JTC1/SC2/WG2 2745

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 2/WG 2 N2745-1
PROPOSAL SUMMARY FORM TO ACCOMPANY SUBMISSIONSFOR ADDITIONS TO THE REPERTOIRE OF ISO/IEC 106461
Please fill all the sections A, B and C below.
Please read Principles and Procedures Document (P & P) from http://www.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/principles.html for
guidelines and details before filling this form.
Please ensure you are using the latest Form from http://www.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/summaryform.html.
See also http://www.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/roadmaps.html for latest Roadmaps.

A. Administrative
1. Title: HPhags-pa script encoding
2. Requester's name: China National Information Technology Standardization Technical Committee,
Mongolian Agency for Standardization and Metrology
3. Requester type (Member body/Liaison/Individual contribution): Member body
4. Submission date: 2004-04-02
5. Requester's reference (if applicable): Users’ Agreement Related to HPhags-pa script encoding
6. Choose one of the following:This is a complete proposal:
Yes_______or,More information will be provided later:_______________
B. Technical - General
1. Choose one of the following:a. This proposal is for a new script (set of characters):
YES___________
Proposed name of script:
HPhags-pa script.
b. The proposal is for addition of character(s) to an existing block:______________Name of the existing block:__________________________________________________
2. Number of characters in proposal:__ 57____
3. Proposed category (select one from below - see section 2.2 of P&P document):
A-Contemporar_____ B.1-Specialized (small collection)
B.1 B.2-Specialized (large collection)
C-Major extinct _____ D-Attested extinct_____ E-Minor extinct_____
F-Archaic Hieroglyphic or Ideographic_____
G-Obscure or questionable usage symbols_____
4. Proposed Level of Implementation (1, 2 or 3) (see Annex K in P&P document):
2
Is a rationale provided for the choice?
_NO___________
If Yes, reference: ________________________________________________________________
5. Is a repertoire including character names provided?
_YES_____________
a. If YES, are the names in accordance with the “character naming guidelines”
in Annex L of P&P document?
YES______________
b. Are the character shapes attached in a legible form suitable for review?
YES____________
6. Who will provide the appropriate computerized font (ordered preference: True Type, or PostScript format) for
publishing the standard?
Beijing Founder Electronics Co., LTD
If available now, identify source(s) for the font (include address, e-mail, ftp-site, etc.) and indicate the tools
used: No.9, 5 Street, Shangdi, Information Industry Base, Haidian District, Beijing 100085, China .
vih@founder.com , tel: 86-10 62982266 ext 1466, fax: 86-10 629 81438
7. References:a. Are references (to other character sets, dictionaries, descriptive texts etc.) provided? Users’ Agreement
Related to HPhags-pa script encoding
b. Are published examples of use (such as samples from newspapers, magazines, or other sources)of proposed characters attached?
___No_________
8. Special encoding issues:
Does the proposal address other aspects of character data processing (if applicable) such as input,
presentation, sorting, searching, indexing, transliteration etc. (if yes please enclose information)?
No
9. Additional Information:
Submitters are invited to provide any additional information about Properties of the proposed Character(s) or Scriptthat will assist in correct understanding of and correct linguistic processing of the proposed character(s) or script.
Examples of such properties are: Casing information, Numeric information, Currency information, Display behaviour
information such as line breaks, widths etc., Combining behaviour, Spacing behaviour, Directional behaviour, Default
1

Form number: N2652-F (Original 1994-10-14; Revised 1995-01, 1995-04, 1996-04, 1996-08, 1999-03, 2001-05, 2001-09, 2003-11)

1Collation behaviour, relevance in Mark Up contexts, Compatibility equivalence and other Unicode normalization
related information. See the Unicode standard at http://www.unicode.org for such information on other scripts. Also
see http://www.unicode.org/Public/UNIDATA/UCD.html and associated Unicode Technical Reports for informationneeded for consideration by the Unicode Technical Committee for inclusion in the Unicode Standard.
C. Technical - Justification______________
1. Has this proposal for addition of character(s) been submitted before? No
If YES explain _________________________________________________________________________
2. Has contact been made to members of the user community (for example: National Body,
user groups of the script or characters, other experts, etc.)?
______________
If YES, with whom? Yes, Chinese and Mongolian Research Institutions
If YES, available relevant documents: see the attached Bibliography
3.
Information
on
the
user
communityfortheproposedcharacters(forexample:size, demographics, information technology use, or publishing use) is included?
______________
Reference: historical and linguistic research work, information technology use, or publishing
4. The context of use for the proposed characters (type of use; common or rare)
Reference: common in historical and linguistic research work
5. Are the proposed characters in current use by the user community?
_____Yes_________
If YES, where? Reference: linguists
6. After giving due considerations to the principles in the P&P document must the proposed characters be entirelyin the BMP?
Yes __________
If YES, is a rationale provided?
______________
If YES, reference: Unicode and ISO/IEC 10646 Roadmaps
7. Should the proposed characters be kept together in a contiguous range (rather than being scattered)? _______
8. Can any of the proposed characters be considered a presentation form of an existing
character or character sequence?
__No__________
If YES, is a rationale for its inclusion provided?
______________
If YES, reference: ________________________________________________________
9. Can any of the proposed characters be encoded using a composed character sequence of either
existing characters or other proposed characters?
No
If YES, is a rationale for its inclusion provided?
______________
If YES, reference:______________
10. Can any of the proposed character(s) be considered to be similar (in appearance or function)
to an existing character?
__No____________
If YES, is a rationale for its inclusion provided?
______________
If YES, reference: ________________________________________________________
11. Does the proposal include use of combining characters and/or use of composite sequences? No
If YES, is a rationale for such use provided?
______________
If YES, reference: _______________________________________________________Is a list of composite sequences and their corresponding glyph images (graphic symbols)
provided?
______________
If YES, reference: _______________________________________________________
12.
Does
the
proposalcontaincharacterswithanyspecialproperties
suchascontrol function or similar semantics?
Yes. Included in Proposal.
If YES, describe in detail (include attachment if necessary)______________
13. Does the proposal contain any Ideographic compatibility character(s)?
__No___________
If YES, is the equivalent corresponding unified ideographic character(s) identified? ____________
If YES, reference: ________________________________________________________

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Proposal to Encode the HPhags-pa Script
Ⅰ. A Brief Account of the HPhags-pa1) Script(1) The HPhags-pa script was invented by HPhags-pa by a special edict of Khubilai Khan, Emperor Shi
Zu of the Yuan dynasty, and in 1269 the Emperor issued another edict to implement his script
across the country. In a few cases, the HPhags-pa script was used as late as the late Qing dynasty.
The HPhags-pa script, which was at first called "New Mongol Script", and later called "statecharacters of Yuan dynasty", is a set of phonetic symbols for multi-lingual writing that can be used
"to write and translate all languages". According to material so far discovered, the HPhags-pa
script has been used to " write and translate " Mongolian, Chinese (Han), Tibetan, Turkic as well as
Sanskrit, and also other languages yet to be deciphered. Needless to say, of the above-mentioned
languages, Mongolian as the official language of Yuan dynasty, and Chinese, as the language
widely used by so many ethnic groups in China, are the two major languages for which HPhags-pa
script has been used. However, the HPhags-pa script is used in different ways to "write/translate"different languages, thus, Mongolian and Chinese (Han) are transcribed according to their sounds,
whereas Tibetan and Sanskrit are in principle transliterated letter for letter.
(2) As a special system of letters for "translating and writing" all languages, the HPhags-pa script ischaracterized by some striking features. The HPhags-pa alphabet is a very rich one, having moreletters than enough for writing or translating any language and more often than not having certain
compound letters to express a single sound. The HPhags-pa script is written from left to right, andfrom above downward, which follows the tradition of the Uighur-Mongol script and which is different
from Tibetan though HPhags-pa adopted his letters from it, and is also different from Chinese, amajor language which HPhags-pa letters are used to translate. The HPhags-pa system uses
syllables as its writing unit, which differs from Mongol writing. In Tibetan, a symbol is used toindicate the delimiter of a syllable or a word, whereas the HPhags-pa script does not use any
symbol to mark the limit of a syllable or a word. In HPhags-pa writing, the vowel letters are all
combinations of a few elements, including isolate form, syllable-initial (or word-initial) form, syllablemedial (or word-medial) form, as well as syllable-final (or word-final) form, and which is quite
different from Tibetan writing but is very much like Mongolian writing. In a word, the HPhags-pa
writing has its own independent orthographic system, which as a whole differs from Tibetan,
Mongolian and Chinese, hence is not a mere "variation" based on these languages though it has
had direct or indirect relationship with them in its detail.
(3) So far as we know, extant monuments written in HPhags-pa letters include the following kinds: (a)Inscriptions of the Yuan court like imperial edicts, the empress dowager's decrees, the prince's
orders, the imperial master's instructions and various regulations concerning monasteries exempt
from taxes and corvee issues by government departments; (b) Religious inscriptions. In all theabove-mentioned important monuments and relics, HPhags-pa script is used to "write or translate"various languages; (c) Various gold, silver, copper and iron pai-tzu (tallies) for diplomatic envoys orofficials bestowed by the emperor or military or administrative organizations; (d) Governmental seals
and commanding officers' seals of various levels of the Yuan dynasty provided by Li Bu (i.e.,
Ministry of Education) under the Zhong Shu (State Council), paper banknotes and coins distributed
by Yuan court as well as great numbers of private seals and signatures; (e) Books like Menggu
Ziyun (Book of Chinese Rhymes) in HPhags-pa and Chinese (Han) writings and Baijiaxing (AComplete Guide to Surnames) remain relatively intact, while Subhā ş itaratnanidhi is block-printed
fragments in Mongolian.
(4) The HPhags-pa script has a square seal script designed specially for transliterating Tibetan
characters. Judged by its form of script, this system of glyphs belongs to the HPhags-pa writing
system: its forms were invented in imitation of the decorative style of HPhags-pa script; and just like
HPhags-pa writing itself, this system of glyphs is also written from left to right, from above
downward. Tibetan, however, has its own independent system inasmuch as it differs from HPhagspa writing both in form of letters and structure of strokes. Specifically, Tibetan has a number offorms of letters which are either altogether wanting in HPhags-pa writing, or not quite the same as
1)

