L2/05-061R 2005-02-04 Title: Analysis of the Indian proposal to encode Lepcha script in the UCS Source: Michael Everson Action: For consideration by UTC Date: 2005-02-04 My analysis of the proposal for Lepcha in L2/04-397 suggests that it is technically inappropriate for encoding. My grounds for saying so are as follows: 1. The organization of the code table is based on the Devanagari/Indic scripts encoded elsewhere in the standard. It is unnecessary to waste space by providing empty holes for characters which do not exist in Lepcha, particularly as space in the BMP is so rare. 2. The proposal contains a number of characters which can be represented by other characters in the proposal. Encoding the independent vowels would simply create normalization requirements which are otherwise not required for Lepcha. It is worth noting that the Shipmoo font used to prepare L2/04-397 does not contain precomposed independent vowels. 3. The Indian proposal presupposes a fully Brahmic-model for Lepcha, though the script is only Brahmic in having a set of dependent vowel matras. Lepcha does not have a virama, and its use of conjoined YA and RA, its use of final consonant letters, and its use of a set of complex consonant letters in a non-decomposable LA are all departures from the original Brahmic model. Lepcha follows the Tibetan encoding model more closely than it does the Indic model; that in itself should inform us of how we need to represent the vowels in Lepcha. 4. The proposal omits LEPCHA LETTER WA and a number of punctuation characters. 5. The sorting order for Lepcha is syllabic; this can be approximated in the code table in the usual way with regard to the relative order of the main letters. The order is (approximately) ka kak kang kat kan kap kam kar kal ki kik king kit kin kip kim kir kil ku kuk kung kut kun kup kum kur kul ke kek keng ket ken kep kem ker kel ko kok kong kot kon kop kom kor kol followed by the same series in kya, followed by the same series in kra, followed by the same series in krya, followed by the same series in kla, followed by the same series in klya, then proceeding to the next letter kha. The table below gives a list of the characters in the order they appear in L2/04-397, followed by the corresponding code positions in my current proposal to encode Lepcha. The code table for that proposal is attached. 1CA2 1CBB 1CBC 1CBD 1CBE 1CBF ª º æ ø LEPCHA LETTER WA LEPCHA CHONG LEPCHA NYAT CHA CHONG LEPCHA CER WA LEPCHA CER WA TSHOK LEPCHA TSHOK
