ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N2705
L2/04-077
2004-02-02
Universal Multiple-Octet Coded Character Set
International Organization for Standardization
Organisation internationale de normalisationеждународная организация по стандартизацииDoc Type: Working Group Document
Title:
Proposal to encode five Indo-Europeanist phonetic characters in the UCS
Source: Deborah Anderson and Michael Everson
Status:Individual Contribution
Action:For consideration by JTC1/SC2/WG2 and UTC
Date:
2004-02-02
A number of subscripted letters are used in Indo-European linguistic materials, though their use is by nomeans limited to Indo-European. While a few Latin letters are currently encoded as modifier letters, theneeds for Indo-European extend beyond this set. Five characters are proposed here. Styled text is not seen
as appropriate for these; Indo-Europeanists already make use of the subscript digits, and superscript h andw
and so on, already encoded. The characters proposed here are required for plain-text representation ofIndo-European reconstructed material.
1D7Aa

LATIN SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER A

1D7B

e

LATIN SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER E

1D7Co

LATIN SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER O

1D7Dx

LATIN SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER X

208F/SUBSCRIPT SOLIDUS

Subscripted a, e, and o are used to indicate the vowel coloring of a laryngeal H. This use is fairlycommon, perhaps second only to the use of H with subscript numbers, namely, H1, H2, and so on.

Figure 1. Eric Hamp. 1989. “The Indo-European obstruent features and phonotactic constraints”, in The
New Sound of Indo-European, ed. Theo Vennemann. (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs;
41) Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Subscripted e is also used as a reduced vowel, as in -eH2- here:Figure 2. Fredrik Otto Lindeman. 1987. Introduction to the ‘Laryngeal Theory’. Oslo: Norwegian
University Press; distributed by Oxford University Press. Page 40.
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Subscripted x is used after a laryngeal h to denote uncertain vowel colouring, as in *leu(hx) and*hxC(V)- here:

Figure 3. H. Craig Melchert. 1984. Studies in Hittite Historical Phonology. Göttingen: Vendenhoeck andRuprecht. Page 59.

Figure 4. Mark Southern. 1999. Subgrammatical Survival: Indo-European s-mobile and its Regenerationin Germanic. (Journal of Indo-European Studies Monograph; 34) Washington, DC: Institute for the Studyof Man. Page 93.
Subscripted / is used between two numbers or letters, as in *h1/3al-u-t- and *dhug’hH(e/o)ter here:

Figure 5. Mark Southern. 1999. Subgrammatical Survival: Indo-European s-mobile and its Regenerationin Germanic. (Journal of Indo-European Studies Monograph; 34) Washington, DC: Institute for the Studyof Man. Page 124.

Figure 6. Vyacheslav Ivanov. 2001. “Southern Anatolian and Northern Anatolian”. in Greater Anatolia
and the Indo-Hittite Language Family: Papers presented at a colloquium hosted by the University ofRichmond, March 18-19, 2000, ed. Robert Drews, (Journal of Indo-European Studies Monograph; 38)
Washington, DC: Institute for the Study of Man. Page 134.

A. Administrative
1. Title
Proposal to encode five Indo-Europeanist phonetic characters in the UCS.
2. Requester’s name
Deborah Anderson and Michael Everson.
3. Requester type (Member body/Liaison/Individual contribution)
Individual contribution.
4. Submission date
2004-02-02
5. Requester’s reference (if applicable)
6. Choose one of the following:
6a. This is a complete proposal
Yes.
6b. More information will be provided later
No.