HPhags-pa was the inventor of the script. His is a Tibetan name and should be transliterated into
HPhags-pa on the principle to be close to his name in his native language.
3

HPhags-pa writing. On the contrary, many forms of HPhags-pa letters are not adopted by thisTibetan system of square seal characters. All its glyphs for writing correspond with the 30 lettersand 4 vowel glyphs in Tibetan. However, for lack of enough material on hand and in view of little
research about it, in the present Proposal to Encode the HPhags-pa Script, we will not include its
characters.
(5) In the past, not so much material of HPhags-pa writing had been discovered, and what's more, its
research has been mainly carried out outside China and Mongolia. Since the 1980's, however,
emerged an unprecedented upsurge of research for HPhags-pa script in its native land China andMongolia. In the past 20 years, a great amount of new material has been discovered; e.g., scholars
in China and Mongolia have so far discovered more than 40 Mongolian written monuments in
HPhags-pa letters instead of about 10 official monuments of the Yuan court before 1980. These
discoveries include quite a few stone inscriptions as well as a number of extremely valuable firsthand monuments. Based on deepened research into HPhags-pa writing as recorded in such newmaterial, scholars in China and Mongolia have published highly valuable monographs and treatises,in which they put forward a series of new ideas. Those all-sided and rather abundant materials
possessed by Chinese and Mongolian scholars and the latest research results they have achieved,
provide us with adequate scientific ground for the encoding of the HPhags-pa script.
The present situation, however, is that on the one hand now and then we discover new texts ofHPhags-pa writing, on the other hand our research about the discoveries does not seem sufficient,and there still exist a large number of monuments, e.g., Chinese monuments written in HPhags-pa
letters, which require our further research. That's why scholars have reached a common
understanding on quite a number of problems concerning HPhags-pa script, but their opinions stillvary on certain important problems. Therefore our attitude in formulating the code is to include as
much as possible the problems on which opinions do vary. And as soon as those academic
problems are solved, we can, according to the then conditions, revise, replenish and improve our
HPhags-pa encoding. Major books we have consulted for formulating the present proposal are listed
in the attached Bibliography.
Ⅱ.Views on How to Handle Certain Problems
As is mentioned above, though the HPhags-pa script is a system based on Tibetan and Sanskrit
writings with reference to Mongolian spelling, it is an independent system with its own characteristicfeatures quite different from any other writing system. Consequently, our emphasis ought to focus on
these features of the HPhags-pa script itself in preparing our proposal to encode it. The following areroughly our views on how to handle certain problems in its encoding:(1) Method of Encoding: The majority of letters in HPhags-pa writing have their respective "variant
presentation forms", the only difference being that some letters have relatively more variant
presentation forms, others have fewer. So, according to relevant regulations in the UCS,a method
called "nominal glyph" should be used to encode the HPhags-pa script, i.e., at first, we have to
divide each letter in HPhags-pa script into "nominal glyph" and "variant presentation glyph", and thento encode each "nominal glyph." At the same time, we have to prepare "a variant presentation glyphset" and "regulations on the use of control symbol".
(2) Nominal Glyph: According to the UCS ,the "nominal glyph" is a glyph "to be used to denote, transmit,
exchange, handle, input and present the written forms as well as additional signs of various
languages". The majority of HPhags-pa letters have a few variants, from which one should be chosen
as its "nominal glyph". It is above all the isolate form of a letter which is chosen, or, in the case of
there being a few isolate forms, the one which appears the most frequently is to be chosen.
A858,
A859,
A85A,
A85B andA863 has only one isolate form,(a) Each of the letterswhich is naturally chosen as its nominal glyph.
A86B andA855 have each two isolate forms, out of which we choose(b) Letters likeas nominal glyphs
andwhich have a high frequency of appearance.
(c) The three letters
A851,
A879 and
A87A have no isolate forms, so we adopt forms ,andwhich appear the most frequently.
A856, 'OE' andA857 'UE' are two indispensable basic vowels in the Mongolian language.
(d)
Although their variant presentation glyphs are "compound letters" each consisting of two or three4

"elements", they are regarded in the majority of academic monographs ( e.g., N. Poppe,
1941,1957; L. Ligeti, 1964, 1972; Č. Šagdarsüreng, 1981, 2001; B. Bulag, 1983; Bao Xiang, 1984;
A. Damdinsüreng, 1985, Tulgaguri, 1998; Y. Jančiw, 2002 et al ) as compound yet independent
letters listed in their respective alphabet. Other scholars who have not included these two letter inalphabet, also say that "sometimes a double letter is used to represent one sound". The forms ofandin the HPhags-pa system are based on the forms that represent
the two vowel letters
the two vowel letters in Mongolian writing. The sounds they mark are not the mere combinationsof their original glyphs A+E+O and A+E+U, instead what they mark are two other simple sounds öand ü which have nothing to do with them. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish them as two
independent vowel letters instead of anything like "compound vowels" even in terms of
information treatment; if not, these two vowel letters which take up 14.8% of the total number ofletters, would cause numerous inconveniences in retrieval and sequential arrangement. The sameis true if we take into consideration the "automatic transliteration of HPhags-pa text into Latinalphabet".
(e)
is a sign marking a nasal sound. It appears above a relevant syllable in writing, but does not
occupy any space in the syllable, and the letter below it still keeps the syllable-initial position as its
variant form.
(3) Variant Presentation Glyph: As is regulated in the UCS, the "variant presentation glyph" shows, "inpresenting certain characters, the graphic symbol of an individual glyph; this symbol depends on theposition of the given glyph with relation to other glyphs."(a) Strictlly speaking, each HPhags-pa letter has several "variant presentation forms". The majority ofconsonants can be divided into four variants which somewhat differ from each other, viz., isolate
form, syllable-initial (or word-initial) form, syllable-medial (or word-medial) form and syllable-final(or word-final) form. For example, the letter A85E has its isolate formsyllable-medial formand syllable-final form

, syllable-initial form,

. A few letters each have less than four variants.

Owing to different styles of script, there may appear cases in which several variants have the sameform.
(b) The "variant presentation forms" of the HPhags-pa script are divided into "conditional variants" and"free variants" so far as different conditions of their appearance are concerned.
Conditional variants are those that appear "with relation to the position of other glyphs", which
include in turn "positional variant" and "postpositive variant". The four variants of the letter A85E
， ， ， ，
andwhich appear onlyare "positional variants", while the six variants， and （ ） are "postpositive variants" conditioned
after the five "reversed letters" , ,by their preceding glyphs.
"Free variants" are those of one and the same letter that appear under the same condition.
and
, or
and
which differ in strokes but mark the same sound, are "free variants".
(c) Certain glyphs mark two sounds in one language, but one sound in another language. The former
are two different letters; the latter two free variants of one letter. Such pairs of glyphs as and ,and andmark one sound in Mongolian, but two sounds in Chinese texts. In our encoding,
we'd better handle such glyphs as individual letters.
(d) By the "stroke variants" are meant variants slightly different in their size, thickness, length or
sharpness of turn in the stroke. Glyph figures like , ,and , which do not mark different
sounds, nor any variant of a letter in certain cases, show only slight difference in calligraphy. Such"stroke variants" are not expressed in our encoding system.

