JTC1 SC2/WG2 N2627

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 2/WG 2
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 for guidelines and details before filling this form.)
See http://www.dkuug.dk/JTC1/WG2/docs/summaryform.html for latest Form.
See http://www.dkuug.dk/JTC1/WG2/docs/principles.html for latest Principles and Procedures document.
See http://www.dkuug.dk/JTC1/WG2/docs/roadmaps.html for latest roadmaps.

A. Administrative
1. Title:
Proposal to encode Marwari LAM WITH BAR character_______________________________________________________________________________
2. Requester's name: ___________________________________________________________________________
INCITS/L2; Unicode Technical Committee; Jonathan Kew, SIL International
3. Requester type (Member body/Liaison/Individual contribution):
Member; liaison; expert contribution____________________________________
4. Submission date:______________
2003-09-29
5. Requester's reference (if applicable): L2/03-228_____________________________________________________________
6. (Choose one of the following:)
This is a complete proposal:______________
Yesor,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):______________
No
Proposed name of script: __________________________________________________________
b. The proposal is for addition of character(s) to an existing block:______________Yes
Name of the existing block:Arabic Supplementary___________________________________________
2. Number of characters in proposal:______________
1
3. Proposed category (see section II, Character Categories):______________
A
4. Proposed Level of Implementation (1, 2 or 3) (see clause 14, ISO/IEC 10646-1: 2000):______________
1
Is a rationale provided for the choice?
______________Yes
If Yes, reference: ________________________________________________________________
No combining marks
5. Is a repertoire including character names provided?
______________
Yesa. If YES, are the names in accordance with the 'character naming guidelines
in Annex L of ISO/IEC 10646-1: 2000?
______________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? ________________________________________________________________
Jonathan Kew, SIL International
If available now, identify source(s) for the font (include address, e-mail, ftp-site, etc.) and indicate the tools
used:jonathan_kew@sil.org______________________________________________________________________________________
TrueType font generated with FontLab 4.5____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
7. References:a. Are references (to other character sets, dictionaries, descriptive texts etc.) provided? No______________
b. Are published examples of use (such as samples from newspapers, magazines, or other sources)of proposed characters attached?
Yes, see §3 below______________
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)?
Yes: suggested Unicode character properties are included______________________________________________________________________________________
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
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/UnicodeCharacterDatabase.html and associated Unicode Technical
Reports for information needed for consideration by the Unicode Technical Committee for inclusion in the UnicodeStandard.

N2352-F
2001-09-04
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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.)?
______________Yes
If YES, with whom? ______________________________________________________________
Local communities, linguists, and NGOs
If YES, available relevant documents: ________________________________________________
See §4 below
3. Information on the user community for the proposed characters (for example:size, demographics, information technology use, or publishing use) is included?
______________
Yes
Reference: ____________________________________________________________________________
See §2 below
4. The context of use for the proposed characters (type of use; common or rare)
Current publ’ns______________
Reference: ____________________________________________________________________________
See §2 below
5. Are the proposed characters in current use by the user community?
______________Yes
If YES, where? Reference: _______________________________________________________________
Marwari communities in southern Pakistan
6. 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
If YES, is a rationale provided?
______________Yes
If YES, reference: _________________________________________________________
Extension to BMP Arabic repertoire, see §1 below
7. Should the proposed characters be kept together in a contiguous range (rather than being scattered)?
_______
N/A
8. Can any of the proposed characters be considered a presentation form of an existingcharacter 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(see clauses 4.12 and 4.14 in ISO/IEC 10646-1: 2000)?
______________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 proposal contain characters with any special properties such as
control function or similar semantics?
______________No
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: ________________________________________________________

1Form number: N2352-F (Original 1994-10-14; Revised 1995-01, 1995-04, 1996-04, 1996-08, 1999-03, 2001-05, 2001-09)

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1.

Proposed character
The following character is proposed for encoding in the UCS:

Glyph

Code

Character nameGC

CC

Bidi

Shaping!

