ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N2719
Title

Response to Comments on Phags-pa Proposal in N2706

SourceAndrew C. West

Document Type

Individual Contribution

Date

10th March 2004

Background
This document presents clarifications on the proposal to encode the Phags-pa script given in document N2622, in
response to the eight points raised by the Chinese National Body in document N2706 :1. Alphabet not integrated, 2 vowels ö and ü used for recording Mongolian missing.
2. Some presentation forms are regarded as cononical forms by error, e.g., A868 and A869 are presentation
forms A85C, they should not be placed at current locations.
3. Letters sorting wrong. For instance: AB68 AB69 AB6A AB6B A862 A863 A864 A865.
4. Typeface in this PDAM had never been used in history of Phags-pa script.
5. Some characters’ shapes are not the best choice for cononical characters, shapes selected should bethoese appear frequently. For instance: A851 and A86C.
6. Character names should conform to that of Mongolian (1800-18AF). For instance: A86F ANUSVARA,
A870 BIRGA, etc..
7. At least one “Free Variation Form Selector”is needed. A “Syllable Connector” different to “general space” isalso needed.
8. Phags-pa script shoud not be regarded as variant of Tibetan script.
Before addressing each of these points individually, I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge myindebtedness to Chinese scholarship on the Phags-pa script. My understanding of the Phags-pa script has been
largely based on the work of Chinese scholars, in particular Professor Junast, China's foremost expert
on the Phags-pa script. I warmly welcome comments on my proposal from my Chinese colleagues, and hope thattogether we can agree on a sensible and workable encoding of the Phags-pa script in order to facilitate theadvancement of Phags-pa studies both within China and throughout the world.

Point 1
Alphabet not integrated, 2 vowels ö and ü used for recording Mongolian missing.
The Mongolian script has seven basic vowel letters : a [U+1820], e [U+1821], i [U+1822], o [U+1823], u [U+1824],
ö [U+1825] and ü [U+1826]. On the other hand the Phags-pa script only has five vowel letters : i [A86A PHAGSPA LETTER I], u [A86B PHAGS-PA LETTER U], [A86C PHAGS-PA LETTER E], o [A86D PHAGS-PA LETTER
O] and e [A86E PHAGS-PA LETTER EE]. In Mongolian texts written using the Phags-pa script the vowel sounds
ö and ü are represented by the digraphs eo <A86E A86D> and eu <A86E A86B> respectively. For example :Classical Mongolian ögbei

<1825 182D 182A 1821 1822> "gave" is written as 'eog be <A861

A86E A86D A842 0020 A852 A86E A86C> in the Phags-pa script.
Classical Mongolian ülü

A86B> in the Phags-pa script.

<1826 182F 1826> "not" is written as 'eu lu <A861 A86E A86B 0020 A85DMy position with regards to these two digraphs follows established Chinese scholarship, as can be seen from thefollowing remarks by Professor Junast :The Phags-pa script has five vowels :[i] <A86A>,[u] <A86B>,[ ] <A86C>,[o]<A86D> and[e] <A86E>. … In Phags-pa orthography certain sounds are represented by meansof digraphs, including both vowels and consonants. For example, the Mongolian "feminine" vowels öand ü are represented by the combination sequences
and<A86E> and<A86B> (i.e.

<A86E> and<A86D> (i.e.

eo)eu) respectively.

Junast, "Basibawen yuanyin zimu zixing wenti shang de liangzhong tixi"; in Minzu Yuwen 1987.4.

   
     

     ! " #The Phags-pa digraphs eo and eu are also used to represent the vowels ö and ü in Chinese words, for example
the Chinese ideographs
xún and
ju n are represented in the Phags-pa script as seun <A85F A86E A86B
A84F> and geon <A842 A86E A86D A84F> respectively. In the edition of the 14th-century Phags-pa rhyming, edited by Professors Junast and Yang Naisi(Beijing,
dictionary of Chinese, Menggu Ziyun
1987) the Phags-pa spellings for these two ideographs are transliterated as s un and g on (in this work A86C istransliterated as e, and A86E is transliterated as ), again indicating that the ö and ü sounds are regarded as
being represented by digraphs in the Phags-pa script.

In conclusion, I believe that it is unnecessary and inappropriate to encode pre-composed "eo" and "eu" digraphs
to represent the Mongolian vowel sounds "ö" and "ü".