5

(e) A vowel letter has more "positional variants". Apart from its normal isolate, syllable-initial, syllablemedial and syllable-final forms, it also has "postpositive variants" which appear after "reversed
letters". One may distinguish a postpositive variant through its preceding letter. Still, there arecases in which normal letter variants (i.e., variants of non reversed letters) appear after "reversed
letters", e.g.,, which is to be chosen with the "variant selector".
(f) Various "free variants" are to be chosen with the "variant selector"(g) With the “variant selector”, we can distinguish various “free variants” of a certain letter. Thus, theletterhas its isolate-1st syllable-final form , its 1st syllable-initial &-medial form , its 2nd
syllable-initial form , its 2nd syllable-medial form , and its 2nd syllable-final form . The “freevariants” are distinguished with the “variant selector” practically like this: →
； →
VS1 .
(h) For the figures of variant presentation glyphs and the use of the control symbol, pleasesee
the regulations in " A Users’ Agreement Related to HPhags-pa Script.", which isdesigned for common use by various kinds of users (See the Supplement).
(4) Joiner. Since in HPhags-pa script, the syllable is the unit for joining, so the letters in one syllable
should be joined together. While the majority of joined parts are on the right side of a letter, there areindividual letters whose joined parts are on each letter's left side. The right joined parts after the nonreversed letters and the left joined parts after them are the most common joining, without need forspecial selection, e.g.,

,

,

and

， ， ，

. But the right joined parts after the "reversed

letters" are special joining which requires special selection, e.g., ， ， . Only when the letteris to be joined with its preceding glyph or with its following glyph, middle part connection is required;however, seeing that it is difficult to standardize the length of the joiner, we can design no middle. To use the joiner will facilitate thejoiner, and instead, handle it by means of such variants asconnection of various letters, and also enable us to select the joined parts, moreover, it will decrease
the number of variant presentation glyphs.
(a) The right joiner ( ) is on the right side of a glyph and is used between glyphs joined on the right.
(b) The left joiner ( ) is on the left side of a glyph and is used between glyphs joined on the left side.
For details of the two joiners, see A Users’Agreement Related to HPhags-pa Script..
(5) Control Symbols: The encoding of HPhags-pa script requires several control symbols:(a) Three "free variant" selectors are needed in order to distinguish different "free variants" of a glyphthat appear under the same conditions. The three variant selectors in UCS may be used, viz.,
VS1 (U+FE00), VS2 (U+FE01) and VS3 (U+FE02).
(b) A "syllable delimiter" should be used so as to distinguish the limit of a syllable and that of a word.
We may use the narrow non-break space in the UCS NNB/SP (U+202F).
(of whichis a disyllabic word, andis a trisyllabic word) ought tobe recorded like
NNB/SP SP
NNB/SP
NNB/SPSP .
(c) In order to present the positions of certain letters, we choose from the General Punctuations of
the UCS the following two punctuation marks:(ZERO WIDTH JOINER, U+200D) and(ZERO WIDTH NON-JOINER, U+200C).
(ZERO WIDTH JOINER, U+200D) is used as follows:
1. Isolate form: (letter), e.g.,→

2. Syllable-initial form: (letter), e.g.,

；

→
→

；

6

→

3. Syllable-medial form:(letter)

4. Syllable-final form:(letter), e.g.,, e.g.,

→
→

；

；

→

→

ZERO WIDTH NON-JOINER (U+200C) is used as follows:
is used in recording when normal positions are violated. Thus, a syllable-initial form at the end of→ ; or the common whenis not used.
a syllable can be recorded like:(6) Punctuation Marks: Very few punctuation marks are used in HPhags-pa writing. Judging by themonuments and sources now extant, we find the following six marks, whose figures are largely the sameas Mongolian punctuation marks, and, having different functions, they have to be given different terms:(a)(b)

HPHAGS-PA ONE DOT (A840)
PHAGA-PA A DOUBLE DOT (A841)

HPHAGS-PA FOUR DOTS (A842)(c)(d) 。 HPHAGS-PA CIRCLE (A843)(e)
PAGS-PA JOINER (A844)(f)
HPHAGS-PA TIBETAN ANVSVARA （A845）(7) Signs of Indication:(a) The HPhags-pa punctuation marks are preceded by the sign "HPHAGS-PA".
(b) HPhags-pa letters used only to record Mongolian or to record Mongolian together with otherlanguages are preceded by "HPHAGS-PA LETTER"; HPhags-pa letters not used to record
Mongolian, but are used to record Chinese together with other languages are preceded by"HPHAGS-PA LETTER HAN"; HPhags-pa letters not used to record Mongolian or Chinese,but are used to record Tibetan or Tibetan together with other languages are preceded by"HPHAGS-PA LETTER TIBETAN"; HPhags-pa letters used only to record Sanskrit, but not torecord Mongolian, Chinese or Tibetan, are preceded by "HPHAGS-PA LETTER SANSKRIT".
(c) Letters of a given language are spelt in Latin letters close to the pronunciation of that
language.
(d) Glyphs which have the same meaning as those in the Mongolian Encoding should adopt asmuch as possible the signs of indication in Mongolian Encoding, otherwise the glyphs have touse different signs, e.g., ONE DOT, A DOUBLE DOT, FOUR DOTS.
(8) Order of Encoding: The letters of the HPhags-pa alphabet are arranged in quite different orders by
various schools; hence, there has never existed, so to speak, a standard and universally acknowledged
alphabet for the Hphagsp-ps script.
The HPhags-pa script is a writing system designed for multilingual purposes, just like Latin, Cyrillic,
Arabic and Mongolian. So we may well consider the following principles:(a) Following the example of Mongolian encoding, the vowel letters are to be arranged before theconsonant letters.
(b) Consonant letters found in the “original alphabet” are arranged according to their accepted
order, while the “newly added consonant letters” are arranged in the order of their similar lettersand after the consonant letters of the “original alphabet”.
(c) The punctuation marks are put in the preceding line of letters (A840-A84F), as is the regular
practice in the UCS.
(9) Style of Script:
The regular style is used in official monuments, tallies, stone tablets and books of the Yuan dynasty,
with texts in Mongolian, Chinese, Tibetan or other languages. This is the most widely used style of the, , ,and; Toganscript. The regular style can be subdivided into Khubilai style (1277/1289)
style (1345),,
and ; Juyong Pass style (1345),,
and; wood-engraved
block style,,and; and fine style,,and, etc. Besides, there appear inrecent publications other styles of script, such as styles of HPhags-pa script in Soviet and Chinese
academic publications.

7

The decorative style is mainly used in official seals, tablets and tallies of the Yuan dynasty.These aremainly Chinese materials written in decorative style. The HPhags-pa decorative style first appeared in
Menggu Ziyun (Mongolian Rhymes) revised in 1308. The regular style and the decorative style of the
HPhags-pa script are closely dependent upon each other in their figures.
The square style was mainly used in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries or on their seals, and continued to
be in use in certain scope as late as modern times. Its figures differ greatly from the regular and thedecorative styles.
We think that it is preferable to adopt a style which has been used in monuments written in HPhags-pa
letters and at the same is to some extent standardized and looks smooth and beautiful. Hence, we haveadopted for our present encoding the very style of HPhags-pa script found in Emperor Khubilai’s edicts(1277/1289).