076A

ARABIC LETTER LAM WITH BAR

Lo

0

AL

LAM

This character is used in writing the Marwari language in southern Pakistan, to represent a flapped
retroflexed lateral. It has also been suggested for use in the Gawri language of northern Pakistan (see Baart &Sagar 2002) to represent a lateral fricative, but it is unclear how widely it has been adopted there. The character isproposed for encoding at this time on the basis of its established usage in Marwari, but naturally this does notpreclude possible use in other languages and communities.
As this character is an extension to the standard Arabic script, as adapted for use in South Asian
languages, and is in current use, it should be encoded on the BMP; a location in the new Arabic Supplementary
block is suggested.
Contextual shaping for this character is similar to that of U+0644 ARABIC LETTER LAM, including therequirement to form ligatures with ALEF and related characters (examples can be seen in figures 4, 6, 7, and 9) evenin simplified cursive styles of the script.

2.

Background information

The Marwari language is spoken by over 200,000 people in the Sindh and southern Punjab provinces ofPakistan (see http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=MRI). While Marwari has not traditionallybeen written, with most available education being in Sindhi or Urdu, there has been some use of written Marwariwithin the past 20 years. The Ethnologue cites a mother-tongue literacy rate of below 1%; nevertheless, a numberof works in Marwari have been published in recent years (see §4 References).
Two approaches have been taken to writing Marwari: in Sindh province, an orthography based on that ofSindhi has been used, while in the northern Marwari area (southern Punjab) the orthography has instead been
based on Urdu. In both cases, however, the orthography has been extended by the use of a “barred LAM” characterto represent a flapped retroflexed lateral, not found in either Sindhi or Urdu.
Most existing literature in Marwari comes from church-related organizations and other NGOs working in
the fields of education and community development among the Marwari community. Examples using both
southern (Sindhi-based) and northern (Urdu-based) orthographies are shown below.
It may be noted that the name “Marwari” is also used to refer to the standard form of the Rajasthanilanguage spoken in India (see http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=MKD). It is unclear exactly
how closely related the Pakistani “Marwari” language is to this. In any case, Marwari in India is written with theDevanagari script, and is therefore not relevant to the present character proposal.

3.

Samples showing use of the proposed character

3.1

Southern Marwari (Sindhi-based orthography)

Figure 1: Saint (1986), page 12

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Figure 2: Saint (1988), page 30

Figure 3: ICF (1987), no page #MarwariLam.tex

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Figure 4: PBS (1990), page 12

Figure 5: PBS (1991), page 45

Figure 6: SCF/PCF (n.d. #1), page 98; compare figure 7 for Urdu-based orthography
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3.2

Northern Marwari (Urdu-based orthography)

Figure 7: SCF/PCF (n.d. #2), page 98

Figure 8: ARP (n.d.), #75 of 100 portions

Figure 9: PBS (n.d.), page 21
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4.

References[ARP Mission?]. n.d. 100 Hawale [100 Scripture passages], Marwari boli [language].
Baart, Joan L. G. and Muhammad Zaman Sagar. 2002. The Gawri language of Kalam and Dir Kohistan.
http://www.geocities.com/kcs_kalam/gawri.pdf.

ICF [Indus Christian Fellowship]. 1987. Marwari Bhili Topical Vocabulary, Trial Edition.
Pakistan Bible Society. 1990. Genesis New Reader Portion Book 5 (Joseph): Marwari language.

. 1991. Gospel of Luke: Marwari language.

. n.d. Parables of Jesus (Part 1): Marwari language.
Saint, Helen. 1986. Marwari Language Learning Course.

. 1988. Marwari Primer, Trial Edition. Pakistan: ICF [Indus Christian Fellowship].
Sindhi Christian Fellowship/Pakistani Christian Fellowship. n.d. (#1). Christian Songs (Sindhi Script).

. n.d. (#2). Christian Songs (Urdu Script).

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