ARMENIAN CHARACTER SETS

Implementation guide
document version 002.DRAFT.en, May 15, 1998

Status of this Memo
   This memo provides information for the Internet community.
   This memo does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.
   Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction
   2. Armenian Character Set
      2.1. Naming
      2.2. Classification and sorting
      2.3. Ligatures
   3. Encoding
      3.1. Basic principles
      3.2. Cross reference of coding tables
   4. Naming
      4.1. Coded character set tags
      4.2. Language tags


1. INTRODUCTION

   The document presents the set of Armenian characters that are
   used in the information systems in accordance to AST
   34.001-006 standards of the State Standards Commission
   of the Republic of Armenia, as well as provides
   classification and sorting thereof and recommendations for
   implementation of basic algorithms of text processing.

   The publication of comments in reference to the standards is
   due to the following considerations:

   1. The Armenian character sets have been used in different
      computer systems approx. since 1987, whereas the state
      standard was established only in 1997. This time lag
      resulted in emergence of incompatible coding systems. The
      existing discrepancies are also due to the existence of
      two different grammars of the Armenian language.

   2. The emergence of internationalised operating systems and
      an important number of multi-lingual applications result
      in situations when the national language support is
      implemented by programmers that are not familiar with the
      given language.

   The present memo is a recommendation rather than a binding
   standard.

   The recommendations set forth herein are elaborated on the
   basis of the state standards AST 34.001-34.006, as well as
   ArmSCII standard.


2. ARMENIAN CHARACTER SET

2.1. Naming

   The Armenian character set presented below follows the
   standard AST 34.004. The first column contains full naming
   of the characters, and the second column provides
   abbreviations thereof that can be used in the systems
   confined to the Latin character set. The detailed
   classification of the characters follows in the points below.

   In spite of the fact that the space, numbers and Latin script
   are also part of the Armenian character set, these were not
   included in the AST 34.004 standard since these are
   present in all systems.


   Table 1. Armenian Character Set
   ----------------------------------------------------


   Armenian Numerical Assignment Mark   armnum
   Armenian Abbreviation Mark           armabbrev


   Armenian "ew" Sign                   armew
   Republic of Armenia Sign             armarm


   Armenian Capital Ligature "Men-Nu"   Armmennu
   Armenian Small Ligature "Men-Nu"     armmennu
   Armenian Capital Ligature "Vev-Nu"   Armvevnu
   Armenian Small Ligature "Vev-Nu"     armvevnu


   Armenian Eternity Sign               armeternity
   Armenian Section Sign                armsect
   Armenian Full Stop (Verjaket)        armfullstop
   Armenian Right Parenthesis           armparenright
   Armenian Left Parenthesis            armparenleft
   Armenian Right Quotation Mark        armquotright
   Armenian Left Quotation Mark         armquotleft
   Armenian EM Dash                     armemdash
   Armenian Dot (Mijaket)               armdot
   Armenian Separation Mark (But)       armsep
   Armenian Comma                       armcomma
   Armenian EN Dash                     armendash
   Armenian Hyphen Mark (Yentamna)      armyentamna
   Armenian Ellipsis                    armellipsis
   Armenian Exclamation Mark (Amanak)   armexclam
   Armenian Accent (Shesht)             armaccent
   Armenian Question Mark (Paruyk)      armquestion


   Armenian Capital Letter [ayb]        Armayb
   Armenian Small Letter [ayb]          armayb
   Armenian Capital Letter [ben]        Armben
   Armenian Small Letter [ben]          armben
   Armenian Capital Letter [gim]        Armgim
   Armenian Small Letter [gim]          armgim
   Armenian Capital Letter [da]         Armda
   Armenian Small Letter [da]           armda
   Armenian Capital Letter [yech]       Armyech
   Armenian Small Letter [yech]         armyech
   Armenian Capital Letter [za]         Armza
   Armenian Small Letter [za]           armza
   Armenian Capital Letter [e]          Arme
   Armenian Small Letter [e]            arme
   Armenian Capital Letter [at]         Armat
   Armenian Small Letter [at]           armat
   Armenian Capital Letter [to]         Armto
   Armenian Small Letter [to]           armto
   Armenian Capital Letter [zhe]        Armzhe
   Armenian Small Letter [zhe]          armzhe
   Armenian Capital Letter [ini]        Armini
   Armenian Small Letter [ini]          armini
   Armenian Capital Letter [lyun]       Armlyun
   Armenian Small Letter [lyun]         armlyun
   Armenian Capital Letter [khe]        Armkhe
   Armenian Small Letter [khe]          armkhe
   Armenian