Definitions belonging to the detailed analysis of scripts are marked *

Abbreviations for diacritics

-a = above

-b = below

-circ = circumflex

-dia = diaeresis

-macr = macron

Abbreviations for scripts

ASS = Assamese

BEN = Bengali

DEV = Devanagari

GUJ = Gujarati

GUR = Gurmukhi

KAN = Kannada

MAL = Malayalam

ORI = Oriya

SIN = Sinhala

TAM = Tamil

TEL = Telugu

Dravidian scripts = KAN, MAL, TAM, TEL

Eastern scripts = ASS, BEN, ORI

Allographs

Different graphic forms with the same meaning.

Case

The distinction between capital letters (upper case) and small letters (lower case).

Case-sensitive (-insensitive) transliteration

Transliteration distinguishing (not distinguishing) between upper and lower case letters in the target script.

* Transliteration using a subset of the script generators (sub-generators) of the target script. (This works because case is attached to sub-generators but not to script generators.)

Ex.* Case-insensitive transliteration allows capitalisation of initial letters, in proper names for instance.

Case-sensitive (-insensitive) uniform transliteration

Uniform transliteration distinguishing (not distinguishing) between upper and lower case letters in the target script.

* Uniform transliteration using a subset of the script generators (sub- generators) of the target script.

Ex.* Reversing the transliteration returns one to the script generators of the source script, combined into script characters, which (in general) correspond to many graphemic types.

Deep structure of a script

The structure formed by the elements of the script.

*The structure formed by the script generators (and sub-generators, if any).

Element of a script (two different uses)

(a) A member of a minimal list of constituents of a script.

(b)* For Indic scripts, one of the following:

• a vowel in its full form;
• a consonant or cluster of consonants followed by a vowel or by nothing (i.e. with virama);
• any of these with diacritics;
• a numeral, visarga, or a sign showing punctuation, nasalization, etc.

For Latin scripts, one of the following:

• a letter of the Latin alphabet, with or without diacritical marks;
• a ligature, etc.;
• a numeral, or a sign showing punctuation, etc.

Extended character

One of the additional characters in an extended script.

Extended script

A script with additional characters for one or more other languages.

Extension of a script

The characters making it an extended script.

Graphic token

* An element of a script as it appears in an actual example of text.

Graphemic type

* The abstract entity corresponding to the form of a graphic token.

Ex.* <A> is the graphemic type corresponding to graphic tokens of upper case 'A' written approximately as shown (upright, with serifs, etc). There is no limit to the number of possible graphic tokens of a given graphemic type.

Heavy transliteration

Transliteration using relatively more space or looking relatively elaborate in the target script. (See Light transliteration)

Inter-script generators

.

* The minimal set of entities into which the script characters of a group of scripts can be analysed.

Ex.* The script generators {a | Dev}, {a | Ben}, etc., for all Indic scripts may be identified on linguistic grounds; hence there is an inter- script generator {a}. Inter-script identity of script generators is sometimes a difficult question.

Light transliteration

Transliteration taking relatively less space or looking relatively unobtrusive in the target script. (See Heavy transliteration)

Meta-sign

A sign in the target script which does not correspond to any sign in the source script but indicates properties otherwise lost in transliteration

* A sub-generator of the target script which does not correspond to any script generator of the source script but indicates properties otherwise lost in transliteration.

* Ex. A sub-generator indicating vowel hiatus or word break is a meta-sign

Script character

* The abstract entity corresponding to the meaning of a graphemic type.

Exx. <A>, <A>, <a>, <a> are among the graphemic types corresponding to the script character which we may call (for now) 'Latin letter a'. <Æ> is the graphemic type of that shape of A, E ligature.

Script generators

* The minimal set of entities into which the script characters of a script can be analysed.

Simply, the script generators are vowels, consonants, numerals, punctuation and other signs (but not typographical symbols).

Scripteme

A graphic form with different meanings depending on its context in the surface structure of a script.

Sub-character

* Defined only for scripts admitting case, as the abstract entity corresponding to the meaning of a graphemic type of specific case.

Exx.* 'Latin capital a', 'Latin lower-case a' are two sub-characters of Latin script; they correspond to the script character 'Latin letter a'. For Indic scripts, the sub-characters are just the script characters, and the definitions assume this situation for source scripts.

Sub-generators

* The minimal set of entities into which the sub-characters of a script can be analysed. (Defined only for scripts admitting case.)

Ex.* The ligature æ is a script character formed from the script generators {a | Lat}, {e | Lat}. The script generator {a | Lat} by itself gives 'Latin letter a'.

Surface structure of a script

The structure formed by the script as presented.

* The structure formed by the script characters (and sub-characters, if any).

Transliteration

A one-to-one mapping from the elements of the source script (its deep structure) to a subset of the those of the target script, singly or in ordered combinations, together with the use of the necessary meta-signs.

* A one-to-one mapping from the script generators of the source script to a subset of either the script generators or the sub-generators of the target script, singly or in ordered combinations, together with the use of the necessary meta-signs.

Uniform transliteration

A one-to-many mapping from the classes of linguistically equivalent elements of the source scripts to a subset of the elements of the target script, singly or in ordered combinations, together with the use of the necessary meta-signs.

* A one-to-many mapping from the inter-script generators of the source scripts to a subset of either the script generators or the sub-generators of the target script, singly or in ordered combinations, together with the use of the necessary meta-signs.