ArmSCII

ArmSCII

ArmSCII or ARMSCII is a set of obsolete single-byte character encodings for the Armenian alphabet defined by Armenian national standard 166-9. ArmSCII is an acronym for Armenian Standard Code for Information Interchange, similar to ASCII for the American standard. It has been superseded by the Unicode standard.

However, these encodings are not widely used because the standard was published one year after the publication of international standard ISO 10585 that defined another 7-bit encoding, from which the encoding and mapping to the UCS (Universal Coded Character Set (ISO/IEC 10646) and Unicode standards) were also derived a few years after, and there was a lack of support in the computer industry for adding ArmSCII.

Encodings defined in the ArmSCII standard

Very few systems support these encodings. Microsoft Windows does not support them, for example. It is usually better to use Unicode for proper interchange of Armenian text for web browsers and email, since most modern computers do not support ArmSCII by default.

The following three main variants are defined:

Note that each ArmSCII encoding also has several minor variants, depending on the revision of the related Armenian standard (which was not made official before 1997, and was defined informally before that; this has caused various confusions and the mappings described below are just best practices according to the latest 1997 revision of the Armenian standard); that may change the exact mapping and usage of a few punctuation characters and symbols.

None of the ArmSCII encodings have reached international approval (unlike the ISO 10585 standard, despite of the critics sent by the official Armenian standard body to ISO/DIS JTC 1/SC 2/WG 2, working on single byte-coded character sets) because all international efforts have been made since then to work with the UCS (in Unicode and ISO 10646).

ArmSCII-8 is intended for use on Unix and Windows systems, and for information interchange on the WWW and by email. However, Microsoft wanted users to use Unicode and not introduce a plethora of new code pages, so it is not supported natively on Windows. It just consists in remapping ArmSCII-7 in the higher range above the standard US ASCII range.

ArmSCII-8A is intended for use on DOS and Mac systems. It is a rearrangement of ArmSCII-8, to work with existing DOS and Mac code that reserve a range of code values for characters not intended for text but for presentation layout, using modified fonts; it is, however, considered as a "hack" of the code pages over which it is applied, as neither DOS (nor Windows in the "OEM" compatibility codepages used by the text-only console) nor MacOS has ever supported this encoding natively, notably in their file system (but this is also true for the now deprecated ISO 10585 standard). However, this encoding cannot map all the punctuation characters normally needed for Armenian, so the missing characters must be approximated using fallbacks to ASCII punctuation (some Armenian fonts may display these ASCII punctuation using the rendering intended for the Armenian characters that are mapped to them by these fallbacks).

ArmSCII-7

AST 34.005:1997 (ArmSCII-7)
7-bit coded character set for Armenian.
  x0 x1 x2 x3 x4 x5 x6 x7 x8 x9 xA xB xC xD xE xF
0x unused
1x
2x SP ֎ և / § ։ ) ( » « ― · ՝ , ‐ ֊ … ՜
3x ՛ ՞ Ա ա Բ բ Գ գ Դ դ Ե ե Զ զ Է է
4x Ը ը Թ թ Ժ ժ Ի ի Լ լ Խ խ Ծ ծ Կ կ
5x Հ հ Ձ ձ Ղ ղ Ճ ճ Մ մ Յ յ Ն ն Շ շ
6x Ո ո Չ չ Պ պ Ջ ջ Ռ ռ Ս ս Վ վ Տ տ
7x Ր ր Ց ց Ւ ւ Փ փ Ք ք Օ օ Ֆ ֆ ՚  

In this table, code value 21 is the eternity sign, which has, since 2013, a designated point in Unicode U+058E (LEFT-FACING ARMENIAN ETERNITY SIGN) and another for its right-facing variant: U+058D (RIGHT-FACING ARMENIAN ETERNITY SIGN).[1] Some mappings incorrectly claim that it has a codepoint of U+0530.

Code value 20 is the regular SPACE character; code values 00–1F and 7F are not assigned to characters by AST 34.005, though they may be the same as the ASCII control characters that are located in those positions.

