From ad9148bdcbfd73cad8f9b9f1380eaa29da1a1649 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Lars-Dominik Braun Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2021 13:29:09 +0200 Subject: report: Romanize Arabic letter names. MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Although I’m not a fan of romanization/transcription I feel it improves accessibility of the English version when combined with Arabic script in brackets. --- lulua/data/report/index.html | 104 +++++++++++++++++++++---------------------- lulua/report.py | 35 ++++++++++++++- 2 files changed, 84 insertions(+), 55 deletions(-) diff --git a/lulua/data/report/index.html b/lulua/data/report/index.html index cc4cd3d..e2108cd 100644 --- a/lulua/data/report/index.html +++ b/lulua/data/report/index.html @@ -137,11 +137,10 @@

The Arabic alphabet

- 28 letters make up the Arabic alphabet and quite a few extra - symbols are required for proper text input, like the hamza in its different - shapes أ إ آ ء ئ ؤ, ta marbutah ة, alif maqsurah ى and various diacritics for vowelized texts. + 28 letters make up the Arabic alphabet and quite a few extra symbols are + required for proper text input, like the {{ hamzah }} in its different + shapes أ إ آ ء ئ ؤ, {{ tamarbutah + }}, {{ alifmaqsurah }} and various diacritics for vowelized texts. Since the performance of a keyboard layout depends on the text entered it is necessary to study its mono-, di- and trigraph frequencies first. @@ -230,8 +229,9 @@

- The plot below shows ا ل ي م و ن can be - considered the most frequently used letters in the Arabic language. + The plot below shows {{ alif }}, {{ lam }}, {{ ya }}, {{ mim }}, {{ + waw }} and {{ nun }} can be considered the most frequently used letters + in the Arabic language. Together they account for more than 55% of all letters in the corpus.

@@ -336,17 +336,17 @@ The most frequent letters have all been assigned to the home row, which makes them easily accessible. - ا and ل + {{ Alif }} and {{ lam }} are typed with different hands, balancing the load on hands almost evenly. The index and middle finger of both hands share the majority of the typing load, but naturally the left middle finger is used more - frequently due to its assignment to the letter alif. + frequently due to its assignment to the letter {{ alif }}.

- The layout targets Quaranic and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), also called Fusha + The layout targets Quaranic and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), also called Fuṣḥa (الفصحى), only. Dialectical Arabic (العامية) is mainly a spoken @@ -361,35 +361,35 @@ Designing the layout to be compose-based has both benefits and disadvantages. - Compose-based mainly means the hamza ء - is treated like an optional diacritic for Alef, Waw and Yah instead of - viewing Alef-Hamza, Waw-Hamza and Yah-Hamza as precombined, atomic - units. + Compose-based mainly means the {{ hamzah }} is treated like an optional + diacritic for {{ alif }}, {{ waw }} and {{ ya }} instead of viewing + {{ alifhamzah }}, {{ wawhamzah }} and {{ yahamzah }} as precombined, + atomic units. - Although أ and ا are not the same, the hamza can be dropped if the - writer’s intention is unambigiously inferable from context. + Although {{ alifhamzah_ }} and {{ alif_ }} are not the same, the {{ + hamzah_ }} can be dropped if the writer’s intention is unambigiously + inferable from context. - Thus it makes sense to provide hamza as a combining character on the - keyboard. + Thus it makes sense to provide {{ hamzah_ }} as a combining character + on the keyboard. Additionally it uses two keys less than precombining it with its stems, - allowing the entire alphabet plus hamza diacritic to fit on a single + allowing the entire alphabet plus hamzah diacritic to fit on a single keyboard layer. However, there is a cost to this approach: - All hamza variants account for {{ + All {{ hamzah_ }} variants account for {{ '%.1f'|format(layoutstats['ar-osx'].hamzaImpact*100) }}% of button combinations. - Splitting hamza and from its stem means doubling the total number of - button combinations and thus button presses, decreasing scores like + Splitting {{ hamzah_ }} and from its stem means doubling the total number + of button combinations and thus button presses, decreasing scores like words per minute (WPM) slightly. - Splitting Alef and Alef-Hamza could also reduce pressure on left middle - finger and allow for more even distribution, since {{ - layoutstats['ar-osx'].hamzaOnAlef|fraction }}th of all Alef - uses are with Hamza. + Splitting {{ alif }} and {{ alifhamzah }} could also reduce pressure + on left middle finger and allow for more even distribution, since {{ + layoutstats['ar-osx'].hamzaOnAlef|fraction }}th of all {{ + alif }} uses are with {{ hamzah }}.

@@ -488,9 +488,8 @@ As we can see the layout presented above meets the optimization goal. Only the top 5% of all triads are “easier” to type with Malas’ layout, because lulua splits hamza - (ء) from its alef (ا) stem. + href="#ar-malas">Malas’ layout, because lulua splits {{ hamzah }} + from its {{ alif }} stem. As expected the phonetic layout is one of the worst ones, because QWERTY is not optimized for Arabic letter frequencies. @@ -521,8 +520,8 @@ dir="ltr" lang="ar">ض ص، س ش، ح ج خ) and not frequency. Also it overuses the right index finger by assigning the four - high-frequency letters ا ت و ة to - it. + high-frequency letters {{ alif }}, {{ ta }}, {{ waw }} and {{ tamarbutah + }} to it.

