Illustration of
One difference between Tamil script & other major indian scripts
and its implications for encoding.
. No conjuncts in Tamil
conjunct
= samyukta akshara (in hindi/sanskrit/many other indian languages)
= 2 consonants (shapes) coming together to form a different 3rd shape
Example 1: consider
ng + ka -> _ngka_ =
?? + ? -> _???_ (devanaagarii) =
?? + ? -> _???_ (tamil).
In devanaagarii, 2 shapes ( ?? followed by ?) goes to form ??? (a
different shape not found in the set of base vowels & consonants).
However in Tamil, the corresponding 2 shapes (?? followed by ?) still gives ???
(no change in shapes).
Example 2: consider
t + ra -> _tra_ =
?? + ? -> _???_ (devanaagarii) =
?? + ? -> _???_ (tamil)
(again a shape change in devanaagarii and none in tamil)
. So rough estimate of unique shapes in
- Devanaagarii :
vowels+anusvaara+visarga(15)*consonants(33)+
consonants(33)*consonants(33)
= 1584[+]
- Tamil : vowels(12) * consonants(18)
= 216
. So implication for encoding:
considerably lesser space (factor of 7)
to encode ALL shapes of Tamil than Devanaagarii.
[+] Assuming only 2 consonant conjuncts and all combinations being valid
(in practice there are can be 3 and 4 consonant conjuncts and
not all combinations of consonants are valid)
hari.