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Character Requirements for African (Latin) Orthographies

If a font supports all of the following characters, we believe that most languages of Africa (that use the Latin script) would be able to typeset texts in their orthography. Note, however, that this list does not include required characters for phonetic description of all African languages, just orthographic use.

There are comments below about glyph variants that may be needed to support some languages.

The process for developing this list was based on the following (in order of process):

  • A review of custom-encoded fonts from Africa
  • 10+ years’ experience of user support for language support from Africa
  • A review of annotations in The Unicode Standard charts
  • Decision to include all Codepage 1252 and MacRoman characters
  • Decision to include many characters required for publishing (spaces and dashes)
  • Decision that if a combining mark, such as ◌̣ was required, then all precomposed characters with that mark should also be included. (e.g., if a was in the subset, then was also included in the subset, but since ơ is not in the subset, then was not included in the subset).
  • Feedback of the resulting character set
GraphicUSVNameComment
0020
!0021
"0022
#0023
$0024
%0025
&0026
'0027
(0028
)0029
*002A
+002B
,002C
-002D
.002E
/002F
00030
10031
20032
30033
40034
50035
60036
70037
80038
90039
:003A
;003B
<003C
=003D
>003E
?003F
@0040
A0041
B0042
C0043
D0044
E0045
F0046
G0047
H0048
I0049
J004A
K004B
L004C
M004D
N004E
O004F
P0050
Q0051
R0052
S0053
T0054
U0055
V0056
W0057
X0058
Y0059
Z005A
[005B
\005C
]005D
^005E
_005F
`0060
a0061
b0062
c0063
d0064
e0065
f0066
g0067
h0068
i0069
j006A
k006B
l006C
m006D
n006E
o006F
p0070
q0071
r0072
s0073
t0074
u0075
v0076
w0077
x0078
y0079
z007A
{007B
|007C
}007D
~007E
 00A0
¡00A1
¢00A2
£00A3
¤00A4
¥00A5
¦00A6
¨00A8
©00A9
ª00AA
«00AB
¬00AC
­00AD
®00AE
¯00AF
°00B0
´00B4
µ00B5
00B6
·00B7
¸00B8
º00BA
»00BB
¿00BF
À00C0
Á00C1
Â00C2
Ã00C3
Ä00C4
Å00C5
Æ00C6
Ç00C7
È00C8
É00C9
Ê00CA
Ë00CB
Ì00CC
Í00CD
Î00CE
Ï00CF
Ð00D0
Ñ00D1
Ò00D2
Ó00D3
Ô00D4
Õ00D5
Ö00D6
×00D7
Ø00D8
Ù00D9
Ú00DA
Û00DB
Ü00DC
Ý00DD
Þ00DE
ß00DF
à00E0
á00E1
â00E2
ã00E3
ä00E4
å00E5
æ00E6
ç00E7
è00E8
é00E9
ê00EA
ë00EB
ì00EC
í00ED
î00EE
ï00EF
ð00F0
ñ00F1
ò00F2
ó00F3
ô00F4
õ00F5
ö00F6
÷00F7
ø00F8
ù00F9
ú00FA
û00FB
ü00FC
ý00FD
þ00FE
ÿ00FF
Ā0100
ā0101
Ă0102
ă0103
Ć0106
ć0107
Ĉ0108
ĉ0109
Ċ010A
ċ010B
Č010C
č010D
Ď010E
ď010FAfrican languages are more likely to use a caron than an apostrophe (see Caron Glyph Variants)
Đ0110
đ0111
Ē0112
ē0113
Ĕ0114
ĕ0115
Ė0116
ė0117
Ě011A
ě011B
Ĝ011C
ĝ011D
Ğ011E
ğ011F
Ġ0120
ġ0121
Ĥ0124
ĥ0125
Ħ0126
ħ0127
Ĩ0128
ĩ0129
Ī012A
ī012B
Ĭ012C
ĭ012D
İ0130
Ĵ0134
ĵ0135
Ĺ0139
ĺ013A
Ľ013DAfrican languages are more likely to use a caron than an apostrophe (see Caron Glyph Variants)
ľ013EAfrican languages are more likely to use a caron than an apostrophe (see Caron Glyph Variants)
