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Writing Systems Technical Resources

Unicode Status for Kannada

In The Unicode Standard, Kannada script implementation is discussed in Chapter 12 South and Central Asia-I — Official Scripts of India.

The Kannada script was first encoded in The Unicode Standard version 1.0. Since that time the encoding has undergone a small number of modifications; the script is encoded in the following block:

BlocksCharacter RangeAdded in Unicode VersionDocumentation
Kannada0C80..0CFF1.0U0C80.pdf

Vedic Extensions may be used with the Kannada script as well as many other Indic scripts.

Subsequent to version 1.0, the following characters have been added to the Kannada script:

CharactersUnicode VersionDocumentation
0C809.0L2/14-166
0C817.0WG2 N3964, L2/10-392
0C8411.0L2/16-031
0CBC..0CBD4.0n2425.pdf/L2/02-117
0CE2..0CE35.0n2860.pdf/L2/04-364
0CF1..0CF25.0n2860.pdf/L2/04-364

Documentation refers to ISO Working Group and Unicode proposals

A number of proposals for its inclusion have been submitted to the Unicode Technical Committee and WG2:

  • 2000-11-15 Unicode representation of Indian Scripts — M.N. Cooper (L2/00-417)

  • 2001-01-17 Unicode for Kannada Script — C V Srinatha Sastry (L2/01-037)

  • 2002-03-21 Additional Characters for Indic Scripts — Rick McGowan (WG2 N2425, L2/02-117)

  • 2003-02-27 Unicode for Kannada (U+0C80 to U+0CFF) — C V Srinatha Sastry (L2/03-068)

  • 2004-02-10 Bug in Kannada collation — U B Pavanaja (L2/04-102)

  • 2004-03-09 Indic scripts collation grouping; CTT suggestion — Kent Karlsson (WG2 2716.doc, L2/04-109)

  • 2004-05-27 Kannada Vowel Signs E and I — Ernest Cline (L2/04-188)

  • 2004-06-30 Proposal on Clarification and Consolidation of the Function of ZERO WIDTH JOINER in Indic Scripts — Peter Constable (L2/04-279)

  • 2004-08-03 Unicode for Kannada: Use of Unicode Control Characters ZWJ and ZWNJ in Indic scripts — Srinatha Sastry (L2/04-324)

  • 2004-08-04 Response to Public Review Issue #37 — Antoine Leca (L2/04-328)

  • 2004-10-22 Proposal to add six characters for Kannada to the BMP of the UCS — Michael Everson (WG2 N2860, L2/04-364)

  • 2004-12-31 Indic collation: action items 99-20 and 99-29 — Cathy Wissink (L2/04-432)

  • 2005-02-07 Issues in Representation of Indic Scripts in Unicode (Unicode Conference Presentation) — Om Vikas (L2/05-063)

  • 2005-10-19 General category and bidi property for some Indic characters — Asmus Freytag (L2/05-304)

  • 2005-10-24 Comments on 5.0 properties, and property consistency, for some Indic characters (introduced before 5.0) — Kent Karlsson (L2/05-316)

  • 2006-04-17 Dravidian script “markers” code-points in Unicode — Naga Ganesan (L2/06-134)

  • 2006-06-17 Comments on Indic Block Descriptions — Peter Constable (L2/06-225)

  • 2008-03-02 Criteria for the encoding of script-specific dandas — Unicode and US National Body (WG2 N3457, L2/08-118)

  • 2009-10-09 Misrepresentation in Unicode of characters related to the Sanskrit sounds Jihvamuliya and Upadhmaniya — Shriramana Sharma (L2/09-342)

  • 2009-11-01 Request for an annotation for the generic Indic dandas — Shriramana Sharma (L2/09-423)

  • 2010-02-05 Indic abbreviation sign — Eric Muller (L2/10-083)

  • 2010-09-06 Request to avoid encoding South Indian abbreviation signs — Shriramana Sharma (L2/10-266)

  • 2010-10-11 Request to encode South Indian candrabindu-s — Shriramana Sharma (WG2 N3964, L2/10-392)

  • 2011-07-28 A clear policy on encoding OM characters — Shriramana Sharma (L2/11-308)

  • 2012-03-17 Request for editorial updates to various Indic scripts — Shriramana Sharma (L2/12-106)

