Malayalam Inscript 5.2

A
Document for
ENHANCED
INSCRIPT
KEYBOARD LAYOUT
5.2
Proposal for Enhanced INSCRIPT keyboard layout 5.2 - submitted by C-DAC GIST.
1
Language : Malayalam
UNICODE CHARACTER
CHARACTER
NAME
COMMENTS
PLACEMENT ON
THE KEYBOARD
u+0D00 NA
u+0D01 NA
u+0D02
o
MALAYALAM
SIGN ANUSVARA
Backward Compatibility
Normal x
u+0D03
MALAYALAM
SIGN VISARGA
Normal-Shifted -
u+0D04 NA
u+0D05

MALAYALAM
LETTER A
Normal-Shifted d
u+0D06

MALAYALAM
LETTER AA
Normal-Shifted e
u+0D07

MALAYALAM
LETTER I
Normal-Shifted f
u+0D08

MALAYALAM
LETTER II
Normal-Shifted r
u+0D09

MALAYALAM
LETTER U
Normal-Shifted g
u+0D0A

MALAYALAM
LETTER UU
Normal-Shifted t
u+0D0B

MALAYALAM
LETTER VOCALIC
R
Normal-Shifted =
u+0D0C

MALAYALAM
LETTER VOCALIC
L
Placement Generic to
all scripts
Ext-Shifted f
u+0D0D NA
286
UNICODE CHARACTER
CHARACTER
NAME
COMMENTS
PLACEMENT ON
THE KEYBOARD
u+0D0E

