ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N3423R

L2/08-181
2008-04-29

Universal Multiple-Octet Coded Character Set

International Organization for Standardization
Organisation internationale de normalisation
Международная организация по стандартизации

Doc Type: Working Group Document

Title: Proposal to add Khamti Shan Characters to the Myanmar Blocks
Source: Martin Hosken
Action: For consideration by JTC1/SC2/WG2
References:
Date: 2008-04-29

Introduction: Khamti Shan is spoken by 50,000 people in Myanmar and India. The language has a long
literary tradition which was lost as people forgot their script. In the last 5 years the script has undergone a
resurgence in a new form and after a pilot literacy programme is to be taught throughout the region. The new
script has been accepted by all the Khamti and looks to have a strong future ahead of it. Aiton and Phake are
smaller language communities of around 2,000 each.
Khamti Shan bears a superficial resemblence to the Myanmar script using many of the same shapes, but adds
stylistic dots to the glyphs. The question arises whether this script should be unified with the Myanmar script
or be given its own block. This proposal unifies these writing systems with the Myanmar script for the
following reasons:
● It is acknowledged that the dots are purely stylistic and can vary in size considerably.
● The various writing systems will place dots in different places on what are acknowledged to be the
same character. For example compare the Aiton and Phake forms for ca and pha.
● The level of overlap between characters in Khamti Shan script and those already encoded in the
Myanmar block, assuming that the dots are stylistic, is 80%.
● The community requested unification with Myanmar script. This arises from a realisation that the
dots are stylistic and may change over time even perhaps disappearing all together.
Therefore, this proposal is to add the extra characters needed to support modern Khamti Shan to the
Myanmar block. Khamti, Aiton and Phake are based on Shan and as such follow the Myanmar model of
encoding including diacritic vowels, medial consonants and even stacking consonants.

Khamti Shan
The Khamti Shan writing system proposed for encoding is the revised Khamti Shan in contrast to the historic
writing system which is all but lost and of academic interest. Another revision was made in India and is
documented by Stephen Morey. But this Indian writing system did not gain popularity and the wider Khamti
community has met and decided to use the revisions described here.
Consonants: The consonants in Khamti Shan are listed below along with their unified values where
unification is appropriate. The glyphs shown are Khamti style to be compared to the Burmese style in the
existing charts. The proposed charts will use Burmese style glyphs, in contrast.

ô ´ ¶ ¸ ö ÷ » ¾ ø À
k kh ng c s nj t th n p
U+1000 U+1075 U+1004 U+AA60 U+AA61 U+AA62 U+1010 U+1011 U+AA63 U+1015

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à Ä Å Ç È É ” ² “ £
ph m y r l w h ? x z
U+1078 U+1019 U+101A U+AA64 U+101C U+101D U+AA65 U+1022 U+AA66 U+AA67

¤ Á ³ ½
d b f th
U+107B U+107F U+AA68 U+1080
U+AA62 (MYANMAR LETTER KHAMTI NYA), while behaving the same as the corresponding Shan character
(U+107A MYANMAR LETTER SHAN NYA) has a significantly different glyph shape with all the key features of cup
direction and leg direction, inverted.
Vowels: Like the consonants, there are various vowel characters used, often in combination and all of them
may be unified with other characters in the Myanmar block. Diacritics are shown in conjunction with wa
(U+101D MYANMAR LETTER WA)

è Ù Ì ÉÍ ÉÎ ÉÏ Éú Ý Þ Ñ
­ai ­aa ­aa ­i ­ii ­au ­aai ­u ­uu ­ae
U+108A U+1062 U+1083 U+102D U+102E U+1085 U+1032 U+102F U+1030 U+1031

Ò ÉÚÛ Éâ
­e ­aue ­am
U+1084 U+1082 U+103A U+1038

Tones: There are 6 tone marks in Khamti Shan. Although these glyphs are filled in, they are the same
characters as the Shan tones, for the most part, with two additions.

Éó Éç Éü Éä Éå Éá
tone 1 tone 2 tone 3 tone 4 tone 5 tone 6
U+109A U+1089 U+109B U+1087 U+1088 U+1038

Tone 1 is not the same character as U+108B (MYANMAR SIGN SHAN COUNCIL TONE-2). Khamti Shan is a closely
related language to Shan and the use of the raised dot is considered different and not a stylistic variant of
U+108B, just as U+108B is not a stylistic variant of U+1089 (MYANMAR SIGN SHAN TONE-5).
Digits: Khamti Shan uses the Shan digits from the range U+1090 .. U+109A.
Miscellaneous: Various other characters are used.

