The purpose of this repository is to provide recommendations and resources to those interested in developing Canadian Syllabics typefaces for the various Indigneous communities in North America that use this writing system, to comply with the Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics (UCAS) encoding representation in the Unicode Standard.
Inside you will find a recommendations page for each Syllabics-using Indigenous language that provides an example of each community's orthography chart, rendered in each's locally-preferred typographic representation. Footnotes are provided for each chart to describe local preference variantions for each community, as well as a glyph subset of the larger UCAS for each local community.
A description of general typographic requirements has been provided alongside the language-specific pages to provide recommendations for supporting behaviours that apply to all language communities. Recommended UCAS glyph set data for font development has been provided, as well as kerning data for implementing in Syllabics typefaces.
Ahead of undertaking a Syllabics font design project, it is useful to familiarize oneself with the inherent concepts of this writing system and the historical and contemporary context effecting the local typographic variation present within the Syllabics across different user communities.
The following article presents a comprehensive overview Syllabics typography:
Syllabics typographic guidelines and local typographic preferences
This module series from Google Fonts Knowledge is a great introduction to Syllabics Typography, in a more simplified format for quick reference:
The following sections provide an overview of the local typographic preferences and orthographic requirements for each individual Indigenous language community that uses the Syllabics, with the purpose of typeface design and development in mind. For each community, their local Syllabics preferences have been presented graphically in the form of their Syllabics orthography chart, accompanied by footnotes were necessary beneath the chart that require attention.
General Typographic Requirements
Blackfoot Syllabics (historical)
We are grateful to work in collaboration with many First Nations and Inuit language keepers, Elders, and communities towards identifying the correct orthographic and typographic requirements for their language's writing systems, and overcoming technical challenges that remove barriers to accessing their languages in digital spaces. We would like to acknowledge and thank with gratitude Nattilik language keepers ᓂᓚᐅᓛᖅ ᐊᒡᓘᒃᑲᖅ (Nilaulaaq Aglukkaq), ᑕᒪᓕᒃ (Janet Tamalik McGrath), ᐊᑏᒪ (Attima) and ᐃᓕ𑪴ᐱ (Elisabeth) 𑪴ᓪᓚᕆ (Hadlari), ᕿ’ᖓᖅᑐᖅ ᐃᑦᑐᓗᒃ (Qi’ngaqtuq Kevin Eetoolook), ᐊᕐᓇᐅᔪᖅ ᐊᓗᑭ (Arnaoyok Alookee), and Kimberly ᓰᑦᖁᕐᓗᒃ Fairman, Dakelh language keepers ᗮᘧᐣᙒᔆ ᗮᘦᐣᙆ (Francois Prince) and ᑓᐣᘆᔆ ᗷᒼᗫᐩᘧᐣᐪ (Dennis Cumberland), Bill Jancewicz (ᐃᔪᐤ ᐃᔨᒧᐅᓐ / Naskapi). To 梁海 Liang Hai, Debbie Anderson, Ken Whistler, Roozbeh Pournader, Ben Yang, and the Script Ad Hoc Group of the Unicode Consortium, and Lindsay Smail for Inuktut Syllabics typographic testing.
As well, we also consult historical and contemporary literature and materials to build a comprehensive understanding of Syllabics typography and requirements for font development. Axknowledgements and Sources pertaining to each individual language can be found in the specific language file for each language.