bugFree UCS Outline Fonts - Bugs: bug #52400, Missing below-base forms for...

 
 

bug #52400: Missing below-base forms for Malayalam consonant–vowel ligatures

Submitter:  David Corbett <dscorbett>
Submitted:  Mon 13 Nov 2017 02:57:21 PM UTC
   
 
Category:  individual character(s) Severity:  3 - Normal
Item Group:  glyph(s) missing Status:  Proceeding
Privacy:  Public Assigned to:  Stevan_White
Open/Closed:  Open Release:  * development
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Mon 13 Nov 2017 07:59:11 PM UTC, comment #3: 

Yeah, ഘ്ന്നു isn't working as I had intended.  I need to re-work the "avoid" rules in those tables so that no below-form appears here.

The rule should be, even if there is a rule for a below-form under a given consonant, if that is followed by a further consonant for which there is no rule, the whole cluster should fall back to full-form consonants.

The worst is for letters to lie on top of one another, or otherwise become illegible -- even a mistyped word should be legible as such.

The proplerly-placed below forms are very tiny, and at normal font sizes they can be hard to distinguish.  We don't want to hide a typo in a contrived subscript.  So subscript forms should appear only in conjuncts where the reader expects them.  (This is me trying to formulate a policy.)

Steve White <Stevan_White>
Group administrator
Mon 13 Nov 2017 07:30:32 PM UTC, comment #2: 


> or unfamiliar clusters, it's more appropriate to show consonants connected by candrakalas


In that case, FreeFont should be changed to do that. Compare ⟨ന്നു⟩ to ⟨ഘ്ന്നു⟩: the latter should either use a candrakala or should ligate the below-base form with the vowel sign. The current rendering seems inconsistent.

David Corbett <dscorbett>
Mon 13 Nov 2017 07:06:48 PM UTC, comment #1: 

Hi,

No attempt has been made to make a full set of below-base ligature forms.  These subscript forms were intended to match the subscripts appearing in the SMC fonts.

As I understand it, most subscript conjuncts would be inapproprate to use -- for unfamiliar clusters, it's more appropriate to show consonants connected by candrakalas.  In fact, I am told by a native speaker that the SMC set is itself often excessive.

I have looked for a definitive list of subscript forms for classical Malayalam, but haven't turned up anything.

So, in what sense is this a bug?  Do you have a list of subscript forms for Malayalam?  Or do you have some reason for thinking they should always be present?  (I'm having trouble understanding the logic or pattern of subscripting, even for multi-consonant clusters I'm aware of.)

Steve White <Stevan_White>
Group administrator
Mon 13 Nov 2017 02:57:21 PM UTC, original submission:  

Some consonant–vowel ligatures, e.g. mal_ku, have below-base forms, e.g. mal_ku.blwf. The following do not.

mal_bhri
mal_bhrri
mal_bhu
mal_bhuu
mal_bri
mal_ddhri
mal_ddri
mal_dhrri
mal_drri
mal_ghri
mal_ghrri
mal_grri
mal_hri
mal_hu
mal_huu
mal_jhri
mal_jhrri
mal_jrri
mal_khri
mal_krri
mal_lri
mal_mrri
mal_nanri
mal_nanu
mal_nanuu
mal_nri
mal_nrri
mal_prri
mal_srri
mal_ssri
mal_tatrri
mal_trri
mal_ttrri
mal_vri
mal_yri

David Corbett <dscorbett>

 

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    Date Changed by Updated Field Previous Value => Replaced by
    2017-11-13 Stevan_White StatusNeed info Proceeding
    2017-11-13 Stevan_White StatusNone Need info
        Assigned toNone Stevan_White

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