References:
1) Andrew C. West ： Response to comments on Phags-pa proposal in N2706 ， ISO/IEC
JTC1/SC2/WG2 N2719，March, 2004.
2) Proposal to encode the Phags-pa script，ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N2622，September, 2003.
3) ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2：Project subdivision proposal for ISO/IEC 10646：2003/Amendment 1，WG2
N2706，October, 2003.
4) Principles on Encoding Phags-pa Script, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N2666，October, 2003.
5)              1984  Bao Xiang: A Study on
Mongolian Script, Educational Press of Inner Mongolia, 1984)6)               1983 (B. Bulag: A Brief History ofMongolian Script, People’s Press of Inner Mongolia, 1983 7) Н. Поппе: Квадратная письменность, Издательство академии наук СССР, 1941  N. Poppe:
HPhags-pa Script, Press of U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, 1941)— The Mongolian monuments in Hphags-pa script, edited by N. Poppe & John R.Krueger,
Wiesbaden, 1957.
— 八思巴字蒙古语碑铭，内蒙古文化出版社，1986 (Tablet Inscriptions in ’Phags-pa-Mongolian
Script, Cultural Press of Inner Mongolia, 1986)
8) Marian Lewiciki, Newly Discovered Inscriptions in Phags-pa Script, Wilno, 1937.
9) L. Ligeti ： Monuments en écriture ’phags-pa ， akadémiai kiadó ， Budapest ， 1973 (L. Ligeti:
Monuments in HPhags-pa Script, Budapest: Akademiai Kiado, 1973.)10)罗 常 培 、 蔡 美 彪 ： 八 思 巴 字 与 元 代 汉 语 资 料 汇 编 ， 科 学 出 版 社 ， 1959 （ Luo Changpei ， Cai
Meibiao：The HPhags-pa script and Yuan dynasty Chinese）

11) Ц. Шагдарсү рэн：Монгол ү сэгзү й, Улаанбаатар, 1981 (Ts. Šagdarsüreng, Mongol Paleography,
Ulan-Bator 1981; Beijing, 1989)— Монголчуудын ү сэг бичгийн товчоон，Улаанбаатар, 2001 (Ts. Šagdarsüreng, A Study ofMongolian Scripts, 2nd enlarged edition, Ulan-Bator, 2001)12)                  1983  4 (Šonghor: A Studyon the Religious Spells Inscribed on the Stone Walls of Ju Yong Pass)
13) 陶宗儀：书史会要，上海书店，1984 (Tao Zongyi: Shu Shi Hui Yao, Shanghai Publishing- house,
1984.)
1998 (Tulgaguri: A Short
14)               
History of Mongolian Script, Cultural Press of Inner Mongolia, 1998)15) Д. Тө мө ртого: Монгол дө рвө лжин ү сгийн дурсгалын судалга， Улаанбатар, 2002 (D. Tumurtogoo:
Studies on Mongolian Monuments in HPhags-pa Script, Ulan-Bator, 2002)— Дө рвө лжин бичгийн мө нгке гэдэг ү гийн тухай, SM IV, 1967 (D. Tumurtogoo: GraphicalPeculiarity of the Word “Mongke” in HPhags-pa Writing, in: Studia Mongolica, Vol. IV: 1967)8

— The Graphical System of Vowel Letters in HPhags-pa Script, in “Theoretical and Historical
Problems in Mongolian Linguistics”, Ulan-Bator, 2002, pp. 357-361.
16) А. Дамдин сү р эн：Монгол дө рвө лжин бичиг, Улаанбатар, 1986 (A. Damdinsüreng: HPhagspa Mongol Writing, 1986)17)                      
 2000  2 (Čagansara: The Transliterating of Sanskrit Words in HPhags-pa-Mongol
Documents, in Journal of Inner Mongolia University, No. 2, 2002)18) 照那斯图 杨耐思: 蒙古字韵校本，民族出版社，1987 (Jagunasutu & Yang Naisi: A Collated Guide to
Mongolian Rhymes, Nationalities Press, 1987)
19) 照那斯图：新编元代八思巴字百家姓，文物出版社，2003 (Jagunasutu: A New Complete Guide to
Surnames in Yuan HPhags-pa Script, Relic Press, 2003)— 八思巴字和蒙古语文献 I研究文集，アジア∙アフリカ言语文化研究所，1990 (The HPhags-pa
Script and Mongol Monuments, (I) Collection of Essays, Tokyo: Institute for the Study ofLanguages & Cultures of Asia and Africa, 1990)— 八思巴字和蒙古语文献 II文献汇集，アジア∙アフリカ言语文化研究所，1991 (The HPhags-pa
Script and Mongol Monuments, (II) Collection of Monuments, Tokyo: Institute for the Study ofLanguages & Cultures of Asia and Africa, 1991)20) Я. Жанчив：дө рвө лжин ү сгийн монгол дурсгал ，Улаанбатар, 2002 (Y. Jančiv: HPhags-paMongol Monuments, Ulan-Bator, 2002)21)                       1992  2 (Jalsan: The Transliterating of Tibetan Words in
HPhags-pa-Mongol Monument, in Journal of Inner Mongolia University, No.2, 1992)—                    
    1988  3 (Jalsan: A Few Problems Concerning the Relationship Between
HPhags-pa Script and the Indian & Tibetan Writings, in Journal of Inner Mongolia University,
No.3, 1998)22) 盛熙明：法书考，上海古书流通处，1921 (Sheng Ximing: Fashu Kao, Shanghai Ancient Books
Circulation Centre, 1921)

9

HPHAGS-PA
A84 A85

A86

A87

A88

A860

A870

A880

A861

A871

A881

A862

A872

A882

A873

0
A940

1

A850

A841
A851

2
A842

3

A852

。
A843

A853

A863

A844

A854

A864

A883

4
5

A845

A874

A865

A875

A856

A866

A876

A857

A867

A877

A858

A868

A878

A859

A869

A879

A85A

A86A

A87A

A85B

A86B

A87B

A85C

A86C

A87C

A85D

A86D

A87D

A84E

A86E

A87E

A84F

A86F

A87F

A855
A846

6
7
8
9
A
B
C
D
E
F

A884

A885

A886

A847

A887

A848

A888

A849

A889

A88A

A84A

A84B

A88B

A88C

A84C

A84D

A88D

A84E

A88E

A84F

A88F

10

A840

HPHAGS-PA

A868→ 0F74 ུ tibetan vowel sign u

A840

HPHAGS-PA ONE DOT→ 1802

A856

mongolian comma

A841

HPHAGS-PA DOUBLE DOT
mongolian full stop
→ 1803
A842
HPHAGS-PA FOUR DOTS
→ 1803mongolian four dots

A857
A858

A844

A859
A85A
A85B
A85C

。ideographic full stop

HPHAGS-PA JOINER→ 189A

mongolian nirugu

A845

HPHAGS-P A TIBETANANUSVARA
mongolian letter ag anusvara one→ 1880

A85D
A85E
A85F

HPHAGS-PA LETTER NGA
HPHAGS-PA LETTER HAN CA
HPHAGS-PA LETTER CHA
HPHAGS-PA LETTER JA
HPHAGS-PA LETTER HAN NYA→ 0F49 ཉ tibetan letter nya

A860
A861

HPHAGS-PA LETTER TA
HPHAGS-PA LETTER THA→ 0F50 ཐ tibetan letter tha

A862

HPHAGS-PA LETTER DA→ 0F51 ད tibetan letter da

A863

HPHAGS-PA LETTER NA→ 0f53 ན tibetan letter na→ 0F68 ས tibetan letter a

A864

HPHAGS-PA LETTER E

HPHAGS-PA LETTER PA→ 0F54 པ tibetan letter pa

HPHAGS-PA LETTER EE≡ 090F ए devanagari letter e

A865
A866

HPHAGS-PA LETTER I→ 0F72 ི tibetan vowel sign I

HPHAGS-PA LETTER HAN PHA
HPHAGS-PA LETTER BA→ 0F56 བ tibetan letter ba

HPHAGS-PA LETTER O

A867→ 0F7C ོ tibetan vowel sign o

A855

HPHAGS-PA LETTER GA→ 0F47 ཇ tibetan letter ja

A846 (Thes position shall not be used)
A847 (This position shall not be used)
A848 (This position shall not be used)
A849 (This position shall not be used)
A84A (This position shall not be used)
A84B (This position shall not be used)
A84C (This position shall not be used)
A84D (This position shall not be used)
A84E (This position shall not be used)
A84F (This position shall not be used)
A850
HPHAGS-PA LETTER A

A854

HPHAGS-PA LETTER KHA→ 0F46 ཆ tibetan letter cha→ 0F83 ྃ tibetan sign sna i\ldan

A853

HPHAGS-PA LETTER KA→ 0F45 ཅ tibetan letter ca→ 0901 ◌ँ devanagari sign candrabindu