Code value 22 is used to encode the Armenian ligature ew (և).[2] In some variants, it encodes the section sign (§) instead. It is strongly suggested to encode this ligature with the normal Armenian ech (yech) and yiwn (vyun) small letters pair, as various software or fonts will render it differently depending on the version of ArmSCII-7 they are assuming, and so let the renderer generate the ligature.

Code value 7F may be used sometimes as a substitution for the non-breaking space.

Note that the characters encoded at code values 2D and 7E (Armenian hyphen and apostrophe) may not be visible with all fonts supporting Armenian.

This table is simply remapped to higher codes by simple offset in ArmSCII-8 (below).

ArmSCII-8

AST 34.002:1997 (ArmSCII-8)
8-bit coded character set for Armenian.
  x0 x1 x2 x3 x4 x5 x6 x7 x8 x9 xA xB xC xD xE xF
0x unused
1x
2x SP ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . /
3x 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = > ?
4x @ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O
5x P Q R S T U V W X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _
6x ` a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o
7x p q r s t u v w x y z { | } ~  
8x unused
9x
Ax NB
SP		 ֎ և / § ։ ) ( » « ― · ՝ , ‐ ֊ … ՜
Bx ՛ ՞ Ա ա Բ բ Գ գ Դ դ Ե ե Զ զ Է է
Cx Ը ը Թ թ Ժ ժ Ի ի Լ լ Խ խ Ծ ծ Կ կ
Dx Հ հ Ձ ձ Ղ ղ Ճ ճ Մ մ Յ յ Ն ն Շ շ
Ex Ո ո Չ չ Պ պ Ջ ջ Ռ ռ Ս ս Վ վ Տ տ
Fx Ր ր Ց ց Ւ ւ Փ փ Ք ք Օ օ Ֆ ֆ ՚  

In this table, code value 20 is reserved for the regular SPACE character, code value A0 is reserved for the non-breaking space, and code value A1 is assigned to the eternity sign, which has, since 2013, a designated point in Unicode U+58E (LEFT-FACING ARMENIAN ETERNITY SIGN) and another for its right-facing variant: U+58D (RIGHT-FACING ARMENIAN ETERNITY SIGN).[1] Some mappings incorrectly claim that it has a codepoint of U+0530.

Code values 00–1F and 7F–9F are not assigned to characters by AST 34.002, though they may be the same as the ISO-8859-1 control characters that are located in those positions.

The code value A2 is used to encode the Armenian ligature ew (և).[2] In some variants it encodes the section sign (§) instead. Some Armenian fonts display this ligature at the position of the ASCII ampersand symbol, but it is strongly suggested to encode the ligature using the two standard Armenian small letters that compose it.

The code value FF may be filled with the Armenian small letter modifier apostrophe (but it has no mapping in Unicode, and shown here using the ASCII apostrophe instead, for correct rendering with Unicode fonts, it is suggested that the small letter modifier be represented using code value FE with ligature control to change its position because it only occurs after a small Armenian letter), and the Armenian apostrophe encoded at FE occurs only after a capital Armenian letter. So most implementations do not encode anything at code value FF.

This standard is the only one that makes an apparent distinction for the "mirrored" Armenian parentheses, because it was created by simply remapping the ArmSCII-7 standard. However, many documents will not consider this as a productive distinction, and the usual ASCII-based parenthesis punctuation are most commonly used instead of the ArmSCII-7-based mirrored parentheses, just because Armenian keyboards and editors using ArmSCII-8 generated the lower ASCII codes (whose usage is just swapped in classical Armenian). Also, the duplication of the ASCII comma at code value AB is also the result of the simple remapping of ArmSCII-7, so there is no difference with the ASCII comma that most ArmSCII-8 documents are using.

Note that the characters encoded at code values AD and FE (Armenian hyphen and apostrophe) may not be visible with all fonts supporting Armenian.

