Engsvanyáli: U+E100 - U+E14F

Registered 2001-06-09.

This script was invented by M. A. R. Barker as a playing aid for the Empire of the Petal Throne series of games, along with the Tsolyáni language. Further details can be found in The Tsolyáni Language, parts 1 and 2, published by Adventure Games Inc., 871 Edgerton Street, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55101-4119 USA (+1 612 776 6089). Fonts for Mac and PC can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tekumel/files/.

The Engsvanyáli script was used for writing the ancient Engsvanyáli language, and has been extended for representing a number of modern languages, most notably Tsolyáni, where it replaced the "monumental" form of the Bednálljan syllabary in the reign of the forty-fifth Seal Emperor.

The Engsvanyáli script is cursive, even in its printed form. Like the Arabic script, in the calligraphic tradition, the same letter may be written in different forms depending on how it joins with its neighbours. Word-medial and word-final vowels are written as diacritics above or below the consonant which they follow in speech; word-initial vowels, which are written as letters, never join with their neighbours. The script is written from right to left excepting numbers, which are written from left to right.

Encoding Principles

The alphabet of the Tsolyáni language is well-defined. Each letter in encoded only once, regardless of the different presentation forms it can assume. Independent vowels are encoded as letters; the combining vowel signs are separately encoded, in the way that Brahmic scripts are encoded.

The Non-joiner and the Joiner

The Unicode standard provides two user-selectable zero-width formatting codes: U+200C ZERO WIDTH NON-JOINER and U+200D ZERO WIDTH JOINER. The use of a non-joiner between two letters prevents them from attaching to each other when rendered. Each letter assumes the correct form, while the context analysis algorithm stays perfectly regular.

Engsvanyáli Vowels

Vowels in the Engsvanyáli script appear as independent letters only if they begin a word; otherwise, they are rendered as diacritics applied to the preceding consonant. The occurrence of a non-initial Engsvanyáli vowel constitutes an assertion that the character is intended to be applied via some process to the consonantal character that precedes it in the text stream, the base character. The Unicode standard does not specify a sequence order in case of multiple marks applied to the same Engsvanyáli base character, since there is no possible ambiguity of interpretation. (Deterministic sorting could be affected, but not other operations.)

Encoding Structure

The Engsvanyáli block is divided into the following ranges:

	U+E100 -> U+E128	Engsvanyáli letters
	U+E129 -> U+E12E	Engsvanyáli punctuation
	U+E12F			Engsvanyáli non-spacing consonant doubler
	U+E130 -> U+E138	Engsvanyáli vowel signs
	U+E139 -> U+E13E	Currently unassigned
	U+E13F			Engsvanyáli supplementary letter
	U+E140 -> U+E14E	Engsvanyáli digits and numbers
	U+E14F			Currently unassigned

U+E100	ENGSVANYALI LETTER P
U+E101	ENGSVANYALI LETTER B
U+E102	ENGSVANYALI LETTER M
U+E103	ENGSVANYALI LETTER F
U+E104	ENGSVANYALI LETTER V
U+E105	ENGSVANYALI LETTER W
U+E106	ENGSVANYALI LETTER T
U+E107	ENGSVANYALI LETTER D
U+E108	ENGSVANYALI LETTER N
U+E109	ENGSVANYALI LETTER TH
U+E10A	ENGSVANYALI LETTER DH
U+E10B	ENGSVANYALI LETTER CH
U+E10C	ENGSVANYALI LETTER J
U+E10D	ENGSVANYALI LETTER Y
U+E10E	ENGSVANYALI LETTER K
U+E10F	ENGSVANYALI LETTER G
U+E110	ENGSVANYALI LETTER KH
U+E111	ENGSVANYALI LETTER GH
U+E112	ENGSVANYALI LETTER Q
U+E113	ENGSVANYALI LETTER H
U+E114	ENGSVANYALI LETTER NG
U+E115	ENGSVANYALI LETTER GLOTTAL STOP
U+E116	ENGSVANYALI LETTER TS
U+E117	ENGSVANYALI LETTER TL
U+E118	ENGSVANYALI LETTER S
U+E119	ENGSVANYALI LETTER SH
U+E11A	ENGSVANYALI LETTER Z
U+E11B	ENGSVANYALI LETTER ZH
U+E11C	ENGSVANYALI LETTER SS
U+E11D	ENGSVANYALI LETTER R
U+E11E	ENGSVANYALI LETTER L
U+E11F	ENGSVANYALI LETTER HL
U+E120	ENGSVANYALI LETTER I
U+E121	ENGSVANYALI LETTER A
U+E122	ENGSVANYALI LETTER O
U+E123	ENGSVANYALI LETTER U
U+E124	ENGSVANYALI LETTER UE
U+E125	ENGSVANYALI LETTER E
U+E126	ENGSVANYALI LETTER AU
U+E127	ENGSVANYALI LETTER AI
U+E128	ENGSVANYALI LETTER OI
U+E129	ENGSVANYALI QUOTATION MARK
U+E12A	ENGSVANYALI COMMA
U+E12B	ENGSVANYALI FULL STOP
U+E12C	ENGSVANYALI QUESTION MARK
U+E12D	ENGSVANYALI FRACTION SLASH
U+E12E	ENGSVANYALI CONSONANT DOUBLER
U+E12F	(This position shall not be used)
U+E130	ENGSVANYALI VOWEL SIGN I
U+E131	ENGSVANYALI VOWEL SIGN A
U+E132	ENGSVANYALI VOWEL SIGN O
U+E133	ENGSVANYALI VOWEL SIGN U
U+E134	ENGSVANYALI VOWEL SIGN UE
U+E135	ENGSVANYALI VOWEL SIGN E
U+E136	ENGSVANYALI VOWEL SIGN AU
U+E137	ENGSVANYALI VOWEL SIGN AI
U+E138	ENGSVANYALI VOWEL SIGN OI
U+E139	(This position shall not be used)
U+E13A	(This position shall not be used)
U+E13B	(This position shall not be used)
U+E13C	(This position shall not be used)
U+E13D	(This position shall not be used)
U+E13E	(This position shall not be used)
U+E13F	ENGSVANYALI LETTER LL
U+E140	ENGSVANYALI DIGIT ZERO
U+E141	ENGSVANYALI DIGIT ONE
U+E142	ENGSVANYALI DIGIT TWO
U+E143	ENGSVANYALI DIGIT THREE
U+E144	ENGSVANYALI DIGIT FOUR
U+E145	ENGSVANYALI DIGIT FIVE
U+E146	ENGSVANYALI DIGIT SIX
U+E147	ENGSVANYALI DIGIT SEVEN
U+E148	ENGSVANYALI DIGIT EIGHT
U+E149	ENGSVANYALI DIGIT NINE
U+E14A	ENGSVANYALI NUMBER TEN
U+E14B	ENGSVANYALI NUMBER ONE HUNDRED
U+E14C	ENGSVANYALI NUMBER ONE THOUSAND
U+E14D	ENGSVANYALI NUMBER TEN THOUSAND
U+E14E	ENGSVANYALI NUMBER ONE MILLION
U+E14F	(This position shall not be used)

Pictures of Engsvanyáli characters from The Tsolyáni Language (Part II):

Based on a proposal by Christian Carey (ccarey@CapAccess.org)

HTML Michael Everson, Evertype, Cnoc na Sceiche, Leac an Anfa, Cathair na Mart, Co. Mhaigh Eo, Éire, 2006-05-28