1A01 1A02 1A04 1A05 1A06 1A07 1A08 1A09 1A0A 1A0F 1A13 1A14 1A15 1A16 1A17 1A19 1A1A 1A1B 1A1C 1A1E 1A1F 1A20 1A21 1A24 ˇµ ß ß LEPCHA SIGN NYINDO LEPCHA SIGN KANG 1CB5 1CB4 Lepcha Letter SHORT 1CA3 A Lepcha Letter A 1CA3 Lepcha Letter AA 1CA3 1CA6 Lepcha Letter I 1CA3 1CA7 Lepcha Letter II 1CA3 1CA7 Lepcha Letter U 1CA3 1CAA Lepcha Letter UU 1CA3 1CAB Lepcha Letter E 1CA3 1CAC Lepcha Letter O 1CA3 1CA8 Lepcha Letter AU 1CA3 1CA9 ˇµ Ä Lepcha Letter KA 1C80 Ä Ç Lepcha Letter KHA 1C82 Ç É Lepcha Letter GA 1C83 É Ö Lepcha Letter NGA 1C85 Ö Ü Lepcha Letter CA 1C86 Ü á Lepcha Letter CHA 1C87 á à Lepcha Letter JA 1C88 à â Lepcha Letter NYA 1C89 â Ä Lepcha Letter TTA ù É ä Lepcha Letter TTHA Lepcha Letter DDA Lepcha Letter TA 1C80 1C9D 1C83 1C8A ä SIGN NYINDO SIGN KANG LEPCHA LETTER A LEPCHA LETTER KA LEPCHA LETTER KHA LEPCHA LETTER GA LEPCHA LETTER NGA LEPCHA LETTER CA LEPCHA LETTER CHA LEPCHA LETTER JA LEPCHA LETTER NYA LEPCHA LETTER TA
1A25 1A26 1A28 1A2A 1A2B 1A2C 1A2E 1A2F 1A30 1A32 1A35 1A36 1A38 1A39 1A3C 1A3D 1A3E 1A3F 1A40 1A41 1A42 1A47 1A4B 1A4C 1A55 1A56 ã Lepcha Letter THA 1C8B ã å Lepcha Letter DA 1C8C å ç Lepcha Letter NA 1C8D ç é Lepcha Letter PA 1C8E é ê Lepcha Letter PHA 1C90 ê ì Lepcha Letter BA 1C93 ì ï Lepcha Letter MA 1C95 ï ö Lepcha Letter YA 1C9A õ Lepcha Letter RA 1C9B õ ú Lepcha Letter LA 1C9C ú ü Lepcha Letter VA 1C9F ü Lepcha Letter SHA 1CA1 ö Lepcha Letter SA 1CA0 ù Lepcha Letter HA 1C9D ù ˇ ß ˇ ß ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ Lepcha Sign NUKTA Lepcha Sign RAN Lepcha Vowel Sign AA 1CA6 Lepcha Vowel Sign I 1CA7 Lepcha Vowel Sign II 1CA7 Lepcha Vowel Sign U 1CAA Lepcha Vowel Sign UU 1CAB Lepcha Vowel Sign E 1CAC Lepcha Vowel Sign O 1CA8 Lepcha Vowel Sign AU 1CA9 ˇ ß ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ó Lepcha Letter TSA 1C97 ó ò Lepcha Letter TSHA 1C98 ò LEPCHA LETTER THA LEPCHA LETTER DA LEPCHA LETTER NA LEPCHA LETTER PA LEPCHA LETTER PHA LEPCHA LETTER BA LEPCHA LETTER MA LEPCHA LETTER YA LEPCHA LETTER RA LEPCHA LETTER LA LEPCHA LETTER VA LEPCHA LETTER SHA LEPCHA LETTER SA LEPCHA LETTER HA LEPCHA SIGN NUKTA LEPCHA SIGN RAN LEPCHA VOWEL SIGN AA LEPCHA VOWEL SIGN I LEPCHA VOWEL SIGN U LEPCHA VOWEL SIGN UU LEPCHA VOWEL SIGN E LEPCHA VOWEL SIGN O LEPCHA VOWEL SIGN OO LEPCHA LETTER TSA LEPCHA LETTER TSHA
1A57 1A58 1A59 1A5A 1A5B 1A5C 1A5D 1A5E 1A5F 1A66 1A67 1A68 1A69 1A6A 1A6B 1A6C 1A6D 1A6E 1A6F 1A72 1A73 1A74 1A75 1A76 1A77 1A78 ô Lepcha Letter DZA 1C99 ô Å Lepcha Letter KLA 1C81 Ñ Lepcha Letter GLA 1C84 Ñ è Lepcha Letter PLA 1C8F è í Lepcha Letter FLA 1C92 í î Lepcha Letter BLA 1C94 î ñ Lepcha Letter MLA 1C96 ñ û Lepcha Letter HLA 1C9E û ë Lepcha Letter FA 1C91 ë ƒ ˇ± ˇÆ ZERO-TEE ONE- KAAT TWO-NYET THREE-SAAM FOUR-FALEE FIVE- FANGOO SIX- TARAOK SEVEN-KAKYAOK EIGHT-KAKU NINE-KAKYAOT K NG (duplicate of 1A02) T N P M R 1CC0 1CC1 1CC2 1CC3 1CC4 1CC5 1CC6 1CC7 1CC8 1CC9 1CAD 1CB4 1CB3 1CB0 1CB1 1CAE 1CB2 Å ƒ ˇ± ˇÆ LEPCHA LETTER DZA LEPCHA LETTER KLA LEPCHA LETTER GLA LEPCHA LETTER PLA LEPCHA LETTER FLA LEPCHA LETTER BLA LEPCHA LETTER MLA LEPCHA LETTER HLA LEPCHA LETTER FA ZERO ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT NINE SIGN K (Duplicate) SIGN T SIGN N SIGN P SIGN M SIGN R
1A79 1A7A 1A7B ˇØ ˇ ˇ L Y R (duplicate name) 1CAF 1CA4 ˇØ ˇ ˇ SIGN L LEPCHA LETTER CONJOINED YA LEPCHA LETTER CONJOINED RA