ArmSCII-8A

AST 34.001:1997 (ArmSCII-8A)
8-bit coded character set for Armenian
  x0 x1 x2 x3 x4 x5 x6 x7 x8 x9 xA xB xC xD xE xF
0x unused
1x
2x SP ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . /
3x 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = > ?
4x @ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O
5x P Q R S T U V W X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _
6x ` a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o
7x p q r s t u v w x y z { | } ~  
8x Ա ա Բ բ Գ գ Դ դ Ե ե Զ զ Է է Ը ը
9x Թ թ Ժ ժ Ի ի Լ լ Խ խ Ծ ծ Կ կ Հ հ
Ax Ձ ձ Ղ ղ Ճ ճ Մ մ Յ յ Ն ն Շ շ « »
Bx
unused
Cx
Dx   ֎ ֊ … ՞
Ex Ո ո Չ չ Պ պ Ջ ջ Ռ ռ Ս ս Վ վ Տ տ
Fx Ր ր Ց ց Ւ ւ Փ փ Ք ք Օ օ Ֆ ֆ ՚ NB
SP

In this table, code value 20 is the regular SPACE character, and code value DC is the eternity sign, which has, since 2013, a designated point in Unicode U+58E (LEFT-FACING ARMENIAN ETERNITY SIGN) and another for its right-facing variant: U+58D (RIGHT-FACING ARMENIAN ETERNITY SIGN).[1] Some mappings incorrectly claim that it has a codepoint of U+0530.

Code values 00–1F, 7F, and B0–DB are not assigned to characters by AST 34.002, though they may be the same as those used in a legacy DOS/OEM codepage 437 (box drawing characters) or Macintosh Roman.

Note that the characters encoded at code values DD and FE (Armenian hyphen and apostrophe) may not be visible with all fonts supporting Armenian.

Support for the Armenian script in other standards

ISO 10585:1996

ISO 10585:1996
7-bit coded character set for Armenian.
  x0 x1 x2 x3 x4 x5 x6 x7 x8 x9 xA xB xC xD xE xF
0x unused
1x
2x SP Ա Բ Գ Դ Ե Զ Է Ը Թ Ժ Ի Լ Խ Ծ Կ
3x Հ Ձ Ղ Ճ Մ Յ Ն Շ Ո Չ Պ Ջ Ռ Ս Վ Տ
4x Ր Ց Ւ Փ Ք Օ Ֆ   ՝ ՚ ֊   ։ , ՞ ՟
5x   ա բ գ դ ե զ է ը թ ժ ի լ խ ծ կ
6x հ ձ ղ ճ մ յ ն շ ո չ պ ջ ռ ս վ տ
7x ր ց ւ փ ք օ ֆ   ― ‐ ″   · ՛ ՜  

For comparison, this is the 7-bit encoding in the international standard ISO/IEC 10585 standard that was used before the revision in the Armenian standard AST34.002:1997 (ArmSCII-8).

In this standard (as well as in ISO/IEC 10646 and Unicode), there's only one Armenian apostrophe modifier letter encoded at 0x49 when Armenian uses two modifier letter apostrophes which are cased (U+055A represents the capital apostrophe but is not considered dual-cased in Unicode and this ISO 15985 standard, the small letter apostrophe is absent but generally represented by the ASCII apostrophe U+0027 in Unicode documents).

The left half-ring punctuation (a modifier letter) and the eternity symbol are also missing, and only one double quotation mark (U+2033) is encoded in code value 7A instead of double guillemets in the three ArmSCII variants.

However, this standard maps the Armenian full stop (whose glyph looks very close to the ASCII colon) in code value 4C and the Armenian abbreviation mark (that looks very similar to an angular grave accent) in code value 4F, that are both missing from all ArmSCII code charts.

Note that the characters encoded at code values 49 and 4A (Armenian apostrophe and hyphen) may not be visible with all fonts supporting Armenian.

