[XeTeX] Issue with Arabic Typography

[Gareth Hughes]

maxwell at umiacs.umd.edu wrote:>
> Does anyone (Jonathan K?) know whether this technique is used for
> justification in Urdu as well?  Urdu is written in the Nasta'liq (aka
> Nastaleeq) version of the Perso-Arabic script, which is quite different
> from the Naskh version that most other languages written in the
> Perso-Arabic script use.

Yes, Nasta'liq is especially well-suited to this kind of intra-word
justification. As Jonathan Kew pointed out earlier in this thread,
expansion of the 'join' between characters is not equal along a line:
certain letters in certain positions (read: final) get the majority of
the extension. This is not to say that inter-word justification does not
happen, but that the two work together in these scripts
(Arabic/Persian/Urdu and Syriac) that do not use hyphenation. This
always makes me smile when I see polyglossia.sty complain that it can't
find the hyphenations for Syriac.

Gareth.

-- 
Gareth Hughes

Department of Eastern Christianity
Oriental Institute
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Oxford
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