A851
A852

HPHAGS-PA LETTER UE→ 0F40 ཀ tibetan letter ka

A843 。HPHAGS-PA CIRCLE→ 3002

HPHAGS-PA LETTER OE≡ 0911 ऑ DEVANAGARI LETTER CANDRA O

HPHAGS-PA LETTER MA→ 0F58 མ tibetan letter ma

HPHAGS-PA LETTER U

A868

HPHAGS-PA LETTER HAN TSA→ 091E ञ devanagari letter nya

11

A869
A869

HPHAGS-PA→ 0FB1

HPHAGS-PA LETTER HAN TSHA

A87B

→ 091C ज devanagari letter ja
A86A

HPHAGS-PA LETTER HAN DZA

A86B

HPHAGS-PA LETTER HAN WA

A86C

HPHAGS-PA LETTER HAN ZHA

A87C→ 0F4B ཋ tibetan letter l tta
A87D

HPHAGS-PA LETTER SANSKRITDDA

HPHAGS-PA LETTER MINUSCULE A→ 0F4C ཌ tibetan letter dda
A87E

HPHAGS-PA LETTER YA

HPHAGS-PA LETTER SANSKRITNNA→ 0F61 ཡ tibetan letter ya
A870

HPHAGS-PA LETTER SANSKRITHPHAGS-PA LETTER ZA→ 0F60 འ tibetan letter -a
A86F

HPHAGS-PA LETTER SANSKRITTTHA→ 0F5F ཟ tibetan letter za
A86E

tibetan subjoined letter ya

TTA→ 0F5E ཞ tibetan letter zha
A86D

A88F

→ 0F4E ཎ tibetan letter nna

HPHAGS-PA LETTER RA→ 0F62 ར tibetan letter ra

A87F

HPHAGS-PA LETTER HAN YA

A880

HPHAGS-PA LETTER HAN SHA≡ 0F61 ཡ tibetan letter ya

A871

HPHAGS-PA LETTER LA→ 0F63 ལ tibetan letter la
A872→ 0F64 ཤ tibetan letter sha

HPHAGS-PA LETTER SHA

A881→ 0F64 ཤ tibetan letter sha
A873≡ 0F67 ཧ tibetan letter ha

HPHAGS-PA LETTER SA
A882→ 0F66 ས tibetan letter sa
A874

A884 (This position shall not be used)
A885 (This position shall not be used)

HPHAGS-PA LETTER QHA

A886 (This position shall not be used)→ 0F41 ཁ tibetan letter kha
A876

HPHAGS-PA LETTER HAN QWA

A877

HPHAGS-PA LETTER HAN FA

A878

HPHAGS-PA LETTER QAHPHAGS-PA LETTER HAN FHA

A883 (This position shall not be used)

HPHAGS-PA LETTER HA→ 0F67 ཧ tibetan letter ha
A875

HPHAGS-PA LETTER HAN HA

A887 (This position shall not be used)
A888 (This position shall not be used)
A889 (This position shall not be used)
A88A (This position shall not be used)
A88B (This position shall not be used)→ 0F42 ག tibetan letter ga
A879

A88D(This position shall not be used)

HPHAGS-PA LETTER HAN HALF

→ 18A6mongolian letter ag half u→ 0FADtibetan subjoined letter wa

A87A

A88C (This position shall not be used)
A88E(This position shall not be used)
A88F(This position shall not be used)

HPHAGS-PA LETTER HAN HALF
YA

→ 18A7mongolian letter ag half ya

12

13

ISO
International Organization Standardization
Organization Internationale de Normalisation
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2Universal Multiple-Octer Coded Character Set(UCS)
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2

N2745-2
2004-04-02

Title:
Source:Summary of the 1st Joint Meeting on the HPhags-Pa Script Encoding
China National Information Technology Standardization Technical Committee
Mongolian Agency for Standardization & Metrology
Status:Joint Proposal
Action:for discussion at the meeting in Markham, Canada, June, 2004.
Distribution: for ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 experts
I. From March 31 to April 2, 2004 is held in Hohhot, China, the First Joint Meeting for the
HPhags-pa Script Encoding, attended by experts from Mongolian Agency for Standardization andMetrology, National University of Mongolia, and Mongolian National University of Education on
one side and from China IT Standardization Technical Committee, State Nationalities Affairs
Committee, Mongolian Language Working Committee of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region
and Inner Mongolia University on the other.
II. After careful study and discussion of the Documents SC2 N3696, WG2 N2622, WG2 N2719,
participants of the present meeting appreciate the arduous efforts Mr. Andrew C. West has made inpreparing his proposal to encode the HPhags-pa script and certain results he has achieved, but feel
regret that his proposal largely fails to reflect those numerous new academic monographs on
HPhags-pa script published mainly in Mongolian by scholars in China and Mongolia, native landof HPhags-pa script in the past 20 years, and what’s more, Mr. West completely negates China’s
preliminary comments (N 2706) on SC2 N3696. Therefore, we consider it necessary to submit ouroverall opinions, opinions of China and Mongolia, in the form of Proposal to Encode the
HPhags-pa Script.
III. In order to regulate certain technical details which cannot have been included in the UCS, but
are useful in the present Encoding of the HPhags-pa Script, at the present Meeting is formulated A
Users’Agreement Related to HPhags-pa Script Both China and Mongolia will publish it in duetime in the form of their respective “national standards”. For the moment, we submit theAgreement separately to the ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2 and its WG2.
IV. An important meeting of decisive significance of the ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 will be held in
Canada in June, 2004, on the HPhags-pa script encoding. There is need for both China andMongolia to send their experts to attend that meeting.

1

2

ISO
International Organization Standardization
Organization Internationale de Normalisation
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2Universal Multiple-Octer Coded Character Set(UCS)
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2

N2745-3
2004-04-02

Title: Summary of the User’s Agreement Related to HPhags-pa Script
Source:China National Information Technology Standardization Technical Committee.,Mongolian Agency for Standardization & Metrology
Status:Joint Proposal
Action:for discussion at the meeting in Markham, Canada, June, 2004.
Distribution: for ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 experts

A Users’Agreement Related to HPhags-pa Script
At the China-Mongolia Meeting held in Hohhot, China on March 31 – April 2, 2004, on the
Encoding of the HPhags-pa Script, experts of both sides consider it necessary to stipulate A Users’
Agreement Related to HPhags-pa Script in order to standardize certain technical details in the useof the HPhags-pa encoding which are not included in the UCS.
The present Agreement includes: (Ⅰ) General Principle for the Encoding of HPhags-pa Script;(Ⅱ) Nominal Glyphs and Their Names in the HPhags-pa Script; (Ⅲ) Variant Presentation Glyphs
and Their Names in HPhags-pa Script; and (Ⅳ) The Reference Table.

Ⅰ.General Principle for the Encoding of HPhags-pa Script(1) Method of Encoding: The majority of letters in HPhags-pa writing have their respective"variant presentation forms", the only difference being that some letters have relatively morevariant presentation forms, others have fewer. So, according to relevant regulations in the UCS,a method called "nominal glyph" should be used to encode the HPhags-pa script, i.e.,at first,
we have to divide each letter in HPhags-pa script into "nominal glyph" and "variant
presentation glyph", and then to encode each "nominal glyph." At the same time, we have toprepare "a variant presentation glyph set" and "regulations on the use of control symbol".
(2) Nominal Glyph: According to the UCS ,the "nominal glyph" is a glyph "to be used to denote,transmit, exchange, handle, input and present the written forms as well as additional signs ofvarious languages". The majority of HPhags-pa letters have a few variants, from which one
should be chosen as its "nominal glyph". It is above all the isolate form of a letter which is
chosen, or, in the case of there being a few isolate forms, the one which appears the mostfrequently is to be chosen.
(a) Each of the letters
A858,
A859,
A85A,
A85C andone isolate form ,which is naturally chosen as its nominal glyph.

１

A863 has only

(b) Letters likeA863 and

A86F have each two isolate formsof which we choose as nominal glyphs

and

，

. Out

which have a high frequency of

appearance.
(c) The three letters
forms
,
and

A851,
A879 and
A87A have no isolate forms, so we adopt
which appear the most frequently.