ISO/IEC 10646-1 and Unicode

Armenian[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+053x Ա Բ Գ Դ Ե Զ Է Ը Թ Ժ Ի Լ Խ Ծ Կ
U+054x Հ Ձ Ղ Ճ Մ Յ Ն Շ Ո Չ Պ Ջ Ռ Ս Վ Տ
U+055x Ր Ց Ւ Փ Ք Օ Ֆ ՙ ՚ ՛ ՜ ՝ ՞ ՟
U+056x ա բ գ դ ե զ է ը թ ժ ի լ խ ծ կ
U+057x հ ձ ղ ճ մ յ ն շ ո չ պ ջ ռ ս վ տ
U+058x ր ց ւ փ ք օ ֆ և ։ ֊ ֍ ֎ ֏
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 8.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points
Armenian subset of Alphabetic Presentation Forms[1]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+FB1x ﬓ ﬔ ﬕ ﬖ ﬗ (U+FB00–FB12, U+FB18–FB4F omitted)
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 8.0

For comparison, this is the Unicode code points charts for Armenian.

Its encoding since Unicode 1.1 (except the Armenian hyphen U+058A, the last character added since Unicode 3.0) was based on the previous ISO 10585 7-bit international encoding standard, rather than on ArmsCII that was missing a dozen of characters present in ISO 10585. However, non-letters were reorganized by type, and some extensions have been added for rare Armenian characters that were missing in all past 7-bit and 8-bit standards.

Capital letters are encoded in the first half of the block (terminated by modifier letters).

Lowercase letters are encoded in the second half of the block (terminated by Armenian punctuation signs).

Unlike the ArmSCII encodings, this encoding is stable and portable across systems, and contain all characters needed for Armenian (with the exception of the Armenian eternity sign). Some Unicode-encoded fonts for Armenian are mapping the eternity sign at code point U+0530. This is incorrect, as that code point has been allocated in 2013 at U+58E, and another for its right-facing variant: U+58D.[1]

However, no distinction is kept for the Armenian (mirrored) parenthesis, so the standard ASCII/Unicode punctuation must be used according to their usual rendering. The left half-ring mark (modifier letter) is encoded here, and some other marks are unified with other scripts (notably the quotation marks, middle dot and dashes).

Note that the characters encoded at code points U+055A and U+058A (Armenian apostrophe and hyphen, like in the charts for ArmsCII and ISO 10585), and as well as U+0559 (the modifier mark for numeric, added specifically into ISO 10646-1 and Unicode), may not be visible with all fonts supporting Armenian.

Code mappings and classification

Note that some transcodings are shown below between parentheses. They are only approximation fallbacks but do not map exactly the intended character.