Õ € É× Éý ¥ ¦ ÿ
­y ­r ­w reduplication comma pause period pause exclamation
U+103E U+103C U+103D U+AA69 U+104A U+104B U+109F
U+AA69 (MYANMAR SIGN KHAMTI REDUP) is functionally equivalent to U+0E46 (THAI CHARACTER MAIMAYOK) and is
spacing.
Subjoined characters: Khamti Shan does not use subjoined characters.
Line Breaking and segmentation: Khamti Shan follows Shan and therefore Burmese models for line
breaking and also for cluster and syllable segmentation.

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Sorting: Khamti Shan follows a Burmese model for sorting with final consonants taking precedence over
vowels.

Aiton and Phake
The Aiton and Phake scripts are very closely related and can be analysed together. Top row Aiton 
style, second row Phake.
k x g c s N t v n p
k x g c s N t v n p
k kh ng c s ny t th n p
U+1000 U+1075 U+1004 U+AA60 U+AA61 U+107A U+1010 U+1011 U+AA63 U+1015

f m y r l w h A
f m y r l w h A
ph m y r l w h ?
U+1078 U+1019 U+101A U+AA6A U+101C U+101D U+AA65 U+1022

U+AA6A (MYANMAR LETTER AITON RA) while, theoretically this could be encoded as U+101C (MYANMAR LETTER
LA) U+103C (MYANMAR CONSONANT SIGN MEDIAL RA) this would not reflect the unitary nature of this character.

U+107A (MYANMAR LETTER SHAN NYA) is used rather than following the Khamti U+AA62 (MYANMAR LETTER
KHAMTI NYA) since the character shape follows Shan rather than Khamti.

Medials: Medials are taken from Mon.

Rk kZ kY
Rk kZ kY
kr- kw- ky-
U+103C U+105E U+103B

Subjoined Consonants: Aiton and Phake have a system of subjoining consonants to chain syllables in a
polysyllabic word. This system follows that of Burmese and is encoded in the same way with U+1039
(MYANMAR SIGN VIRAMA) followed by the code of the consonant being subjoined. The following characters may
take a subjoined form which is the same shape as the base character but smaller, when following U+1039
(MYANMAR SIGN VIRAMA): U+1000, U+AA60, U+1010, U+1011, U+1015, U+101A, U+101C. No other
subjoined characters are known in Aiton and Phake.
Vowels: Vowels follow Shan for the most part. The examples here are with a ka (U+1000 MYANMAR LETTER KA)
initial

ka kX kI kU ek eka kuwq
ka kX kI kU ek eka kuwq
-aa -a -ii -uu -e -aw -o
U+1083 U+109C U+102E U+1030 U+1031 U+1031 U+1083 U+102F U+101D U+103A

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kiuwq kigq kugq kogq kiugq
kiuwq kigq kugq kogq kiugq
-ue -i- -u- -aw- -ue-
U+102D U+102F U+101D U+103A U+102D U+102F U+103D U+102D U+102F

Dipthongs: Aiton and Phake have a number of dipthongs
kM kF kj kjo eko kiuX kW kE
kM kF kj kjo eko kiuX kW kE
-am -em -ai -awi -oi -ui -au -aue
U+1036 U+103A U+109D U+103D U+103D U+102D U+102F U+103D U+103A U+105E U+103A
U+1036 U+109D U+1031 U+109A

Ligatures: Aiton and Phake have an interesting set of ligature symbols that follow the same 
principles used for U+109E (MYANMAR SYMBOL SHAN ONE) and U+109F (MYANMAR SYMBOL SHAN 
EXCLAMATION). Thus they are symbols that constitute a word in their own right and do not take 
diacritics.
S z @
S z @
‘EXCL’ ‘one’ ‘two’
U+AA6B U+AA6C U+AA6D

Tones: Traditionally tones are not marked in Aiton and Phake, although short -a can be used as a type of tone
marker. All proposed patterns for adding tone marking to Aiton and Phake would be within the scope of tone
marks covered by Shan and Khamti Shan.

