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Keyboard Layout

This Keyboard mimic IPA WinScript Keyboard Layout designed by NLCI in 1988. Several linguists and members of translation community are still using this keyboard layout for keyboarding the text. This is a phonetic based keyboarding system designed with the objective of keyboarding text with minimal keystrokes. Keys are also layed out according the frequency of occurance, yet tried to follow a phonetic based keyboarding system.

This keyboard primarily follows the layout of the IPA (SIL) Keyman keyboard.

Consonants

 

Bilabial

Labio-dental

Dental

Alveolar

Post-alveolar

Retroflex

Palatal

Velar

Uvular

Pharyngeal

Glottal

Plosive

p

p

 

 

 

 

t

t

 

 

ʈ

t<

c

c

k

k

q

q

 

 

ʔ

?=

 

b

b

 

 

 

 

d

d

 

 

ɖ

d<

ɟ

j=

ɡ

g<

ɢ

G=

 

 

 

 

Nasal

m

m

ɱ

m>

 

 

n

n

 

 

ɳ

n<

ɲ

n=

ŋ

n>

ɴ

N=

 

 

 

 

Trill

ʙ

B=

 

 

 

 

r

r

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ʀ

R=

 

 

 

 

Tap or Flap

 

 

v<

 

 

ɾ

r>

 

 

ɽ

r<

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fricative

ɸ

f=

f

f

θ

t=

s

s

ʃ

s=

ʂ

s<

ç

c=

x

x

χ

x=

ħ

h>

h

h

 

β

b=

v

v

ð

d=

z

z

ʒ

z=

ʐ

z<

ʝ

j<

ɣ

g=

ʁ

R>

ʕ

?<

ɦ

h<

Lateral Fricative

 

 

 

 

 

 

ɬ

l=

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ɮ

l>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Approximant

 

 

ʋ

v=

 

 

ɹ

r=

 

 

ɻ

R<

j

j

ɰ

w>

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lateral Approximant

 

 

 

 

 

 

l

l

 

 

ɭ

l<

ʎ

L<

ʟ

L=

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where symbols appear in pairs, the bottom one represents a voiced consonant. Shaded areas denote articulations judged impossible.

Other Consonants

Clicks

Voiced implosives

ʘ

p=

Bilabial

ɓ

b>

Bilabial

ǀ

!<

Dental

ɗ

d>

Dental/alveolar

ǃ

!

(Post)alveolar

ʄ

j>

Palatal

ǂ

!=

Palatoalveolar

ɠ

g>

Velar

ǁ

!>

Alveolar lateral

ʛ

G>

Uvular

Other Symbols

ʍ

w=

Vl labial-velar fricative

ɕ

c<

vd alveolo-palatal fricative

w

w

Vd labial-velar approximant

ʑ

z>

Vd alveolo-palatal fricative

ɥ

y< or h=

Vd labial-palatal approximant

ɺ

L>

Vd alveolar lateral flap

ʜ

H=

Vl epiglottal fricative

ɧ

H>

Simultaneous ʃ and x

ʢ

Q<

Vd epiglottal fricative

 

 

 

ʡ

Q=

Vd epiglottal plosive

 

 

 

Vowels

 

Front

Central

Back

 

Unrounded

Rounded

Unrounded

Rounded

Unrounded

Rounded

Close

i

i

y

y

ɨ

I=

ʉ

U=

ɯ

u=

u

u

Near-close

ɪ

i=

ʏ

y=

 

 

 

 

 

 

ʊ

u<

Close-mid

e

e

ø

o>

ɘ

E=

ɵ

O=

ɤ

O>

o

o

Mid

 

 

 

 

 

ə

e=

 

 

 

 

 

Open-mid

ɛ

e<

œ

E<

ɜ

e>

ɞ

O<

ʌ

u>

ɔ

o<

Near-open

æ

a<

 

 

 

ɐ

a>

 

 

 

 

 

Open

a

a

ɶ

E>

 

 

 

 

ɑ

a=

ɒ

o=

Suprasegmentals

ˈ

}

Primary stress

ˌ

}}

Secondary stress

:

Long

::

Half long

eːː

:::

Extra long

***

Extra short

|

.<

Minor (foot) group

.=

Major (intonation) group

.

.

Syllable break

#=

Linking (absence of a break)

Other (non-IPA) Vowels

A>

 

α

a|

open central unrounded vowel

ɩ

i|

near-close near-front unrounded

A|

open central unrounded

I>

 

ɿ

z|

unrounded alveolar apical

I<

lower-high central unrounded

or

high back unrounded

ʅ

Z|

unrounded retroflex apical

U>

high front rounded

ʮ

y|

rounded alveolar apical

ɷ

u|

near-close back rounded

ʯ

Y|

rounded retroflex apical

E|

mid front unrounded

 

 

 

ʚ

e|

open-mid front rounded

 

 

 

Tone and Word accents

Level[1]

Contour[2]

˥

#4

@4

Extra high

˩˥

#04

@13

Rising

˦

#3

@3

High

˥˩

#40

@31

Falling

˧

#2

@2

Mid

˧˥

#24

e᷄

@23

High rising

˨

#1

@1

Low

˨˧

#12

e᷅

@12

Low rising

˩

#0

@0

Extra low

˨˥˨

#141

e᷈

@131

Rising-falling

 

 

#<

Downstep

 

 

e᷆

@21

Low falling

 

 

#>

Upstep

 

 

e᷇

@32

High falling

 

 

!^

Africanist Upstep

 

 

e᷉

@313

Falling-rising

 

 

#!

