Inkling Fan Language Character Encoding Version 0.3 What follows is a proposed encoding for the characters in the Inkling fan language for standardization among font creators. This encoding would make use of the private use area EC00-ECFF in the basic multilingual plane, as inkling is not widely-enough used to merit a permanent encoding in Unicode at this point, and is unlikely to become so unless Unicode adds a plane specifically for conlangs (a feature I would like, but for which there is little pressure on the consortium). Following the Unicode standard, character names are in all-caps, making use of only characters found in ASCII. As such, the standard transcription {š}, {ž}, {č}, and {ŧ} are replaced with <SH>, <J>, <CH>, and <TS> respectively. The character names are made unique from other Unicode characters by simply adding the name of the script ( INKLING ) to the beginning of each character name. Technical details of the rationale behind ordering and placement of characters can be found appended after the main layouts.
EC00 Modern Inkling ECFF 0 EC0 EC1 EC2 EC3 EC4 EC5 EC6 EC7 EC8 EC9 ECA ECB ECC ECD ECE ECF 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
Block E0: Modern Inkling 00-0F INKLING NUMERALS 00 INKLING DIGIT ZERO 01 INKLING DIGIT ONE 02 INKLING DIGIT TWO 03 INKLING DIGIT THREE 04 INKLING DIGIT FOUR 05 INKLING DIGIT FIVE 06 INKLING DIGIT SIX 07 INKLING DIGIT SEVEN 08 INKLING DIGIT EIGHT 09 INKLING DIGIT NINE 0A <RESERVED> 0B <RESERVED> 0C <RESERVED> 0D <RESERVED> 0E <RESERVED> 0F <RESERVED> 10-FF INKLING SYLLABARY Pure Vowel Syllables 10 INKLING LETTER A 11 INKLING LETTER E 12 INKLING LETTER I 13 INKLING LETTER O 14 INKLING LETTER U 15 <RESERVED> 16 <RESERVED> 17 INKLING LETTER OI B-stem syllables 18 INKLING LETTER BA 19 INKLING LETTER BE 1A INKLING LETTER BI 1B INKLING LETTER BO 1C INKLING LETTER BU 1D INKLING LETTER BAI 1E INKLING LETTER BIE 1F INKLING LETTER BOI D-stem syllables 20 INKLING LETTER DA 21 INKLING LETTER DE 22 INKLING LETTER DI 23 INKLING LETTER DO 24 INKLING LETTER DU 25 <RESERVED> 26 <RESERVED> 27 <RESERVED> F-stem syllables 28 INKLING LETTER FA 29 INKLING LETTER FE 2A INKLING LETTER FI 2B <RESERVED> 2C INKLING LETTER FU 2D <RESERVED> 2E <RESERVED> 2F <RESERVED> G-stem syllables 30 INKLING LETTER GA 31 INKLING LETTER GE 32 INKLING LETTER GI 33 INKLING LETTER GO 34 INKLING LETTER GU 35 INKLING LETTER GAI 36 <RESERVED> 37 <RESERVED> H-stem syllables 38 INKLING LETTER HA 39 INKLING LETTER HE 3A <RESERVED> 3B INKLING LETTER HO 3C INKLING LETTER HU 3D <RESERVED> 3E <RESERVED> 3F <RESERVED> Ž-stem syllables 40 INKLING LETTER JA 41 INKLING LETTER JE 42 INKLING LETTER JI 43 INKLING LETTER JO 44 INKLING LETTER JU 45 <RESERVED> 46 INKLING LETTER JIE 47 <RESERVED> K-stem syllables 48 INKLING LETTER KA 49 INKLING LETTER KE 4A INKLING LETTER KI
4B INKLING LETTER KO 4C INKLING LETTER KU 4D INKLING LETTER KAI 4E <RESERVED> 4F INKLING LETTER KOI M-stem syllables 50 INKLING LETTER MA 51 INKLING LETTER ME 52 INKLING LETTER MI 53 INKLING LETTER MO 54 INKLING LETTER MU 55 INKLING LETTER MAI 56 <RESERVED> 57 <RESERVED> N-stem syllables 58 INKLING LETTER NA 59 INKLING LETTER NE 5A INKLING LETTER NI 5B INKLING LETTER NO 5C INKLING LETTER NU 5D INKLING LETTER NAI 5E <RESERVED> 5F INKLING LETTER NOI P-stem syllables 60 INKLING LETTER PA 61 INKLING LETTER PE 62 INKLING LETTER PI 63 INKLING LETTER PO 64 INKLING LETTER PU 65 INKLING LETTER PAI 66 INKLING LETTER PIE 67 <RESERVED> R-stem syllables 68 INKLING LETTER RA 69 INKLING LETTER RE 6A INKLING LETTER RI 6B INKLING LETTER RO 6C INKLING LETTER RU 6D INKLING LETTER RAI 6E INKLING LETTER RIE 6F <RESERVED> S-stem syllables 70 INKLING LETTER SA 71 INKLING LETTER SE 72 INKLING LETTER SI 73 INKLING LETTER SO 74 INKLING LETTER SU 75 INKLING LETTER SAI 76 <RESERVED> 77 <RESERVED> Š-stem syllables 78 INKLING LETTER SHA 79 INKLING LETTER SHE 7A INKLING LETTER SHI 7B INKLING LETTER SHO 7C INKLING LETTER SHU 7D INKLING LETTER SHAI 7E <RESERVED> 7F <RESERVED> T-stem syllables 80 INKLING LETTER TA 81 INKLING LETTER TE 82 INKLING LETTER TI 83 INKLING LETTER TO 84 INKLING LETTER TU 85 INKLING LETTER TAI 86 <RESERVED> 87 <RESERVED> Ŧ-stem syllables 88 INKLING LETTER TSA 89 <RESERVED> 8A <RESERVED> 8B <RESERVED> 8C INKLING LETTER TSU 8D <RESERVED> 8E <RESERVED> 8F <RESERVED> Č-stem syllables 90 INKLING LETTER CHA 91 <RESERVED> 92 INKLING LETTER CHI 93 <RESERVED> 94 <RESERVED> 95 <RESERVED> 96 <RESERVED> 97 <RESERVED>