MALAYALAM
LETTER E
Normal-Shifted z
u+0D0F

MALAYALAM
LETTER EE
Normal-Shifted s
u+0D10

MALAYALAM
LETTER AI
Normal-Shifted w
u+0D11 NA
u+0D12

MALAYALAM
LETTER O
Normal-Shifted `
u+0D13

MALAYALAM
LETTER OO
Normal-Shifted a
u+0D14

MALAYALAM
LETTER AU
Normal-Shifted q
u+0D15

MALAYALAM
LETTER KA
Normal k
u+0D16

MALAYALAM
LETTER KHA
Normal-Shifted k
u+0D17

MALAYALAM
LETTER GA
Normal i
u+0D18

MALAYALAM
LETTER GHA
Normal-Shifted i
u+0D19

MALAYALAM
LETTER NGA
Normal-Shifted u
u+0D1A

MALAYALAM
LETTER CA
Normal ;
u+0D1B

MALAYALAM
LETTER CHA
Normal-Shifted ;
u+0D1C

MALAYALAM
LETTER JA
Normal p
287
UNICODE CHARACTER
CHARACTER
NAME
COMMENTS
PLACEMENT ON
THE KEYBOARD
u+0D1D

MALAYALAM
LETTER JHA
Normal-Shifted p
u+0D1E

MALAYALAM
LETTER NYA
Normal-Shifted ]
u+0D1F

MALAYALAM
LETTER TTA
Normal '
u+0D20

MALAYALAM
LETTER TTHA
Normal-Shifted '
u+0D21

MALAYALAM
LETTER DDA
Normal [
u+0D22

MALAYALAM
LETTER DDHA
Normal-Shifted [
u+0D23

MALAYALAM
LETTER NNA
Normal-Shifted c
u+0D24

MALAYALAM
LETTER TA
Normal l
u+0D25

MALAYALAM
LETTER THA
Normal-Shifted l
u+0D26

MALAYALAM
LETTER DA
Normal o
u+0D27

MALAYALAM
LETTER DHA
Normal-Shifted o
u+0D28

MALAYALAM
LETTER NA
Normal v
u+0D29 NA
u+0D2A

MALAYALAM
LETTER PA
Normal h
u+0D2B

MALAYALAM
LETTER PHA
Normal-Shifted h
288
UNICODE CHARACTER
CHARACTER
NAME
COMMENTS
PLACEMENT ON
THE KEYBOARD
u+0D2C

MALAYALAM
LETTER BA
Normal y
u+0D2D

MALAYALAM
LETTER BHA
Normal-Shifted y
u+0D2E

MALAYALAM
LETTER MA
Normal c
u+0D2F

MALAYALAM
LETTER YA
Normal /
u+0D30

MALAYALAM
LETTER RA
Normal j
u+0D31

MALAYALAM
LETTER RRA
Normal-Shifted j
u+0D32

MALAYALAM
LETTER LA
Normal n
u+0D33

MALAYALAM
LETTER LLA
Backward Compatibility Normal-Shifted n
u+0D34

MALAYALAM
LETTER LLLA
Normal-Shifted b
u+0D35

MALAYALAM
LETTER VA
Normal b
u+0D36

MALAYALAM
LETTER SHA
Normal-Shifted m
u+0D37

MALAYALAM
LETTER SSA
Normal-Shifted
Comma(,)
u+0D38

MALAYALAM
LETTER SA
Normal m
u+0D39

MALAYALAM
LETTER HA
Normal u
u+0D3A NA
289
UNICODE CHARACTER
CHARACTER
NAME
COMMENTS
PLACEMENT ON
THE KEYBOARD
u+0D3B NA
u+0D3C NA
u+0D3D
MALAYALAM
SIGN AVAGRAHA
all scripts
Ext-Shifted
FullStop(.)
u+0D3E 0
MALAYALAM
VOWEL SIGN AA
Normal e
u+0D3F 1
MALAYALAM
VOWEL SIGN I
Normal f
u+0D40 J
MALAYALAM
VOWEL SIGN II
Normal r
u+0D41 )
MALAYALAM
VOWEL SIGN U
Normal g
u+0D42 )
MALAYALAM
VOWEL SIGN UU
Normal t
u+0D43 \
MALAYALAM
VOWEL SIGN
VOCALIC R
Normal =
u+0D44
MALAYALAM
VOWEL SIGN
VOCALIC RR
Ext
all scripts
Ext =
u+0D45 NA
u+0D46
MALAYALAM
VOWEL SIGN E
Normal z
u+0D47
MALAYALAM
VOWEL SIGN EE
Normal s
u+0D48
MALAYALAM
VOWEL SIGN AI
Normal w
u+0D49 NA
290
UNICODE CHARACTER
CHARACTER
NAME
COMMENTS
PLACEMENT ON
THE KEYBOARD
u+0D4A

MALAYALAM
VOWEL SIGN O
Normal `
u+0D4B

MALAYALAM
VOWEL SIGN OO
Normal a
u+0D4C

MALAYALAM
VOWEL SIGN AU
Ext q
u+0D4D

MALAYALAM
SIGN VIRAMA
Normal d
u+0D4E NA
u+0D4F NA
u+0D50 NA
u+0D51 NA
u+0D52 NA
u+0D53 NA
u+0D54 NA
u+0D55 NA
u+0D56 NA
u+0D57

MALAYALAM AU
LENGTH MARK
Frequently used for typing
Normal q
u+0D58 NA
u+0D59 NA
u+0D5A NA
u+0D5B NA
u+0D5C NA
u+0D5D NA
u+0D5E NA
u+0D5F NA
u+0D60

MALAYALAM
LETTER VOCALIC
RR
Generic to other
script
Ext-Shifted =
u+0D61

MALAYALAM
LETTER VOCALIC
LL
Generic to other
script
Ext-Shifted r
291
UNICODE CHARACTER
CHARACTER
NAME
COMMENTS
PLACEMENT ON
THE KEYBOARD
u+0D62
MALAYALAM
VOWEL SIGN
VOCALIC L
Generic to other
script
Ext f
u+0D63
MALAYALAM
VOWEL SIGN
VOCALIC LL
Generic to other
script
Ext r
u+0D64 NA
u+0D65 NA
u+0D66

MALAYALAM
DIGIT ZERO
all scripts
Normal 0
u+0D67

MALAYALAM
DIGIT ONE
all scripts
Normal 1
u+0D68

MALAYALAM
DIGIT TWO
all scripts
Normal 2
u+0D69

MALAYALAM
DIGIT THREE
all scripts
Normal 3
u+0D6A

MALAYALAM
DIGIT FOUR
all scripts
Normal 4
u+0D6B

MALAYALAM
DIGIT FIVE
all scripts
Normal 5
u+0D6C

MALAYALAM
DIGIT SIX
all scripts
Normal 6
u+0D6D

MALAYALAM
DIGIT SEVEN
all scripts
Normal 7
u+0D6E

MALAYALAM
DIGIT EIGHT
all scripts
Normal 8
u+0D6F

MALAYALAM
DIGIT NINE
all scripts
Normal 9
u+0D70

MALAYALAM
NUMBER TEN
EXT (on the numerals
row)
Ext-Shifted 1
292
UNICODE CHARACTER
CHARACTER
NAME
COMMENTS
PLACEMENT ON
THE KEYBOARD
u+0D71