Africanist downstep (raised)

 

 

#>>

Global rise

 

 

##!

Africanist downstep (lowered)

 

 

#<<

Global fall

Tone numbers and pitch contours (non-IPA)

³

3^ (0-9)

superscript number

-^

superscript hyphen

Other (non-IPA) Symbols

ƈ

c>

vl palatal implosive

ȡ

d|

alveolo-palatal vd plosive

ђ

h|

vd pharyngeal nasal

ƙ

k>

vl velar implosive

ȴ

l|

front-palatal vd lateral approximant

ȵ

n|

front-palatal vd nasal

ƥ

p>

vl bilabial implosive

ʠ

q>

vl uvular implosive

S=

vl retroflex postalveolar fricative

ƭ

t>

vl dental or alveolar implosive

ȶ

t|

front-palatal vl plosive

ʇ

T|

dental click

w<

bilabial flap

Z=

vd retroflex postalveolar fricative

+

+=

 

0=

Empty set

0>

Diacritic “holder”

Diacritics & Suprasegmentals

h^

Aspirated

w^

Labialised

j^

Palatalised

g=^

Velarised

?<^

Pharyngealised

ⁿk

n^

Pre/post nasalised

l^

Lateral release

ᶮɟ

symbol followed by ^ e.g. n=^

Other superscripts are available[4]

[[

Light aspiration

[[[

Rhoticity

]]

Ejective

]]]

No audible release

]]]]

Weak aspiration

$

Syllabic

$$

Non-syllabic

$$$

Creaky voiced

symbol followed by $$$$ e.g. a$$$$

Retroflex hooks[5]

%

Voiceless

%%

Voiced

%%%

Breathy voiced

symbol followed by %%%% e.g. b%%%%

Palatal hooks[6]

ŋ̊

@

Voiceless (diacritics are sometimes placed above a symbol with a descender)

{

Dental

{{

Apical

{{{

Laminal

{{{{

Linguolabial

{{{{{

Closer variety / Fricative

~

Nasalised

ɫ

l~~

Velarized or pharyngealized[7]

*

Centralised

**

Mid centralised

***

Extra short

****

Palatalization/Centralization

*****

 

k͡p

#&

Double articulation / affricate[8]

t͜s

@&

Double articulation / affricate[9]

+

Advanced

_

Retracted

++

Raised

__

Lowered

+++

+ATR

___

-ATR

++++

More rounded

____

Less rounded

_____

open vowel

}}}

Fortis

p᷂

}}}}

Lenis

=>

Becomes, is realized as

σ

s>

Syllable

͏

=<

Combining Grapheme Joiner



[1] Use “& for Left-stem level tones, e.g. “&0” becomes A712 (꜒).

[2] Glides to and from any level (e.g. “#32” becomes ˦˧) and any sequence of any two glides (e.g. “#314” becomes ˦˨˥).

[3] These require the use of Charis SIL (http://scripts.sil.org/CharisSIL) or Charis SIL (http://scripts.sil.org/CharisSIL) version 4.1 or greater. They will turn into contours if used in Graphite applications.

[4] The following characters can be superscripted: 0123456789 + - = ( ) ʕ ʔ b β c ɕ d ð f ɸ g ɡ ɣ h ɦ j ɟ ʝ k l ɭ ʟ m ɱ n ɲ ɳ ŋ ɴ p r ɹ ɻ ʁ s ʂ ʃ t θ v ʋ w ɰ x ɥ z ʑ ʐ ʒ a ɐ ᴂ ɑ e ə ɜ ɛ i ɪ ɨ o ɒ ɔ ɵ ʌ u ɯ ʊ ʉ y

[5] Retroflex hooks may be added to: a ɑ ɗ e ɛ ɜ ə i ɔ ʃ u ʒ (ᶏ ᶐ ᶑ ᶒ ᶓ ᶔ ᶕ ᶖ ᶗ ᶘ ᶙ  ᶚ)

[6] Palatal hooks may be added to: b d f ɡ k l m n p r s ʃ v x z (ᶀ ᶁ ᶂ ᶃ ᶄ ᶅ ᶆ ᶇ ᶈ ᶉ ᶊ ᶋ ᶌ ᶍ ᶎ)

[7] Available for ᵬ, ᵭ, ᵮ, ɫ, ᵯ, ᵰ, ᵱ, ᵲ, ᵳ, ᵴ, ᵵ and ᵶ.

[8] Typed between the characters. Thus k#&p.

[9] Typed between the characters. Thus t@&s.

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