  • 2012-06-07 Supporting Tulu language written in the Kannada script — Shriramana Sharma (L2/12-203)

  • 2012-07-31 Indic Scripts in Unicode — Eric Muller (L2/12-289)

  • 2013-05-01 Editorial changes for the Kannada code chart — Shriramana Sharma (L2/13-104)

  • 2013-11-07 Samples for usage of dandas in Gujarati, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Tamil — Roozbeh Pournader (L2/13-224)

  • 2013-11-09 The Kannada “nakaara-pollu” — Shriramana Sharma (L2/13-228)

  • 2013-12-03 Request to change the Unicode chart font for Kannada — Srinidhi (L2/13-232)

  • 2013-12-24 Representation of Jihvamuliya and Upadhmaniya in Kannada — Srinidhi (L2/13-242)

  • 2014-01-05 On the Telugu and Kannada Vowel Signs for O and OO — Shriramana Sharma (L2/14-005)

  • 2014-02-02 Proposal to encode archaic vowel signs O OO for Kannada — Shriramana Sharma (WG2 N4518, L2/14-004)

  • 2014-02-05 A bag of suggested improvements to Unicode’s provisional Indic properties — Roozbeh Pournader, Behdad Esfahbod (L2/14-065)

  • 2014-02-07 Special rendering of some jihvamuliya/upadhmaniya characters — Shriramana Sharma (L2/14-066)

  • 2014-05-08 Improvements requested for Unicode Indic properties (two text file appendices are included) — Roozbeh Pournader (L2/14-126)

  • 2014-07-22 Usage of Kannada Sign Spacing Candrabindu in Vedic texts — Srinidhi (L2/14-166)

  • 2014-07-28 Recommendations to UTC #140 August 2014 on Script Proposals — Deborah Anderson, Ken Whistler, Rick McGowan, Roozbeh Pournader, Laurentiu Iancu (L2/14-170)

  • 2014-07-31 Comments on proposal for Kannada Sign Spacing Candrabindu — Shriramana Sharma (L2/14-188)

  • 2014-08-05 Status report on Script Extensions and Indic properties — Roozbeh Pournader (L2/14-199)

  • 2014-08-07 Proposal to encode Kannada Sign Spacing Candrabindu — Vinodh Rajan (WG2 N4591, L2/14-153)

  • 2015-04-30 Conjunct Consonants with Independent Vowels in Kannada Script — Vinodh Rajan, Vaishnavi Murthy (L2/15-127)

  • 2015-05-18 Attestations for Sama Vedic usage of 0C80 KANNADA SIGN SPACING CANDRABINDU — Shriramana Sharma (L2/15-158)

  • 2015-10-13 Representation of Fractional Signs in Kannada script — Srinidhi A, Sridatta A (L2/15-243)

    • UTC #146 Minutes (L2/16-004) (See D.2.1 for decision and action items)

  • 2016-01-22 Proposal to encode the Kannada sign SIDDHAM in Unicode — Srinidhi A, Sridatta A (L2/16-031)

    • UTC #146 Minutes (L2/16-004) (See D.2.2 for decision and action items)

  • 2017-01-22 Request to change glyphs of Kannada letters Vocalic L and Vocalic LL and their vowel signs — Srinidhi A, Sridatta A (L2/17-041)

    • UTC #150 Minutes (L2/17-016) (See D.6 for decision and action items)

    • Recommendations to UTC #151 May 2017 on Script Proposals (L2/17-153) (See point 5.)

    • UTC #151 Minutes (L2/17-103) (See D.6.3 for decision and action items)

  • 2017-01-23 Preliminary analysis of ZWNJ and ZWJ’s usage in Indic scripts (XLSX spreadsheet) — Liang Hai (L2/17-046)

  • 2017-04-17 Request for editorial updates to Indic scripts — Srinidhi A, Sridatta A (L2/17-098)

    • Recommendations to UTC #152 July-August 2017 on Script Proposals (L2/17-255) (See point 7.)

  • 2017-04-19 Feedback and Response on L2/17-041: Request to change glyphs of Kannada letters Vocalic L and Vocalic LL and their vowel signs — Deborah Anderson (L2/17-127)

    • Recommendations to UTC #151 May 2017 on Script Proposals (L2/17-153) (See point 5.)

