Haíɫzaqv Unicode 16.0
This page introduces two new capital Unicode letters for Haíɫzaqvḷa which were published in version 16.0 of the Unicode Standard in September 2024.
These two new characters are the result of a successful proposal created by N̓a̓ṇ́ga̓inúx̌v (Robyn Humchitt) of Heiltsuk Revitalization and Kevin King of Typotheque. With this addition, the entire Haíɫzaqvḷa orthography can be written and read on all digital platforms and devices.
About Unicode
The Unicode Standard is the universally-accepted means for storing and interchanging text on the internet and all computer and mobile devices. Unicode also makes it possible for very specific renderings such as the stacking of diacritic marks for languages such as Haíɫzaqvḷa to be possible on all digital platforms.
Through complying with the Unicode Standard, fonts and keyboards follow the same encoding language which allows for predictable input and output of text on our devices.
Having all of the characters of one’s writing system supported in Unicode means that a language can be used freely across all digital devices. However, if parts of a writing system are not yet encoded in Unicode, it becomes very difficult to reliably share digital text with others, to use one’s language fully on social media, for email, or text messaging, or to store text for future use.
The Unicode Proposal
There are two capital letters in Haíɫzaqvḷa that were not previously encoded in the Unicode Standard. These letters have always existed in the Haíɫzaqvḷa alphabet, and their lowercase letter counterparts have been available in Unicode. However, until this time, these capital letters have not had a Unicode representation, meaning that it was not possible to access them on Unicode-compliant devices. To address this issue, N̓a̓ṇ́ga̓inúx̌v (Robyn Humchitt) of Heiltsuk Revitalization and Kevin King of Typotheque prepared a proposal to the Unicode Technical Committee to request the addition of these capital characters.
How does one prepare such a proposal and ensure that it is successful?
Brief History and Attestations
A successful Unicode proposal requesting new characters must contain evidence of the use of the proposed characters throughout the history of the writing system, across different technologies. This offers the Unicode consortium the proof of the use of these characters and that the language community has a clear and specific need.
The Haíɫzaqvḷa orthography has a long history of using the two missing capitals dating back to the work of the Dutch linguist John C. Rath in Bella Bella. As early as 1984, Rath prepared instructional documents on a modified typewriter that included special characters such as these two capital letters.
With the introduction of desktop computers in the early 1990s, ASCII, the standard for computer text encoding at the time, did not support 44 letters required by Haíɫzaqvḷa. Special fonts were created to support the typing of these characters.
This Unicode proposal did not in any way change the Haíɫzaqvḷa orthography by adding new letters. Rather, it simply added digital text encoding for these characters that were previously missing in the Unicode Standard so that they would be properly represented on computers.
With comprehensive evidence and supporting documents in place proving the need for the new characters, the final proposal was submitted to the Unicode Technical Committee’s quarterly meeting in late July 2023 for a decision to be made.
Successful Proposal! Publication Timeline
January - July 2023
N̓a̓ṇ́ga̓inúx̌v (Robyn Humchitt) of Heiltsuk Revitalization and Kevin King of Typotheque worked together to prepare the proposal to the Unicode Consortium: gathering attestations, letters of reference, and documenting character requirements.
26 July 2023
At the Unicode Technical Committee meeting #176, the request for the two new characters for Haíɫzaqvḷa was accepted! Success!
3 November 2023
However, even though the proposal was accepted, Unicode noted – due to a backlog in characters awaiting publication in version 16.0 of Unicode – that the characters would most likely be included in version 17.0, which would not be published until September 2025.
Unicode’s Script Ad Hoc committee suggested that, due to the endangered status of Haíɫzaqvḷa and the pressing need for the publication of these characters for urgent language revitalization work, N̓a̓ṇ́ga̓inúx̌v and Kevin should submit an additional request to ask that these three new characters be prioritized for publication in version 16.0 of Unicode, which would be released in September 2024.
N̓a̓ṇ́ga̓inúx̌v and Kevin prepared this request, submitted it for consideration at the UTC #177 meeting, and it was accepted on 3 November 2023! This was a very important additional step because companies such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft cannot implement support for the new characters until they are officially published in Unicode.