MALAYALAM
NUMBER ONE
HUNDRED
row)
Ext-Shifted 2
u+0D72

MALAYALAM
NUMBER ONE
THOUSAND
row)
Ext-Shifted 3
u+0D73

MALAYALAM
FRACTION ONE
QUARTER
EXT
Ext-Shifted 4
u+0D74

MALAYALAM
FRACTION ONE
HALF
EXT
Ext-Shifted 5
u+0D75

MALAYALAM
FRACTION
THREE
QUARTERS
EXT
Ext-Shifted 6
u+0D76 NA
u+0D77 NA
u+0D78 NA
u+0D79

MALAYALAM
DATE MARK
EXT
Ext-Shifted v
u+0D7A

MALAYALAM
LETTER CHILLU
NN
Placed as per Kerala Govt.
Gazette (Vol.46
Thiruvananthapuram Dated.
18th Dec. 2001 No.2023)
G.O. (Rt) No. 93/2001/ITD.
dated 2-6-2001
Normal-Shifted x
u+0D7B

MALAYALAM
LETTER CHILLU
N
Gazette (Vol.46
18th Dec. 2001 No.2023)
G.O. (Rt) No. 93/2001/ITD.
dated 2-6-2001
Normal-Shifted v
u+0D7C

MALAYALAM
LETTER
CHILLU RR
Gazette (Vol.46
18th Dec. 2001 No.2023)
G.O. (Rt) No. 93/2001/ITD.
dated 2-6-2001
Normal \
293
UNICODE CHARACTER
CHARACTER
NAME
COMMENTS
PLACEMENT ON
THE KEYBOARD
u+0D7D

MALAYALAM
LETTER CHILLU L
Gazette (Vol.46
18th Dec. 2001 No.2023)
G.O. (Rt) No. 93/2001/ITD.
dated 2-6-2001
Normal-Shifted
Fullstop(.)
u+0D7E

MALAYALAM
LETTER CHILLU
LL
Gazette (Vol.46
18th Dec. 2001 No.2023)
G.O. (Rt) No. 93/2001/ITD.
dated 2-6-2001
Normal-Shifted 8
u+0D7F

MALAYALAM
LETTER CHILLU K
EXCLUDED
u+0D4D +
u+0D30

MALAYALAM
SIGN VIRAMA +
MALAYALAM
LETTER RA
Backward
Compatibility
Normal-Shifted 3
u+0D15 +
u+0D4D +
u+0D37

MALAYALAM
LETTER KA +
MALAYALAM
SIGN VIRAMA +
MALAYALAM
LETTER SSA
Backward
Compatibility
Normal-Shifted 7
u+200D
ZWJ
ZERO WIDTH
JOINER
all scripts
Normal-Shifted 9
u+200C
ZWNJ
ZERO WIDTH
NON-JOINER
all scripts
Normal-Shifted 0
u+20B9

INDIAN RUPEE
SIGN
Placement in
synchronization with
English India
Keyboard
Ext 4
294
Normal Layout (Malayalam) :-
Extended Layout (Malayalam) :-
295
FEEDBACK
For any kind of comments/feedback , please mail us at :
enhancedinscript-feedback@cdac.in
296

