[Feature request] Add Latin small letter G with middle tilde

[GitGianluc]

I know it is not among the standard Unicode glyphs, but would it be possible to add the glyph for Latin small letter G with middle tilde in the Private Use Area?

This glyph is often used as an alternative to IPA /ɣ/ symbol to represent the voiced velar fricative in the transcription of words from the Nuorese variant of the Sardinian language.

Thank you for your attention!

[jvgaultney]

Sorry - we are no longer accepting character requests for the SIL Private Use Area. How to encode this symbol is a complex issue. It might seem to make sense to encode this as U+0067 LATIN SMALL LETTER G plus U+0334 COMBINING TILDE OVERLAY. However there are two problem with this.

Back in 2003, Unicode proposal N2632 successfully argued that it would be better to encode each combination of base letter plus U+0334 as a new single character like U+1D70 LATIN SMALL LETTER N WITH MIDDLE TILDE. The 'g' was not noted in that proposal, so there is no LATIN SMALL LETTER G WITH MIDDLE TILDE, and encoding it as a sequence would go against the accepted precedent.

Even if encoding it as U+0067 LATIN SMALL LETTER G plus U+0334 COMBINING TILDE OVERLAY were to be generally acceptable, it's doubtful that fonts would support your specially requested design for the combination. You would most likely end up with the tilde going through the upper bowl, as our fonts do now.

The best way forwards would be for you to get the combination added as a new character in Unicode. That's the best way to get support in our fonts and others. Last year, Kirk Miller proposed to Unicode a whole set of letters with tilde through them. I don't recall the result of that proposal - I don't think there was a clear consensus at the time. It didn't include the 'g'. He may not be aware of its use for Nuorese Sardinian transcription. I'd suggest you contact him - his email is at the top of the proposal. He can then update you on the proposal and suggest how to move forwards.

We could add special handling of the U+0067 LATIN SMALL LETTER G plus U+0334 COMBINING TILDE OVERLAY sequence to our fonts and make them produce your requested design. I will add that to our list of requests, however we're not likely to support it soon. We would want to hear the final result of Kirk's proposal before we support it.

[GitGianluc]

Thank you very much for your prompt and detailed response!

Even if encoding it as U+0067 LATIN SMALL LETTER G plus U+0334 COMBINING TILDE OVERLAY were to be generally acceptable, it's doubtful that fonts would support your specially requested design for the combination. You would most likely end up with the tilde going through the upper bowl, as our fonts do now.

Yes, that is exactly what is happening to me at the moment.

The best way forwards would be for you to get the combination added as a new character in Unicode. That's the best way to get support in our fonts and others. Last year, Kirk Miller proposed to Unicode a whole set of letters with tilde through them. I don't recall the result of that proposal - I don't think there was a clear consensus at the time. It didn't include the 'g'.

This document is very interesting! In fact, the letter G is included in the list compiled by Kirk Miller (pp. 2 and 5; pp. 11 and 12): the representation that most closely matches my needs is the one shown in Figure 14 on p. 11.

We could add special handling of the U+0067 LATIN SMALL LETTER G plus U+0334 COMBINING TILDE OVERLAY sequence to our fonts and make them produce your requested design. I will add that to our list of requests, however we're not likely to support it soon. We would want to hear the final result of Kirk's proposal before we support it.

This could be a very useful workaround, even if it is not planned in the near future.

Thank you very much for your courtesy and attention!