Subset Character Armenian description or usage Short name Encodings Notes
ArmSCII-7 ArmSCII-8 ArmSCII-8A ISO 10585 Unicode ISO/IEC 10646
General purpose space space 20 20 20 20 0020 same as ASCII and Unicode
non-breaking space nbsp (20) A0 FF (20) 00A0 missing in ArmSCII-7 and ISO 10585
Armenian symbols ֎ eternity sign armeternity 21 A1 DC  — 058E right-facing variant at U+058D
և ligature ech yiwn (ew) armew (3B,75) (26) (or BB,F5) (26) (or 89,F5) (55,72) 0587 (or 0565,0582) specific to Armenian : compatibility ligature of Armenian ech (yech) and yiwn (vyun) small letters, used as a symbol (similar to ampersand symbol in ASCII)
§ section sign armsection 22 A2  —  — 00A7 from ISO 8859; missing in all ArmSCII variants
Armenian punctuation ։ full stop (vertsaket) armfullstop 23 A3 (3A) 4C 0589 specific to Armenian : looks mostly like ASCII colon, but distinct usage ; missing in ArmSCII-8A (approximated by ASCII colon)
) right parenthesis armparenright 24 A4 29 (79) 0029 from ASCII, name and usage different and Unicode ; missing in ISO 10585 (suggested substitution uses dashes)
( left parenthesis armparenleft 25 A5 28 (79) 0028 from ASCII, name and usage different and Unicode ; missing in ISO 10585 (suggested substitution uses dashes)
» right quotation mark armquotright 26 A6 AF (7A) 00BB from ISO-8859, name and usage different and Unicode
« left quotation mark armquotleft 27 A7 AE (7A) 00AB from ISO-8859, name and usage different and Unicode
″ quotation mark  —  — (22) (22) 7A 2033 used for either left or right quotation mark in ISO 10585; missing in ArmSCII-8/8A (approximated by ASCII double quotation mark)
― em-dash armemdash 28 A8 (5F) 78 2015 from ISO-8859; missing in ArmSCII-8A (approximated by ASCII underscore)
. middle dot (mijaket) armdot 29 A9 (2E) 7C 2024 sometimes similar to ASCII full stop, but usage different in Armenian where the middle dot is preferred; missing in ArmSCII-8A (approximated by ASCII full stop)
՝ separation mark (but) armsep 2A AA (60) 48 055D usage specific to Armenian : used as a comma ; = bowt ; missing in ArmSCII-8A (approximated by ASCII backquote)
, comma armcomma 2B AB 2C 4D 002C same as ASCII and Unicode comma
‐ dash armendash 2C AC (2D) 79 2010 similar to the short variant of the ASCII and Unicode minus-hyphen (shorter than the general purpose minus sign used in ASCII) ; missing in ArmSCII-8A (approximated by ASCII minus-hyphen)
Armenian modifier letters ֊ hyphen (yentamna) armyentamna 2D AD DD 4A 058A specific to Armenian : a modifier letter that modifies another Armenian normal letter (possibly with combining punctuation between them)
… ellipsis armellipsis 2E AE DE (7C,7C,7C) 2026 from ISO-8859, but not a punctuation : a modifier letter that follows and modifies another normal Armenian letter (possibly with combining punctuation between them)
ՙ numeric mark (left half-ring) armnum  —  —  —  — 0559 specific to Armenian : a modifier letter that modifies another Armenian normal letter (possibly with combining punctuation between them) ; missing in all ArmSCII variants
՚ apostrophe (right half-ring) armapostrophe 7E FE FE 49 055A specific to Armenian : a modifier letter that modifies another Armenian normal letter (possibly with combining punctuation between them)
Armenian combining punctuation ՜ exclamation mark (amanak) armexclam 2F AF (7E) 7E 055C specific to Armenian : these diacritics encode punctuation but may appear on top of a letter in the middle of any word (it may be ignored in searches); Unicode handles them as modifier letters. However, they are normally not spacing ; = batsaganchakan nshan ; missing in ArmSCII-8A (approximated by ASCII tilde symbol)