Table of Contents
HISTORY ........................................................................................................................... 4
BACKGROUND TO THE Enhanced INSCRIPT keyboard layout 5.2 : ........................ 5
BASIC PRINCIPLES .......................................................................................................... 6
GUIDING PRINCIPLES ..................................................................................................... 8
PRINCIPLE 1: USABILITY .......................................................................................... 8
PRINCIPLE 2: COMPATIBILITY WITH MAJOR OPERATING SYSTEMS ............ 8
PRINCIPLE 3: PHONETIC PARALLELISM ............................................................... 9
PRINCIPLE 4: BI-LINGUAL FACILITY ..................................................................... 9
PRINCIPLE 5: LANGUAGE-DRIVEN KEYBOARDS ............................................... 9
PRINCIPLE 6: PLACEMENT OF NEW CHARACTERS & VISUAL PERTINENCE
....................................................................................................................................... 10
PRINCIPLE 7: EXTENSIBILITY ................................................................................ 10
PRINCIPLE 8: BACKWORD COMPATIBILITY ...................................................... 10
PRINCIPLE 9: VISUAL DISPLAY ............................................................................. 10
SAMPLE KEYBOARDS .................................................................................................. 11
NORMAL LAYOUT .................................................................................................... 11
EXTENDED LAYOUT ................................................................................................ 12
COMMENTING CONVENTIONS USED : ..................................................................... 13
LANGUAGEWISE KEYBOARD LAYOUTS ................................................................. 14
Language : English-India .............................................................................................. 14
Language : Hindi ........................................................................................................... 15
Language : Marathi ....................................................................................................... 31
Language : Bodo ........................................................................................................... 44
Language : Dogri ........................................................................................................... 58
Language : Maithili ....................................................................................................... 72
Language : Santhali ....................................................................................................... 86
Language : Konkani ...................................................................................................... 98
Language : Nepali ....................................................................................................... 113
Language : Sanskrit ..................................................................................................... 128
Language : Sindhi ....................................................................................................... 142
Language : Gujarati ..................................................................................................... 158
Language : Punjabi ...................................................................................................... 172
Language : Bengali ..................................................................................................... 182
Language : Assamese .................................................................................................. 196
Language : Manipuri ................................................................................................... 210
Language : Manipuri (Script : Meetei Mayek) ........................................................... 224
Language : Tamil ........................................................................................................ 231
Language : Telugu ....................................................................................................... 241
Language : Kannada .................................................................................................... 255
Language : Santhali (Script : Ol Chiki) ....................................................................... 269
Language :Oriya .......................................................................................................... 275
Language : Malayalam ................................................................................................ 286
FEEDBACK .................................................................................................................... 296
3

Version History
Version
Number
Status Date Changes Pages
Affected
1.0 Draft
document
June - 2010 Initial draft -
1.1 Final
Document
September -
2010
-Upgraded to
Unicode 5.2
-Rupee Sign added
to all Inscript Key
layouts
-English-India
Keyboard added
-Character positions
changed in key
layouts due to
addition of Rupee
Sign : Telugu
Extended and
Malayalam
Extended.
All
2

