(b) CONSONANTS :
k o
g " '
æ
§
k K
g G
H
c D j
H |
ò
£
¢
c C
j J
M
q Q
f F [
ì
ú
z Z
f F
N
t w
d x n
ê
å
t T
d D
n
p )
b - m
ç
ë
p P
b B
m
y r
l v z
; s h
]
á
õ ù
ô Ú Ü
¡ Á Â
È ä ÷
y r
l v
S x
s h
X [
] V
(c) VOWEL FORMS
OF CONSONANTS :
A consonant typed by itself,
assumes the A
after it,
and the A
need not be
typed. In all other vowel
forms of
consonants, the vowel must
be typed immediately after
the
consonent. Thus k by itself
gives k
and
k followed by A gives
ka,
or
k followed by i or
I gives ik
or
kI
\
is treated
as a vowel; thus k
followed by ! gives k«
To produce a distinct
vowel after a consonant,
type the
consonant followed by <Ctl>-Vowel
eg
k followed by <Ctl>-i gives
k#,
not ik
The anuswara
(dot above the consonant)
and the visarga,
(colon after a consonant)
is produced in two ways
:
(i) After the A
form of the
consonant :
eg k followed by
@ gives k<
and k followed by
# gives k>
(ii) After the other
vowel forms of a
consonant
eg kA (ie ka)
followed by ' gives ka<
and kA (ie ka)
followed by : gives ka>
Keys used in Case
(i) will not work with
examples of case (ii),
but keys used in case
(ii) will work with examples
of case (i)
In Tamil the q after consonant a dot above it, eg m + q produces
ëª
(d) FORMATION OF
CONJUNCTS :
(This is special to the Sanskritic scripts but not Tamil)
There are two
groups of conjuncts :
(1) Conjuncts starting
with consonants other than
r
>
Here each of the
following consonants should be
used along
with the <Ctl> key. eg
t followed by <Ctl>-n gives
Æ
as in
àyÆ
s followed by <Ctl>-v gives
Sv
as in SvamI
Where this rule fails
to alter the preceding
consonant and
join with it, the preceding
consonant may be terminated
with a halant, (q) and the
further consonants added, eg
t followed by <Ctl>-t does
not get joined if another
<Ctl>-t
follows. Hence this has
to be produced by
t followed
by t followed by q
(for halant) followed by
<Ctl>-t followed by <Ctl>-v as
in tt!Tv
(2) Conjuncts
starting with the consonant
r
:
Here the starting r
has to be
typed with the key r
or R
depending on what consonant
follows. The first key
r is
used where the following
consonant is one of the
first
half of the whole set
of consonants ie from k
to
d
.
The first key R is
used when the following
is one of
second half of the whole
set of consonants ie from
the consonant x
onwards.
(e) SPECIAL CONJUNCTS
AND OTHER CHARACTERS :
]
- is generated by
X (upper case of
x)
}
- is
generated by J followed
by <Ctl>-M
kœ
- The
halant or downward stroke
on the k
is
generated by k follwed
by q
,
- The
Viram (terminator for a verse line)
is produced by the period
(.) key
.
- The
Purna Viram (terminator for a verse)
is produced by the pipe
(|) key
=
-
The Avagraha (used instead of the A
or
Aa when a word
beginning with one of these is joined after another word to form
a conjunct) is produced by the left
brace ({) key
‡
-
The Jihvamulya is produced
by the right brace (})
key
`
-
The Om symbol is produced
by the tilde (~)
key
(There may be a few more characters which are rarely used, for example
the elongated Ruu produced by : + !
and the Lu produced by l + !
)