Author: SIL Writing Systems Technology

# Abyssinica SIL - Font Features

Abyssinica SIL is a TrueType font with smart font capabilities added using OpenType and Graphite font technologies. The Ethiopic script does not require much rendering except for some combining marks for gemination and vowel length. However, there are some glyph variations for the Ethiopic script. Some applications let the user control certain features such as Character Variants to turn on the rendering of variant characters. However, at this point, most applications do not make use of those features so another solution is needed to show the variant characters. TypeTuner creates tuned fonts that use the variant glyph in place of the standard glyph. TypeTuner also provides the ability to turn on support for the Sebat Bet Gurage and Gumuz languages variants.

See Using Font Features. Although that page is not targeted at Ethiopic support, it does provide a comprehensive list of applications that make full use of the OpenType and Graphite font technologies.

## Advanced typographic capabilities

This font supports various advanced typographic capabilities using the Graphite and OpenType font technologies.

- Auto placement of diacritics (one level only) on Ethiopic syllables only (not on Latin characters)
- Kerning of almost 200 pairs of Ethiopic syllables
- OpenType Character Variants or Graphite features (alternately-designed glyphs are also provided for a number of characters for use in particular contexts)
- OpenType and Graphite support for the Sebat Bet Gurage [sgw] and Gumuz [guk] languages

These capabilities are available in any application that supports the Graphite technology. They are also available via the OpenType technology, though this requires applications that provide a sufficient level of support for OpenType Character Variant features.

A sample of diacritic placement and kerning is shown below:

Abyssinica SIL Sample - Diacritic placement and Kerning

This page uses web fonts (WOFF2) to demonstrate font features and should display correctly in all modern browsers. For a more concise example of how to use Abyssinica SIL as a web font see Abyssinica SIL Webfont Example. For detailed information see Using SIL Fonts on Web Pages.

If this document is not displaying correctly a PDF version is also provided in the documentation/pdf folder of the release package.

## Customizing with TypeTuner

For applications that do not make use of Graphite or the OpenType Stylistic Sets feature, you can now download fonts customized with the variant glyphs you choose. Read the Font Features page, visit TypeTuner Web, then to choose the variants and download your font.

## Complete feature list

There are some Ethiopic character shape differences in different Ethiopian languages. These can be accessed by using Graphite features, OpenType Character Variants, or language support for Sebat Bet Gurage and Gumuz languages. The documents below can be downloaded in order to see all the user-selectable font features that are available in the font. The feature names, feature ids, settings and examples are provided.

### Test rendering engine choice

Here is a simple test to see if Graphite is working in your browser. If it is, the following will say "RenderingGraphite". If your browser does not support Graphite it should say "RenderingOpentype". Firefox is currently the only browser that supports Graphite. See the instructions on how to enable Graphite in Firefox.

Check | RenderingUnknown

### Language

Affects: U+124A, U+124D, U+1298..U+129F, U+12B2, U+12B5, U+12C2, U+12C5, U+1312, U+1313, U+1315, U+1381, U+1385, U+138D

Language | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
default | ቊ ቍ ኘ ኙ ኚ ኛ ኜ ኝ ኞ ኟ ኲ ኵ ዂ ዅ ጒ ጓ ጕ ᎁ ᎅ ᎍ |
Sebat Bet Gurage (sgw) | ቊ ቍ ኘ ኙ ኚ ኛ ኜ ኝ ኞ ኟ ኲ ኵ ዂ ዅ ጒ ጓ ጕ ᎁ ᎅ ᎍ | `lang=sgw`
Gumuz (guk) | ቊ ቍ ኘ ኙ ኚ ኛ ኜ ኝ ኞ ኟ ኲ ኵ ዂ ዅ ጒ ጓ ጕ ᎁ ᎅ ᎍ | `lang=guk`

### Character variants

#### Punctuation

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Ethiopic-style | ! $ % * + / 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 = ? ¡ © « ² ³ ¹ » × ‘ ’ “ ” ‹ › ⁰ ⁴ ⁵ ⁶ ⁷ ⁸ ⁹ € | `cv01=0`
Latin-style | ! $ % * + / 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 = ? ¡ © « ² ³ ¹ » × ‘ ’ “ ” ‹ › ⁰ ⁴ ⁵ ⁶ ⁷ ⁸ ⁹ € | `cv01=1`

#### Ethiopic digits

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ፩ ፪፫ ፫፬፭ ፺፻፼፻፼፩፼፩፪ | `cv02=0`
Connected | ፩ ፪፫ ፫፬፭ ፺፻፼፻፼፩፼፩፪ | `cv02=1`

#### mwa alternates

Affects: U+121F

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ሟ | `cv04=0`
Alternate-1 | ሟ¹ | `cv04=1`
Alternate-2 | ሟ² | `cv04=2`

#### rwa alternate

Affects: U+122F

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ሯ | `cv05=0`
Alternate | ሯ² | `cv05=1`

#### xoa alternate

Affects: U+1287

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ኇ | `cv17=0`
Alternate | ኇ | `cv17=1`

#### xwa alternates

Affects: U+1288..U+128D

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ኈ ኊ ኋ ኌ ኍ | `cv18=0`
Handwriting | ኈ ኊ ኋ ኌ ኍ | `cv18=1`

#### nwa alternate

Affects: U+1297

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ኗ | `cv19=0`
Alternate | ኗ¹ | `cv19=1`

#### nya alternates

Affects: U+1298..U+129E

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ኘ ኙ ኚ ኛ ኜ ኝ ኞ | `cv20=0`
Disconnected | ኘ ኙ ኚ ኛ ኜ ኝ ኞ³ | `cv20=1`