Point 2
Some presentation forms are regarded as cononical forms by error, e.g., A868 and A869 are presentation forms
A85C, they should not be placed at current locations.
A868[PHAGS-PA SUBJOINED LETTER RA] and A869

[PHAGS-PA SUPERFIXED LETTER RA] areproposed for encoding in addition to A85C
[PHAGS-PA LETTER RA]. The rationale for encoding these formsof the Phags-pa letter RA was provided in Section 6 of document N2622, but I will attempt to further clarify why it
is necessary to encode the superfixed and subjoined forms of the letter RA separately.
To put it simply, as the Phags-pa script does not have an explicit letter to represent the vowel a it would be
impossible to distinguish, and hence correctly render, normal and subjoined/superfixed forms of the letters RA ina syllable with an inherent "a" vowel. Take for example the following two Tibetan words :Tibetan rang

<0F62 0F44> "self" = Phags-pa rang <A85C A843> (normal RA)

Tibetan rnga

<0F62 0F94> "drum" = Phags-pa rnga <A869 A843> (superfixed RA)

If only a single form of the Phags-pa letter RA were to be encoded, both rang and rnga would have to be
represented as <A85C A843> in the Phags-pa script, even though the two words should be rendered distinctly,
the former with the normal form of the letter RA, the latter with the superfixed T-shaped form of the letter RA.
Likewise, the subjoined forms of the letters WA, YA and RA need to be encoded separately in order for therendering engine to be able to correctly render the form of these letters in words with an inherent "a" vowel.
Compare the following pairs of Phags-pa syllables :Chinese h iChinese xià"sea" = Phags-pa hay <A860 A85B> (normal YA)"summer" = Phags-pa hya <A860 A867> (subjoined YA)

Chinese k o"to examine" = Phags-pa khaw <A841 A857> (normal WA)

Chinese ku"to boast" = Phags-pa khwa <A841 A866> (subjoined WA)
Sanskrit sar = Phags-pa sar <A85F A85C> (normal RA)
Sanskrit sra = Phags-pa sra <A85F A868> (subjoined RA)
In each case it would be impossible to distinguish or correctly render the Phags-pa words with a subjoined
WA/YA/RA unless the subjoined forms are encoded separately. This is illustrated by the following detail from themid 14th-century Sanskrit Phags-pa inscription on the East Wall of Juyong Guan
, in which the Sanskrit
syllables sra (in the word sa ha sra) and sar (in the word sar wa) occur in close proximity :As there is no explicit vowel a in the Phags-pa script, the two syllables sra and sar are written as the letter SA
followed by a subjoined letter RA <A85F A868> and the letter SA followed by a normal letter RA <A85F A85C>

respectively. If the subjoined letter RA was considered to be simply a presentation form of the letter RA, bothsyllables would have to be encoded as <A85F A85C>, and it would be impossible for a rendering engine to renderboth syllables correctly.

Point 3
Letters sorting wrong. For instance: AB68 AB69 AB6A AB6B A862 A863 A864 A865.
There are two 14th-century Chinese sources that list the forty-one original Phags-pa letters (the History of theYuan Dynasty states that the Phags-pa Lama devised a script comprising 41 letters, but does not list them) :: a work on calligraphy composed by the Yuan dynasty Uighur official Sheng Ximing

Fashu Kao

, first published in 1334.
Shushi Huiyao

Zongyi: a work on the history of calligraphy by the late Yuan / early Ming author Tao, first published in 1376, eight years after the fall of the Yuan dynasty.

These two works both list the forty-one Phags-pa letters according to the traditional order of the Tibetan letters :1. KA<A840>

15. BA<A852>

29. HA<A860>

2. KHA<A841>

16. MA<A853>

30. A<A861>

3. GA<A842>

17. TSA<A854>

31. I<A86A>

4. NGA
5. CA
6. CHA
7. JA
8. NYA<A843><A844><A845><A846>

18. TSHA<A855>

32. U<A86B>

19. DZA<A856>

33. E<A86C>

20. WA<A857>34. O<A86D>

21. ZHA<A858>

35. QA<A862><A859>

36. XA<A863>" <A85A>
24. YA % <A85B>

37. FA

25. RA

39. EE<A847>

22. ZA! <A84C>
10. THA $ <A84D>
11. DA ' <A84E>
12. NA ( <A84F>
13. PA + <A850>
14. PHA . <A851>

23. -A

9. TA<A85C>) <A85D>
27. SHA , <A85E>
28. SA / <A85F>
26. LA# <A864>
38. GGA & <A865><A86E>* <A866>
41. Subjoined YA - <A867>

