GitLab

This issue was created to know your opinions about adding IPA symbols in the international list of compose sequences. Does it make sense to add some of them? If so, which, and what mnemonics should we use?

So far, I discussed with @benno the possibility of adding some IPA vowels (see MR !99 (closed)), as I find it occasionally useful to use them to discuss vowels in some languages without switching layouts altogether. It makes sense to propose a plan to have intuitive mnemonics that don't clash with the current list… but we can't agree on a coherent plan, even for vowels.

For now, our ideas are to:

• extend the letter prefixes (like c for caron) to other letter modifiers, like r to mean "rotated" (<r><m> giving ɯ), m to mean "mirrored" (<m><e> giving ɘ), and s meaning "small" (<s><Y> giving ʏ);
• get inspiration for the already existing mnemonic <e><e> for schwa, and add similar sequences for symbols based on (or resembling) other symbol: <8><8> for ɵ, <6><6> for ɐ, <3><3> for ɜ;
• use combinations of uppercase & lowercase, or lowercase & uppercase, to express turned symbols and other variants: <e><E> for ɛ, <E><e> for ɘ, <a><A> for ɑ, <A><a> for ɒ, and <O><o> for ɔ;
• somehow base these mnemonics on X-SAMPA, which uses 1-character or 2-character mnemonics for all basic vowels and consonants.

Do you have any other ideas or feedback?