W-stem syllables 98 INKLING LETTER WA 99 INKLING LETTER WE 9A <RESERVED> 9B <RESERVED> 9C INKLING LETTER WU 9D INKLING LETTER WAI 9E <RESERVED> 9F <RESERVED> Z-stem syllables A0 INKLING LETTER ZA A1 INKLING LETTER ZE A2 INKLING LETTER ZI A3 INKLING LETTER ZO A4 INKLING LETTER ZU A5 INKLING LETTER ZAI A6 INKLING LETTER ZIE A7 INKLING LETTER ZOI AY-stem syllables A8 <RESERVED> A9 <RESERVED> AA <RESERVED> AB INKLING LETTER AYO AC INKLING LETTER AYU AD <RESERVED> AE <RESERVED> AF <RESERVED> EY-stem syllables B0 INKLING LETTER EYA B1 <RESERVED> B2 <RESERVED> B3 INKLING LETTER EYO B4 INKLING LETTER EYU B5 <RESERVED> B6 <RESERVED> B7 <RESERVED> UY-stem syllables B8 INKLING LETTER UYA B9 INKLING LETTER UYE BA <RESERVED> BB INKLING LETTER UYO BC <RESERVED> BD <RESERVED> BE <RESERVED> BF <RESERVED> IY-stem syllables C0 INKLING LETTER IYA C1 <RESERVED> C2 <RESERVED> C3 INKLING LETTER IYO C4 INKLING LETTER IYU C5 <RESERVED> C6 <RESERVED> C7 <RESERVED> OY-stem syllables C8 INKLING LETTER OYA C9 INKLING LETTER OYE CA <RESERVED> CB <RESERVED> CC INKLING LETTER OYU CD <RESERVED> CE <RESERVED> CF <RESERVED> UN-stem syllables D0 <RESERVED> D1 <RESERVED> D2 <RESERVED> D3 INKLING LETTER UNO D4 <RESERVED> D5 <RESERVED> D6 <RESERVED> D7 <RESERVED> IS-stem syllables D8 <RESERVED> D9 INKLING LETTER ISE DA <RESERVED> DB <RESERVED> DC <RESERVED> DD <RESERVED> DE <RESERVED> DF <RESERVED> EN-stem syllables E0 INKLING LETTER ENA E1 <RESERVED> E2 <RESERVED> E3 <RESERVED> E4 <RESERVED>
E5 <RESERVED> E6 <RESERVED> E7 <RESERVED> AT-stem syllables E8 <RESERVED> E9 <RESERVED> EA INKLING LETTER ATI EB <RESERVED> EC <RESERVED> ED <RESERVED> EE <RESERVED> EF <RESERVED> AN-stem syllables F0 <RESERVED> F1 INKLING LETTER ANE F2 <RESERVED> F3 <RESERVED> F4 <RESERVED> F5 <RESERVED> F6 <RESERVED> F7 <RESERVED> OT-stem syllables F8 INKLING LETTER OTA F9 <RESERVED> FA <RESERVED> FB <RESERVED> FC <RESERVED> FD <RESERVED> FE <RESERVED> FF <RESERVED>
Technical Details and Rationale This encoding divides Inkling glyphs into numerals (Using naming convention INKLING DIGIT ), at codepoints 00-0F, and syllables ( INKLING LETTER ) at 10-FF. Because of its placement in the latter half of the first plane, in standard UTF-8 format, each character in inkling will take 3 bytes in a text file. Ordering in the numeral region is fairly self-explanatory: 0-9 in ascending order at codepoints 0-9. In the syllabary region, the encoding makes use of the inherent structure of allowed syllable or disyllable glyphs: all end in one of eight sounds (or codas ), the five inkling vowels {a}, {e}, {i}, {o}, {u}, or one of three diphthongs {ai}, {ie}, {oi} (though, as they are in practice pronounced independently, these are more accurately termed disyllables ). Since 8 is a binary number this structure fits naturally into the encoding structure as two sets of eight per column. Thus any syllable (or polysyllable) whose codepoint ends in 0 or 8 ends in {a} 1 or 9 ends in {e} 2 or A ends in {i} 3 or B ends in {o} 4 or C ends in {u} 5 or D ends in {ai} 6 or E ends in {ie} 7 or F ends in {oi} This makes rhyming sets easily identifiable by modulo 8 division. While more structural consideration is possible, to conform to the traditional ordering of Inkling characters, these sets are simply grouped into sets by the set of letters with which it begins (the onset ) and these sets are placed as closely as possible to their canonical ordering. The only glyphs out of traditional order in this encoding are the sets {fu}/{fi}, {eyu}/{eyo}, and {uye}/{uya}, which are flipped to preserve the {a}, {e}, {i}, {o}, {u}, {ai}, {ie}, {oi} ordering found in all other sets.