At entry level all of the syllables, except the Sixth Order (Sadiss-bate) syllables, are treated as "Sixth Order+Ethiopic Vowel" pairs and each pair is mapped to the appropriately coded character. (The Sixth Order consonant letters do not require a vowel key and can be treated as they are.) Such treatment may also be applied to serve transliteration purposes.
2. The Sixth Order (Sadiss-bate) letters are shown in the key mapping table following the table below. The set of Orders and and their recommended compose sequences (see also Appendix A) are as shown:
English Name Traditional Name Compose Sequence Column in Ethiopic Table First Order Ge'ez-bate +e 1 Second Order Ka'b-bate +u 2 Third Order Salise-bate +i 3 Fourth Order Rab'-bate +a 4 Fifth Order Hamiss-bate +E 5 Sixth Order Sadiss-bate (default)# 6 Seventh Order Sab'-bate +o 7 Labiovelar Extended Forms Eighth Order Ge'ez-Dikala-bate +We 1 Ninth Order Ka'b-Dikala-bate +Wu / +W 2 Tenth Order Salise-Dikala-bate +Wi 3 Eleventh Order Rab'-Dikala-bate +Wa 4 [ or 8th* ] Twelth Order Hamiss-Dikala-bate +WE 5 # though the sixth order is the default ' (apostrope) is a recommended input terminator for the syllable. The application of a terminator becomes important for syllable series who's sixth form requires a compose sequence described shortly. * for consonant series with only 8 forms.
KEYBOARD LAYOUT (Ethiopic script keyboard layout with respect to Latin-1)
HEX NAME ETHIOPIC KEYBOARD LAYOUT 0020 SPACE = 1360 ETHIOPIC SPACE | 1361 ETHIOPIC WORDSPACE 0021 EXCLAMATION MARK <= 0022 QUOTATION MARK <= 0023 NUMBER SIGN <= 0024 DOLLAR SIGN <= 0025 PERCENT SIGN <= 0026 AMPERSAND <= 0027 APOSTROPHE <= 0028 LEFT PARENTHESIS <= 0029 RIGHT PARENTHESIS <= 002A ASTERISK <= 002B PLUS SIGN <= 002C COMMA = 1363 ETHIOPIC COMMA 002D HYPHEN-MINUS <= 002E PERIOD = 1362 ETHIOPIC PERIOD 002F SOLIDUS <= 0030 DIGIT ZERO <= 0031 DIGIT ONE = 1369 ETHIOPIC DIGIT ONE 0032 DIGIT TWO = 136A ETHIOPIC DIGIT TWO 0033 DIGIT THREE = 136B ETHIOPIC DIGIT THREE 0034 DIGIT FOUR = 136C ETHIOPIC DIGIT FOUR 0035 DIGIT FIVE = 136D ETHIOPIC DIGIT FIVE 0036 DIGIT SIX = 136E ETHIOPIC DIGIT SIX 0037 DIGIT SEVEN = 136F ETHIOPIC DIGIT SEVEN 0038 DIGIT EIGHT = 1370 ETHIOPIC DIGIT EIGHT 0039 DIGIT NINE = 1371 ETHIOPIC DIGIT NINE 003A COLON = 1365 ETHIOPIC COLON 003B SEMICOLON = 1365 ETHIOPIC SEMICOLON 003C LESS THAN <= 003D EQUAL <= 003E GREATER THAN <= 003F QUESTION MARK = FDFF ETHIOPIC STYLIZED QUESTION MARK 0040 AT <= 005C REVERSE SOLIDUS <= 005D RIGHT SQUARE BRACKET <= 005E CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT <= 005F LOW LINE <= 0060 GRAVE ACCENT <= 0061 LATIN SMALL LETTER A = 12A3 ETHIOPIC GLOTTAL AA | 12A3 ETHIOPIC GLOTTAL AA 0062 LATIN SMALL LETTER B = 1260 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE BE | 1260 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE BE 0063 LATIN SMALL LETTER C = 1278 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE CE | 1328 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE CHE 0064 LATIN SMALL LETTER D = 12F0 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE DHE | 12F8 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE DDHE 0065 LATIN SMALL LETTER E = 12A0 ETHIOPIC GLOTTAL A | 12A4 ETHIOPIC GLOTTAL EE 0066 LATIN SMALL LETTER F = 1348 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE FE | 1348 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE FE 0067 LATIN SMALL LETTER G = 1308 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE GE | 1318 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE GGE 0068 LATIN SMALL LETTER H = 1200 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE HE | 1220 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE HHE 0069 LATIN SMALL LETTER I = 12A2 ETHIOPIC GLOTTAL I | 12A5 ETHIOPIC GLOTTAL E 006A LATIN SMALL LETTER J = 1300 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE JE | 1300 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE JE 006B LATIN SMALL LETTER K = 12A8 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE KE | 12B8 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE KXE 006C LATIN SMALL LETTER L = 1210 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE LE | 1210 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE LE 006D LATIN SMALL LETTER M = 1218 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE ME | 1218 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE ME 006E LATIN SMALL LETTER N = 1290 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE NE | 1298 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE NYE 006F LATIN SMALL LETTER O = 12A6 ETHIOPIC GLOTTAL O | 12A6 ETHIOPIC GLOTTAL O 0070 LATIN SMALL LETTER P = 1350 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE PE | 1330 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE PHE 0071 LATIN SMALL LETTER Q = 1240 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE QE | 1250 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE QH 0072 LATIN SMALL LETTER R = 1228 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE RE | 1228 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE RE 0073 LATIN SMALL LETTER S = 1230 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE SE | 1338 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE TSE 0074 LATIN SMALL LETTER T = 1270 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE TE | 1320 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE THE 0075 LATIN SMALL LETTER U = 12A1 ETHIOPIC GLOTTAL U | 12A1 ETHIOPIC GLOTTAL U 0076 LATIN SMALL LETTER V = 1268 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE VE | 1268 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE VE 0077 LATIN SMALL LETTER W = 12C8 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE WE | 12C8 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE WE 0078 LATIN SMALL LETTER X = 1238 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE SHE | 125D ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE XKE 0079 LATIN SMALL LETTER Y = 12E8 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE YE | 12E8 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE YE 007A LATIN SMALL LETTER Z = 12D8 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE ZE | 12E0 ETHIOPIC SYLLABLE ZHE 007B LEFT CURLY BRACKET <= 007C VERTICAL LINE <= 007D RIGHT CURLY BRACKET <= 007E TILDE <=
ETHIOPIC SADISS SYLLABLE LATIN COMPOSE SEQUENCE U+1225 SZE ss U+1285 XE hh U+1345 TZE SS U+1385 QQE qq U+1395 KKE kk U+13B5 GYE ggLikewise, pharyngeal vowels would then be entered through a double strike of their glottal counterpart's key mapping. SERA transcription sequences are also recommended. See also SERA-IM.
Punctuation
Both Ethiopic and European punctuations are important in Ethiopic writing.
Both should be readily available to the document composer, the Ethiopic
being the default. A simple and satisfactory input method to render the
keyboard's native punctuation is to provide the native punctuation following
a double-strike of the shared keymap. E.g. striking comma renders Ethiopic comma,
a second keystrike of comma replaces Ethiopic Comma with European comma and
the character input terminates.
Punctuation that does not have a direct functional mapping unto the European, such as Ethiopic Preface Colon and Paragraph Separator, are recommended to be input following their SERA transcription value.
Numerals
It is recommended that the more frequently occurring Arabic numerals be the
default in an Ethiopic input method. A toggle key, such as F1 or Alt-F1,
etc., would then be employed to go between Arabic and Ethiopic numerals.