B. Technical -- General
1. Choose one of the following:1a. This proposal is for a new script (set of characters)
No.

2Proposed name of script
1b. The proposal is for addition of character(s) to an existing blockYes.
1b. Name of the existing block
Phonetic extensions, and Superscripts and Subscripts
2. Number of characters in proposal
5
3. Proposed category (see section II, Character Categories)
Category A.
4a. Proposed Level of Implementation (1, 2 or 3) (see clause 14, ISO/IEC 10646-1: 2000)
Level 1.
4b. Is a rationale provided for the choice?
No.
4c. If YES, reference
5a. Is a repertoire including character names provided?
Yes.
5b. If YES, are the names in accordance with the character naming guidelines in Annex L of ISO/IEC 10646-1: 2000?
Yes.
5c. Are the character shapes attached in a legible form suitable for review?
Yes.
6a. Who will provide the appropriate computerized font (ordered preference: True Type, or PostScript format) for
publishing the standard?
Michael Everson.
6b. If available now, identify source(s) for the font (include address, e-mail, ftp-site, etc.) and indicate the tools used:
Michael Everson, Fontographer.
7a. Are references (to other character sets, dictionaries, descriptive texts etc.) provided?
Yes.
7b. Are published examples of use (such as samples from newspapers, magazines, or other sources) of proposedcharacters attached?
Yes.
8. 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. Submitters are invited to provide any additional information about Properties of the proposed Character(s) or
Script that will assist in correct understanding of and correct linguistic processing of the proposed character(s) orscript. Examples of such properties are: Casing information, Numeric information, Currency information, Display
behaviour information such as line breaks, widths etc., Combining behaviour, Spacing behaviour, Directionalbehaviour, Default 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 otherscripts.
AlsoseeUnicode
Character
Database
http://www.unicode.org/Public/UNIDATA/
UnicodeCharacterDatabase.html and associated Unicode Technical Reports for information needed for considerationby the Unicode Technical Committee for inclusion in the Unicode Standard.
1D7A;LATIN SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER A;Ll;0;L;<sub> 0061;;;;N;;;;;
1D7B;LATIN SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER E;Ll;0;L;<sub> 0065;;;;N;;;;;
1D7B;LATIN SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER O;Ll;0;L;<sub> 006F;;;;N;;;;;
1D7B;LATIN SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER X;Ll;0;L;<sub> 0078;;;;N;;;;;
208F;SUBSCRIPT SOLIDUS;Po;0;ES;<sub> 002F;;;;N;;;;;

C. Technical -- Justification
1. Has this proposal for addition of character(s) been submitted before? If YES, explain.
No.
2a. Has contact been made to members of the user community (for example: National Body, user groups of the scriptor characters, other experts, etc.)?
Yes.
2b. If YES, with whom?
H. Craig Melchert, U of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Brent Vine, UCLA; Andrew Garrett, UC Berkeley.
2c. If YES, available relevant documents
3. Information on the user community for the proposed characters (for example: size, demographics, informationtechnology use, or publishing use) is included?
Linguists and phoneticians.

34a. The context of use for the proposed characters (type of use; common or rare)
Indo-European phonetic reconstructions.
4b. Reference
As above.
5a. Are the proposed characters in current use by the user community?
Yes.
5b. If YES, where?
See publications above.
6a. After giving due considerations to the principles in Principles and Procedures document (a WG 2 standingdocument) must the proposed characters be entirely in the BMP?
Yes.
6b. If YES, is a rationale provided?
Yes.
6c. If YES, reference
Keep with other subscripts used for phonetic purposes
7. Should the proposed characters be kept together in a contiguous range (rather than being scattered)?
8a. Can any of the proposed characters be considered a presentation form of an existing character or character
sequence?
No.
8b. If YES, is a rationale for its inclusion provided?
8c. If YES, reference
9a. Can any of the proposed characters be encoded using a composed character sequence of either existing charactersor other proposed characters?
No.
9b. If YES, is a rationale for its inclusion provided?
9c. If YES, reference
10a. Can any of the proposed character(s) be considered to be similar (in appearance or function) to an existing
character?
No.
10b. If YES, is a rationale for its inclusion provided?
10c. If YES, reference
11a. Does the proposal include use of combining characters and/or use of composite sequences (see clauses 4.12 and4.14 in ISO/IEC 10646-1: 2000)?
No.
11b. If YES, is a rationale for such use provided?
11c. If YES, reference
12a. Is a list of composite sequences and their corresponding glyph images (graphic symbols) provided?
No.
12b. If YES, reference
13a. Does the proposal contain characters with any special properties such as control function or similar semantics?
No.
13b. If YES, describe in detail (include attachment if necessary)
14a. Does the proposal contain any Ideographic compatibility character(s)?
No.
14b. If YES, is the equivalent corresponding unified ideographic character(s) identified?

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