Ń0143
ń0144
Ň0147
ň0148
Ŋ014AAfrican languages are most likely to want a large form of the lowercase character (see Uppercase Eng: Large form of small Eng (with descender) and Uppercase Eng: Large form of small Eng (no descender))
ŋ014B
Ō014C
ō014D
Ŏ014E
ŏ014F
Œ0152
œ0153
Ŕ0154
ŕ0155
Ř0158
ř0159
Ś015A
ś015B
Ŝ015C
ŝ015D
Ş015E
ş015F
Š0160
š0161
Ţ0162
ţ0163
Ť0164
ť0165African languages are more likely to use a caron than an apostrophe (see Caron Glyph Variants)
Ŧ0166
ŧ0167
Ũ0168
ũ0169
Ū016A
ū016B
Ŭ016C
ŭ016D
Ů016E
ů016F
Ŵ0174
ŵ0175
Ŷ0176
ŷ0177
Ÿ0178
Ź0179
ź017A
Ż017B
ż017C
Ž017D
ž017E
ƀ0180
Ɓ0181Two languages in Liberia use a glyph variant (see Glyph Variant for U+0181)
Ɔ0186African languages are most likely to want the serif at the top (see Glyph Variant for open o)
Ƈ0187
ƈ0188
Ɖ0189
Ɗ018A
Ǝ018E
Ə018F
Ɛ0190
Ƒ0191
ƒ0192
Ɠ0193
Ɣ0194
Ɩ0196
Ɨ0197
Ƙ0198
ƙ0199
Ɯ019C
Ɲ019DAfrican languages are most likely to want a large form of the lowercase character (see Glyph Variant for U+019D)
Ɵ019F
Ƥ01A4
ƥ01A5The Serer language of Senegal requires the hook at the top right of the bowl (see Glyph Variant for U+01A5)
Ʃ01A9
ƪ01AA
Ƭ01AC
ƭ01AD
Ʈ01AE
Ʊ01B1
Ʋ01B2One or two Liberian languages use a glyph with a distinct ""v"" appearance (see Glyph Variant for v with hook)
Ƴ01B3African languages are most likely to want a right hook (see Glyph Variant for U+01B3)
ƴ01B4
Ʒ01B7
ǀ01C0
ǁ01C1
ǂ01C2
ǃ01C3
Ǎ01CD
ǎ01CE
Ǐ01CF
ǐ01D0
Ǒ01D1
ǒ01D2
Ǔ01D3
ǔ01D4
Ǖ01D5
ǖ01D6
Ǘ01D7
ǘ01D8
Ǚ01D9
ǚ01DA
Ǜ01DB
ǜ01DC
ǝ01DD
Ǟ01DE
ǟ01DF
Ǡ01E0
ǡ01E1
Ǣ01E2
ǣ01E3
Ǧ01E6
ǧ01E7
Ǩ01E8
ǩ01E9
Ǯ01EE
ǯ01EF
ǰ01F0
Ǵ01F4
ǵ01F5
Ǹ01F8
ǹ01F9
Ǻ01FA
ǻ01FB
Ǽ01FC
ǽ01FD
Ǿ01FE
ǿ01FF
Ȃ0202
ȃ0203
Ȇ0206
ȇ0207
Ȋ020A
ȋ020B
Ȏ020E
ȏ020F
Ȓ0212
ȓ0213
Ȗ0216
ȗ0217
Ȟ021E
ȟ021F
Ȧ0226
ȧ0227
Ȩ0228
ȩ0229
Ȫ022A
ȫ022B
Ȭ022C
ȭ022D
Ȯ022E
ȯ022F
Ȱ0230
ȱ0231
Ȳ0232
ȳ0233
Ȼ023B
ȼ023C
ȿ023F
ɀ0240
Ƀ0243
Ʉ0244
Ʌ0245
Ɍ024C
ɍ024D
ɐ0250
ɑ0251When this character is used in an orthography then the italic face of a font must design the ""a"" italic characters to contrast with this character
ɒ0252
ɓ0253
ɔ0254African languages are most likely to want the serif at the top (see [Glyph Variant for open o)
ɖ0256
ɗ0257
ə0259
ɛ025B
ɠ0260
ɣ0263
ɥ0265
ɦ0266
ɨ0268
ɩ0269When this character is used in an orthography then the italic face of a font must design the ""i"" italic characters to contrast with this character
ɯ026F
ɲ0272
ɵ0275
ɽ027D
ʃ0283
ʈ0288
ʉ0289
ʊ028A
ʋ028BOne or two African languages use a glyph with a distinct ""v"" appearance (see Glyph Variant for v with hook)
ʌ028C
ʒ0292
ʔ0294
ʘ0298
ʼ02BC
ˈ02C8
◌̀0300
◌́0301
◌̂0302
◌̃0303
◌̄0304
◌̆0306
◌̇0307
◌̈0308
◌̊030A
◌̌030C
◌̍030D
◌̑0311
◌̣0323
◌̤0324
◌̥0325
◌̧0327
◌̩0329
◌̭032D
◌̮032E
◌̯032F
◌̰0330
◌̱0331
◌͏034F
1D7D
◌᷄1DC4
◌᷅1DC5
◌᷆1DC6
◌᷇1DC7
◌᷈1DC8
◌᷉1DC9
1E00
1E01
1E02
1E03
1E04
1E05
1E06
1E07
1E08
1E09
1E0A
1E0B
1E0C
1E0D
1E0E
1E0F
1E10
1E11
1E12
1E13
1E14
1E15
1E16
1E17