40. Subjoined WA

Letters 1-30 are consonants derived from the thirty basic Tibetan consonants (and ordered according to traditional
Tibetan consonant order); letters 31-34 are vowels derived from the four primary Tibetan vowels (and orderedaccording to traditional Tibetan vowel order); letters 35-38 are additional consonants that are used to represent
sounds found in Mongolian, Chinese and other languages; letter 39 is an additional vowel used for writing
Mongolian, Chinese and Uigur; and letters 40-41 are subjoined letters used for writing Tibetan, Sanskrit andChinese.
The order of letters in my proposal is based on the order given in these two early sources, with the following
modifications :The series of reversed letters used to represent the Sanskrit retroflex letters ,,and(letters TTA,
TTHA, DDA and NNA [A848..A84B]) has been interpolated into the sequence between the letters NYA and
TA. This correpsonds to the ordering of letters in the Unicode Tibetan block, where the Tibetan letters TTA,
TTHA, DDA, DDHA and NNA [0F4A..0F4E] are placed between the Tibetan letters NYA and TA.
The four additional non-Tibetan consonants QA, XA, FA and GGA have been moved up to the end of thethirty-four Tibetan-derived consonants, so that all the consonants are grouped together.
The subjoined letters WA and YA have been moved between the base consonants and the vowels, and the
additional subjoined letter RA and superfixed letter RA have been added after subjoined letter YA.
The additional non-Tibetan vowel EE has been moved up to the end of the four Tibetan-derived vowels, sothat all the vowels are grouped together.
I believe that grouping all the base consonants together, followed by all the subjoined/superfixed consonants,
followed by all the vowels is sensible.

Point 4
Typeface in this PDAM had never been used in history of Phags-pa script.
The typeface used is of necessity an artifical typeface, but it does try to follow the style of letters used in printed"The
Yuan dynasty Chinese Phags-pa texts, specifically the 1340 edition of Baijiaxing Mengguwen
Hundred Chinese Family Names in Mongolian Script".

Point 5
Some characters’ shapes are not the best choice for cononical characters, shapes selected should be thoese
appear frequently. For instance: A851 and A86C.
Unfortunately it is difficult to detemine the canonical shapes of many Phags-pa characters as they often vary inshape from one text or inscription to another, and in the earliest surviving descriptions of the Phags-pa script(Menggu Ziyun, Fashu Kao and Shushi Huiyao) many of the glyph shapes are clearly corrupt. As discussed
below, the letters PHA [A851] and E [A86C] are particularly problematic.

Letter PHA
The letter PHA is not used for writing Mongolian, and although it is used for writing Chinese, it occurs in thespelling of few common ideographs. Moreover, even in texts that do use the letter PHA, it is often virtuallyindistinguishable in shape from the letter BA [A852]. Therefore there are not many examples of the letter PHA
suitable to use as a model. Some sample images of the letter PHA from various sources are given below :SourceNo. Image Reading

Sanskrit Phags-pa inscription on the East Wall of Juyong Guan (1345).

1.

sph-a

2.

phu

3.

pha

Shushi Huiyao(1376).

4.

phu

Menggu Ziyun(manuscript copy of edition published in 1308).

5.

phu

Inscription at Shandong of an edict confering posthumous titles on Confucius dated 1307.

6.

phu

Inscription at Hebei of an edict confering posthumous titles on Confucius dated 1307.

"The Hundred Chinese Family Names in Mongolian

Baijiaxing Mengguwen

Script" in the 1340 edition of Shilin Guangji.

.

Having reviewed these and other sources, I accept that the shape of the glyph for A851 in my font () does not
closely match the letter shapes shown above, and I therefore suggest that the representative glyph for PHAGSPA LETTER PHA be changed to

0 (cf. No.6 above).

Letter E
The letter E occurs in a wide range of shapes, as shown below :

No.

Image

ng

1.

2.

t

Mongolian Phags-pa inscription on the East Wall of Juyong Guan (1345).

Sanskrit Phags-pa inscription on the West Wall of Juyong Guan (1345).

Stone inscription of the edict of Buyantu Khan dated 1314.

3.

4.

SourceReadingju

Inscription at Hebei of an edict confering posthumous titles on Confucius dated 1307.

A manuscript edict dated the Year of the Dragon (1328 ?) in the Kashag Historical
Archives of Tibet.

5.

6.

'u

Chinese Phags-pa inscription dated 1298.

