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Uganda-Tanzania Bantu (SIL) Keyboard Help

Overview

This keyboard is intended to support all the Bantu languages of Uganda and Tanzania.

(Note that if alternate key strokes exist, they are indicated with ‘or’ in the Keying column)

Consonants

Description Type lc Unicode Type UC Unicode
eng ŋ nnn or ;n U+014B Ŋ NNN or ;N U+014A
palatal nasal ɲ nnnn U+0272 Ɲ NNNN U+019D
s with circumflex ŝ sss or ;s U+015D Ŝ SSS or ;S U+015C
z with circumflex zzz or ;z U+1E91 ZZZ or ;Z U+1E90
glottal ;' U+A78C
inverted breve below b bbb or ;b U+0062 U+032F BBB or ;B U+0042 U+032F
modifier letter apostrophe ʼ ''' or ;` U+02BC

Modified vowels

Description Type lc Unicode Type UC Unicode
bar i ɨ ;i U+0268 Ɨ ;I U+0197
bar u ʉ ;u U+0289 Ʉ ;U U+0244
open e ɛ ;e U+025B Ɛ ;E U+0190
open o ɔ ;o U+254 Ɔ ;O U+0186
inverted e ǝ ;a U+01DD Ǝ ;A U+018E

Diacritics

The vowels may have diacritics above and/or below, e.g., á, ì̱, û̱, ʉ̀.

The consonant b may have a diacritic below, b̯.

Diacritics above may also be found on n, m and ŋ.

Diacritics above vowels and nasals

Description Type lc UC Unicode
acute (High tone) ' áéíóú ńŋ́ḿ ÁÉÍÓÚ ŃŊ́Ḿ U+0301
grave (Low tone) ` àèìòù ǹŋ̀m̀ ÀÈÌÒÙ ǸŊ̀M̀ U+0300
macron (Mid tone) = āēīōū n̄ŋ̄m̄ ĀĒĪŌŪ N̄Ŋ̄M̄ U+0304
circumflex (High-Low tone) [ âêîôû n̂ŋ̂m̂ ÂÊÎÔÛ N̂Ŋ̂M̂ U+0302
wedge (Low-High tone) ] ǎěǐǒǔ ňŋ̌m̌ ǍĚǏǑǓ ŇŊ̌M̌ U+030C
tilde ~ ãẽĩõũ ñŋ̃m̃ ÃẼĨÕŨ ÑŊ̃M̃ U+0303
dieresis : äëïöü n̈ŋ̈m̈ ÄËÏÖÜ N̈Ŋ̈M̈ U+0308

Diacritics below vowels

Description Type lc Type UC Unicode
macron iii uuu or _i _u i̱u̱ III UUU or _I _U I̱U̱ U+0331
Simple method for Uganda hard vowels
Other vowels

Diacritics below indicate a vowel modification (and can be combined with diacritics above).

Description Type lc UC Unicode
macron _ a̱e̱i̱o̱u̱̱ A̱E̱I̱O̱U̱̱ U+0331
dot . ạẹịọụ ẠẸỊỌỤ U+0323
tilde } a̰ḛḭo̰ṵ A̰ḚḬO̰Ṵ U+0330
inverted breve , a̯e̯i̯o̯u̯ A̯E̯I̯O̯U̯ U+032F
cedilla % a̧ȩi̧o̧u̧ A̧ȨI̧O̧U̧ U+0327

For multiple diacritics, use keying for modified vowel diacritics last before the vowel itself. E.g.,

    to obtain ù̱ type `_u

    to obtain ʉ̰̀ type `};u

Punctuation

Description Type lc Unicode
single opening quote < or ;, U+2018
single closing quote > or ;. U+2019
double opening quote << or ;< U+201C
double closing quote >> or ;> U+201D
Left wedge <<< < U+003C
Right wedge >>> > U+003E
Copyright symbol ;@ © U+00A9
Null ;# U+2205

Note: Do not use punctuation characters in the middle of a word. E.g., do not use the single closing quote (U+2019) to indicate pronunciation -- rather use the modifier letter apostrophe (U+02BC).

All Documentation Versions

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