Taiwan's Indigenous Languages
This page is about developing language support for Taiwan's indigenous languages. It lists the information we have and ideas how to implement those languages into Debian.
0. Introduction
Taiwan has 14 recognized indigenous tribes, each with their own language and dialects. To date none of those languages is supported by any operating system on the market. Recently each of those languages got a language code in ISO 639-3. This gives us the opportunity to finally draw up locales for these languages and in a later step translate the OS into these languages.
All of these languages use Latin characters, some with diacritics.
1. Languages Overview
Language (engl.) |
Language (mandarin) |
Language (native) |
ISO639-3 |
Proposed Locale |
Collation |
Remarks |
Amis |
阿美語 |
Panzah |
ami |
ami_TW |
[a c-f h i k-n {ng} o p ʼ ^ r-u w-z] |
|
Atayal |
泰雅語 |
|
tay |
tay_TW |
[a-c e g-i k-n {ng} o-q ʼ r ṟ s-u w-z] |
|
Bunun |
布農語 |
|
bnn |
bnn_TW |
[a-d h i k-n {ng} p q ʼ s-v z] |
|
Kavalan |
噶瑪蘭語 |
|
ckv |
ckv_TW |
[a b e h i k-n {ng} p q ʼ R s-u w y z] |
|
Paiwan |
排灣語 |
|
pwn |
pwn_TW |
[a-d {dj} ḏ {dr} ṟ e g-i k l {lj} ḻ m n {ng} p q ʼ r-t {tj} ṯ u-w y z] |
|
Puyuma |
卑南語 |
|
pyu |
pyu_TW |
[a-d {dr} e g-i k l {lr} m n {ng} p ʼ r-w y z] |
|
Rukai |
魯凱語 |
|
dru |
dru_TW |
[a-d {dh} {dr} e é g-i ɨ k l {lr} m n {ng} o p ʼ r-t {th} {tr} u-w y z] |
|
Sakizaya |
撒奇萊雅語 |
|
ais |
ais_TW |
|
Same as Amis |
Saisiyat |
賽夏語 |
|
xsy |
xsy_TW |
[a {ae} b e h i k-n {ng} o {oe} p ʼ r s S t w y z ː] |
|
Shao (Thao) |
邵語 |
|
ssf |
ssf_TW |
[a b d f h i k l {lh} m n {ng} p q ʼ r s {sh} t {th} u w y z] |
|
Tao (Yami) |
達悟語 |
|
tao |
tao_TW |
[a-e g-n {ng} o p ʼ r-t v w y z] |
|
Taroko |
太魯閣語 |
Truku |
trv |
trv_TW |
[a-e g-n {ng} o-u w-y] |
|
Seediq |
賽德克語 |
Seediq |
|
|
|
Same as Taroko |
Tsou |
鄒語 |
Cou |
tsu |
tsu_TW |
[a-c e f h {hl} i k-n {ng} o p ʼ r-u ʉ v y z] |
|
2. Discussion
2.1. General Information
- some languages use the glottal stop. Unicode proposes U+02BC ʼ to be used as glottal stop.
- Amis uses ^ as glottal stop and U+02BC ʼ as epiglottal stop.
- in Paiwan language {dr}, {tj}, {dj} and {lj} can be written with U+1E5F ṟ , U+1E6F ṯ , U+1E0F ḏ and U+1E3B ḻ respectively, as done by the Christian Bible.
- This leaves us with the following characters which need to be placed on the standard US keyboard:
- U+00E9 é (dru)
- U+0268 ɨ (dru)
- U+0289 ʉ (tsu)
- U+02BC ʼ
- U+02D0 ː (xsy)
- U+1E0F ḏ (pwn)
- U+1E3B ḻ (pwn)
- U+1E5F ṟ (pwn, tay)
- U+1E6F ṯ (pwn)
- Still need to confirm if uppercase letters of these special characters are used or not.
- U+00C9 É
- U+0197 Ɨ
- U+0244 Ʉ
- U+1E0E Ḏ
- U+1E3A Ḻ
- U+1E5E Ṟ
- U+1E6E Ṯ
2.2. Keyboard Layout Ideas
The default keyboard layout in Taiwan is the standard US English layout (104 keys).
- make the right ALT key to behave like ALT+GR on European keyboards: 3rd level.
ALT+GR + e,i,u,d,l,r,t -> é,ɨ,ʉ,ḏ,ḻ,ṟ,ṯ
The U+02BC ʼ and U+02D0 ː characters are easily confused with U+0027 ' and U+003A : . At least the glottal stop U+02BC ʼ is used frequently. One possibility is to use ALT+GR + ' and : to produce U+02BC ʼ and U+02D0 ː . This however needs some discipline on the users' side. The user might be tempted to just use U+0027 ' and U+003A :, because it's easier to type. Another way would be to switch the usage of ' and : with ALT+GR: ' -> U+02BC ʼ , : -> U+02D0 ː, ALT+GR + ' -> U+0027 ', ALT+GR + : -> U+003A :
2.3 Proposed Keyboard Layouts
- tw (Taiwan-Default layout)
- standard US layout
ALT+GR (right Alt key) + e,i,u,d,l,r,t -> é,ɨ,ʉ,ḏ,ḻ,ṟ,ṯ
ALT+GR (right Alt key) + ' -> U+02BC ʼ
ALT+GR (right Alt key) + ; -> U+02D0 ː
- tw-ind (Taiwan-Indigenous)
- standard US layout
ALT+GR (right Alt key) + e,i,u,d,l,r,t -> é,ɨ,ʉ,ḏ,ḻ,ṟ,ṯ
' -> U+02BC ʼ
ALT+GR (right Alt key) + ' -> U+0027 '
ALT+GR (right Alt key) + ; -> U+02D0 ː
- tw-xsy (Taiwan-Saisiyat)
- standard US layout
ALT+GR (right Alt key) + e,i,u,d,l,r,t -> é,ɨ,ʉ,ḏ,ḻ,ṟ,ṯ
' -> U+02BC ʼ
; -> U+02D0 ː
ALT+GR (right Alt key) + ' -> U+0027 '
ALT+GR (right Alt key) + ; -> U+003A :
3. Fonts with support for the special characters
Font |
Debian pkg |
Remarks |
ttf-sil-charis |
|
|
ttf-dejavu |
|
|
ttf-sil-doulos |
|
4. Locale Data Collection
trv Truku/Seediq
5. Additional Tribal Information (in tribal languages)
Taroko: ?I18n/TaiwanIndigenousLanguages/Truku
Surveyors
Arne Götje (高盛華) <arne AT linux DOT org DOT tw>
- Enrico Zini
- Walis.Buya