7.

juInscription at Shandong of an edict confering posthumous titles on Confucius dated
1307.

8.

n n

Chinese Phags-pa inscription dated 1363.

9.

y

A'
Nestorian'Christian tombstone in Quanzhou (Marco Polo's Zayton).

10.

'u

"The Hundred Chinese Family Names in

Baijiaxing Mengguwen

Mongolian Script" in the 1340 edition of Shilin Guangji.

11.

Shushi Huiyao(1376).

12.

Menggu Ziyun(manuscript copy of edition published in 1308).

Based on an analysis of twenty-three Mongolian Phags-pa inscriptions and texts Professor Junast identifies threemain forms of the letter E :double-toothed form (Nos.1-4 above)
Short-hooked form (Nos.5-7 above)
Long-hooked form (Nos.8-11 above)
In his analysis of the origins of the form of the letter E, Professor Junast states :If we wanted to select the most correct letter shape [out of the three main forms of the letter E] thenwithout a doubt it would beformer letter shape.
Junast, "Youguan Basiba zimuor

. As toand, they are probably simplifications of thede jige wenti". In Minzu Yuwen 1988.1$

   " Whilst the double-toothed form of the letter E is not the most common form of the letter, it is according toProfessor Junast the most correct form of the letter. In selecting the shape of the letter E to use in the font I was
heavily influenced by Professor Junast's important monograph on the Phags-pa letter E, which is the main reason

why the glyph for letter E in my font (Guan inscriptions.

) is based on the double-toothed form of the letter occuring in the Juyong

Nevertheless, I accept that it may be more appropriate to use one of the more common letter forms; and as along-hooked form would be more in keeping with the style of the font face, I suggest that the representative glyph
for PHAGS-PA LETTER E be changed to

1 (cf. Nos.8-11 above).

Point 6
Character names should conform to that of Mongolian (1800-18AF). For instance: A86F ANUSVARA, A870
BIRGA, etc..
As the Phags-pa script was derived from the Tibetan script, there is an obvious one-to-one correspondence
between most Phags-pa letters and the letters of the Tibetan script, which is why the proposed Phags-pa
character names largely follow the corresponding Tibetan names.
On the other hand, there is no similar one-to-one correspondence between the letters of the Phags-pa script andthe Mongolian script. Indeed, the Phags-pa script bears very little relationship with the Uighur-derived Mongolian
script other than its writing orientation (vertical, left-to-right). Not only do Phags-pa letters such as A847 NYA,
A851 PHA, A856 DZA and A858 ZHA not correspond to any letter in the Mongolian script, but due to the fact that
the Mongolian and Phags-pa scripts employ different orthographic rules for writing Mongolian there is a many-toone or many-to-many relationship between some letters of the two scripts. For example :182C [MONGOLIAN LETTER QA] (transliterated as k in "feminine" words and q in "masculine" words)
corresponds to either A840 [PHAGS-PA LETTER KA] or A841 [PHAGS-PA LETTER KHA] or A862
[PHAGS-PA LETTER QA] or A863 [PHAGS-PA LETTER XA], depending on the individual word :Mongolian yeke"large, great" = Phags-pa y ke <A85B A86C 0020 A840 A86E>

Mongolian ken"who" = Phags-pa khen <A841 A86E A84F>

Mongolian qamu

"all" = Phags-pa qa muq <A862 0020 A853 A86B A862>

Mongolian burqan"Buddha" = Phags-pa pur xan <A850 A86B A85C 0020 A863 A84F>

182D [MONGOLIAN LETTER GA] (transliterated as g in "feminine" words and in "masculine" words)
corresponds to either A840 [PHAGS-PA LETTER KA] or A842 [PHAGS-PA LETTER GA] or A85A
[PHAGS-PA LETTER -A] or A862 [PHAGS-PA LETTER QA], depending on the individual word :Mongolian galab"kalpa, aeon" = Phags-pa kal bu dun (gen. pl.) <A840 A85D 0020 A852

A86B 0020 A84E A86B A84F>
Mongolian bi ig"written document, book" = Phags-pa bi chig <A852 A86A 0020 A845

A86A A842>
Mongolian qa an"khan, emperor" = Phags-pa qa -an <A862 0020 A85A A84F> or q-an

<A862 A85A A84F>
Mongolian a an"white" = Phags-pa cha q-an <A845 0020 A862 A85A A84F>

