Creating bilingual fonts - Unifon



Author: Ruth Bennett

Date: July August, 1989

Keywords: writing language Indian font

Text:
Macintosh attracts users because of its graphics capacity. One of the
outstanding graphic features that the Macintosh has had since its
inception in l985 is not the most obvious.  
In the days before video graphics, Macintosh had its unusual graphics
capability, displayed in features such as its font-building capacity. 
A variety of fonts may be installed on the Macintosh, and these fonts
can be used interchangeably.  
One can switch fonts within a text, for example, or one can change
fonts in outline fashion, or  create more interesting formatting. The
font-building capacity is essential for the user who works with
non-English languages.
A problem can arise with the non-English language font when one is
working with both English and a non-English language. The non-English
fonts may be cumbersome because of the time it takes to switch to the
English language font.  If one is typing in more than one language, one
may have to switch fonts with each language shift.   
If one is doing translations, and particularly literal translations,
one must  switch fonts each time one shifts languages. This may occur
several times ineach sentence, with a method of transcription that
alternates from word-to-word with an English, then a non-English word.
Whether one uses the mouse and the menu, or a keyboard function key,
switching interrupts the flow of typing and therefore the flow of
thought. In addition, the physical movements take up time. Switch fonts
several times can  significantly lengthen the time it takes to type a
document.  
A solution, worked out with the American Indian languages of Yurok,
Karuk, Tolowa and Hupa, is to create bilingual fonts. These languages
have been recorded in a phonetic orthography  called Unifon.  
The Unifon orthography is based on the capital letters of English. In
designing bilingual fonts, I arranged the Unifon symbols and the
English language symbols on the same font. Since the American Indian
language orthography is primary, I put the capital letters of English
and the additional Unifon symbols on the free keyboard position, moving
the lower case letters of English to the Caps Lock position.  
The table on this page illustrates the use of the bilingual
Unifon/English font with Microsoft File, and suggests the number of
shifts from one orthography to another involved in work with two
languages.
In the table, three orthographies are in use: the English language
orthography, the Yurok Unifon orthography and the International
Phonetics Association orthography. The IPA orthography, as I have
designed it, uses English language symbols with a different match of
symbol to sound than English uses.  
This element in the design is another feature contributing to ease of
typing. For the Unifon font, however, enough symbols differ from
English that it became necessary to create changes in the English
language font.
The Unifon symbols occupy the free keyboard position. The Unifon
phonetic font has 42 symbols, with the majority of the Unifon font the
same as the capital letters of English.  
The Unifon orthography was created with the capital letters and the
numbers were replaced with additional Unifon symbols. The free keyboard
position is used for Unifon, with the assumption that the Yurok Unifon
is the primary orthography when it is used.  
The English language small letters were shifted to the Caps Lock
position. The numbers replaced by Unifon symbols on the free keyboard
position were shifted to the Shift position.
The fonts for each of the languages of Yurok, Karuk, Tolowa and Hupa,
therefore, have two orthographies installed within the same keyboard
set. There are three orthographies if one counts the IPA orthography,
and this was accomplished by selecting IPA symbols that concur with the
English language orthography.  
The result is that the shift from the English to the non-English
orthography is contained within one font, thus saving the typist the
time it takes to shift fonts.
As not all orthographies share symbols with the English language, my
solution may not be practical to others who are working with
non-English languages. I hope to be helpful for this purpose by 
encouraging Macintosh users to develop bilingual fonts and by
suggesting some basic considerations.
In designing a bilingual font, there are certain questions to answer. 
The first concerns. where to place the non-English language symbols. 

There are two options:
ONE.  Symbols can be added to the English language fonts on lesser-used
keys.
 
TWO.  Symbols can be placed on the lesser-used levels of the keyboard,
such as Cap-Lock, Option or Shift/Option.  
The first option is more practical when the non-English language
orthography does not vary too much from the English. Diacritics that
are added using the Option and Option/Shift keys on the standard
Macintosh SE keyboard, make it possible to type German, French and
Spanish.  (See Janet Spinas-Cunningham,  ''Parlez-vous Macintosh?  Tips
on How to Get the Right 'Accents,''' Known Users, May, l989.
For fonts where a greater number of symbols vary from English, making
it impractical to add symbols to the English-language keyboard, one
must free up one or more keyboard levels in order to to place the
entire set of orthographic symbols on the same level. Another keyboard
level can be used for English. 
Any number of software types produce bilingual materials with the
bilingual fonts. I have used Microsoft Word, Microsoft File, Fullpaint,
Hypercard and others. 
The software for creating bilingual fonts is  Altsys' Fontastic +. 
Fonts are designed and arranged on this program, and moved, with the
Font/DA Mover, into the system or stored on a disk with the Font/DA
Mover.

Copyright © july august, 1989 by Ruth Bennett