A856, 'OE' andA857 'UE' are two indispensable basic vowels in the(d)Mongolian language. Although their variant presentation glyphs are "compound letters"
each consisting of two or three "lexeme ", they are regarded in numerous academic
monographs ( e.g., N. Poppe, 1941,1957; L. Ligeti, 1964, 1972; Č. Šagdarsüreng, 1981,
2001; B. Bulag, 1983; Bao Xiang, 1984; A. Damdinsüreng, 1985, Tulgaguri, 1998; Y.
Jančiw, 2002 et al ) as compound yet isolate letters listed in their respective alphabet.
Other scholars who have not included these two letters in alphabet, also say that"sometimes a double letter is used to represent one sound". The forms of the two vowel
letters
andin the HPhags-pa system are based on the forms that represent thetwo vowel letters in Mongolian writing. The sounds they mark are not the mere
combinations of their original glyphs A+E+O and A+E+U, instead what they mark are
two other simple sounds ö and u which have nothing to do with them. Therefore, it isnecessary to handle them as two independent vowel letters instead of anything like"compound vowels" even in terms of information treatment; if not, these two vowel
letters which take up 14.8% of the total number of letters, would cause numerous
inconveniences in retrieval and sequential arrangement. The same is true if we take into
consideration the "automatic transliteration of HPhags-pa text into Latin alphabet".
(e)
is a sign marking a nasal sound. It appears above a relevant syllable in writing, butdoes not occupy any place in the syllable, and the letter below it still keeps thesyllable-initial position as its variant form.
(3) Variant Presentation Glyph: As is regulated in the UCS, the "variant presentation glyph"shows, "in presenting certain characters, the graphic symbol of an individual glyph; thissymbol depends on the position of the given glyph with relation to other glyphs."(a) Strictlly speaking, each HPhags-pa letter has several "variant presentation forms". The
majority of consonants can be divided into four variants which somewhat differ fromeach other, viz., isolate form, initial (in syllable or word) form, medial (in syllable orword) form and final (in syllable or word) form. For example, the letter A85E has its
isolate form
form

, syllable-initial form

, syllable-medial formand syllable-final. A few letters each have less than four variants. Owing to different styles ofscript, there may appear cases in which several variants have the same form.
(b) The "variant presentation forms" of the HPhags-pa script are divided into "conditionalvariants" and "free variants" so far as different conditions of their appearance areconcerned.
“Conditional variants” are those that appear "with relation to the position of other２glyphs", which include in turn "positional variant" and "postpositive variant". The four
variants of the letter A85E are "positional variants", while the six variants,

andwhich appear only after the five "reversed letters"

,

,

,

,

，

,

and （ ） are "postpositive variants" conditioned by their preceding glyphs.
“Free variants” are those of one and the same letter that appear under the same condition.
and
, or
and
which differ in strokes but mark the same sound, are "freevariants".
(c) Certain glyphs mark two sounds in one language, but one sound in another language.
The former are two different letters; the latter two free variants of one letter. Such pairsof glyphs as andandandmark one sound in Mongolian, but two
sounds in Chinese texts. In our encoding, we'd better handle such glyphs as individual
letters.
(d) By the "stroke variants" are meant variants slightly different in their size, thickness,length or sharpness of turn in the stroke. Glyph figures like,,and, whichdo not mark different sounds, nor any variant of a letter in certain cases, show only slightdifference in calligraphy. Such "stroke variants" are not expressed in our encoding
system.
(e) A vowel letter has more "positional variants". Apart from its normal isolate,syllable-initial, syllable-medial and syllable-final forms, it also has "postpositive
variants" which appear after "reversed letters". One may distinguish a postpositive
variant through its preceding letter. Still, there are cases in which normal letter variants(i.e., variants of non reversed letters) appear after "reversed letters", e.g.,, which is

to be chosen with the "variant selector".
(f) Various "free variants" are to be chosen with the "variant selector".
(g) With the “variant selector”, we can distinguish various “free variants” of a certain letter.
has its isolate-1st syllable-final form
, its 1st syllable-initialThus, the letter&-medial form
, its 2nd syllable-initial form
, its 2nd syllable-medial form
, andndits 2 syllable-final form
. The “free variants” are distinguished with the “variant→

selector” practically like this:

； →

VS1 .

(4) Joiner. Since in HPhags-pa script, the syllable is the unit for joining, so the letters in one
syllable should be joined together. While the majority of joined parts are on the right side ofa letter, there are individual letters whose joined parts are on each letter's left side. The rightjoined parts after the non reversed letters and the left joined parts after them are the mostcommon joining, without need for special selection, e.g.,

,

,

and

， ， ，

.

But the right joined parts after the "reversed letters" are special joining which requires
special selection, e.g.,，，. Only when the letteris to be joined with its

preceding glyph or with its following glyph, medial part connection is required; however,seeing that it is difficult to standardize the length of the joiner, we can design no medial
joiner, and instead, handle it by means of such variants as
３. To use the joiner will

facilitate the connection of various letters, and also enable us to select the joined parts,
moreover, it will decrease the number of variant presentation glyphs.
(a) The right joiner (right.

) is on the right side of a glyph and is used between glyphs joined on the(b) The left joiner (the left side.

) is on the left side of a glyph and is used between glyphs joined on(5) Control Symbols: The encoding of HPhags-pa script requires several control symbols:(a) Three "free variant" selectors are needed in order to distinguish different "free variants" ofa glyph that appear under the same conditions. The three variant selectors in UCS may be
used, viz., VS1 (U+FE00), VS2 (U+FE01) and VS3 (U+FE02).
(b) A "syllable delimiter" should be designed so as to distinguish the limit of a syllable andthat of a word. It means that the limit of the syllables in a word ought to have a gap equal
to one third of a space.. We may use the narrow non-break space in the UCS NNB/SP(U+202F).

(of whichis a disyllabic word, andis a trisyllabic word) ought to be recorded like
NNB/SPSPNNB/SP
NNB/SPSP .
(c) In order to present the positions of certain letters, we choose from the General(ZERO WIDTH

Punctuation of the UCS the following two punctuation marks:
JOINER, U+200D and(ZERO WIDTH NON-JOINER, U+200C).

(ZERO WIDTH JOINER, U+200D) is used as follows:
1. Independent form:(letter) , e.g.,

2. Syllable-initial form: (letter)→,e.g.,

3. Syllable-medial form:(letter)

4. Syllable-final form:(letter), e.g.,；→,e.g.,

→
；

→
→

→

；

；

→
→

ZERO WIDTH NON-JOINER (U+200C) is used as follows:
is used in recording when normal positions are violated. Thus, a syllable-initial form at
the end of a syllable can be recorded like:is→; or the common

when

not used.

(6) Punctuation Marks: Very few punctuation marks are used in HPhags-pa writing. Their figures
are largely the same as Mongolian punctuation marks, and, having different functions, they have to
be given different terms:

４

(a)

HPHAGS-pa ONE DOT (A840)(b)

HPHAGS-PA A DOUBLE DOT（A841）(c)

HPHAGS-PA FOUR DOTS（A842）(d) 。 HPHAGS-PA CIRCLE（A843）(e)(f)

HPHAGS-PA JOINER（A844）
HPHAGS-PA TIBETAN ANVSVARA（A845）(7) Signs of Indication:(a) The HPhags-pa punctuation marks are preceded by the sign "HPHAGS-PA".
(b) HPhags-pa letters used only to record Mongolian or to record Mongolian together withother languages are preceded by "HPHAGS-PA LETTER"; HPhags-pa letters not used
to record Mongolian, but are used to record Chinese together with other languages arepreceded by "HPHAGS-PA LETTER HAN"; HPhags-pa letters not used to record
Mongolian or Chinese, but are used to record Tibetan or Tibetan together with otherlanguages are preceded by "HPHAGS-PA LETTER TIBETAN"; HPhags-pa lettersused only to record Sanskrit, but not to record Mongolian, Chinese or Tibetan, arepreceded by "HPHAGS-PA LETTER SANSKRIT".
(c) Letters of a given language are spelt in Latin letters close to the pronunciation of that
language.
(d) Glyphs which have the same meaning as those in the Mongolian Encoding should
adopt as much as possible the signs of indication in Mongolian Encoding, otherwise
the glyphs have to use different signs, e.g., ONE DOT, A DOUBLE DOT, FOUR
DOTS.
(8) Order of Encoding: The letters of the HPhags-pa alphabet are arranged in quite different
orders by various schools; hence, there has never existed, so to speak, a standard anduniversally acknowledged alphabet for the Hphags-pa script.
The HPhags-pa script is a writing system designed for multilingual purposes, just like Latin,
Cyrillic, Arabic and Mongolian. So we may well consider the following principles:(a) Following the example of Mongolian encoding, the vowel letters are to be arranged
before the consonant letters.
(b) Consonant letters found in the “original alphabet” are arranged according to theiraccepted order, while the “newly added consonant letters” are arranged in the orderof their similar letters and after the consonant letters of the “original alphabet”.
(c) The punctuation marks are put in the preceding line of letters (A840-A84F), as is theregular practice in the UCS.
(9) Styles of Script: The letter figures found in HPhags-pa monuments can be classified
under three styles, viz., regular style, decorative style and square style.
We think that it is preferable to adopt a style which has been used in monuments written in
HPhags-pa letters and at the same time is to some extent standardized and looks smooth and５beautiful. Hence, we have adopted for our present encoding the very style of HPhags-pa script
found in Emperor Khubilai's edicts (1277/1289).

