Introduction
This tool has been designed to facilitate the transcription and composition of the Libyco-Berber alphabets in both horizontal and vertical orientations.
It caters primarily to academic scholars and independent researchers engaged in the study of Libyco-Berber inscriptions.
The keyboard interface is based on two Latin fonts that encompass a standardized depiction of symbols found in Libyco-Berber inscriptions,
encompassing both southern and Canarian symbols, though the list is not exhaustive.
Notably, the Unicode Standard does not presently include any encoding of Libyco-Berber alphabets.
Writing orientation
In the horizontal Libyco-Berber alphabet, text is written from right to left, analogous to the Punic alphabet, which was contemporaneously utilized by the Numidians.
Symbols are arranged following the Punic alphabetical order, based on their phonetic values.
Usage and Recommendations
At present, the keyboard display may not be optimized for mobile devices and is more suitable for usage on computers.
To employ the fonts within a text editor, users are advised to download and install them on their computers using the provided download link. Alternatively,
screenshots can be taken from this page and inserted into documents, with adjustments for desired dimensions.
Notes and Considerations
- The text displayed atop each button indicates the associated key(s) for the symbol. The text below represents the commonly associated phonetic value (which may occasionally be absent or inaccurate).
- During the creation of fonts, symbols were linked to keyboard keys based on their phonetic values.
In instances where multiple symbols correspond to the same phonetic value such as z Z x X A for /z/zˁ/),
additional symbols were allocated to the closest or most similar available key.
For more clarity, refer to the font description table or keyboard buttons.
- All symbols, inclusive of variations (eastern, western, southern, and Canarian), are included in both horizontal and vertical fonts.
However, certain vertical symbols do not exist in horizontal inscriptions, leading to speculative orientations for symbols
like P, j, 0, etc.
Similarly, horizontal symbols such as q might not exist in vertical writing.
- As mentioned above, the fonts behind are based on Latin alphabet, the writing direction is from left to right, it is however displayed from right to left in the input area.
Therefore, when copying/pasting text, the orientation will be reversed, for instance, word nsnsm will be copied as msnsn.
The "Copy" buttons on the keyboard facilitate copying the corpus in the displayed right-to-left direction. Upon pasting the text into a text editor, verify that the orientation is set from right to left and a Libyco-Berber font is applied.
Future Development and Options
Future iterations will offer filtering options for specific variations of the Libyco-Berber alphabets and expand the symbol
and phonetic value list based on the latest research papers and expert feedback.
Tool Options
Horizontal Keyboard: Displays the horizontal Libyco-Berber keyboard with symbols oriented horizontally.
Vertical Keyboard: Displays the vertical Libyco-Berber keyboard with symbols oriented vertically.
To Vertical: Transforms input to vertical Libyco-Berber script. Note that some symbols have multiple vertical orientations, hence using the vertical keyboard view is recommended for all available orientations.
To Vertical Latin: Transforms input to Latin script oriented vertically.
To Latin: Transforms input to the Latin script.
Transformation to Latin script is based on the phonetic values of the symbols. Symbols lacking phonetic values will be represented as '?'.
Enabling the real-time option converts text to vertical, vertical Latin, or Latin script in real-time based on the chosen transformation.
Download:
Fonts Description Table.
SHNA Horizontal Libyc Font.
SHNA Vertical Libyc Font.
To raise any suggestion, enhancement request or feedback, contact us at : libyca.project [at] gmail [dot] com.
