Add Namdhinggo (SIL)

[devosb]

Font Project Git Repo URL: https://github.com/silnrsi/font-namdhinggo

Release: https://github.com/silnrsi/font-namdhinggo/releases/tag/v3.001

Super short description of the Font Family: The Limbu, or Kirat Sirijonga, script is used by around 400,000 people in Nepal and India.

According to traditional histories the Limbu script was developed by King Sirijonga in the 9th Century. It then fell out of use before being reintroduced in the 18th century by Teongsi Sirijonga (1704-1741) whom many felt to be the reincarnation of the first Sirijonga. The modern Sirijonga was apparently martyred in 1741 for the sake of this script by lamas in Sikkim. The script was named 'Sirijonga' in his honour by the Limbu scholar Iman Singh Chemjong.

Requirements:

I understand that Google Fonts will publish only fonts that matches its requirements, and I can confirm the project meets them (by ticking the cases, or putting x between the square brackets in text mode):

• [x] The entire font project is licensed under the OFL
• [ ] There is no "Reserved Font Name" mention in the OFL license (RFNs are allowed in SIL fonts per agreement)
• [x] Family name is unique according to namecheck.fontdata.com
• [ ] The font supports at least GF Latin Core glyphset
• [ ] The repository respect the upstream repo structure
• [x] The source files are available in the repository
• [x] I read, agree and comply with the full contributing requirements
• [x] I am the author of the font or the author agreed to this submission
• [x] I will maintain the repository

Image:

[RosaWagner]

We have some tofu appearing in sandbox

@devosb it seems the codepoint U+0964 (danda) is missing from the font or it can be that it shall not be part of Limbu sample text. Do you know which one?

[devosb]

I don't think U+0964 DEVANAGARI DANDA should be in the sample text, but I will check on that.

[simoncozens]

There's a U+0965 DEVANAGARI DOUBLE DANDA in the sample text (and in the font) so the font should probably have a single danda too.

But do please check. I couldn't quite work out where that sample text came from and I don't trust it 100%. My notes say "This sample text appears to be taken from two sources: "The Crab's Dream" by Purna Kumari Lingden, and the Limbu Wikipedia Incubator at https://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wp/lif/Main_Page".

[RosaWagner]

@devosb Did you have the time to check if we need to correct the sample text by any chance?

[devosb]

Sorry for the delay. Yes, I think the sample text needs to be corrected. Here is what I found

1. The sample text starts out as good Limbu, but then some of it is transliterated Nepali, and then the whole thing repeats. I have asked where the break is between the Limbu and Nepali languages is in the sample.
2. I very much doubt anyone would want to have Sanskrit language in Limbu script. Is Google using transliterated Sanskrit if no other better text is available?
3. The sample text includes U+1921 LIMBU VOWEL SIGN I twice in a row (circled in red) which is a typo (as you cannot have two vowel signs in a row in an Indic script) or maybe a simplistic transliteration from U+0940 DEVANAGARI VOWEL SIGN II
4. The text at the Limbu Wikipedia Incubator is not readable as either Limbu or Nepali.

In our experience, the single danda is not used for Limbu. My notes have the following

1. Regarding the Limbu Wikipedia Incubator ...it includes danda, which tells me that its not all Limbu.
2. Only double danda is normally used for Limbu.
3. If the question is whether single danda should be added to the Namdhinggo font, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to add it even if not really needed. But it would certainly be rarely used if at all.

You are welcome to take the Limbu text from the Namdhinggo project which has test data. I would think the running text examples of sample.txt or story.txt would work well.

[devosb]

Regardless of the issues with the sample text for Google Fonts addressed in previous comment, SIL has added the single danda to the Namdhinggo font, for maximum flexibility in usage. Even with adding the single danda, which would avoid the tofu boxes with the current text, we think the Google Fonts sample text should still be changed.

The updated font has a version of 3.100 and is on GitHub.

[devosb]

The red box in this screenshot is a transliteration of “Wikipedia”, but with the circled mistake which is “p i i” instead of the correct “pi”.