182A [MONGOLIAN LETTER BA] corresponds to either A850 [PHAGS-PA LETTER PA] or A852 [PHAGSPA LETTER BA], depending on the individual word :Mongolian burqan

Mongolian basa

"Buddha" = Phags-pa pur xan <A850 A86B A85C 0020 A863 A84F>"then, still, also" = Phags-pa ba sa <A852 0020 A85F>

1830 [MONGOLIAN LETTER SA] corresponds to either A85F [PHAGS-PA LETTER SA] or A859 [PHAGSPA LETTER ZA], depending on the individual word :Mongolian e üs

Mongolian sara"end, goal" = Phags-pa he chus <A860 A86E 0020 A845 A86B A85F>"month" = Phags-pa za ra <A859 0020 A85C>

1833 [MONGOLIAN LETTER DA] corresponds to either A84C [PHAGS-PA LETTER TA] or A84E [PHAGSPA LETTER DA], depending on the individual word :Mongolian dalai

Mongolian urida"sea, ocean" = Phags-pa ta layi <A84C 0020 A85D A85B A86A>"former, previous" = Phags-pa u ri da <A86B 0020 A85C A86A A84E>

A84E [PHAGS-PA LETTER DA] corresponds to either 1832 [MONGOLIAN LETTER TA] or 1833
[MONGOLIAN LETTER DA], depending on the individual word :Phags-pa deng ri <A84E A86C A843 0020 A85C A86A> "heaven" = Mongolian tengri

Phags-pa u ri da <A86B 0020 A85C A86A A84E> "former, previous" = Mongolian urida

A862 [PHAGS-PA LETTER QA] corresponds to either 182C [MONGOLIAN LETTER QA] or 182D
[MONGOLIAN LETTER GA], depending on the individual word :Phags-pa qa muq <A862 0020 A853 A86B A862> "all" = Mongolian qamu

From these examples it can be seen that attempting to name the Phags-pa letters after Mongolian letters would
be highly problematic.

A86F
A86F corresponds in usage to both the candrabindu and anusvara signs in the Tibetan and Devanagari scripts,
but its proposed name is CANDRABINDU because it corresponds in shape to the candrabindu sign found in
Sanskrit, Tibetan and other Brahmic scripts (cf. 0901, 0981, 0A81, 0B01, 0C01, 0F83). Whilst U+1880 is named
MONGOLIAN LETTER ALI GALI ANUSVARA ONE, I note that not only is the letter shaped like a candrabindu
sign rather than an anusvara sign, but that in the Unicode code charts it is actually cross-referenced to U+0F83,
which is the Tibetan form of the candrabindu.
Note also that where A86F is used in the Phags-pa version of the Buddhist texts inscribed at Juyong Guan, thecorresponding Tibetan version of the text uses a candrabindu sign rather than the more normal anusvara :The invocationin the Phags-pa version (left) and Tibetan version (right) of the Buddhist
text on the East Wall at Juyong Guan. Note how A86F in the Phags-pa text corresponds to U+0F83 [TIBETAN
SIGN SNA LDAN = CANDRABINDU], not to U+0F7E [TIBETAN SIGN RJES SU NGA RO = ANUSVARA], in the
Tibetan version of the text.
Instead of changing the name of A86F, I suggest that an additional cross-reference to U+1880 [MONGOLIANLETTER ALI GALI ANUSVARA ONE] be added to this character, as indicated in the Appendix at the bottom of
this document.

A870
As far as I am aware, A870 does not occur in any early (13th and 14th century) Phags-pa texts or inscriptions, but
is only found in more recent Tibetan Phags-pa texts (see Examples 4 and 5 in N2622). Thus I do not believe that
it would be appropriate to give the character a Mongolian name (BIRGA).
Instead of changing the names of A870 and A871, I suggest that an additional cross-reference to U+1800[MONGOLIAN BIRGA] be added to these characters, as indicated in the Appendix at the bottom of this document.

Point 7At least one “Free Variation Form Selector”is needed. A “Syllable Connector” different to “general space” is alsoneeded.

Free Variation Selector
I agree that a Phags-pa Free Variation Selector (FVS) may be needed.
As discussed in Section 8 of N2622, A860 [PHAGS-PA LETTER HA], A867 [PHAGS-PA SUBJOINED LETTER
YA], A86A [PHAGS-PA LETTER I], A86B [PHAGS-PA LETTER U] and A86C [PHAGS-PA LETTER E] occur inreversed forms after A848..A84B [PHAGS-PA LETTER TTA, TTHA, DDA and NNA]. As this glyph reversal iscontextual there is no need to encode separate characters for these reversed letter forms. However, a Phags-pa
FVS would be very useful, in order to show a reversed letter HA, Subjoined YA, I, U or E in isolation (e.g. formetalanguage descriptions of the Phags-pa script).
Furthermore, the letter I occurs in both reversed and unreversed forms after the letter TTHA (see examples
below), and so it would be useful to have a mechanism for inhibiting contextual letter reversal where normally
expected.