HISTORY
The first INSCRIPT keyboard was standardized in 1986 under the auspices of
the DOE. It was subsequently revised in 1988 by a DOE committee and
suitable modifications were made to the then keyboard especially to
accommodate Nukta extended keys as well as to add certain matras which
were felt to be lacking. The last revision to the BIS document was made in
1992, after which the document has not undergone any revision. This was
partly because very few new characters were added to the ISCII code-set and
these if at all were handled by extending and generating out the character by
the use of the Nukta. The BIS document specifically mentions such
characters. Hence the INSCRIPT keyboards were felt to be self-sufficient.
With the advent of Unicode a few new characters were added to each code-
page; characters for which the BIS document had not made any provision. In
addition Unicode introduced the concept of ZWJ and ZWNJ as well as that of
normalization.
These new features had marked repercussions on storage as well as inputting
and an urgent need was felt for a revision whereby each and very new
character introduced in Unicode would be accommodated on the keyboard and
a uniform manner of entering data as well as storing data would be devised.
With this urgent requirement in mind, CDAC GIST involved in the initiative
all major players: IBM, Microsoft and RedHat Linux
1
and hence in 2008, a
joint meeting was organized between CDAC GIST and senior representatives
of these multi-nationals to devise a common and uniform strategy for
inputting and equally important for storage. This would enable the creation of
one single keyboard and more importantly one single storage, essential for all
high-end NLP. A task-force was created with two major briefs:
1. Evolve a design policy which would retain the major features of the
existing Inscript keyboard.
2. Accommodate on the keyboard all and very character proposed in Unicode
5.2 and also ensure that the design could accommodate all future additions.
The present document is the result of the joint deliberations of all these
companies.
1
The names are provided in alphabetical order
4
BACKGROUND TO THE Enhanced INSCRIPT keyboard
layout 5.2 :
Implementation of Complex Scripts such as those used for Indian Languages
entails 3 different processes:
- Input
- Display
- Storage
Unlike Latin Scripts (with a few exceptions) where What you Enter is What you
see and What is stored, Complex Scripts do not have such a simple relationship. The
three processes are different and yet intricately bound to one another. Thus to enter a
ligature or a conjunct the user types the two characters and joins them with the
Halanta to generate out the requisite display on the screen. The entry is done in a
particular manner, the display therefore shows a given shape, and the storage can be
or need not be the same as the Input keys.
This particularity of Indian scripts has marked repercussions especially with the
advent of Unicode. This is especially important in three scenarios:
a. Where the user feels a need for a given character which is not in the
Unicode repertory and which is therefore generated out by storing the
character in the Private Use Area and providing a keyboard mechanism to
access the character. The eyelash ra is an example where different vendors
have resorted to different means to display the character on screen.
b. Where the given character(s) exist(s) but the user feels the need to display
the character(s) in a specific manner. A good example is the explicit
halanta where the user feels the need to show a character not as a conjunct
or ligature but as an explicit form composed of two characters separated by
a Halanta as in the case below::
Within this scenario the Inputting mechanism becomes a crucial player. While
Unicode has identified (to a certain extent) the unique glyphs or graphemes of a given
script, thereby ensuring a certain amount of standardization, the very purpose of
Unicode is defeated by the different keyboards which allow different means of
inputting a given character in the scenarios shown above.
c. Normalizing of Data: This is especially the case where Unicode shows two
variants of the same character as represented by the sign: (Identical To). A
Vendor can choose one means or the other or even provide both, thereby storing
data differently. Normalization becomes a prime issue in this case.
5
Apart from the prime issue of Usability (a person has to change the method of
inputting to suit the different keyboards put across by vendors), these lacunae have
serious repercussions in different areas:
a. porting and transferring a document input by one mechanism across OSs or
even within the same OS..
b. all high-end applications in the area of NLP such as Proofers, Checkers,
Translation, TTS, CLIA to name only a few; where storage plays a crucial
role.
c. Searching (especially Search Engines) where the right storage ensures a
rich search.
d. IDN where spoofing can occur because of such loop-holes
BASIC PRINCIPLES
The INSCRIPT keyboard is based on certain principles of which the most
important are:
the division of the keyboard into Vowel and Consonant groups on the middle two
rows.
the accommodation of vowels as long and short on the same key, where such
distinction occurs
the accommodation of consonants on the basis of the Vargas with unaspirate and
aspirate on the same key
the possibility to move from Indian scripts to Latin based scripts
a phonetic design which allows a person typing in one script to type in any other
