Re: Virama

CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU writes:
>  /a/  -  unmarked
>   /i/  -  above a glyph
>   /u/  -  below a glyph
>   /a:/ -  after a glyph
>   /e/  -  before a glyph (though variable, see NB below)
>   /o/  -  combining the diacritics for /e/ and /a:/
>   /ai/ -  two marks of /e/
>   /au/ -  a variant of the marking for /o/
>
>NB.: The marking for /e/ is the most varied among the Indic scripts. It
>appears to have migrated to either a superscript or subscript position in
>a number of Indic scripts. Something to do perhaps with how unfavorable
>it is to have a prescripted diacritic.
What I have now is:

/a/ - unmarked
/i/ - above a glyph
/u/ - below a glyph
/e/ - below a glyph (since it was variable, I chose subscript)
/ai/ - two marks of e, one above and one below the glyph (similar, but
_not_ as it's done in Telugu)
/au/ - variant of the mark for /o/ (see below)

Problems: Kristian, since you say in your generalization that in the
prototypical indic script  /o/ combines the diacritics for /e/ and /a:/,
ans /a:/ is not in Saalangal, I chose to put a diacritic above the glyph
(now before you say that's not how it should be done :) ,Telugu for
example puts a diacritic above the character for /o/, and Kannada puts one
above and to the right).

There also doesn't seem to be diacritics for /ei/, /oi/, and iw (said as
"ew" in English, dont know how to do the IPA for that one), in any of the
indic scripts I looked at in the Unicode charts pages. I will probably use
my own diacritics for these three diphthongs (they have their own glyphs)

The Virama is still a circle, but below the glyph. (I noticed Tamil,
Kannada, Malayalam, and Telugu either have it above or beside the glyph)



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