    • UTC #151 Minutes (L2/17-103) (See D.6.2 for decision and action items)

  • 2017-05-07 On the glyph changes for Kannada Vowels Vocalic L/LL — Shriramana Sharma (L2/17-160)

  • 2017-12-08 Changes to Core Specification for Indic scripts for Unicode 11.0 (revised) — Srinidhi A, Sridatta A (L2/17-423)

    • Recommendations to UTC #154 January 2018 on Script Proposals (L2/18-039) (See point 6a section 2.)

    • UTC #154 Minutes (L2/18-007) (See D.13 for decision and action items)

    • Recommendations to UTC #155 April-May 2018 on Script Proposals (L2/18-168) (See point 3 section 2.)

  • 2017-12-08 Changes to ScriptExtensions.txt for Indic characters for Unicode 11.0 — Srinidhi A, Sridatta A (L2/17-424)

    • Recommendations to UTC #154 January 2018 on Script Proposals (L2/18-039) (See point 6b section 2.3.)

  • 2018-05-28 Feedback on pushpika — Deborah Anderson (L2/18-232)

    • Recommendations to UTC #156 July 2018 on Script Proposals (L2/18-241) (See point 6.)

  • 2020-08-24 Preliminary Proposal to Encode Kannada Sign Combining Anusvara Right Top — Shashank Shenoy Basty (L2/20-260)

    • Recommendations to UTC #165 October 2020 on Script Proposals (L2/20-250) (See point 11.)

  • 2020-09-13 Proposal to encode Kannada sign Nakaara Pollu — Srinidhi A, Sridatta A (L2/20-228)

    • Recommendations to UTC #166 January 2021 on Script Proposals (L2/21-016) (See point 12.)

    • UTC #166 Minutes (L2/21-009) (See B.1 for decision and action items)

  • 2021-03-20 On the sequence of Avagraha followed by Anusvara or Visarga — Srinidhi A, Sridatta A (L2/21-113)

    • Recommendations to UTC #168 July 2021 on Script Proposals (L2/21-130) (See point 7a.)

    • UTC #168 Minutes (L2/21-123) (See B.1 for decision and action items)

  • 2021-05-10 Proposal to Encode Kannada Sign Combining Anusvara Above Right — Shashank Shenoy Basty (L2/21-114)

    • Recommendations to UTC #168 July 2021 on Script Proposals (L2/21-130) (See point 9.)

    • UTC #168 Minutes (L2/21-123) (See B.1 for decision and action items)

  • 2021-12-23 Proposal to encode ARCHAIC SHRII in Kannada and Telugu — Srinidhi A, Sridatta A (L2/22-006)

    • Recommendations to UTC #170 January 2022 on Script Proposals (L2/22-023) (See point 9.)

    • UTC #170 Minutes (L2/22-016) (See D.1 SECTION 9 for decision and action items)

    • UTC #179 Minutes (L2/24-061) (See B.1.1 for decision and action items)

  • 2022-06-14 Response to PRI 451 — Asmus Freytag (L2/22-114)

    • UTC #172 Minutes (L2/22-121) (See F.3 for decision and action items)

  • 2022-07-20 Recommendations to UTC #172 July 2022 on Script Proposals (L2/22-128) (See point 24.)

    • UTC #172 Minutes (L2/22-121) (See D.1 SECTION 24 for decision and action items)

  • 2023-07-02 Revised request to change glyphs of four Kannada characters — Srinidhi A, Sridatta A (L2/23-216)

    • Recommendations to UTC #178 January 2024 on Script Proposals (L2/24-013) (See point C.)

  • 2023-11-26 Addition of Kannada to Script Extensions of U+1CD3 VEDIC SIGN NIHSHVASA — Srinidhi A, Sridatta A (L2/24-024)

    • Recommendations to UTC #178 January 2024 on Script Proposals (L2/24-013) (See point A.IV.7.)

    • UTC #178 Minutes (L2/24-006) (See D.1 Section 7 for decision and action items)

  • 2023-11-30 Feedback on request to change glyphs of Kannada Vocalic L/LL — Shriramana Sharma (L2/24-054)

    • Recommendations to UTC #179 April 2024 on Script Proposals (L2/24-068) (See point A.V.7.)

    • UTC #179 Minutes (L2/24-061) (See D.1 Section V-7 for decision and action items)