#### nywa alternates

Affects: U+129F

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ኟ | `cv21=0`
Disconnected | ኟ³ | `cv21=1`
Cohen | ኟ² | `cv21=2`

#### kxwaa alternate

Affects: U+12C3

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ዃ | `cv26=0`
Alternate | ዃ² | `cv26=1`

#### zha alternates

Affects: U+12E0..U+12E6

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ዠ ዡ ዢ ዣ ዤ ዥ ዦ | `cv31=0`
Cohen | ዠ ዡ ዢ ዣ ዤ ዥ ዦ⁴ | `cv31=1`
Chaine | ዠ ዡ ዢ ዣ ዤ ዥ ዦ⁵ | `cv31=2`

#### dda alternates

Affects: U+12F8..U+12FE

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ዸ ዹ ዺ ዻ ዼ ዽ ዾ | `cv32=0`
Alternate | ዸ ዹ ዺ ዻ ዼ ዽ ዾ⁶ | `cv32=1`

#### gwaa alternates

Affects: U+1313

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ጓ | `cv40=0`
Sebat Bet | ጓ⁷ | `cv40=1`
Alone Stokes | ጓ⁸ | `cv40=2`

#### gga alternates

Affects: U+1318..U+131E

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ጘ ጙ ጚ ጛ ጜ ጝ ጞ | `cv41=0`
Disconnected | ጘ ጙ ጚ ጛ ጜ ጝ ጞ⁹ | `cv41=1`

#### ggwaa alternate

Affects: U+131F

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ጟ | `cv42=0`
Disconnected | ጟ⁹ | `cv42=1`

#### phe alternate

Affects: U+1335

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ጵ | `cv45=0`
Alternate | ጵ¹⁰ | `cv45=1`

#### tswa alternate

Affects: U+133F

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ጿ | `cv46=0`
Alternate | ጿ | `cv46=1`

#### fwa alternates

Affects: U+134F

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ፏ | `cv48=0`
Cohen-1 | ፏ¹ | `cv48=1`
Cohen-2 | ፏ¹ | `cv48=2`

#### rya alternate

Affects: U+1358

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ፘ | `cv49=0`
Alternate | ፘ² | `cv49=1`

#### mya alternate

Affects: U+1359

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ፙ | `cv50=0`
Alternate | ፙ² | `cv50=1`

#### mwi alternates

Affects: U+1381

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ᎁ | `cv60=0`
Sebat Bet | ᎁ⁷ | `cv60=1`
Leslau | ᎁ¹¹ | `cv60=2`

#### mwe alternates

Affects: U+1383

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ᎃ | `cv61=0`
Sebat Bet | ᎃ⁷ | `cv61=1`
Leslau | ᎃ¹¹ | `cv61=2`

#### bwe alternate

Affects: U+1387

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ᎇ | `cv62=0`
Alternate | ᎇ¹¹ | `cv62=1`

#### fwee alternate

Affects: U+138A

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ᎊ | `cv63=0`
Alternate | ᎊ¹¹ | `cv63=1`

#### fwe alternate

Affects: U+138B

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ᎋ | `cv64=0`
Alternate | ᎋ¹¹ | `cv64=1`

#### pwe alternate

Affects: U+138F

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ᎏ | `cv65=0`
Alternate | ᎏ¹¹ | `cv65=1`

#### ggwa alternates

Affects: U+2D93..U+2D96

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ⶓ ⶔ ⶕ ⶖ | `cv70=0`
Disconnected | ⶓ ⶔ ⶕ ⶖ⁹ | `cv70=1`

#### 3rd form alternates

Affects: U+124A U+12B2 U+12C2 U+1312 U+1385 U+138D

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ቊ ኲ ዂ ጒ ᎅ ᎍ | `cv80=0`
Alternate | ቊ ኲ ዂ ጒ ᎅ ᎍ⁷ | `cv80=1`

#### 6th form alternates

Affects: U+124D U+12B5 U+12C5 U+1315

Feature | Sample | Feature setting
--- | --- | ---
Standard | ቍ ኵ ዅ ጕ | `cv85=0`
Alternate | ቍ ኵ ዅ ጕ⁷ | `cv85=1`

## References

Alone, John Philip Herbert Mackenzie. 1946 (Fourth edition). The Alone-Stokes Short Manual of the Amharic Language (with vocabularies). Macmillan and Co. Limited: London.

Chaîne, Marius. 1907. Grammaire éthiopienne. Imprimerie catholique. Beyrouth.

Cohen, Marcel. 1970 Seconde edition. Traité de langue amharique (Abyssinie). Institut d'ethnologie: Paris.

Leslau, Wolf. 1966. Ethiopians Speak: Studies in Cultural Background. Part 2: Chaha. University of California Publication. Near Eastern Studies, Volume 9. University of California Press: Berkeley

Praetorius, Franz. 1955. Aethiopische Grammatik mit Paradigmen, Litteratur, Chrestomathie und Glossar. Frederick Ungar Publishing Co. New York.

¹Chaîne (p 3), Cohen (table 2) ²Cohen (table 2) ³Gumuz language preference ⁴Alone-Stokes, Chaîne (p 3), Cohen (table 1) ⁵Chaîne (p 3) ⁶Archaic Oromo language preference ⁷Sebat Bet language preference ⁸Alone-Stokes (inside back cover) ⁹Bilen language preference ¹⁰Praetorius (p 6) ¹¹Leslau