These two images from the Juyong Guan inscriptions show the word dhish tthi te (Sanskrit
a reversed letter I) written with

2 after the letter TTHA [left] and an unreversed letter I 3 after the letter TTHA [right].

A Phags-pa Free Variation Selector could operate such that when applied to one of the letters HA, Subjoined YA,
I, U or E it :selects the reversed glyph form in situations where the unreversed glyph form would normally be selected(e.g. for the letter in isolation);
selects the unreversed glyph form in situations where the reversed glyph form would normally be selected(i.e. after one of the letters TTA, TTHA, DDA or NNA).
Thus the presence or absence of a Phags-pa Free Variation Selector could be used to produce reversed or
unreversed glyph forms as shown below :Character
Sequence

Description

Glyph

4
SUBJOINED-YA,
5FVS
ZWJ, I, FVS
2ZWJ, U, FVS
6ZWJ, E, FVS
7DDA, HA
8PHAGS-PA LETTER HA reversed form

NNA,
SUBJOINED-YA

9

Syllable NNYA with reversed Letter Subjoined YA (automatic contextual reversal of
Subjoined Letter YA after Letter NNA)

DDA, E:

Syllable DDE with reversed Letter E (automatic contextual reversal of Letter E after
Letter DDA)

NNA, U;

Syllable NNU with reversed Letter U (automatic contextual reversal of Letter U after
Letter NNA)

TTHA, I<

Syllable TTHI with reversed Letter I (automatic contextual reversal of Letter I after
Letter TTHA)

TTHA, I, FVS=

Syllable TTHI with unreversed Letter I (FVS selects unreversed form of Letter I after
Letter TTHA)

HA, FVSPHAGS-PA SUBJOINED LETTER YA reversed form

PHAGS-PA LETTER I reversed final form

PHAGS-PA LETTER U reversed final form

PHAGS-PA LETTER E reversed final form

Syllable DDHA with reversed Letter HA (automatic contextual reversal of Letter HAafter Letter DDA)

If a Phags-pa Free Variation Selector were to be considered appropriate, the following additional character could
be added to the PHAGS-PA block :

Code
Point

A874

Glyph

>

Character NameUnicodePropertiesPHAGS-PA FREE
VARIATION SELECTOR

Mn;0;NSM;;;;;N;;;;;

Notes

Syllable Connector
I do not believe that a separate "Syllable Connector" character is needed. The whitespace between thecomponent syllables of a Phags-pa word can be represented by NO-BREAK SPACE [U+00A0] or NARROW NOBREAK SPACE [U+202F], or indeed simply by SPACE [U+0020] as lines do break on intra-word syllable divisions
in traditional texts and inscriptions.

Point 8
Phags-pa script shoud not be regarded as variant of Tibetan script.
My proposal in no way considers the Phags-pa script to be a variant of the Tibetan script, but it is impossible toignore its Tibetan heritage :The script was created by a Tibetan monk, who based all the Phags-pa letter shapes on Tibetan letters.
In the earliest Chinese descriptions of the script (Fashu Kao and Shushi Huiyao) the letters are orderedaccording to the traditional Tibetan letter order.

Nevertheless, I appreciate that the cross-references to the corresponding Tibetan character for each Phags-pa
character in Table 1 of N2622 might give the mistaken impression that the Phags-pa script is considered to be avariant of the Tibetan script. These cross-references are only intended to indicate what Tibetan character a given
Phags-pa character derives from, and are not intended to imply that the particular Phags-pa letter is only or
mainly used for writing Tibetan.1 As there is a many-to-one or many-to-many correspondence between many ofthe letters of the Phags-pa and Mongolian scripts (see Point 6 above), it is not practical to annotate therelationship between Phags-pa letters and Mongolian letters in a similar way. However, it may be useful toannotate the linguistic usage of each letter, to show which out of the Mongolian, Chinese, Uighur, Tibetan andSanskrit languages it is used for writing.2 This would more clearly indicate that the Phags-pa script is not simply avariant of the Tibetan script, but was an international script designed to be used for writing Mongolian and otherlanguages. My proposed annotations are given in the Appendix at the bottom of this document.
1. "Cross references (preceded by -->) are used to indicate a related character of interest, but without indicating the nature of the relation" (TheUnicode Standard 4.0 Section 16.1).

