tulu in Unicode.

Thanks and regards,
Pavanaja
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Dr. U.B. Pavanaja
CEO, Vishva Kannada Softech
Think Globally, Act locally



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Dr. U.B. Pavanaja
CEO, Vishva Kannada Softech
Think Globally, Act locally