L2/16-074

2016-04-07

Preliminary proposal to encode the Kerinci script in Unicode

Anshuman Pandey
[email protected]

April 7, 2016

1 Introduction

This is a preliminary proposal to encode the ‘Kerinci’ script in the Unicode standard. The aim is to present a
tentative character repertoire, representative glyphs, and encoding model. Several issues must be addressed:

1. Character repertoire The full character repertoire needs to be determined. Are there other characters
that need to be accommodated beyond those shown here?

2. Stylistic variants vs. alternates Historical and modern sources show several variant forms of conso-
nant letters (for example, see the street sign and other display signage in figure 5). Some of these may
be considered stylistic variants, while others may be true alternate forms.

3. Representative glyphs Once the character repertoire has been established, representative glyphs need
to be determined.

4. Vowel signs The repertoire of vowel signs needs to be determined.

5. Collation Is there a preferred sort order for the characters?

Feedback on this information is requested from experts and users of the script. Additional source materials
are also requested. A formal proposal is forthcoming.

2 Background

The Kerinci (𔰀𔰍𔰜𔰚𔰜) script was used in Sumatra, Indonesia. It is also known as aksara incung, surat
incung, aksara rencong. The term rencong is not to be confused with rejang (‘Rejang’), the name of another
script used in Sumatra. Kerinci is related to other scripts of Sumatra (see comparison in tables 1–3). The
script was described by Christopher Miller in Unicode Technical Note #35 “Indonesian and Philippine Scripts
and Extensions”.

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Preliminary proposal to encode the Kerinci script in Unicode Anshuman Pandey

3 Script Details

3.1 Structure

Kerinci is an alphasyllabary that is written from left to right. It is based upon the Brahmi model. The
only independent vowel letter is , which has the default value /a/ and functions as a vowel
carrier. Vowels are represented using dependent combining signs. These signs are written with the vowel
carrier for independent forms of vowels. Each consonant possesses the inherent vowel /a/. The inherent
vowel is changed by applying a vowel sign to a consonant. Vowel signs may occur above, below, and to the
right of a consonant. The script has a mark for silencing the inherent vowel. However, the is
not used for producing conjuncts and has no control properties. Instead, consonant clusters are represented
as atomic ligatures. The final consonants nga and h are represented using combining signs.

The structure of a Kerinci orthographic syllable is:

Vcarrier [Vsign ] [Csign ]

C [Vsign ] [Csign ] | [Mvirama ]

3.2 Character repertoire

The character repertore for Kerinci consists of 19 basic consonant letters, 9 consonant-cluster ligatures,
2 consonant signs, and 6 combining vowel signs, and 1 virama. Representative glyphs for the proposed
characters are based upon forms used in manuscripts. Character names are patterned upon those used for
Rejang characters in Unicode.

4 Proposed Encoding

4.1 Consonants

There are 19 basic consonant letters:

Character name Phonetic value

𔰀 /k/

𔰁 /g/

𔰂 /ŋ/

𔰃 /t/

𔰄 /d/

𔰅 /n/

𔰆 /p/

𔰇 /b/

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Preliminary proposal to encode the Kerinci script in Unicode Anshuman Pandey

𔰈 /m/

𔰉 /t͡ʃ/

𔰊 /d͡ʒ/

𔰋 /ɲ/

𔰍 /r/

𔰎 /l/

𔰐 /j/

𔰏 /w/

𔰌 /s/

𔰑 /h/

𔰒 /a/, 0

The 𔰒 is a vowel carrier. When a combining vowel sign is attached to it, it adopts the
phonetic value of the sign and represents an independent vowel.

Variant forms of consonants are attested in several manuscript sources (see figure ??). A determination
regarding their status as glyphic variants or alternate forms requires additional research.

4.2 Consonant-cluster letters

There 9 letters that represent consonant clusters:

Character name Phonetic value

𔰓 /mb/

𔰔 /ŋg/

𔰕 /nd/

𔰖 /ɲd͡ʒ/

𔰗 /mp/

𔰘 /ŋh/

𔰙 /nt/

𔰚 /ɲt͡ʃ/

𔰛 /ŋs/

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Preliminary proposal to encode the Kerinci script in Unicode Anshuman Pandey

4.3 Virama

The following vowel-silencing character is proposed:

Character name Phonetic value

◌𔰢 /0/

4.4 Vowel signs

Four combining vowel signs are proposed for encoding:

Character name Phonetic value

◌𔰜 /i/

◌𔰝 /u/

◌𔰞 /e/

◌𔰟 /o/

Independent forms of vowels are represented by attaching vowels signs to 𔰒 , as shown

below. These vowel signs combine with other consonant letters in the same way to form syllables.

