On a few occasions in the past there has been discussion of typeforms
involving a base character modified by some appendage that is connected,
and it has been commented that generally it is preferable for these to be
encoded as atomic characters rather than as base + combining mark
combinations. I have a recollection of this being stated specifically in
relation to characters with palatal hooks (and it should be noted that the
one existing character with a palatal hook, 01A5 LATIN SMALL LETTER T WITH
PALATAL HOOK, does not have a decomposition).

I have obtained samples showing the use of all of the following in phonetic
transcriptions:

b-palatal hook
d-palatal hook
f-palatal hook
g-palatal hook
k-palatal hook
l-palatal hook
m-palatal hook
n-palatal hook
p-palatal hook
r-palatal hook
s-palatal hook
esh-palatal hook
t-palatal hook (01A5)
v-palatal hook
x-palatal hook
z-palatal hook

(The z-palatal hook is also used orthographically for the Dazaga language
of Niger, and an uppercase counterpart can be assumed also to be needed.)

I am planning to prepare a proposal for adding all of these to Unicode
(except, of course, t-palatal hook). I'm wondering if anyone has any
comments (e.g. knows of and can provide samples of other palatal-hook
characters).



- Peter


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Peter Constable

Non-Roman Script Initiative, SIL International
7500 W. Camp Wisdom Rd., Dallas, TX 75236, USA
Tel: +1 972 708 7485