Chinook Codechart v.3Previous 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 consonant I; 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. H is the dot consonant. Circle vowels are o,a,oo,ow, wa,wi, and composed w/o vowels. Arc vowels are u & i and its variants. Nasal vowels are an,in,on, and un. Syllable breaks will be symbolized by periods. Rules and examples: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
*1 ZWJ codes for a single non-breaking, non-spacing connection that would otherwise not exist algorithmically. *2 ZWNJ 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. *3 Vowels followed by VS1 bind the following syllable (until the next syllabic vowel or ZWNJ) to the VS1 vowel's syllable. *4 Both variations H (U+x1F) can be doubled. ie. x1F+x1F+VS1 would encode a double dot in the primary position, x1F+x1F+VS2 would encode a double dot in the secondary position. *5 Possible alternate allocation with U+x10-U+x14 coded by U+x00-U+x04 + VS2. *6 The Non-Joining variant of x00-x09 would be the way of encoding the digits 1-9 & 0. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 5@3, 2@4, & 1@5 columns). Second, that the Chinook script constitutes more an "Alphabetic and syllabic LTR script" and less a "Recently-devised script" than either Shavian, Deseret, Osmanya, or Blissymbols (existing allocations) and is equivalent or better than ButhaKukye, Bassa, and Miao (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. x09 & x0A constitute the next basic vowels given in his introduction (x0A having a very common W- variant). x0B is also a simple vowel with a common W-variant. x0C & x0D round out the basic vowels given in LeJeune's repertoire, while x0E is the last simple vowel in the Chinook Script. x0F is the last simple consonant (the voiced consonants being essentially long forms of their unvoiced counterparts). Its variants are the modifying dots, which combine with previous letters, including many alternations besides H-flavoring. The second column begins (x10-x14) with the voiced counterparts of the first five consonants in column 1. Next come the Nasal Vowels x15-x18 that seem to have only cursory representation within the Wawa texts. x19 is reserved, ostensibly, for a Combining W/0 - see O + VS2 - to be included as an independent character if this is deemed advisable in the future. x1A and x1B comprise the W- variants of x0A and x0B - the most commonly found "compound" vowels, both in samples from the Kamloops Wawa and in an inventory of Chinook dictionaries in my posession (Dictionary of the Chinook Jargon, by George Gibbs, Echo Library ISBN 1-40680-924-1; Chinook:.... A History and Dictionary, by Edward Harper Thomas, 1935, Metropolitan Press, Portland, OR