a 𔰒 <𔰒 >

i 𔰒𔰜 <𔰒 , ◌𔰜 >

u 𔰒𔰝 <𔰒 , ◌𔰝 >

e 𔰒𔰞 <𔰒 , ◌𔰞 >

o 𔰒𔰟 <𔰒 , ◌𔰟 >

4.5 Consonant signs

There are combining signs for two final consonants:

Character name Phonetic value

◌𔰠 /ŋ/

◌𔰡 /h/

These are used as follows:

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Preliminary proposal to encode the Kerinci script in Unicode Anshuman Pandey

kang 𔰀𔰠 <𔰀 , ◌𔰠 >

kah 𔰀𔰡 <𔰀 , ◌𔰡 >

4.6 Alternate signs

Also proposed for encoding are three alternate forms:

Character name Phonetic value

◌𔰣 /i/

◌𔰤 /i/

◌𔰥 /0/

They are proposed as distinctive characters on account of their shapes

The ◌𔰝 appears to resembles ◌𔰤 in shape and

position. The former is written beneath a consonant, while the latter is positioned to the right.

4.7 Digits

Script-specific digits are not attested.

4.8 Linebreaking

Linebreaking rules remain to be determined. Generally, linebreaks occur after an orthographic syllable, but
the syllable may be split if a spacing vowel sign occurs at the end of line. Hyphens or other marks indicating
continuance are not used.

5 References

Miller, Christopher. 2010. “Unicode Technical Note #35: Indonesian and Philippine Scripts and Exten-
sions”. http://www.unicode.org/notes/tn35/

Voorhoeve, P. 1970. “Kerintji documents”. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde. 126, n. 4, pp.
369-399. Leiden.

Westenenk, L.C. 1922. “Rèntjong-schrift”. Tijdschrift voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, vol. 61. Batavia:
Albrecht en Co./’s-Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff.

6 Acknowledgments

I presented the Kerinci script as part of my talk for IMUG (International Multilingual User Group) in March
2016 in San Jose, California, U.S.A. I would like to extend my appreciation to the audience for their questions
and feedback.

5
14C00 Kerinci 14C2F
Also known as Aksara Incung and Aksara Rencong.
14C0 14C1 14C2
Consonants
0 𔰀 𔰐 $𔰠 14C00
14C01
14C02
𔰀
𔰁
𔰂
KERINCI LETTER KA
KERINCI LETTER GA
KERINCI LETTER NGA
14C00 14C10 14C20
14C03 𔰃 KERINCI LETTER TA

1 𔰁 𔰑 $h 14C04
14C05
14C06
𔰄
𔰅
𔰆
KERINCI LETTER DA
KERINCI LETTER NA
KERINCI LETTER PA
14C01 14C11 14C21
14C07 𔰇 KERINCI LETTER BA
14C08 𔰈
2 𔰂 a $𔰢 14C09
14C0A
𔰉
𔰊
KERINCI LETTER MA
KERINCI LETTER CA
KERINCI LETTER JA
14C02 14C12 14C22
14C0B 𔰋 KERINCI LETTER NYA
14C0C 𔰌 KERINCI LETTER SA
3 𔰃 𔰓 $i 14C0D
14C0E
𔰍
𔰎
KERINCI LETTER RA
KERINCI LETTER LA
14C03 14C13 14C23
14C0F 𔰏 KERINCI LETTER VA
14C10 𔰐 KERINCI LETTER YA
4 𔰄 𔰔 $″i 14C11
14C12
𔰑
a
KERINCI LETTER HA
KERINCI LETTER A
14C04 14C14 14C24
14C13 𔰓 KERINCI LETTER MBA
14C14 𔰔 KERINCI LETTER NGGA
5 𔰅 𔰕 $𔰥 14C15
14C16
𔰕
𔰖
KERINCI LETTER NDA
KERINCI LETTER NYJA
14C05 14C15 14C25
14C17 𔰗 KERINCI LETTER MPA
14C18 𔰘 KERINCI LETTER NGHA
6 𔰆 𔰖 14C19
14C1A
𔰙
𔰚
KERINCI LETTER NTA
KERINCI LETTER NYCA
14C06 14C16 14C1B 𔰛 KERINCI LETTER NGSA

7 𔰇 𔰗 Vowel signs
14C1C $i KERINCI VOWEL SIGN I
14C07 14C17 14C1D $u KERINCI VOWEL SIGN U
14C1E $e KERINCI VOWEL SIGN E
8 𔰈𔰘 14C1F $o KERINCI VOWEL SIGN O
14C08 14C18 Consonant signs
14C20 $𔰠 KERINCI CONSONANT SIGN NG
9 𔰉 𔰙 14C21 $h KERINCI CONSONANT SIGN H