Samples

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5
Bibliography
Morey, S.D., 2005, The Tai languages of Assam - a grammar and texts, (Canberra: Pacific
Linguistics). 413p. : ill., tables. Accompanying CD
Saonoai Mannhan, 2008 Five Sacred Words
Ven. Vimalatissa Bhukkhu, Therevada Buddhist Devotion (Lohit, Arunchai Pradesh: Chongkham Raj
Vihar Society)

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U+1090 Myanmar

Tone Marks
109 109A ◌J MYANMAR SIGN KHAMTI TONE-1
0 109B ◌K MYANMAR SIGN KHAMTI TONE-3

1 Aiton Vowel Signs

109C ◌L MYANMAR VOWEL SIGN AITON A
2 109D ◌M MYANMAR VOWEL SIGN AITON AI

3
4
5
6
7
8
9
A ◌J
B ◌K
C ◌L
D ◌M
E
F

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U+AA60 Myanmar Extended­A

AA6 AA7 Khamti Consonants

0 ` AA60 ` MYANMAR LETTER KHAMTI CA

AA61 a MYANMAR LETTER KHAMTI SA

1 a AA62 b MYANMAR LETTER KHAMTI NYA

c
b
AA63 MYANMAR LETTER KHAMTI NA
2
AA64 d MYANMAR LETTER KHAMTI RA

3 c AA65 e MYANMAR LETTER KHAMTI HA

AA66 f MYANMAR LETTER KHAMTI XA

4 d AA67 g MYANMAR LETTER KHAMTI ZA
AA68 h MYANMAR LETTER KHAMTI FA
5 e
Khamti Extensions
6 f AA69 ◌ i MYANMAR SIGN KHAMTI
REDUPLICATION

7 g Aiton Extensions

8 h AA6A j MYANMAR LETTER AITON RA

AA6B k MYANMAR SYMBOL AITON
EXCLAMATION
9 ◌i AA6C l MYANMAR SYMBOL AITON ONE

AA6D m MYANMAR SYMBOL AITON TWO

A j
B k
C l
D m
E
F

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Character Properties
109A;MYANMAR SIGN KHAMTI TONE-1;Mc;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;
109B;MYANMAR SIGN KHAMTI TONE-3;Mc;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;
109C;MYANMAR VOWEL SIGN AITON A;Mc;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;
109D;MYANMAR VOWEL SIGN AITON AI;Mn;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;
AA60;MYANMAR LETTER KHAMTI CA;Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;
AA61;MYANMAR LETTER KHAMTI SA;Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;
AA62;MYANMAR LETTER KHAMTI NYA;Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;
AA63;MYANMAR LETTER KHAMTI NA;Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;
AA64;MYANMAR LETTER KHAMTI RA;Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;
AA65;MYANMAR LETTER KHAMTI HA;Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;
AA66;MYANMAR LETTER KHAMTI XA;Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;
AA67;MYANMAR LETTER KHAMTI ZA;Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;
AA68;MYANMAR LETTER KHAMTI FA;Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;
AA69;MYANMAR SYMBOL KHAMTI REDUPLICATION;Mn;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;
AA6A;MYANMAR LETTER AITON RA;Lo;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;
AA6B;MYANMAR SYMBOL AITON EXCLAMATION;So;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;
AA6C;MYANMAR SYMBOL AITON ONE;So;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;
AA6D;MYANMAR SYMBOL AITON TWO;So;0;L;;;;;N;;;;;

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 ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 2/WG 2
PROPOSAL SUMMARY FORM TO ACCOMPANY SUBMISSIONS
FOR ADDITIONS TO THE REPERTOIRE OF ISO/IEC 10646 1 TP PT

Please fill all the sections A, B and C below.
Please read Principles and Procedures Document (P & P) from  http://www.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/principles.html   for guidelines 
HTU UTH

and details before filling this form.
Please ensure you are using the latest Form from  http://www.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/summaryform.html
HTU UTH

See also  http://www.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/roadmaps.html   for latest Roadmaps.

