[XeTeX] Mixed Roman and Indian alphabets for Sanskrit

[Zdenek Wagner]

2017-02-19 22:05 GMT+01:00 Dominik Wujastyk <wujastyk at gmail.com>:

> Dear Javier,
>
> In this scheme, "arabic" can mean two things.  Can that be avoided?  Could
> Babel use terms like "Nastaʿlīq", "Naskh", or "Kufic", or even
> "ArabicScript" for writing systems, and "arabic|Arabic" for the language?
>
> The more I look into this, the more I think that usages like your style
>
> ​
>
> \fontspec[Language=Sanskrit,Script=Grantha]{FontName}
>
>
> are the right way to go.
>
> You say,
>
> ​
>
> But if we want two different fonts, we could say
>
> \usebabelfont[arabic]{ArabicFontName}
> \usebabelfont[urdu]{UrduFontName}
>
> ​
> I didn't understand this at first glance, but I think I do now.  Saying
> "[urdu]" is a shorthand for "[Language=Urdu]", is that
>

The problem is that the script used for Urdu is not identical to that used
for Arabic; a few characters have different shapes, a few characters are
added. Fonts covering both languages are rare. Even FreeFont is unusable
for Urdu because some non-Arabic characters are not properly connected if
used in words.


> right?  But this appears not to meet the case where the user wants two
> different fonts for the same language.
>
> Say I'm writing a book in Hindi language explaining the use of the
> Devanagari, Grantha, Bangla, and Śāradā scripts for writing Sanskrit, with
> keys in Latin script.
>
> I'd need statements like this:
>
> ​
> \fontspec[Language=Hindi,Script=Devanagari]{FontName}
> \fontspec[Language=Sanskrit,Script=Devanagari]{FontName}
>
> \fontspec[Language=Sanskrit,Script=LatinScript]{FontName}
>
> \fontspec[Language=Sanskrit,Script=Sarada]{FontName}
> \fontspec[Language=Sanskrit,Script=Grantha]{FontName}
> \fontspec[Language=Sanskrit,Script=BanglaLipi]{FontName}
>
>
> Problems:
>
>    - "Bangla" and "Latin" are awkward, like "Arabic,"  because they're
>    the names of both a language and a script.  "Bangla lipi" just means
>    "Bengali writing," and is what Bengalis say when they specifically refer to
>    the script.
>    - Saying \selectlanguage{sanskrit} isn't going to be any use in my
>    document, because "{Sanskrit}" could be any of several scripts.
>
> Best,
> Dominik
>



Zdeněk Wagner
http://ttsm.icpf.cas.cz/team/wagner.shtml
http://icebearsoft.euweb.cz



>
>
> On 18 February 2017 at 04:59, Javier Bezos <listas at tex-tipografia.com>
> wrote:
>
>>     \usebabelfont[*devanagari]{FontName}
>>>
>>
>> Just a little explanation about its behavior. If we say
>>
>> \selectlanguage{sanskrit}
>>
>> then both the language and the script will be set. More precisely,
>> using the info in the new language files I'm writing (almost by hand!),
>> babel will do at this point something similar to:
>>
>> \fontspec[Language=Sanskrit,Script=Devanagari]{FontName}
>>
>> (Actually, things are a bit more complicated.) Note the selection
>> will be always with the language, not with the script. This means
>> the following makes sense
>>
>> ​​
>> \usebabelfont[*arabic]{FontName}
>>
>> \selectlanguage{arabic}
>> \selectlanguage{urdu}
>>
>> which will do:
>>
>> ​​
>> ​​
>> \fontspec[Language=Arabic,Script=Arabic]{FontName}
>> \fontspec[Language=Urdu,Script=Arabic]{FontName}
>>
>> ​​
>> But if we want two different fonts, we could say
>>
>> \usebabelfont[arabic]{ArabicFontName}
>> \usebabelfont[urdu]{UrduFontName}
>>
>>
>> Javier
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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