User talk:Stephen G. Brown/Urdu characters

Urdu characters

Hi Stephen. I just wanted to ask you something regarding Urdu characters. This is similar to the kaf conversation we had a while a go with Persian and Arabic differences. This time, there are a few problems that I have about the display of Urdu characters. A character ے (é) does not display the correct function (that is the correct form) when in initial and medial positions. For example: the word انگرےز is supposed to display as انگریز. The problem is that it appears in its isolated form. What can be done to fix this? For now, I've been using ی as a substitute for ے when in medial or initial position because both display the same character at those positions. It is incorrect when it comes to spelling (of course one cannot tell, unless one separates each character; just like with the Arabic kaf and Persian kaf). Can the problem be fixed from the side of developers? I'm thinking that it's more of a problem of HTML (or how it functions) or possibly from the side of Unicode. But, then again, I don't know much about such things. What do you suggest? Sorry to bother you again with stuff like this. --Dijan 05:49, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

As far as I know, the character ے (yeh barree) only has the final and isolated forms, as in لڑکے. My Urdu keyboard places it on the "c" key. For initial and medial forms, you have to use ی, as you are doing. —Stephen 06:19, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

Hmm. The character yeh barree produces the sound é. It does exist in medial and initial forms as well. But, in initial and medial forms, it takes the form of ی, and the pronunciation still remains as é (same is true for the same character in Punjabi w:Shahmukhi script). Although, I've found several websites that show that barree yeh does not exist in initial and medial forms in Unicode and is therefore not used as such. When I enter barree yeh on my keyboard as initial or medial, it is automatically converted to the initial or medial form or chotti yeh. My Urdu keyboard places it on the e key. It's set up in a phonetic order. Well, I guess I'll continue to use choti yeh as I've been doing up until now. Thanks. --Dijan 06:41, 27 June 2006 (UTC)