ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N2581R
2003-04-24
Universal Multiple-Octet Coded Character Set
International Organization for Standardization
Organisation internationale de normalisationеждународная организация по стандартизации
Doc Type: Working Group Document
Title:
Proposal to encode the ARABIC ZWARAKAY in the UCS
Source: Michael Everson and Roozbeh Pournader
Status:Individual Contribution
Action:For consideration by JTC1/SC2/WG2 and UTC
Date:
2003-04-24
In December 2002 the United Nations Development Programme Country Office for Afghanistancommissioned a report on the language support required for Pashto and Dari, Afghanistan’s officiallanguages. As a part of this report, we undertook a review of the character requirements of theselanguages. One character used in Pashto educational and lexicographical texts, is missing from the UCS.
We propose its addition here, at U+0659.
0659âARABIC ZWARAKAY

On the left, the entries for zwar []for zwarakay [ə] from Rahimi andRohi’s Pashto-English Dictionary,
1979, p. 246. On the right, the entry
for zwarakay [ə] from Pas.tó-Pas.tó
Descriptive Dictionary, 4 volumes(Department of Linguistics, Instituteof Languages and Literature,
Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan, 1979-1987), vol. 3, p. 2401.
The vol. 4 text to the right reads “m. sg. Weak zwar, light zwar; in Pashto and someother languages, is a diacratical mark that is neither a zwar (fatha) nor a zer (kasra);
like the sound of () in the word  [psə, pusə́ ] and the first sound in ago and thelast sound in the word China in English. Usually, the [ə] symbol is used to represent
this sound in phonemic and phonetic systems.

Front matter from vol. 3, p.  (above) andvol. 4, p.  (right) from Pas.tó-Pas.tóDescriptive Dictionary, 4 volumes(Department of Linguistics, Institute ofLanguages and Literature, Academy ofSciences of Afghanistan, 1979-1987). The
vol. 3 text reads “Other Symbols: SUKUN
is used to show the sukun letter andZWARAKAY is used for zwarakay.”

1A. Administrative
1. Title
Proposal to encode the ARABIC ZWARAKAY in the UCS.
2. Requester’s nameMichael Everson and Roozbeh Pournader
3. Requester type (Member body/Liaison/Individual contribution)
Individual contribution.
4. Submission date2003-04-24
5. Requester’s reference (if applicable)
N2581
6. Choose one of the following:
6a. This is a complete proposal
Yes.
6b. More information will be provided later
No.

Examples of ZWARAKAY in use: ¯[bəl] ‘other’ vs  [bal] ‘ablaze’.
  [zar. a] ‘old f.’ vs ¯ [zr. ə ]‘heart’.

B. Technical -- General
1. Choose one of the following:
1a. This proposal is for a new script (set of characters)
No.
Proposed name of script
1b. The proposal is for addition of character(s) to an existing blockYes.
1b. Name of the existing block
Arabic.
2. Number of characters in proposal
13. 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 3.
4b. Is a rationale provided for the choice?
Yes.
4c. If YES, reference
Combining characters.
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?
No.
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 Unicode2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.
This characters is very similiar in behaviour to the ARABIC FATHA (U+064E), and may possibly appear together with anARABIC SHADDA over a base letter. We recommend the following Unicode Character Properties to be assigned to theproposed character:
General Category: Mn
Canonical Combining Class: 37
Bidi Class: NSM
Bidi Mirrored: 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?
The Pashto experts Dr Habibullah Rafi (the editor of the popular magazine Kelid published in Kabul), and Mr Said Marjan
Zazai (a Pashto computerization expert from the Afghan Assistance Coordination Authority)
2c. If YES, available relevant documents
3. Information on the user community for the proposed characters (for example: size, demographics, information
technology use, or publishing use) is included?
Pashto-speaking educators among others.
4a. The context of use for the proposed characters (type of use; common or rare)
To represent the schwa sound in Pashto.
4b. Reference
5a. Are the proposed characters in current use by the user community?
Yes.
5b. If YES, where?
Educational materials.
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 Arabic signs.
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 existingcharacter?
Yes. There are other more-or-less horizontal bars in the standard.
10b. If YES, is a rationale for its inclusion provided?
Yes.
10c. If YES, referenceThis character behaves as other Arabic combining vowel signs do.
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)?
Yes.
11b. If YES, is a rationale for such use provided?
Yes.
11c. If YES, reference3

It is a combining character.
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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