ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N2640
2003-10-01
Universal Multiple-Octet Coded Character Set
International Organization for Standardization
Organisation internationale de normalisationеждународная организация по стандартизации
Doc Type: Working Group Document
Title:
Revised proposal to encode the AFGHANI SIGN in the UCS
Source: Michael Everson and Roozbeh Pournader
Status:Individual Contribution
Action:For consideration by JTC1/SC2/WG2 and UTC
Date:
2003-10-01
In N2523 it was noted that in January 2000, N. R. Liwal said on the Unicode discussion list that he had
been to Kabul and met with Ministry of Finance of Afghanistan as well as to others about the Afghancurrency sign and its usage in many spheres of life, from accountancy to government correspondence andgeneral marketing. No formal proposal was ever generated to follow up on that discussion. While
preparing the report Computer Locale Requitements for Afghanistan for the UNDP in Kabul, we wereable to document the character in use.

qAFGHANI SIGN

Essentially this is an abbreviation of the Pashto word  afǧānə y, and the Persian word afǧānı̄ , where the initial ALEF is placed beneath an unfinished isolate FEH. In handwriting the end of theFEH is usually looped around into the ALIF thus:

Liwal’s reanalysis of the glyph thusr. It is our belief that this second glyph resulted in N. R.

p as an abbreviation ofALEF FEH GHAIN (Liwal’s glyph for this ism). We think that this analysis is a mistake (Liwal also has given the more neutral glyph } as anothervariant of the symbol). In handwritten samples in ledgers at the Bank-e Milli-e Afghan (the AfghanNational Bank), only one dot is used, and no separate ALEF alongside the loop. We are confident that thefinal loop is the ALEF and not, in fact, an original GHAIN.
The character has been assigned to the shift-4 position on Pashto, Dari, and Southern Uzbek keyboard
layouts specified in the Computer Locale Requitements for Afghanistan report. This report has beenendorsed by the Minister for Communications of Afghanistan.
We propose that this character be encoded either in the Currency Symbols block, at U+20B2, or in theArabic block, at U+060B.

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Sample of the Afghani sign in handwriting on a restaurant
receipt from Kabul.

Sample of the AFGHANI SIGN(lower left) and the DOLLAR
SIGN (upper right) in handwriting from a ledger inBank-e Milli-e Afghanistan.
(Apologies for the quality ofthe digital photograph.)2

A. Administrative
1. Title
Revised proposal to encode the AFGHANI SIGN in the UCS.
2. Requester’s nameMichael Everson and Roozbeh Pournader
3. Requester type (Member body/Liaison/Individual contribution)
Individual contribution.
4. Submission date2003-10-01
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.
Proposed name of script
1b. The proposal is for addition of character(s) to an existing blockYes.
1b. Name of the existing block
Currency Symbols or Basic Arabic.
2. Number of characters in proposal
1
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 thestandard?
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?
No.
7b. Are published examples of use (such as samples from newspapers, magazines, or other sources) of proposed characters
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 willassist in correct understanding of and correct linguistic processing of the proposed character(s) or script. Examples of suchproperties are: Casing information, Numeric information, Currency information, Display behaviour information such as linebreaks, widths etc., Combining behaviour, Spacing behaviour, Directional behaviour, Default Collation behaviour, relevance inMark 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 Unicode Character Database
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 Unicode Standard.
The character should have the same properties as other Arabic currency signs.

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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 script or characters,other experts, etc.)?
Yes.
2b. If YES, with whom?
N. R. Liwal and the United Nations Development Program (Afghanistan)
2c. If YES, available relevant documents
N/A.
3. Information on the user community for the proposed characters (for example: size, demographics, information technology use, orpublishing use) is included?
Speakers of Pashto and Dari.
4a. The context of use for the proposed characters (type of use; common or rare)
To represent the afghani currency in monetary amounts.
4b. Reference
5a. Are the proposed characters in current use by the user community?
Yes.
5b. If YES, where?
General use.
6a. After giving due considerations to the principles in Principles and Procedures document (a WG 2 standing document) must theproposed characters be entirely in the BMP?
Yes.
6b. If YES, is a rationale provided?
Yes.
6c. If YES, reference
Keep with other currency signs or with the RIAL SIGN.
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?
The abbreviation is based on the letter sequence ALIF FEH GHAIN, but it is a symbol in its own right and shows different shaping behaviour
from the ordinary sequence in other contexts.
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 characters or otherproposed 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 and 4.14 in ISO/IEC10646-1: 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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