I recently developed a new language with a perfect script, grammar and vocabulary. I even prepared a dictionary for it. Now, I would like to type my language on my laptop in its native script. For this, I have to create new characters on the computer.

I tried PCE but it is not working the way I want. For example, my script uses diacritics to represent vowels, much like Indic scripts. In PCE, I have to create new glyphs for each character with diacritics. I can't do that hard work.
So I have to use Devanagari to type my language.

Is there any other software to create new characters?

  • 3
    This question is probably better to ask on the Software Recomendation SE; the people on Worldbuilding SE presumably have some experience with this too. The question is not really about linguistics.
    – lemontree
    Sep 10 '16 at 10:50
  • I see this question on the borderline of being on-topic: Creating a writing system for some language is a task linguists are sometimes confronted with. Sep 10 '16 at 11:47
  • @jknappen I don't see it as completely misplaced here either, I just thought the other sites would fit the type of question a bit better.
    – lemontree
    Sep 10 '16 at 11:54
  • What is PCE? How did you think you'd ever be able to create a new script without creating the individual glyphs??
    – curiousdannii
    Sep 10 '16 at 16:13
  • @curiousdannii PCE presumably = Private Character Editor Sep 12 '16 at 16:38

There are essentially two option you have:

  • Skim through the existing Unicode characters and select a subset of them suitable for your conlang
  • Go forth and create a conscript (constructed writing system) for your conlang. Don't expect the Unicode consortium to add your conscript to the Unicode standard soon—they have some rather strong criteria for characters to be included into the standard. You can register your conscript at the Conscript Unicode Registry (they assign Private Use Area code points for conscripts).
  • For combinations of Latin letters with arbitrary diacritics, Unicode provides combining diacritics, so every base letter–accent combination is already included in Unicode.

What software is concerned: You need to create a font for your conscript, e.g. with METAFONT, and use some typesetter, e.g., TeX or LaTeX, to produce some texts on the computer.

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