1E18
1E19
1E1A
1E1B
1E1C
1E1D
1E1E
1E1F
1E20
1E21
1E22
1E23
1E24
1E25
1E26
1E27
1E28
1E29
1E2A
1E2B
1E2C
1E2D
1E2E
1E2F
1E30
1E31
1E32
1E33
1E34
1E35
1E36
1E37
1E38
1E39
1E3A
1E3B
1E3C
1E3D
1E3E
ḿ1E3F
1E40
1E41
1E42
1E43
1E44
1E45
1E46
1E47
1E48
1E49
1E4A
1E4B
1E4C
1E4D
1E4E
1E4F
1E50
1E51
1E52
1E53
1E54
1E55
1E56
1E57
1E58
1E59
1E5A
1E5B
1E5C
1E5D
1E5E
1E5F
1E60
1E61
1E62
1E63
1E64
1E65
1E66
1E67
1E68
1E69
1E6A
1E6B
1E6C
1E6D
1E6E
1E6F
1E70
1E71
1E72
1E73
1E74
1E75
1E76
1E77
1E78
1E79
1E7A
1E7B
1E7C
1E7D
1E7E
ṿ1E7F
1E80
1E81
1E82
1E83
1E84
1E85
1E86
1E87
1E88
1E89
1E8A
1E8B
1E8C
1E8D
1E8E
1E8F
1E90
1E91
1E92
1E93
1E94
1E95
1E96
1E97
1E98
1E99
1EA0
1EA1
1EA4A font for Africa should not have this character designed for Vietnamese (see Glyph Variants for Vietnamese Characters)
1EA5A font for Africa should not have this character designed for Vietnamese (see Glyph Variants for Vietnamese Characters)
1EA6A font for Africa should not have this character designed for Vietnamese (see Glyph Variants for Vietnamese Characters)
1EA7A font for Africa should not have this character designed for Vietnamese (see Glyph Variants for Vietnamese Characters)
1EAA
1EAB
1EAC
1EAD
1EAE
1EAF
1EB0
1EB1
1EB4
1EB5
1EB6
1EB7
1EB8
1EB9
1EBC
1EBD
1EBEA font for Africa should not have this character designed for Vietnamese (see Glyph Variants for Vietnamese Characters)
ế1EBFA font for Africa should not have this character designed for Vietnamese (see Glyph Variants for Vietnamese Characters)
1EC0A font for Africa should not have this character designed for Vietnamese (see Glyph Variants for Vietnamese Characters)
1EC1A font for Africa should not have this character designed for Vietnamese (see Glyph Variants for Vietnamese Characters)
1EC4
1EC5
1EC6
1EC7
1ECA
1ECB
1ECC
1ECD
1ED0A font for Africa should not have this character designed for Vietnamese (see Glyph Variants for Vietnamese Characters)
1ED1A font for Africa should not have this character designed for Vietnamese (see Glyph Variants for Vietnamese Characters)
1ED2A font for Africa should not have this character designed for Vietnamese (see Glyph Variants for Vietnamese Characters)
1ED3A font for Africa should not have this character designed for Vietnamese (see Glyph Variants for Vietnamese Characters)
1ED6
1ED7
1ED8
1ED9
1EE4
1EE5
1EF2
1EF3
1EF4
1EF5
1EF8
1EF9
 2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
200A
200B
200C
200D
200E
200F
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2018
2019
201A
201B
201C
201D
201F
2020
2021
2022
2024
2025
2026
2027
2028
2029
202A
202B
202C
202D
202E
202F
2039
203A
2060
20A6
20AC
20B5
2122
25CC
2C63
2C64There is a glyph variant for this character, however, it is the capital ""R"" form that is preferred (see Glyph Variant for U+2C64).
2C6D
2C6F
2C70
2C72
2C73
2C7E
Ɀ2C7F
A789
A78A
A78B
A78C
A78D
A7AA
FB00
FB01
FB02
FB03
FB04
FFFD

This article formerly appeared on ScriptSource.