՛ emphasis mark (shesht) armaccent 30 B0 (27) 7D 055B specific to Armenian : these diacritics encode punctuation but may appear on top of a letter in the middle of any word (it may be ignored in searches); Unicode handles them as modifier letters. However, they are normally not spacing ; missing in ArmSCII-8A (approximated by ASCII single quote)
՞ question mark (paruyk) armquestion 31 B1 DF 4E 055E specific to Armenian : these diacritics encode punctuation but may appear on top of a letter in the middle of any word (it may be ignored in searches); Unicode handles them as modifier letters. However, they are normally not spacing ; = hartsakan nshan
՟ abbreviation mark (patiw) armabbrev  —  —  — 4F 055F specific to Armenian : these diacritics encode punctuation but may appear on top of a letter in the middle of any word (it may be ignored in searches); Unicode handles them as modifier letters. However, they are normally not spacing
Armenian capital letters Ա Ayb Armayb 32 B2 80 21 0531
Բ Ben Armben 34 B4 82 22 0532
Գ Gim Armgim 36 B6 84 23 0533
Դ Da Armda 38 B8 86 24 0534
Ե Ech (Yech) Armyech 3A BA 88 25 0535
Զ Za Armza 3C BC 8A 26 0536
Է Eh (E) Arme 3E BE 8C 27 0537
Ը Et (At) Armat 40 C0 8E 28 0538
Թ To Armto 42 C2 90 29 0539
Ժ Zhe Armzhe 44 C4 92 2A 053A
Ի Ini Armini 46 C6 94 2B 053B
Լ Liwn (Lyun) Armlyun 48 C8 96 2C 053C
Խ Xeh (Khe) Armkhe 4A CA 98 2D 053D
Ծ Ca (Tsa) Armtsa 4C CC 9A 2E 053E
Կ Ken Armken 4E CE 9C 2F 053F
Հ Ho Armho 50 D0 9E 30 0540
Ձ Ja (Dza) Armdza 52 D2 A0 31 0541
Ղ Ghad (Ghat) Armghat 54 D4 A2 32 0542
Ճ Cheh (Tche) Armtche 56 D6 A4 33 0543
Մ Men Armmen 58 D8 A6 34 0544
Յ Yi (Hi) Armhi 5A DA A8 35 0545
Ն Now (Nu) Armnu 5C DC AA 36 0546
Շ Sha Armsha 5E DE AC 37 0547
Ո Vo Armvo 60 E0 E0 38 0548
Չ Cha Armcha 62 E2 E2 39 0549
Պ Peh (Pe) Armpe 64 E4 E4 3A 054A
Ջ Jheh (Je) Armje 66 E6 E6 3B 054B
Ռ Ra Armra 68 E8 E8 3C 054C
Ս Seh (Se) Armse 6A EA EA 3D 054D
Վ Vew (Vev) Armvev 6C EC EC 3E 054E
Տ Tiwn (Tyun) Armtyun 6E EE EE 3F 054F
Ր Reh (Re) Armre 70 F0 F0 40 0550
Ց Co (Tso) Armtso 72 F2 F2 41 0551
Ւ Yiwn (Vyun) Armvyun 74 F4 F4 42 0552
Փ Piwr (Pyur) Armpyur 76 F6 F6 43 0553
Ք Keh (Ke) Armke 78 F8 F8 44 0554
Օ Oh (O) Armo 7A FA FA 45 0555
Ֆ Feh (Fe) Armfe 7C FC FC 46 0556
Armenian small letters ա ayb armayb 33 B3 81 51 0561
բ ben armben 35 B5 83 52 0562
գ gim armgim 37 B7 85 53 0563
դ da armda 39 B9 87 54 0564
ե ech (yech) armyech 3B BB 89 55 0565
զ za armza 3D BD 8B 56 0566
է eh (e) arme 3F BF 8D 57 0567
ը et (at) armat 41 C1 8F 58 0568
թ to armto 43 C3 91 59 0569
ժ zhe armzhe 45 C5 93 5A 056A
ի ini armini 47 C7 95 5B 056B
լ liwn (lyun) armlyun 49 C9 97 5C 056C
խ xeh (khe) armkhe 4B CB 99 5D 056D
ծ ca (tsa) armtsa 4D CD 9B 5E 056E
կ ken armken 4F CF 9D 5F 056F
հ ho armho 51 D1 9F 60 0570
ձ ja (dza) armdza 53 D3 A1 61 0571
ղ ghad (ghat) armghat 55 D5 A3 62 0572
ճ cheh (tche) armtche 57 D7 A5 63 0573
մ men armmen 59 D9 A7 64 0574
յ yi (hi) armhi 5B DB A9 65 0575
ն now (nu) armnu 5D DD AB 66 0576
շ sha armsha 5F DF AD 67 0577
ո vo armvo 61 E1 E1 68 0578
չ cha armcha 63 E3 E3 69 0579
պ peh (pe) armpe 65 E5 E5 6A 057A
ջ jheh (je) armje 67 E7 E7 6B 057B
ռ ra armra 69 E9 E9 6C 057C
ս she (se) armse 6B EB EB 6D 057D
վ vew (vev) armvev 6D ED ED 6E 057E
տ tiwn (tyun) armtyun 6F EF EF 6F 057F
ր reh (re) armre 71 F1 F1 70 0580
ց co (tso) armtso 73 F3 F3 71 0581
ւ yiwn (vyun) armvyun 75 F5 F5 72 0582
փ piwr (pyur) armpyur 77 F7 F7 73 0583
ք keh (ke) armke 79 F9 F9 74 0584
օ oh (o) armo 7B FB FB 75 0585
ֆ feh (fe) armfe 7D FD FD 76 0586

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "ISO/IEC 10646:2012/Amd.1: 2013 (E)" (PDF).
  2. 1 2 "ՀՍՏ 34.002—98" (PDF). Retrieved 18 July 2010.

See also

External links

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, May 03, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.