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Writing Systems Technical Resources

Unicode Status for Sinhala

In The Unicode Standard, Sinhala script implementation is discussed in Chapter 13 South and Central Asia-II — Other Modern Scripts.

The Sinhala script was encoded in The Unicode Standard version 3.0. The script is encoded in the following blocks:

BlocksCharacter RangeAdded in Unicode VersionUnicode Chart
Sinhala0D80..0DFF3.0U0D80
Sinhala Archaic Numbers111E0..111FF7.0U111E0

Subsequent to version 3.0, the following characters have been added to the Sinhala script:

CharactersUnicode VersionDocumentation
0DE6..0DEF7.0WG2 N3888, WG2 N3888-a, WG2 N3888-b, L2/10-337
111E1..111F47.0WG2 N3888, WG2 N3888-a, WG2 N3888-b, L2/10-337

Documentation refers to ISO Working Group and Unicode proposals

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

  • 1992-11-03 Unicode Technical Report #2 (Sinhala) — Andy Daniels (Tr2.html)

  • 1996-11-15 Sri Lanka standard Sinhala character code for information interchange — SLS (WG2 N1480 (not online), L2/97-019 (not online))

  • 1997-03-01 Proposal for encoding the Sinhala script in ISO/IEC 10646 (revision 1) — Michael Everson ((Unofficial HTML version of WG2 N1473), L2/97-018 (not online))

  • 1997-06-13 Mapping of Sinhala from 10646 to SLS 1134 — Michael Everson (WG2 N1589 (not online), L2/97-145 (not online))

  • 1997-07-01 Results of Sinhala ad hoc - Sri Lanka, U.S. Ireland, Unicode (WG2 N1613 (not online), L2/97-158 (not online))

  • 1998-10-23 Part 1:Architecture and Basic Multilingual Plane AMENDMENT 21: Sinhala — WG2 (L2/98-02n3190)

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

  • 2004-04-26 Sri Lanka standard: Sinhala character code for information interchange (SLS 1134:2004 – Draft for Public Comments) — Gihan Dias — (WG2 N2737, L2/04-131)

  • 2004-06-07 Comments on draft Sinhala standard (L2/04-131 + L2/04-231) — Eric Muller (L2/04-235)

  • 2004-06-09 Sinhala Text Representation — Gihan Dias (L2/04-231)

  • 2004-06-10 Comments on L2/04-235 [Sinhala] — Paul Nelson (L2/04-239)

  • 2004-06-14 Response to Eric Muller’s comments on draft Sinhala standarfd — Gihan Dias (L2/04-248)

  • 2007-02-08 Proposal to add archaic numbers for Sinhala to the BMP of the UCS — Michael Everson (WG2 N3195, L2/07-002)

  • 2008-01-07 Inclusion of archaic Sinhala numerals in the Sinhala character code range — ICT / Sri Lanka (L2/08-007)

  • 2008-01-28 Archaic Sinhala Numerals — Gihan Dias (L2/08-068)

  • 2008-02-05 Observations on the Encoding of Archaic Sinhala Numerals in Unicode/UCS — Sri Lanka N.B. (L2/08-105)

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

  • 2010-05-01 Sinhala Named Sequences — Gihan Dias (L2/10-164)

  • 2010-05-03 Preliminary Proposal to Encode Sinhala Digits and Numerals — Gihan Dias (L2/10-165)

  • 2010-08-08 Proposal to add archaic numbers for Sinhala to the BMP and SMP of the UCS — Ireland NB (WG2 N3876, L2/10-301)

  • 2010-08-10 Proposal to Encode Sinhala Archaic Numerals and Numbers — Gihan Dias (L2/10-312)

  • 2010-09-01 Proposal to include Sinhala Numerals to the BMP and SMP of the UCS — SLSI (WG2 N3888, WG2 N3888-a, WG2 N3888-b, L2/10-337)

  • 2010-10-23 Background information on the use of Sinhala Numerals (L2/10-337) — Harsha Wijayawardhana (L2/10-433)

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

  • 2012-11-02 Issues with Sinhala symbols Rakaaraansaya and Yansaya — Gihan Dias (L2/12-358)

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

  • 2014-05-08 Improvements requested for Unicode Indic properties — Roozbeh Pournader (L2/14-126)

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

  • 2018-02-05 Proposal to encode the CANDRABINDU for Sinhala — Srinidhi A, Sridatta A (L2/18-060)

    • Recommendations to UTC #155 April-May 2018 on Script Proposals (L2/18-168) (See point 10.)

    • UTC #155 Minutes (L2/18-115) (See D.4.1 for decision and action items)

    • Recommendations to UTC #156 July 2018 on Script Proposals (L2/18-241) (See point 24.)

    • UTC #156 Minutes (L2/18-183) (See B.1.3.1.1.1.1 for decision and action items)

  • 2018-03-21 Feedback on Sinhala candrabindu (L2/18-060) — Deborah Anderson (L2/18-079)

    • Recommendations to UTC #155 April-May 2018 on Script Proposals (L2/18-168) (See point 10.)

    • UTC #155 Minutes (L2/18-115) (See D.4.1 for decision and action items)

    • Recommendations to UTC #156 July 2018 on Script Proposals (L2/18-241) (See point 24.)

    • UTC #156 Minutes (L2/18-183) (See B.1.3.1.1.1.1 for decision and action items)

  • 2020-05-03 Encoding of a character “Sinhala Chandrabindu” — Gihan Dias (L2/20-137)

    • Recommendations to UTC #164 July 2020 on Script Proposals (L2/20-169) (See point 15.)

    • UTC #164 Minutes (L2/20-172) (See B.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)

  • 2022-09-11 Use of ARDHAVISARGA in Malayalam and Sinhala — Srinidhi A, Sridatta A (L2/22-214)

    • Recommendations to UTC #173 November 2022 on Script Proposals (L2/22-248) (See point A 4.)

    • UTC #173 Minutes (L2/22-241) (See D.1.6 for decision and action items)

  • 2022-10-26 Response to L2/22-214, Use of ARDHAVISARGA in Malayalam and Sinhala — Gihan Dias (L2/22-269)

    • Recommendations to UTC #173 November 2022 on Script Proposals (L2/22-248) (See point A 4.)

    • UTC #173 Minutes (L2/22-241) (See D.1.6 for decision and action items)