Ⅱ Nominal Glyphs and Their Names in the HPags-pa Script

HPHAGS-PA
A84

A85

A86

A87

A88

A940

A850

A860

A870

A880

A841

A851

A861

A871

A881

A842

A852

A862

A872

A882

A843

A853

A863

A873

A883

A844

A854

A864

A874

A884

5

A845

A855

A865

A875

A885

6

A846

A856

A866

A876

A886

7

A847

A857

A867

A877

A887

8

A848

A858

A868

A878

A888

9

A849

A859

A869

A879

A889

A

A84A

A85A

A86A

A87A

A88A

A84B

A85B

A86B

A87B

A88B

A84C

A85C

A86C

A87C

A88C

A84D

A85D

A86D

A87D

A88D

A84E

A84E

A86E

A87E

A88E

A84F

A84F

A86F

A87F

A88F

0
1
2
3

。

4

B
C
D
E
F

６

A840
A840

HPHAGS-PA
HPHAGS-PA ONE DOT→ 1802

A841

A856

mongolian comma

HPHAGS-PA DOUBLE DOTS
→ 1803

A842→ 3002mongolian four dots

A857

HPHAGS-PA LETTER UE

A858

HPHAGS-PA LETTER。ideographic full stop
A859
A85A
A85B
A85C

mongolian nirugu

HPHAGS-P A TIBETANANUSVARA→ 1880mongolian letter ag anusvara one

A85D

A846 (This position shall not be used)
A847 (This position shall not be used)
A848 (This position shall not be used)
A849 (This position shall not be used)
A84A (This position shall not be used)
A84B (This position shall not be used)
A84C (This position shall not be used)
A84D (This position shall not be used)
A84E (This position shall not be used)
A84F (This position shall not be used)

A85E

A850

A863

A85F
A860
A861

NGA

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

HAN

CA

HPHAGS-PA LETTERCHA

HPHAGS-PA LETTERJA

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

HAN

NYA

HPHAGS-PA LETTERTA

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

THA

A862

HPHAGS-PA LETTERDA→ 0F51 ད tibetan letter da

HPHAGS-PA LETTERNA→ 0f53 ན tibetan letter na

HPHAGS-PA LETTERE

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

EE

A864

HPHAGS-PA LETTERBA→ 0F56 བ tibetan letter ba

A865
A866

I

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

HAN PHA

HPHAGS-PA LETTERPA→ 0F54 པ tibetan letter pa→ 0F72 ི tibetan vowel sign I

A867

O

HPHAGS-PA LETTERMA→ 0F58 མ tibetan letter ma→ 0F7C ོ tibetan vowel sign o

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

HPHAGS-PA LETTER→ 0F50 ཐ tibetan letter tha≡ 090F ए devanagari letter e

A855

KHA

→ 0F49 ཉ tibetan letter nya

HPHAGS-PA LETTER A

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

HPHAGS-PA LETTER→ 0F47 ཇ tibetan letter ja→ 0F68 ས tibetan letter a

A854

GA

→ 0F46 ཆ tibetan letter cha→ 0F83 ྃ tibetan sign sna ldan

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

HPHAGS-PA LETTER→ 0F45 ཅ tibetan letter ca→ 0901 ◌ँ devanagari sign candrabindu

A853

KA

→ 0F40 ཀ tibetan letter ka

HPHAGS-PA JOINER→ 189A

A851
A852

OE

≡ 0911 ऑ devanagari candra omongolian full stop

A843 。HPHAGS-PA CIRCLE

A845

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

HPHAGS-PA FOUR DOTS
→ 1803

A844

A868

A868

U

HPHAGS-PA LETTER→ 091E ञ devanagari letter nya→ 0F74 ུ tibetan vowel sign u

７

HAN

TSA

A869
A869

HPHAGS-PA

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

HAN

TSHA

→ 091C ज devanagari letter ja

A86A

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

HAN

DZA

A86B

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

HAN

WA

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

HAN

ZHA

A86C

A87B
A87C

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

A87D

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

A87E

YA

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

HPHAGS-PA LETTER SANSKRITHPHAGS-PA LETTER SANSKRIT→ 0F4E ཎ tibetan letter nna

RA
A87F

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

LA
A880

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

HAN

YA

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

HAN

SHA

→ 0F64 ཤ tibetan letter sha

SHA
A881

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

HPHAGS-PA LETTER≡ 0F61 ཡ tibetan letter ya→ 0F64 ཤ tibetan letter sha

A873

HPHAGS-PA LETTER SANSKRITNNA→ 0F63 ལ tibetan letter laA872

HPHAGS-PA LETTER SANSKRIT→ 0F4C ཌ tibetan letter dda→ 0F62 ར tibetan letter raA871

tibetan subjoined letter ya

DDA

HPHAGS-PA LETTER MINUSCULE A→ 0F61 ཡ tibetan letter ya

A870→ 0FB1→ 0F4B ཋ tibetan letter ttha

ZA

→ 0F60 འ tibetan letter -a

A86F

mongolian letter ag half ya

TTHA→ 0F5F ཟ tibetan letter za

A86E→ 18A7TTA→ 0F5E ཞ tibetan letter zha

A86D

A88F

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

HAN HA≡ 0F67 ཧ tibetan letter haSA→ 0F66 ས tibetan letter sa

A874

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

A882

HA

→ 0F67 ཧ tibetan letter ha

A875

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

HAN FHA

A883 (This position shall not be used)

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

A884 (This position shall not be used)

QHA→ 0F41 ཁ tibetan letter kha

A885 (This position shall not be used)
A886 (This position shall not be used)

A876

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

HAN QWA

A877

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

HAN FA

A888 (This position shall not be used)

A878

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

QA

A889 (This position shall not be used)

A887 (This position shall not be used)→ 0F42 ག tibetan letter ga

A879

HPHAGS-PA

LETTER

A88A (This position shall not be used)
A88B (This position shall not be used)

HAN HALF

A88C (This position shall not be used)

U

A87A

→ 18A6mongolian letter ag half u

A88D(This position shall not be used)→ 0FADtibetan subjoined letter wa

A88E(This position shall not be used)

HPHAGS-PA LETTER

HAN

A88F(This position shall not be used)

HALF

YA

8

Ⅲ Variant Presentation Glyphs and Their Names in HPags-pa Script000

001 002 003

004

005

0
1
2
3
4

5
6
7
8
9
A
B
C
D
E
F

９

0000

HPHAGS-PA

0000

hpha1. left joiner

0001

hphal. a initial form

0002

0038

001E

hphal. ue initial form

hphal. e medial form

001F

hphal. ue first medial form

0003
0004
0005

hphal. ee second isolate form
hphal. ee first initial form
hphal. ee second initial form

0020

hphal. ue first final form

0021

hphal. ka initial-medial form

0006

hphal. ee third initial form

0022

hphal. kha initial-medial form

0007
0008
0009
000A
000B
000C

hphal. ee first medial form
hphal. ee second medial form
hphal. ee first final form
hphal. ee second final form
hphal. ee first reversed final form
hphal. ee second reversed final
form

0023

hphal. ga initial-medial form

0024

hphal. nga initial-medial form

0025

hphal. ca initial-medial form

0026

hphal. cha initial-medial form0027

hphal. ja initial-medial form

0028

hphal. nya initial-medial form

0029

hphal. ta first initial-medial form

002A

hphal. tha initial-medial form

002B

hphal. da initial-medial form

002C

hphal. na initial-medial form

002D
002E
002F
0030
0031
0032
0033

hphal. pa initial-medial form
hphal. pha initial-medial form
hphal. ba initial-medial form
hphal. ma initial-media form
hphal. han tsa initial-media form
hphal. han tsha initial-media form
hphal. han dza first initial-medial
form

0034

hphal. han wa second isolate-final
form

0035

hphal. han wa first initial-medial
form

0036

hphal. han wa second initial-medial
form

0037

hphal. han nya second initial-medial
form

0038

hphal. han za second initial-medial

000D
000E
000F
0010

hphal. i initial form
hphal. i medial form
hphal. i final form
hphal. i reversed final form