2. "An informative note may include a list of the language(s) using that character where this information is considered useful" (The Unicode Standard
4.0 Section 16.1).

Appendix
The following table is a revision of Table 1 in Document N2622, in response to comments by the Chinese National
Body. The following changes, shown in red text, have been incorporated :Change to the reference glyphs for A851 and A86C.
Addition of general notes indicating language usage of Phags-pa characters.
Addition of cross-references to Mongolian characters where appropriate.
Note that there are no changes to character repertoire, character names or character properties.

Revised Table of Proposed PHAGS-PA Characters
Code
Point

Glyph

A840

Character NameUnicodePropertiesPHAGS-PA LETTER KA

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;PHAGS-PA LETTER KHA Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;

A841

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;A842

PHAGS-PA LETTER GA

A843

PHAGS-PA LETTER NGA Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;A844

PHAGS-PA LETTER CA

A845

PHAGS-PA LETTER CHA Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;A846

PHAGS-PA LETTER JA

A847

PHAGS-PA LETTER NYA Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;?

PHAGS-PA LETTER TTA Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;

A849

@

PHAGS-PA LETTER
TTHA

A84A

A

PHAGS-PA LETTER DDA Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;

A84B

B

PHAGS-PA LETTER NNA Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;

A848

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;

Notes* Mongolian, Chinese, Tibetan, Sanskrit--> 0F40

tibetan letter ka* Mongolian, Chinese, Uighur, Tibetan,
Sanskrit--> 0F41

tibetan letter kha* Mongolian, Chinese, Uighur, Tibetan,
Sanskrit--> 0F42

tibetan letter ga* Mongolian, Chinese, Tibetan, Sanskrit--> 0F44

tibetan letter nga* Chinese, Tibetan--> 0F45

tibetan letter ca* Mongolian, Chinese, Uighur, Tibetan--> 0F46

tibetan letter cha* Mongolian, Chinese, Uighur, Tibetan--> 0F47

tibetan letter ja* Chinese, Tibetan, Sanskrit--> 0F49

tibetan letter nya* Sanskrit--> 0F4A

tibetan letter tta* Sanskrit--> 0F4B

tibetan letter ttha

* Sanskrit--> 0F4C

tibetan letter dda* Sanskrit--> 0F4E

tibetan letter nna

A84C

A84D

A84E

!

$

'

PHAGS-PA LETTER TA

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;PHAGS-PA LETTER THA Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;PHAGS-PA LETTER DA

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;

A84F

(

PHAGS-PA LETTER NA

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;

A850

+

PHAGS-PA LETTER PA

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;

A851

0

PHAGS-PA LETTER PHA Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;PHAGS-PA LETTER BA

A852

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;A853

PHAGS-PA LETTER MA

A854

PHAGS-PA LETTER TSA Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;A855

PHAGS-PA LETTER
TSHA

A856

PHAGS-PA LETTER DZA Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;A857

PHAGS-PA LETTER WA

A858

PHAGS-PA LETTER ZHA Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;A859

PHAGS-PA LETTER ZA

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;

A85A

"

PHAGS-PA LETTER -A

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;

A85B

%

PHAGS-PA LETTER YA

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;* Mongolian, Chinese, Tibetan, Sanskrit--> 0F4F

tibetan letter ta* Mongolian, Chinese, Uighur, Tibetan,
Sanskrit--> 0F50

tibetan letter tha* Mongolian, Chinese, Uighur, Tibetan,
Sanskrit--> 0F51

tibetan letter da* Mongolian, Chinese, Uighur, Tibetan,
Sanskrit--> 0F53

tibetan letter na* Mongolian, Chinese, Tibetan, Sanskrit--> 0F54

tibetan letter pa* Chinese, Tibetan, Sanskrit--> 0F55

tibetan letter pha* Mongolian, Chinese, Uighur, Tibetan,
Sanskrit--> 0F56

tibetan letter ba* Mongolian, Chinese, Uighur, Tibetan,
Sanskrit--> 0F58

tibetan letter ma* Chinese, Tibetan, Sanskrit--> 0F59

tibetan letter tsa* Mongolian, Chinese, Tibetan, Sanskrit--> 0F5A

tibetan letter tsha

* Chinese, Tibetan, Sanskrit--> 0F5B

tibetan letter dza* Mongolian, Chinese, Uighur, Tibetan,
Sanskrit--> 0F5D

tibetan letter wa* Chinese, Tibetan--> 0F5E

tibetan letter zha* Mongolian, Chinese, Tibetan--> 0F5F

tibetan letter za* Mongolian, Chinese, Uighur, Tibetan,
Sanskrit--> 0F60

tibetan letter -a* Mongolian, Chinese, Uighur, Tibetan,
Sanskrittibetan letter ya--> 0F61

