[Tugindia] Comparison of input methods
Duvvuri Venu Gopal
venugopal_duvvuri at rediffmail.com
Mon Apr 21 17:41:08 CEST 2003
A comparison of input method used by different programmers to
input Indian symbols using English keyboard.
Some time back I promised to do a comparative study of the various
key strokes used by different programmes. This is the culimination
of the study. I had studied three different packages - Devnag of
Velthuis, Telugu TeX of Mukkavilli Lakshi and iLeap developed by
C-DAC.
This study is necessitated because a Universal input method will
make it easier to transliterate material from one Indian language
to another. Particularly it is useful for the Sanskrit slokas,
otherwise one has to type the same sloka for each language using
different methods.
The Indian alphabet is derived from the Brahmi script and almost
all the Indian languages have same vowels and consonents.
The first column denotes the vowel/consonent letter in Indian
language (Sanskrit/Telugu), the second column shows the method
adopted by Velthuis for his Devnag, the third column shows the
method of Mukkavilli Lakshi and the last column of iLeap of
C-DAC.
a a a a
A aa or A A A
i i i i
I ii or I I I
u u u u
U uu or U U U
ri .r rx HRi
rI .R Rx HRI
li .l lx --
lI .L Lx --
e - e E
E e E e
Ai ai or E y AY
o - o O
O o O o
Au au or O ow AW
Am .m or M M M
Ah .h or H ah :
k k k k
kh kh or K kh kh
g g g g
gh gh or G gh gh
ng "n NG Ng
ch c c ch
chh ch or C ch chh
j j j j
jh jh or J jh jh
nj ~n nx Nj
T .t T T
Th .th or .T Th Th
D .d D D
Dh .dh or .D Dh Dh
na .n N N
t t t t
th th or T th th
d d d d
dh dh or D dh dh
n n n n
p p p p
ph ph or P ph pb
b b b b
bh bh or B bh bh
m m m m
y y Y y
r r r r
rr - R .r
l l l l
L L L L
v v v v
sh "s S sh
Sh .s Sh Sh
s s s s
h h h h
ksh - Xh kSh
gna -- -- dny
Other characters
Punjabi R R - R
Punjabi Dh Rh - Rh
Urdu f f - f
Urdu j z - z
Urdu kh .kh or.K - K
Urdu g .g - G
Urdu k q - q
Marathi r ~r - .r
Chandrabindu / Mh .M
avagraha .a \zzFF .a
Om O - OM
halant & x X
From the above it is evident that Mukkavilli Lakshmi and C-DAC
followed a systematic pattern, except in a few instances where
they differed. Whereas Devnag of Velthuis and the other two
systems vary drastically in the T-varg. Velthuis also
unnecessarily complicated by introducing two different types of
inputs for the letters - A, I, U, ri, kh, gh, ch, jh, th, dh, th,
dh, ph, bh. There is no mention about the characters ksha and gna
(as in Jnani) in Velthuis's Devnag.
It appears from the ITRANS 5.3 help pages this sort of
standardization was already done by Avinash Chopde for ITRANS. The
problem is I could install it properly and there is no help
available.
Conclusion:
All the developers of Indic TeX may follow the system developed by
either Mukkavilli Lakshmi or C-DAC, as the roman input is more
readable than Velthuis's format. In that case it is necessary to
change the Velthuis's Devnag preprocesser also for
Sanskrit/Marathi/Hindi appropriately.
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