|
| 1 | +<?php |
| 2 | + $pagename = 'Hindi Flick Keyboard Help'; |
| 3 | + $pagetitle = $pagename; |
| 4 | + require_once('header.php'); |
| 5 | +?> |
| 6 | + |
| 7 | + |
| 8 | + <p>Hindi Flick is a mobile keyboard layout based upon the Devanagari varnamala's (alphabet) clustering of syllables. It is intended to be usable by anyone who knows the varnamala. It is inspired by the flick-based layouts popular in Japan and (to a lesser extent) Korea, as well as Vietnamese TELEX with regards to diacritic rules and magic.</p> |
| 9 | + <p>हिंदी फ्लिक एक देवनागरी वर्णमाला के अक्षरों के वर्गीकरण पर आधारित मोबाइल कुंजीपटल लेआउट है। इसका उद्देश्य है कि यह किसी भी वर्णमाला के जानकार के द्वारा उपयोगनीय हो। यह जापान और (कुछ कम स्तर तक) कोरिया में प्रसिद्ध "फ्लिक"-आधारित कुंजीपटल, तथा वियतनामी टेलेक्स में पाय जाने वाले मात्राओं को लेकर नियम से प्रेरणा लेता है।</p> |
| 10 | + |
| 11 | + <p>Hindi Flick is based on the clustering of syllables according to the area of the mouth used that is inherent to |
| 12 | + Devanagari and many other Indian scripts. There are 7 such clusters in total (8 if you count the conjuncts क्ष, त्र, |
| 13 | + ज्ञ as a separate cluster), with 5 having five consonants each, and 2 having four each. Thus, we get a character set |
| 14 | + of 33 consonants. In addition, there are 12 vowels, out of which 10 are actually part of a pair of short and long |
| 15 | + vowels.</p> |
| 16 | + <p>We utilise these two facts - that there are upto 5 related consonants per consonant cluster, as well as that there |
| 17 | + are 10 pairs of short and long vowels, to be able to create a keyboard that encompasses nearly 50 characters (along |
| 18 | + with punctuation etc.) into only 12 keys. In addition, by adding numerous rules to the parser, we are able to |
| 19 | + correctly preserve the phonetic order of the characters and diacritics, something especially important for syllabic |
| 20 | + scripts (also known as <em>abugidas</em>) like Devanagari.</p> |
| 21 | + |
| 22 | + <h2>Functionality and Usage</h2> |
| 23 | + |
| 24 | + <div id='osk-phone' data-states='default abc_noshift shift numeric'> |
| 25 | + </div> |
| 26 | + |
| 27 | + <p>Each <em>akshara</em> (syllable) key is equipped with the ability to produce not only the character on the key, but |
| 28 | + 3-8 other related characters from its cluster (i.e. <em>varga</em>). This is done by flicking the key in the |
| 29 | + direction of the desired character. For example, flicking the क key to the right will produce ख, flicking it up will |
| 30 | + produce ग, and so on. The characters available on flicking are displayed on the key itself. They are ordered in |
| 31 | + clockwise order <strong>starting from the left</strong>. For keys with more than 4 options, the order continues |
| 32 | + <strong>from the top left corner of the key</strong>.</p> |
| 33 | + <p>Each of these options can also be accessed by holding the key for at least a second, which brings up a list of the |
| 34 | + available characters to choose from.</p> |
| 35 | + <p>Finally, you can also cycle through the characters available by tapping on the key multiple times.</p> |
| 36 | + |
| 37 | + <h3>Vowels (<em>Svara</em>)</h3> |
| 38 | + <p>Vowels and their diacritics play a central role in designating sounds to consonants in most Indian scripts. |
| 39 | + <p>If you notice, the only vowels available on the key are the short vowels अ, इ, उ, ए, ओ (with additional, less used |
| 40 | + ones like ऋ and ऑ on the corners). This is to utilise the fact that each of these vowels has a corresponding long |
| 41 | + vowel, and thus there is no need to clutter the key with these. Instead, we provide the key <strong>अ↔आ</strong> |
| 42 | + which converts short vowels to long vowels and vice versa. This also works on their matras (diacritics).</p> |
| 43 | + <p>For example, क + इ = कि, and pressing <strong>अ↔आ</strong> makes it की.</p> |
| 44 | + <p>Speaking of diacritics, all the vowels have the corresponding diacritics as their output when a consonant is found |
| 45 | + as the previous character (except अ, which outputs the ा diacritic, as each consonant has the अ sound by default and |
| 46 | + ा is probably one of the most frequently used matras). The keyboard has rules in place to dictate what should happen |
| 47 | + in different scenarios. A few of these include:</p> |
| 48 | + |
| 49 | + <ul> |
| 50 | + <li>If a <em>consonant</em> is found before adding a vowel, the vowel's diacritic is added. For example, क + इ = कि. |
| 51 | + </li> |
| 52 | + <li>If a <em>vowel</em> is found before adding a vowel, the whole vowel is placed, no diacritic (as it is |
| 53 | + nonsensical to do so). For example, इ + उ = इउ, not इु.</li> |
| 54 | + <li>If a <em>vowel diacritic</em> is found before adding a vowel, the whole new vowel is placed. For example, कि + उ |
| 55 | + = किउ.</li> |
| 56 | + <li>If an <em>anusvara</em> (ं), <em>chandrabindu</em> (ँ) or <em>visarga</em> (ः) is found before adding a vowel, |
| 57 | + the whole new vowel is placed. For example, कं + उ = कंउ.</li> |
| 58 | + </ul> |
| 59 | + |
| 60 | + <h3>Matra to Svara Key (े↔ए)</h3> |
| 61 | + <p>Sometimes, it is not desired to put a matra right after a consonant, but rather a full vowel. This is where the |
| 62 | + <strong>े↔ए</strong> key comes in. It converts the matra to a full vowel and vice versa. For example, क + े = के, |
| 63 | + and pressing <strong>े↔ए</strong> makes it कए.</p> |
| 64 | + <p>An example of a word I can imagine this would be real helpful for is कई (many), where the ई is a full vowel and not |
| 65 | + a matra.</p> |
| 66 | + <h3>Halant (्)</h3> |
| 67 | + <p>The halant is a special character in Devanagari that is used to remove the inherent vowel sound from a consonant. |
| 68 | + It is used to create conjuncts, and is also used in many other scenarios. The halant key is placed at the bottom of |
| 69 | + the keyboard. Similar to the 12-kana keyboard, it also contains the flick-keys for parentheses, the Devanagari |
| 70 | + abbreviation sign (॰), and a dash.</p> |
| 71 | + <h3>Bindus and nuqtas</h3> |
| 72 | + <p>The tenth key in the keyboard contains the bindu (ँ), chandrabindu (ं), visarga (ः), chandra (ॅ) and nuqta (़) |
| 73 | + characters. The keyboard automatically handles the placement of these characters when a vowel is added after them. |
| 74 | + </p> |
| 75 | + <p>A particular note for nuqtas, the order utilised (as with other parts of the keyboard) is consonant + nuqta + |
| 76 | + matra. Even if you add a matra first, the nuqta will be placed after the consonant. This is to ensure that the nuqta |
| 77 | + is always placed after the consonant, as is the norm in Devanagari.</p> |
0 commit comments