PHAGS-PA LETTER RA

A85C

A85D

A85E

A85F

)

,

/

PHAGS-PA LETTER LA

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;PHAGS-PA LETTER SHA Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;PHAGS-PA LETTER SAPHAGS-PA LETTER HA

A860

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;* Mongolian, Uighur, Tibetan, Sanskrit--> 0F62

tibetan letter ra* Mongolian, Chinese, Uighur, Tibetan,
Sanskrittibetan letter la--> 0F63* Mongolian, Chinese, Uighur, Tibetan,
Sanskrit--> 0F64! tibetan letter sha* Mongolian, Chinese, Uighur, Tibetan,
Sanskrit--> 0F66" tibetan letter sa* Mongolian, Chinese, Uighur, Tibetan,
Sanskrit--> 0F67# tibetan letter ha* Mongolian, Chinese, Uighur, Tibetan,
Sanskrit

A861

PHAGS-PA LETTER A

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;A862

PHAGS-PA LETTER QA

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;* Mongolian, Uighur

A863

PHAGS-PA LETTER XA

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;* Mongolian, Chinese#&*

PHAGS-PA LETTER FA

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;* Chinese, Uighur

PHAGS-PA SUBJOINEDLETTER WA

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;-PHAGS-PA SUBJOINEDLETTER YA

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;A868

PHAGS-PA SUBJOINEDLETTER RA

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;A869

PHAGS-PA SUPERFIXED
Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;LETTER RA

A864

A865

A866

A867

A86A

A86B

--> 0F68$ tibetan letter a

PHAGS-PA LETTER GGA Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;PHAGS-PA LETTER IPHAGS-PA LETTER U

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;* Chinese, Tibetan, Sanskrit--> 0FAD%&tibetan subjoined letter wa* Chinese, Tibetan, Sanskrit--> 0FB1%'tibetan subjoined letter ya* Tibetan, Sanskrit--> 0FB2%(tibetan subjoined letter ra* Tibetan--> 0F62

tibetan letter ra* Mongolian, Chinese, Uighur, Tibetan,
Sanskrit--> 0F72%)tibetan vowel sign i* Mongolian, Chinese, Uighur, Tibetan,
Sanskrit--> 0F74%*tibetan vowel sign u* Mongolian, Chinese, Uighur, Tibetan,

A86C

1

PHAGS-PA LETTER E

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;A86D

PHAGS-PA LETTER O

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;A86E

PHAGS-PA LETTER EE

Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;

Sanskrit--> 0F7A%+tibetan vowel sign e* Mongolian, Chinese, Uighur, Tibetan,
Sanskrit%,tibetan vowel sign o--> 0F7C* Mongolian, Chinese, Uighur* Sanskrit%-tibetan sign sna ldan
Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;--> 0F7E %.
tibetan sign rjes su nga ro--> 0F83

A86F

CPHAGS-PA LETTERCANDRABINDU--> 1880
anusvara one

A870

D

PHAGS-PA SINGLE
HEAD MARK

mongolian letter ali gali

* Tibetan* marks beginning of text
Po;0;ON;;;;;N;;;;; --> 0F04

/ tibetan mark initial yig mgo

mdun ma--> 1800

mongolian birga* Tibetan* marks beginning of text--> 0F04
A871

E

PHAGS-PA DOUBLEHEAD MARK

Po;0;ON;;;;;N;;;;; mdun ma--> 0F05

sgab ma--> 1800

A872

A873

/ tibetan mark initial yig mgo

F

PHAGS-PA MARK SHAD

* Tibetan
Po;0;ON;;;;;N;;;;; --> 0F0D

G

PHAGS-PA MARKDOUBLE SHAD

* Tibetan
Po;0;ON;;;;;N;;;;; --> 0F0E

0 tibetan mark closing yig mgo
mongolian birga

1 tibetan mark shad2 tibetan mark nyis shad