0011

hphal. o first initial form

0012

hphal. o second initial form

0013
0014

hphal. o medial form
hphal. o final form

0015

hphal. u first initial form

0016

hphal. u second initial form

0017

hphal. u third initial form

0018
0019
001A

hphal. u medial form
hphal. u final form
hphal. u reversed final form

001B

hphal. oe initial form

001C

hphal. oe first medial form

001D

hphal. oe first final form

form
１０

0039

HPHAGS-PA

005F

0039

hphal. minuscule a initial-medial
form

0055

hphal. sanakrit dda initial-medial
form

003A

hphal. minuscule
initial-medial form

0056

hphal. sanakrit nna initial-medial
form

003B
003C
003D
003E
003F

hphal. ya initial-medial form
hphal. ra first initial-medial form
hphal. ra second initial form
hphal. ra second medial form
hphal. ra second final form

0057
0058
0059

hphal. han ya initial-medial form
hphal. han sha initial-medial form
hphal. han ha initial-medial form

005A

hphal. han fha initial-medial form

0040
0041
0042
0043
0044
0045
0046
0047

hphal. la initial-medial form
hphal. sha initial-medial form
hphal. sa initial-medial form
hphal. ha initial-medial form
hphal. ha reversed medial form
hphal. ha reversed final form
hphal. qha initial-medial form
hphal. han qwa initial-medial form

005B (This position shall not be used)
005C (This position shall not be used)
005D (This position shall not be used)
005E (This position shall not be used)
005F (This position shall not be used)0048

hphal. han fa initial-medial form

0049

hphal. qa initial-medial form

004A

hphal. han half u initial form

004B
004C
004D

hphal. han half u medial form
hphal. han half u final form
hphal. han half u reversed final
form

004E
004F

hphal. han half ya first medial form
hphal. han half ya second medial
form

0050
0051

hphal. han half ya second final form
hphal. han half ya reversed final
form

0052

hphal. sanskrit tta initial-medial
form

0053

hphal. sanakrit
initial-medial form

0054

hphal. sanakrit
initial-medial formareversed

hpha. = hphags-pa
hphal. = hphags-pa letter

ttha
ttha

first
second11

Ⅳ. The Reference Table for HPhags-pa Script
Explanations:
The present Reference Table is prepared in order that our users may use the Control Symbols
in one and the same way and are provided with detailed regulations for the recording of individual
variant presentation glyph.
Theoretically, each HPhags-pa letter has two or more “variant presentation glyphs”.
Generally speaking, the majority of consonant letters have fewer variants and differ slightly intheir figures. The vowel letters, however, have more variants and differ more clearly in theirfigures. From such a point of view, the HPhags-pa letters can be divided into “regular letters” and“multi-variant letters”.
By regular letters we mean those variant glyphs which do not differ much in their figures andhave at most “isolate-syllable-final form” and “syllable-initial and syllable-medial form” (Due tothe features of various styles of writing, a letter may have different numbers of variant glyphs inwriting), but do not have “free variant”, so there is no need to use “control symbol” letters forregular recording. The following 38 letters are “regular letters”:             
































According to the UCS regulations, it suffices to use the

















.

to record individual variant

presentation glyph of such letters.
By “multi-variant letters” are meant letters which differ more clearly in their figures and havemore than three “positional variants” or have “free variants”, and require the use of the “control
symbol” letters to get recorded in a regular way. In the following table such “multi-variant letters”
are clearly explained. The table includes two parts: nominal glyphs and variant presentation
glyphs. The part of “nominal glyphs” repeats the part of HPhags-pa script in the UCS. In the partof “variant presentation glyphs” are found the number of each variant presentation glyph of aletter; figure of each variant presentation glyph and the name of each variant presentation glyph(such names are printed in minuscule so as to distinguish them from the names of the nominal
glyphs in the UCS); and the method of how to record individual glyph of that variant presentation
glyph.
⑴ The number of each variant presentation glyph indicates the order of that glyph in that
letter;⑵ The name in minuscule in the “NAME” column is that of the variant presentation glyph,while in the brackets ( ) are nominal glyphs used as variant presentation glyphs.
⑶ In the column “PRESENTATION RULE” for the variant presentation glyphs is shownhow to record individual glyph of the variant presentation glyphs. For regular presentation(writing of words or syllables) we may just remove the zero-break joiner

but retain thevariant selectors ,  and . The “variant selectors” in the brackets ( ) ,  and  areused only to write individual glyphs and we should remove the “variant selectors” in the brackets
during regular presentation.

12

Reference Table
BASIC

№

GRAPHICCHARACTERSNAME

PRESENTATION№

SYMBOL

A844
A852

A853

A854

GRAPHICCHARACTERSNAME

PRESENTATIONRULE

SYMBOL

HPHA. JOINERHPHAL. EE

HPHAL. I

HPHAL. O

000(right joiner)

001

hpha. left joiner000(first isolate form)001

hphal. ee second
isolate form002

hphal. ee first initial
form

003

hphal. ee
initial form004

hphal. ee third initial
form

005

hphal.
eemedial form006

hphal. ee second
medial form

007

hphal. ee first final
form

008

hphal. ee
final form009

hphal.
eefirstreversed final form

( VS2 )

00A

hphal. ee second
reversed final form

( VS3 )

000

(isolate form)001

hphal. i initial form002

hphal. iformmedial003

hphal. I

final form004

hphal. i reversed
final form000

(first isolate form)001

hphal. o first initial
form

002

hphal. oinitial form
13

VS1

second

VS1

VS1

VS2

first

secondsecondVS1

VS1( VS1)

VS1

BASIC№

GRAPHICCHARACTERSNAME

PRESENTATION№

SYMBOL

A855

A856

A857

GRAPHICCHARACTERSNAME

PRESENTATIONRULE

SYMBOL

HPHAL. U

HPHAL. OE

HPHAL. UE

003

hphal. o medial form004

hphal. o final form000

(first isolate form)002

hphal. u first initial
form

003

hphal. u
initial form004

hphal. u third initial
form

005

hphal. u medial form005

hphal. u006

hphal. u reversed
final form000

(isolate form)001

hphal.
form

oe

initial002

hphal.
oemedial form

first

003

hphal. oe second
medial form

secondhphal. oe first final
form

005

hphal. oe
final form

( VS1 )

VS1

secondVS1000(isolate form)001

hphal.
formue

initial002

hphal.
ue
medial form

first

003

hphal. ue second
medial form
hphal. ue first final
form

14

VS2

final form

004

004

VS1

VS1

BASIC№

GRAPHICCHARACTERS

PRESENTATION

NAME

№

SYMBOLGRAPHIC

A86B

A870

A874

NAME

PRESENTATIONRULE

SYMBOL

005
A86E

CHARACTERS

HPHAL.
MINUSCUL AHPHAL.
WA

HAN

HPHAL. RA

HPHAL. HA

hphal. ue
final form

secondVS1000(isolate-final form)001

hphal. minuscul ainitial-medial form002

hphal. minuscul areversedinitial-medial form000

(firstform)

001

hphal.
hanwasecondisolate-final form002

hphal. han wa firstinitial-medial form003

hphal.
hanwasecondinitial-medial form

isolate-final000(firstform)

001

hphal. ra first initialmedial form002

hphal. rainitial form003

hphal. ra second
medial form004

hphal. rafinal form000（
isolate-final
form）

001

hphal. ha initialmedial form002

hphal. ha reversed
medial form003

hphal. ha reversed
final form

15

( VS1)

VS1

VS1

isolate-final

secondsecondVS1

VS1( VS1)( VS1)BASIC№

GRAPHICCHARACTERS

PRESENTATION

NAME

№

SYMBOL

A879

A87A

A87C

GRAPHICCHARACTERSNAME

PRESENTATIONRULE

SYMBOL

HPHAL.
HALF UHAN

HPHAL.
HAN
HALF YAHPHAL.
SANSKRIT
TTHA

000(finalform)

001

hphal. han half u
initial form002

hphal. han half u
medial form003

hphal. han half u
final
form

004

hphal. han half u( VS1 )

reversed final

form

000

（
first
form）

final

001

hphal. han half ya
first medial form002

hphal. han half ya
second medial form003

hphal. han half ya
second final form

( VS1 )

004

hphal. han half ya
reversed final form

( VS2 )

000（
isolate-final
form）

001

hphal. sanskrit ttha
first initial-medial
form

002

hphal. sanskrit ttha
secondinitial-medial form

16

( VS1 )

VS1