HTU UTH

A. Administrative

1. Title: Myanmar Khamti Shan Extensions
2. Requester's name: Martin Hosken
3. Requester type (Member body/Liaison/Individual contribution): Individual contribution
4. Submission date:
5. Requester's reference (if applicable):
6. Choose one of the following:
This is a complete proposal: X
(or) More information will be provided later:

B. Technical – General
1. Choose one of the following:
a. This proposal is for a new script (set of characters):
Proposed name of script:
b. The proposal is for addition of character(s) to an existing block: X
Name of the existing block: Myanmar, Myanmar Extended­A
2. Number of characters in proposal: 18
3. Proposed category (select one from below ­ see section 2.2 of P&P document):
A­Contemporary X B.1­Specialized (small collection) B.2­Specialized (large collection)
C­Major extinct D­Attested extinct E­Minor extinct
F­Archaic Hieroglyphic or Ideographic G­Obscure or questionable usage symbols
4. Is a repertoire including character names provided? yes
a. If YES, are the names in accordance with the “character naming guidelines”
in Annex L of P&P document? yes
b. Are the character shapes attached in a legible form suitable for review? yes
5. Who will provide the appropriate computerized font (ordered preference: True Type, or PostScript format) for
publishing the standard? SIL
If available now, identify source(s) for the font (include address, e­mail, ftp­site, etc.) and indicate the tools
used: http://scripts.sil.org/Padauk
6. References:
a. Are references (to other character sets, dictionaries, descriptive texts etc.) provided? yes
b. Are published examples of use (such as samples from newspapers, magazines, or other sources)
of proposed characters attached? yes
7. Special encoding issues:
Does the proposal address other aspects of character data processing (if applicable) such as input, 
presentation, sorting, searching, indexing, transliteration etc. (if yes please enclose information)? no

8. Additional Information:
Submitters are invited to provide any additional information about Properties of the proposed Character(s) or Script that will assist 
in correct understanding of and correct linguistic processing of the proposed character(s) or script.  Examples of such properties 
are: Casing information, Numeric information, Currency information, Display behaviour information such as line breaks, widths 
etc., Combining behaviour, Spacing behaviour, Directional behaviour, Default Collation behaviour, relevance in Mark Up contexts, 
Compatibility equivalence and other Unicode normalization related information.  See the Unicode standard at 
http://www.unicode.org  for such information on other scripts.  Also see  http://www.unicode.org/Public/UNIDATA/UCD.html
HTU UTH HTU UTH

and associated Unicode Technical Reports for information needed for consideration by the Unicode Technical Committee for 
inclusion in the Unicode Standard.

1  Form number: N3102­F (Original 1994­10­14; Revised 1995­01, 1995­04, 1996­04, 1996­08, 1999­03, 2001­05, 2001­09, 2003­11, 2005­01, 
TPPT

2005­09, 2005­10, 2007­03)

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C. Technical ­ Justification
1. Has this proposal for addition of character(s) been submitted before? no
If YES explain
2. Has contact been made to members of the user community (for example: National Body,
user groups of the script or characters, other experts, etc.)? yes
If YES, with whom? Stephen Morey; Khamti Shan Literacy Committee
If YES, available relevant documents:
3. Information on the user community for the proposed characters (for example:
size, demographics, information technology use, or publishing use) is included? yes
Reference: this document
4. The context of use for the proposed characters (type of use; common or rare) common
Reference:
5. Are the proposed characters in current use by the user community? yes
If YES, where?  Reference:
6. After giving due considerations to the principles in the P&P document must the proposed characters be entirely 
in the BMP? yes
If YES, is a rationale provided? yes
If YES, reference: addition to existing BMP blocks
7. Should the proposed characters be kept together in a contiguous range (rather than being scattered)? no
8. Can any of the proposed characters be considered a presentation form of an existing 
character or character sequence? no
If YES, is a rationale for its inclusion provided?
If YES, reference:
9. Can any of the proposed characters be encoded using a composed character sequence of either
existing characters or other proposed characters? yes
If YES, is a rationale for its inclusion provided?
If YES, reference: this document
10. Can any of the proposed character(s) be considered to be similar (in appearance or function)
to an existing character? yes
If YES, is a rationale for its inclusion provided? yes
If YES, reference: this document
11. Does the proposal include use of combining characters and/or use of composite sequences? yes
If YES, is a rationale for such use provided?
If YES, reference: this document
Is a list of composite sequences and their corresponding glyph images (graphic symbols) provided? no
If YES, reference:
12. Does the proposal contain characters with any special properties such as 
 control function or similar semantics? no
If YES, describe in detail (include attachment if necessary)

13. Does the proposal contain any Ideographic compatibility character(s)? no
If YES, is the equivalent corresponding unified ideographic character(s) identified?
If YES, reference:

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