Chinook Codechart v.2Previous Version (16C00-16C1F from Roadmap to the SMP or submitter preferred 102E0-102FF) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Chinook letters generally combine in syllabic groups according to a fixed algorithm. All consonants have a stroke direction - for P/B,F/V,K/G, and M/N from the top down; for T/D, L/R, and Sh/S from left to right. Consonants combine with the termination of the first consonant marking the beginning of the second. Consonants (including I before a vowel) combine into circular vowels and circular vowels into consonants at tangent angles. Vowels generally combine beneath and to the right of consonants, but can realize otherwise in different circumstances. More information about this behaviour will be discovered through research into the Kamloops Wawa texts. The division of syllables, however, follows a standard model. A legal consonant cluster shall consist of a) a labial plosive (P or B) followed by or following S or a liquid (L or R); b) a dental plosive (T or D) followed by or following S/liquids or preceding I and a vowel; c) labio-dentals (F/V) followed by liquids; d) velars (K/G) followed by or following S or liquids or preceding I and a vowel; e) S followed by liquids; f) Sh followed by R; g) Nasals (N/M) followed or following S or liquids. In the following chart, a legal consonant cluster will be symbolized by Cs in brackets: [CC] and illegal clusters by braces {CC}. Line consonants are p,b,t,d,f,v,k,g,l,r, and variants. Arc consonants are m,n,sh,s, and variants. Circle vowels are a,o,oo,ow, wa,wi, we, and composed w/o vowels. Arc vowels are i & u. Nasal vowels are a,i,o, and u followed by CVS4. Syllable breaks will be symbolized by periods. Rules and examples: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
*1 CVS1 codes for a single non-breaking, non-spacing connection that would otherwise exist algorithmically. O (U+x0A) + CVS1 additionally incorporates a following vowel as a compound vowel - i.e. O or W + Vowel. CVS1 may be replaceable by ZERO WIDTH JOINER (U+200D) and CVS2 by ZERO WIDTH NON-JOINER (U+200C). Given the expected frequency of their use, their specialized usage with H (U+x15), and their use for establishing joining behaviour (rather than selecting joining forms of characters) the submitter would prefer to retain CVS1 and CVS2. *2 CVS2 codes for a syllable break in a non-algorithmic location. Preceding or following letter clusters should combine as normal, i.e. legal clusters should combine with their syllable-forming vowels. CVS2 may be replaceable by ZERO WIDTH NON-JOINER (U+200C). See note 1. *3 Syllable forming vowels (I and possibly U act graphically as consonants and may even override normal algorithmic rules concerning surrounding syllables) followed by CVS3 bind the following syllable (until the next syllabic vowel or non-H + CVS2) to the CVS3 vowel's syllable. *4 O + CVS1 + vowel constitutes a "W/O Vowel". *5 A,I,O,&U + CVS4 constitute Nasal Vowels. As nasal vowels, they can take CVS1,2,&3 - the only instance of a CVS character legally following another. *6 Possible alternate encoding with U+x10-U+x14 coded by U+x00-U+x04 + CVS4. *7 All generalizations of CVS in the Variation Selection Notes should except H (U+x15) + CVS1,2,3,&4. H + CVS1,2,3,&4 are realized as combining marks as follows: CVS1 - single dot in the primary (right/top) position; CVS2 - single dot in the secondary (left/bottom) position; CVS3 - doulbe dot in the primary (right/top) position; CVS4 - double dot in the secondary (left/bottom) position. Without modification, H (U+x15) realizes as a fully spaced dot not incorporated into any syllable. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The submitter indicates that he believes this script should be allocated to the range U+102E0-U+102FF. This is due to several factors. First, that this constitutes an economical use of allocation space by using two columns in an area consisting of mostly larger scripts (existing allocations are 3,2,4,3,2,3,2,4,5,3 & 3 columns). Second, that the Chinook script constitutes more an "Alphabetic and syllabic LTR script" and less a "Recently-devised script" than either Shavian, Deseret, or Osmanya, (existing allocations) and is equivalent to ButhaKukye (pre-allocated in roadmap).
The logic behind the ordering of the script is as follows. According to Father LeJeune's Chinook Rudiments, characters x00-x09 double as the numbers 1-9+0. x0A-x0D constitute the next four basic vowels given in his introduction. x0E and x0F comprise the most commonly found "compound" vowels, both in samples from the Kamloops Wawa and in an inventory of a Chinook dictionary in my posession (Dictionary of the Chinook Jargon, by George Gibbs, Echo Library ISBN 1-40680-924-1). Codepoints U+x09-U+x0F constitute all the circular vowels included in the proposal for the Chinook character block. The second column begins (x10-x14) with the voiced counterparts of the first five consonants in column 1. It proceeds to finish out the consonant inventory with H (U+x15). The two remaining simple vowels, E and U at x16 & x17 constitute the repertoire of non-circular vowels. In deference to aesthetic and logical considerations in the presentation of the code block, the four control characters - the Chinook Variation Selectors - have been given the final 4 codepoints U+x1C-U+x1F.