script, thereby ensuring accommodation of all Indian languages on one single
keyboard.
It was decided to retain these features of the keyboard in the new design, but while
retaining these features, two additions were made:
Make the keyboards language dependent instead of the existing script dependency.
This ensured that the ecology of languages was respected and users of each language
had their own keyboard. However the governing principle of the Inscript keyboard
was maintained in the sense that across different languages, as far as possible the
position of similar letters was maintained on the same keys. Different positions were
kept only for characters specific to a particular script/language.
The Enhanced INSCRIPT keyboard layout 5.2 provides three layers and this to
accommodate all the extra characters and yet make the keyboard as ergonomic and
efficient as possible.
Layer 1: Keeping in view the Bi-Lingual facility provided by the earlier
INSCRIPT keyboard, this layer has English characters and punctuations as mentioned
in English-India keyboard..
6
Layer 2: All standard and commonly used characters are accommodated here with
Shift and Unshift positions. As far as compatible this corresponds to the existing
INSCRIPT keyboard.
Layer 3: All new characters and which are not frequently used are placed on Shift
and Unshift positions in this layer. Here the principle of Mnemonic ease is used i.e.
the character is placed on a key which corresponds as closely as possible to the
character on Layer 1. Thus which is accommodated in this layer is placed at the
same position as .
The toggling between Layer2 and Layer3 will be done through AltGr key. For
those keyboards which do not have AltGr key, Ctrl+Alt combination can behave as
AltGr.
Though toggling between Layer1(which is English layer) and Layer2 will remain
through the Caps-Lock key as mentioned in Annexure-D of Bureau of Indian
Standard document for ISCII-91 which is as follows:
The Inscript overlay gets selected when Caps-Lock is active, otherwise
normal lower case English overlay gets selected.
The document comprises
In the Part I, the guiding principles behind the design of each keyboard are
presented followed up in Part II by the keyboards themselves and code-charts of
Unicode 5.2 for ready reference.
7
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
The revisions proposed in the Inscript Keyboard are based on certain basic
principles, each of which is enunciated and clarified below.
PRINCIPLE 1: USABILITY
The super-principle has been one of USABILITY i.e. backward compatibility to
ensure that users who have mastered the keyboard do not have to unlearn their touch
typing and learn new habits. In other words the existing keyboard layout will be
maintained as far as possible and new characters will be added on.
PRINCIPLE 2: COMPATIBILITY WITH MAJOR OPERATING SYSTEMS
Indian languages are used today on a large variety of Operating Systems such as
Windows, Mac, LINUX (various flavors). The Keyboard is designed such that it will
be compatible across the board for all Operating Systems, ensuring that no new
learning habits need be mastered when one emigrates from one system to another.
This issue is particularly important when one migrates a document from one OS to
another, especially insofar as the character modifiers are concerned. Character
modifiers are devices to ensure that a character is joined/not joined within an Indic
syllable. These are used for two ends:
to provide variant display such as showing a half consonant with a
dead halanta or in its half form which does not join to the next
consonant as in the cases below:
To create a new shape which is not present in the Unicode list as in
the case of the eyelash RA or the JA_PHALA:
This was accommodated on the existing keyboard by the use of INV and the soft
halanta generated out by the HALANTA+NUKTA combinations. Different OSs
deploy the 2 modifiers in different manners:
OS Mechanism Joining Not Joining
Windows
Microsoft
Uniscribe ZWJ ZWNJ
Windows
CDAC GIST
Uniscribe Halanta+Nukta
Stored as ZWJ
Double Halanta
Stored as ZWNJ
Macintosh MIF (automata) Halanta+Nukta Double halanta
RedHat Pango ZWJ ZWNJ
Fedora ICU ZWJ ZWNJ
The modified keyboard will allow for these modifiers to be used so as to ensure
compatibility across the board.
8
PRINCIPLE 3: PHONETIC PARALLELISM
As far as possible the principle of phonetic typing has also been retained and a user
familiar with one language say HINDI can easily type in GUJARATI since the key
positions are the same.
CAVEAT:
The existing keyboard was designed with ISCII as base which provided uniformity
across the board for all scripts. While Unicode which was based on ISCII 88
continued this practice, with the result that in earlier versions of Unicode offsets of
characters were possible, with the addition of new characters the principle is no
longer valid and parallels between characters in different languages/scripts are no
longer possible. This is especially the case with the last two rows of code-pages for
Indian scripts where a marked divergence is noted. However the modified keyboard
still tries to retain the principle of PHONETIC PARALLELISM and thus the
AVAGRAHA as well as OM are fixed on the same keys.
PRINCIPLE 4: BI-LINGUAL FACILITY
One of the corner-stones of the existing keyboard is the facility of moving from an
Indian script to Latin and vice-versa. The principle has been retained in the revised
keyboard not only because of usability criteria but also because Indian languages