30 April 2024
Heiltsuk Revitalization and Typotheque sign a Memorandum of Understanding to continue and extend the work of the successful Unicode Proposal.
10 September 2024
This accelerated publication scheduled for September 2024 ensured that these important tech companies would be able to implement support for the new characters on an accelerated timeline. On September 10, Unicode 16.0, including the new characters, was released!
Updated Keyboards
Having an updated set of fonts is only one part of the process for supporting new characters on digital devices. It is also essential to have a keyboard that supports the new code points to align with the new codes in the font.
To facilitate this update, Mark Turin and Aidan Pine made the existing Haíɫzaqv Unicode Keyboard open source and transferred ownership to Heiltsuk Revitalization. From here, Kevin King and Liang Hai at Typotheque updated the keyboard to add support for the new characters.
This keyboard already works with the new fonts and allows Heiltsuk Revitalization to start working with the new characters immediately so as to be prepared for the release of the characters in September 2024.
Keyman Mobile Keyboard
An updated mobile keyboard for iOS and Android devices—extended from the FirstVoices Haíɫzaqvḷa Keyman keyboard—has been developed by Kevin King that includes support for the new Unicode characters through the Keyman App.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to install a custom font on any mobile device, and we rely on device software manufacturers to ensure that their device’s font supports all characters needed by all languages supported in Unicode. This means that—even though the new characters have been published in September 2024 in Unicode 16.0—support for the new characters will not be available on mobile devices until likely a year or two from this time. This limits the accurate rendering of the new characters to the Keyman App, where the November Heiltsuk font has been bundled with the keyboard, making it possible to view any text using these characters. This issue will not be permanent: once Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android adopt support for the new characters on their devices, the new characters will become available across all applications. The new Keyman mobile keyboard will continue to be useful once this update is made for entering text on your device, and will show the new characters in all applications following a software update.
Typotheque Font Support
Although the new characters would be released and made available in Unicode 16.0 in September 2024, these letters would not be immediately available on desktop computers and mobile devices, as companies such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft can only add support for new Unicode characters once they have been officially published. As the new operating systems for these companies release in the fall of each year, it may take one to two years before the characters are supported on devices.
In the interim, third-party fonts can immediately support the rendering of the three new characters on computers. To address this, Typotheque has built four fonts—Dash, Lava, November, October, and Zed Heiltsuk—to support the new capital Unicode characters for Haíɫzaqvḷa. Each of these four fonts supports all characters required for writing Haíɫzaqvḷa, and each offers a different visual, typographic preference, such as the difference between the appearance of Times New Roman or Arial.
Once these fonts have been installed on a desktop or laptop computer, the new characters will be available in all applications and rendered in web browsers on the computer. The five new Typotheque fonts will remain available accessible in perpetuity to all Haíɫzaqv Nation members, l complementing core system fonts by offering accurate rendering for Haíɫzaqvḷa text and high-quality typography options.
Haíɫzaqv-Typotheque MoU
Building on the earlier successful collaboration in achieving the new Unicode characters, Heiltsuk Revitalization and Typotheque signed a Memorandum of Understanding in April 2024 to carry forward the momentum of this work and address all aspects of digital language use for Haíɫzaqvḷa.
This partnership and project includes a team of researchers and language support experts linked through Typotheque who will work in collaboration with Heiltsuk Revitalization in order to fully roll out and ensure widespread support for the new Unicode characters.
This initiative will also address issues such as incorrect diacritic mark shapes in common fonts on computers and devices. This problem occurs when these common fonts draw accented marks incorrectly for Haíɫzaqvḷa that make them hard to read or tell apart from other accented marks. This will be corrected by documenting the fonts on Apple, Google, and Microsoft systems and requesting that they correct these rendering issues and update their products.
This project will also aim to achieve a Haíɫzaqvḷa keyboard that exists on all desktop computer and mobile devices by default, removing the need to install a custom keyboard on your device, and resolve application issues such as the ‘chopping-off’ of the glottalization mark, to name but a few of the many issues that continue to impede the full mobilization of Haíɫzaqvḷa across all platforms. Although our project may provide tangible solutions to these problems, they will require software manufacturers such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft to implement them in their products in order to be visible and used.
