FAQ: Syllabics Fonts Terminology

Q: What’s “Unicode?”

A universal set of characters paired with a code, as a way of represent all the various characters found in all written languages


In order to address the interchange of texts across platforms, as well as to provide the number of
characters required by the languages of the world, a “two-byte” encoding standard called Unicode was
developed. This standard provides a discrete computer character code for virtually every character in every
language in the world.

One block of the Unicode encoding system was set aside for Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics. This block
contains the standard codes for over 600 characters, including Cree, Naskapi, Nunavik, Blackfoot and
Carrier. These characters are in the range U+1401 to U+1676 in the Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics
(UCAS) block of Unicode version 3.0.

Both Windows and Macintosh operating systems have taken steps in the late 1990s toward implementing
Unicode, but unfortunately at the time of this writing (c. 2002) that implementation is not yet complete. It is
clear, however, that the industry is moving toward embracing the Unicode standard in the near future. Since
many difficulties associated with Legacy encodings can be avoided by using Unicode, users should install
and use Unicode syllabics if their equipment and application software can support it.

The only drawback to using the Unicode encoding system for syllabics is that some older systems and
software programs do not support it, so material must be converted between Legacy encodings and Unicode.

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Q: What do you mean by “Legacy” syllabic fonts or encodings?

Legacy means “handed down from the past”. In computer jargon, it refers to technology that was
developed in the past, still in use, but has been superceded by more advanced technology. With regard to
fonts and encodings, it refers to any computer fonts that have non-standard character encodings. There are
many of these that contribute to the confusion and difficulty when attempting to move multi-lingual texts
between applications and computer platforms. The BJECree encoding is but one example of many legacy
encodings. Because of earlier limitations in the technology, developers were forced to create fonts that
replaced some character shapes with other shapes according to the needs of a particular language project. 7-
bit and 8-bit syllabic encodings are referred to as “Legacy” encodings.

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Q: What do you mean by “7-bit” syllabic fonts or encodings?

7-bit refers to the characters that are represented (for the most part) by the characters on the keys of a
standard typewriter or computer keyboard, including A-Z, a-z and 1-0, along with punctuation and some
symbols. The practical limit to the number of characters in a 7-bit character encoding is about 95. (from
decimal 033 to 127)

When a 7-bit encoding is used for Cree syllabics, the typewriter keys are made to correspond to syllabic
characters. While they can be used without any special keyboard programs, a unique “Cree” keyboard layout
must be learned in order to type these characters. One benefit to this approach is that users across many
programs and platforms are able to share texts, even over the Internet, provided that a font with a matching
encoding is used on each computer. It is possible to design a 7-bit font that works on both platforms, but it
pushes the limit of the character inventory.

Some drawbacks to the 7-bit approach is the limitation on the number of characters in the character set, the
necessity of learning a new keyboard layout, and the many different (conflicting or competing) 7-bit
encodings in use. We do not recommend using any 7-bit encodings unless you already use your own and like it.

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Q: What do you mean by “8-bit” syllabic fonts or encodings?

8-bit refers to the characters that are represented (for the most part) by the characters on the keys of a
standard typewriter or computer keyboard, including A-Z, a-z and 1-0, along with a standard set of
“accented” and symbol characters. The practical limit to the number of characters in an 8-bit character
encoding is about 122. However, in practice 8-bit encodings tend to leave the 7-bit characters (A-Z, a-z etc.)
as they are and only re-assign decimal 128 to 255 to syllabics.

The obvious benefit to this approach is that standard alpha-numeric (English) characters are available in the
same font as syllabic characters: English words can be incorporated in Cree texts without changing fonts.
However a keyboarding program must be used in order to conveniently access the syllabic characters in such
a font. Such programs have been in use for some time, two important ones being Tavultesoft Keyman for
Windows and SILKey for Macintosh. By implementing such programs, custom keyboard layouts of any
configuration may be used, even multiple keyboard layouts for the same encoding.

Some drawbacks to the 8-bit approach is still the limitation on the number of characters in the character set,
application software and printer drivers interpreting certain characters differently, the incompatible encoding
standards of Macintosh and Windows, and the different (conflicting or competing) 8-bit encodings in use.
Alas, with 8-bit legacy fonts Mac and Windows must use different encoding schemes.

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Q: What about other syllabic fonts and encodings?

There must be dozens of “Legacy” syllabic fonts out there. It seems that whenever someone needed a
font they invented their own way to do it. Even the CreeKeys and McCree Legacy 8-bit fonts are still
“hacked” fonts, where existing standardized fonts were forced to do syllabics. These were both based on
earlier fonts, so that there would be some backward compatibility. The East Cree School Board used a set of
extended 7-bit fonts created by Eiko Emori in the late 1980s and early 90s that were replaced by BJECree,
which shared the encoding of SILECree. Conversion programs were written so that the old texts typed on the
Eiko Emori fonts could be converted to the BJECree encoding, and later to Unicode.

If you are using any syllabic typing system that is satisfactory to you on your current equipment, there is no
need to change. But if you are interested in sharing Cree text files between computers or over the Internet, it
is important that your system will handle this. Unicode was written to do this job, and should be considered
by any Cree syllabic project that aspires to share texts beyond their own community or organization. Being
able to convert texts from older “Legacy” encodings to Unicode (and possibly back again) will permit a
transition stage where material may be produced on one kind of computer, and then posted on the Web on
another. Seriously considering and implementing Unicode will avoid lots of problems inherent in other
encoding systems.

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