14C09 14C19 Virama

14C22 $𔰢 KERINCI SIGN VIRAMA
A 𔰊 𔰚 Alternate signs
14C0A 14C1A 14C23 $i KERINCI FIRST ALTERNATE VOWEL SIGN I
14C24 $″i KERINCI SECOND ALTERNATE VOWEL SIGN I
B 𔰋 𔰛 14C25 $𔰥 KERINCI ALTERNATE SIGN VIRAMA

14C0B 14C1B

C 𔰌 $i
14C0C 14C1C

D 𔰍 $u
14C0D 14C1D

E 𔰎 $e
14C0E 14C1E

F 𔰏 $o
14C0F 14C1F

Printed using UniBook™

(http://www.unicode.org/unibook/)
Preliminary proposal to encode the Kerinci script in Unicode Anshuman Pandey

Kerinci Rejang Kerinci Rejang

𔰀 ꤰ 𔰓 ꥂ
𔰁 ꤱ 𔰔 ꥃ
𔰂 ꤲ 𔰕 ꥄ
𔰃 ꤳ 𔰖 ꥅ
𔰄 ꤴ 𔰗 —

𔰅 ꤵ 𔰘 —

𔰆 ꤶ 𔰙 —

𔰇 ꤷ 𔰚 —

𔰈 ꤸ 𔰛 —

𔰉 ꤹ
𔰊 ꤺ
𔰋 ꤻ
𔰌 ꤼ
𔰍 ꤽ
𔰎 ꤾ
𔰏 ꥀ
𔰐 ꤿ
𔰑 ꥁ
𔰒 ꥆ

Table 1: Comparison of Kerinci and Rejang consonants.

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Preliminary proposal to encode the Kerinci script in Unicode Anshuman Pandey

Kerinci Rejang

◌𔰠 ◌ꥏ
— ◌ꥐ
— ◌ꥑ
◌𔰡 ◌ꥒ
◌𔰢 ◌꥓
◌𔰥 —

Table 2: Comparison of Kerinci and Rejang consonant signs and .

Kerinci Rejang

◌𔰜 ◌ꥇ
◌𔰝 ◌ꥈ
◌𔰞 ◌ꥉ
? ◌ꥊ
◌𔰟 ◌ꥋ
— ◌ꥌ
— ◌ꥍ
— ◌ꥎ
◌𔰣 —

◌𔰤 —

Table 3: Comparison of Kerinci and Rejang vowel signs.

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Preliminary proposal to encode the Kerinci script in Unicode Anshuman Pandey

Figure 1: Inventory of Kerinci characters along with alternate forms.

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Preliminary proposal to encode the Kerinci script in Unicode Anshuman Pandey

Figure 2: Excerpt of a Kerinci manuscript from the collection of Ijung Tebajo (BL EAP117/29/1/1).

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Preliminary proposal to encode the Kerinci script in Unicode Anshuman Pandey

front

back

Figure 3: Buffalo horn manuscript inscribed in Kerinci with the story of the journey of Uti Unduk
Pinang Masak and Dayang Berani (EAP117/2/1/1: Horn Manuscript TK 37). The item is from
the Depati Singolago Tuo collection. The text is transliterated in Tambo Kerinci no. 37 (“Tanduk
Bertulisan Rencong”).

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Preliminary proposal to encode the Kerinci script in Unicode Anshuman Pandey

The text reads (Voorhoeve’s spelling): “haku manangis ma / njaru ka’u ka’u di / saru tijada da /
tang [hitu hadik sa]”, which is translated by Voorhoeve as: “I am weeping, calling you; though
called, you do not come” (hitu adik sa- is the rest of 4th line).

𔰒𔰀𔰝 𔰈𔰅𔰂𔰣𔰌𔰢 𔰈
𔰋𔰍𔰝 𔰀𔰑𔰝 𔰀𔰑𔰝 𔰄
𔰣𔰌𔰍𔰝 𔰃𔰣𔰊𔰄 𔰄
𔰃𔰠 𔰒𔰣𔰃𔰝 𔰒𔰄𔰣𔰀𔰢 𔰌

Figure 4: Detail of a Kerinci Rencong manuscript (KITLV Or. 239) containing a poem (from
Voorhoeve 170).

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Preliminary proposal to encode the Kerinci script in Unicode Anshuman Pandey

Figure 5: Signs with text in Kerinci.

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