often mix English and Indian language, not only for word but especially for
punctuation markers which are borrowed from Latin1
PRINCIPLE 5: LANGUAGE-DRIVEN KEYBOARDS
Implementation of Indian Languages on the digital medium is over two decades old
and with the experience gained in the area, a necessity to distinguish between
SCRIPT and LANGUAGE has made itself felt. In certain cases script and language
are co-terminus; but in scripts such as Devanagari or Bangla, there is no one-to-one
correspondence between script and language. Thus Devanagari itself caters to official
languages: Hindi, Sanskrit, Marathi, Konkani, Nepali, Bodo, Dogri and Santhali (co-
terminus with Ol-Chiki) whereas Bangla is used for Bengali, Assamese and Manipuri
(co-terminus with Meetei-Mayek). Instituting this dichotomy between SCRIPT and
LANGUAGE has certain advantages:
Greater knowledge of the script grammar of languages has shown that
each language draws from a script a certain number of graphemes and uses
them in its own pertinent manner. It was therefore felt that key-boards be
made Language compliant instead of Script compliant.
This would not only cater to national identity by giving each official
language its own keyboard and font but would also allow for better high-
end NLP by making the key-board exclusive to a given language rather
than its script.
In addition it will also lead to economy of representing characters on the
key-board. Thus 0973 Chandra A is coterminous with 090D Devanagari
Letter Chandra E, since depending on the language (Marathi or Hindi)
both characters represent the same conceptual grapheme: the English AE
9
as used in /at/ /and/ etc. The economy derived from the language-driven
key-board will allow for new high-frequency characters to be
accommodated on the existing key-board without resorting to an over-lay
(see Principle 6 below).
Finally the dichotomy of script/language does not abrogate the principle of
usability: experiments have shown that a language-wise key-board is
better acceptable.
PRINCIPLE 6: PLACEMENT OF NEW CHARACTERS & VISUAL
PERTINENCE
Where a character to be added will be used across the spectrum of all Indian
Languages e.g. Avagraha, Om; such characters will be placed uniformly on the same
position for all key-boards.
Additional Consonants will be accommodated on the consonant pad and additional
vowels on the Vowel-pad.
Characters such as Chillu-Aksharam which were hitherto derived by adding
modifying a character will be now visually represented on the key-board to ensure
that the user can see the character (s)he types.
New characters which have a high frequency of use will be placed on the existing
keyboard to ensure ease of typing.
PRINCIPLE 7: EXTENSIBILITY
The keyboard will be extensible to accommodate all new characters which may
eventually be added by future versions of Unicode.
PRINCIPLE 8: BACKWORD COMPATIBILITY
Although this issue is really not pertinent to keyboard design, since the keyboard
impinges on storage, the design of the extended keyboard will be such that earlier
data made with the older keyboards will be compatible with that produced by the new
keyboard.
PRINCIPLE 9: VISUAL DISPLAY
The characters pertinent to a given script/language and shown in the Unicode chart
will be shown on the keyboard to ensure ease of use.
10
COMMENTING CONVENTIONS USED :
1. This code chart shows the Unicode chart for the respective language
along with Unicode value, Character glyph, Character Name, Comments
and Proposed Placement on the Enhanced INSCRIPT keyboard layout 5.2.
2. The Tag EXT signifies that the character is placed on the Extended Layer
and the placement of the character is given in column PLACEMENT ON
THE KEYBOARD Where it is not present, it pre-implies that the
character will be placed on the normal layer.
3. The Tag PARIVARDHIT assigned to a given character, implies that the
said character is NOT part of the living Prakrits.
4. Wherever the question of alternative modes of entry by different
developers is present, the same is indicated in the comments by the Tag
ALTERNATE.
13
LANGUAGEWISE KEYBOARD LAYOUTS
Language : English-India
ENGLISH INDIA KEYBOARD
With the mandate given by the Government of India that the Rupee sign shall be
represented by the symbol , an urgent need was felt that the same be also integrated in
the exiting keyboards: both Inscript for all 20 Indian official languages using Brahmi
based script systems
2
.
It was decided that the following criteria be deployed in implementation of the
keyboards:
1. That the rupee sign be integrated on two keyboards:QWERTY and INSCRIPT
5.2.
2. That the said modified QWERTY keyboard shall be implemented in all Operating
Systems as English-India keyboard and that the user shall have the possibility of
implementing the same for input with the proviso that the said keyboard shall be
similar in all respects to the existing QWERTY keyboard with the sole exception
of the integration of the Rupee sign on ALTGR+4, this to ensure that earlier
keying habits are not disturbed.
3. That the rupee sign be placed on the same key on both keyboards to facilitate
ease of entry.
The layout of the English-India keyboard is given below.
The character placement convention followed in English-India keyboard is as shown
below.
2
A meeting of the same was held on Aug 31, 2010 and it was decided that the rupee symbol be mandated
in the keyboard and that it be placed on ALTGR +4 .
14

Malayalam Inscript 5.2

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