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Appendix B

RENDERING ETHIOPIAN SCRIPT AT KEY ENTRY LEVEL

1. Each character in the Ethiopian Script cannot be represented on the keyboard since the number of characters exceeds the number of keys on the keyboard. Thus, a rendering technique needs to be used to map the entered key(s) to a corresponding character.

At entry level all of the syllables, except the First Order (Ge'ez-bate) syllables, are treated as "First Order+Ethiopian vowel" pairs and each pair is mapped to the appropriately coded character. (The First Order letters don't require a vowel key and can be treated as they are.) Such treatment would have no effect beyond the key entry level.

2. The First Order (Ge'ez-bate) letters are shown on the table with tick marks. The set of Orders are:

First Order   (Ge'ez-bate)               NULL
Second Order  (Ka'b-bate)                1248  ETHIOPIAN UEA
Third Order   (Salise-bate)              12DO  ETHIOPIAN IEA
Fourth Order  (Rab'-bate)                1298  ETHIOPIAN AEA
Fifth Order   (Hamiss-bate)              1220  ETHIOPIAN YEA
Sixth Order   (Sadiss-bate)              1308  ETHIOPIAN EEA
Seventh Order (Sab'-bate)                1290  ETHIOPIAN OEA
Eighth Order  (Rab'-Dikala-bate)         0027  LATIN APOSTROPHE

ETHIOPIAN SCRIPT KEYBOARD LAYOUT

The Ethiopian keyboard layout features the First Order (Ge'ez-bate) characters, Ethiopian punctuation marks, Latin punctuation marks, and Latin numbers. A one-to-one mapping to the Latin keyboard layout leaves a number of First Order letters unassigned. Thus, in some cases a many-to-one mapping may be necessary at implementation level. Ethiopian numbers are treated independently of Latin numbers, but mapped to Latin numbers as needed.

KEYBOARD LAYOUT (Ethiopian script keyboard layout with respect to Latin-1)

HEX NAME                            ETHIOPIAN KEYBOARD LAYOUT

0020   SPACE                   =    1200 ETHIOPIAN 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                   = 1202 ETHIOPIAN COMMA
002D   HYPHEN-MINUS            <=
002E   PERIOD                  = 1205 ETHIOPIAN PERIOD
002F   SOLIDUS                 <=
0030   DIGIT ZERO              <=
0031   DIGIT ONE               = 1368 ETHIOPIAN NUMBER ONE
0032   DIGIT TWO               = 1369 ETHIOPIAN NUMBER TWO
0033   DIGIT THREE             = 136A ETHIOPIAN NUMBER THREE
0034   DIGIT FOUR              = 136B ETHIOPIAN NUMBER FOUR
0035   DIGIT FIVE              = 136C ETHIOPIAN NUMBER FIVE
0036   DIGIT SIX               = 136D ETHIOPIAN NUMBER SIX
005C   REVERSE SOLIDUS         <=
005D   RIGHT SQUARE BRACKET    <=
005E   CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT       <=
005F   LOW LINE                <=
0060   GRAVE ACCENT            <=
0061   LATIN SMALL LETTER A    = 1298 ETHIOPIAN AAE
0062   LATIN SMALL LETTER B    = 1260 ETHIOPIAN BAE
                               | 1261 ETHIOPIAN VAE
0063   LATIN SMALL LETTER C    = 1240 ETHIOPIAN SAE
0064   LATIN SMALL LETTER D    = 12D8 ETHIOPIAN DAE
0065   LATIN SMALL LETTER E    = 1308 ETHIOPIAN CXAE
0066   LATIN SMALL LETTER F    = 1328 ETHIOPIAN FAE
0067   LATIN SMALL LETTER G    = 12FO ETHIOPIAN GAE
                               | 12Fl ETHIOPIAN GGAE
                               | 1350 ETHIOPIAN GHHAE
0068   LATIN SMALL LETTER H    = 1210 ETHIOPIAN HAE
                               | 1280 ETHIOPIAN HXAE
                               | 1360 ETHIOPIAN HHHAE
0069   LATIN SMALL LETTER I    = 12DO ETHIOPIAN IAE
006A   LATIN SMALL LETTER J    = 12E8 ETHIOPIAN JAE
006B   LATIN SMALL LETTER K    = 12AO ETHIOPIAN KAE
                               | 12A8 ETHIOPIAN KHAE
006C   LATIN SMALL LETTER L    = 1218 ETHIOPIAN LAE
006D   LATIN SMALL LETTER M    = 1228 ETHIOPIAN MAE
006E   LATIN SMALL LETTER N    = 1288 ETHIOPIAN NAE
006F   LATIN SMALL LETTER O    = 1290 ETHIOPIAN YNAE
0070   LATIN SMALL LETTER P    = 1330 ETHIOPIAN PAE
                               | 1310 ETHIOPIAN PHAE
0071   LATIN SMALL LETTER Q    = 1250 ETHIOPIAN 4AE
                               | 1251 ETHIOPIAN QHAE
                               | 1358 ETHIOPIAN QHHAE
0072   LATIN SMALL LETTER R    = 1238 ETHIOPIAN RAE
0073   LATIN SMALL LETTER S    = 1320 ETHIOPIAN TZAE
                               | 1318 ETHIOPIAN TSAE
0074   LATIN SMALL LETTER T    = 1270 ETHIOPIAN TAE
0075   LATIN SMALL LETTER U    = 1248 ETHIOPIAN SHAE
0076   LATIN SMALL LETTER V    = 1278 ETHIOPIAN CHAE
0077   LATIN SMALL LETTER W    = 12BO ETHIOPIAN WAE
0078   LATIN SMALL LETTER X    = 1300 ETHIOPIAN THAE
0079   LATIN SMALL LETTER Y    = 1220 ETHIOPIAN HHAE
007A   LATIN SMALL LETTER Z    = 12CO ETHIOPIAN ZAE
                               | 12Cl ETHIOPIAN ZHAE
007B   LEFT CURLY BRACKET      <=
007C   VERTICAL LINE           <=
007D   RIGHT CURLY BRACKET     <=
007E   TILDE                   <=