@@ -544,14 +543,14 @@

Mac OS X

Mac OS X’s Arabic keyboard layout makes a few small changes to ASMO - 663 by moving the ة to a hard to + 663 by moving the {{ tamarbutah }} to a hard to reach spot on the right of the top row. It also moves the short vowels from the first to the top row of the second layer and replaces them with symbols. The bottom row keys are aditionally shifted to the right, beginning - with ر. + with {{ ra }}.

@@ -575,15 +574,14 @@ A more common layout is the one used on Linux, which also exists on Windows with minor changes to the first layer. - While its top and center row barely differ from ASMO 663 the - bottom row now contains a separate key for the ligature ﻻ, likely inherited from early typewriter layouts. But at the cost of pushing punctuation characters to the second - layer, د into the top and ذ even further into the number row. + layer, {{ dal }} into the top and {{ dhal }} even further into the number row.

@@ -638,10 +636,10 @@

While the layout distributes load between fingers quite well it - favors the left hand by assigning ا - and ل to it. + favors the left hand by assigning {{ alif }} + and {{ lam }} to it. - The decision to place ث in a very + The decision to place {{ tha }} in a very prominent spot seems weird, given it only accounts for 0.5% of all symbols, even in their own analysis.

@@ -683,15 +681,13 @@ Probably due to their unusual assumption that middle- and ring-finger rest in the top row their results are suboptimal, - placing both ا and ي in the top row. + placing both {{ alif }} and {{ ya }} in the top row. Their analysis notices this and suggests improved positions for both characters, but these are not actually implemented. - The big asymmetry is caused by placing ا - ل ي and و, four of the five - most frequent letters, on the right hand side. + The big asymmetry is caused by placing {{ alif }}, {{ lam }}, {{ ya }} and + {{ waw }}, four of the five most frequent letters, on the right hand side.

@@ -719,11 +715,11 @@ optimized for typing speed only, claiming 35% faster typing compared to the currently used layouts. - However the decision to put ي in the top + However the decision to put {{ ya }} in the top row seems odd. - Assigning the same left index finger to ا - ي و, which are three of the most frequent letters, heavily + Assigning the same left index finger to {{ alif }}, + {{ ya }} and {{ waw }}, which are three of the most frequent letters, heavily strains this particular finger.

@@ -758,8 +754,8 @@ well. However their algorithm seems to favor the bottom row instead of the - easier to use top row since it places the letters ب ت ر there. + easier to use top row since it places the letters {{ ba }}, {{ ta }} + and {{ ra }} there.

@@ -793,7 +789,7 @@ provide three single-quote marks ’ and two Arabic semicolon ؛. - Additionally it places ي in an even + Additionally it places {{ ya }} in an even worse position than Malas’ layout.

@@ -898,7 +894,7 @@

The Arabic Phonetic Keyboard simply maps the QWERTY layout to Arabic letters, based on their sound. - Thus Q becomes ق, Y becomes ي and so on. + Thus Q becomes {{ qaf }}, Y becomes {{ ya }} and so on. It claims to be optimized for writing vowelized texts, especially Quranic Arabic, and thus includes quite a few combining characters and special symbols. diff --git a/lulua/report.py b/lulua/report.py index 7d0294a..0e5ec00 100644 --- a/lulua/report.py +++ b/lulua/report.py @@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ # OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN # THE SOFTWARE. -import sys, argparse, logging, pickle, math +import sys, argparse, logging, pickle, math, unicodedata from gettext import GNUTranslations, NullTranslations from decimal import Decimal from fractions import Fraction @@ -75,6 +75,39 @@ def render (): env.filters['arabnum'] = arabnum env.filters['fraction'] = fraction + # Map global variables to Arabic letter romanizations, so we can use + # them easily in text. + # Taken from Abu-Chacra’s Arabic – An Essential Grammar. It’s + # too difficult for now to write a general-purpose romanization + # function, because it would need a dictionary. + letterNames = { + 'Hamzah': ('Hamzah', 'ء'), + 'Alif': ('ᵓAlif', 'ا'), + 'Alifhamzah': ('ᵓAlif-hamzah', 'أ'), + 'Wawhamzah': ('Wa\u0304w-hamzah', 'ؤ'), + 'Yahamzah': ('Ya\u0304ᵓ-hamzah', 'ئ'), + 'Ba': ('Baᵓ', 'ب'), + 'Ta': ('Taᵓ', 'ت'), + 'Tha': ('T\u0331aᵓ', 'ث'), + 'Ra': ('Raᵓ', 'ر'), + 'Dal': ('Da\u0304l', 'د'), + 'Dhal': ('D\u0331a\u0304l', 'ذ'), + 'Qaf': ('Qa\u0304f', 'ق'), + 'Lam': ('La\u0304m', 'ل'), + 'Lamalif': ('La\u0304m-ᵓalif', 'لا'), + 'Mim': ('Mi\u0304m', 'م'), + 'Nun': ('Nu\u0304n', 'ن'), + 'Waw': ('Wa\u0304w', 'و'), + 'Ya': ('Ya\u0304ᵓ', 'ي'), + 'Tamarbutah': ('Ta\u0304ᵓ marbu\u0304t\u0323ah', 'ة'), + 'Alifmaqsurah': ('ᵓAlif maqs\u0323u\u0304rah', 'ى'), + } + for k, (romanized, arabic) in letterNames.items (): + env.globals[k] = f'{romanized} ({arabic})' + env.globals[k.lower ()] = env.globals[k].lower () + env.globals[k + '_'] = romanized + env.globals[k.lower () + '_'] = romanized.lower () + corpus = [] for x in args.corpus: with open (x) as fd: -- cgit v1.2.3