.\" @(#)sera 96/20/01 .\" GNU Copyleft 1996 Admas Concepts .TH SERA 1 "11 Tr 1988 (20 Jan 1996)" "Admas Concepts" .SH NAME .ce .BI "SERA --" " The System For Ethiopic Representation in ASCII" .SH DESCRIPTION .I SERA is .B not a software in and of itself, it is a transcription system for Fidel employed by an ever growing number of software applications. .SH OPTIONS .I SERA supports options for the different writing practices of languages that use Fidel. Languages rules can be specified at any time in a body of text by giving their ISO-639 language codes as: .TP \\~am or \\~amh Set Amharic writing rules. This setting affects the transcription of ``\fBa\fP'' to be read as the 1st and not the 4th vowel. Amharic phonetic rules will be used for phonetic filters and transliterators. .TP \\~ti or \\~tir The default. Sets Tigrigna writing rules. These are the regular Fidel writing rules used by most languages. Tigrigna phonetic rules will be used for phonetic filters and transliterators. .TP \\~gz or \\~gez Ge'ez phonetic rules will be used for phonetic filters and transliterators. .SH " " The following options can be used at any time in a body of text to change the rules for the associated punctuation usages: .TP \\~`: Use : for Ge'ez Wordspace `: (The Default) .TP \\~-: Use : for Ge'ez Colon -: .TP \\~? Use ? for Ge'ez Stylized Question Mark Use `? for Ge'ez 3-Dot Question Mark (The Default) .TP \\~`| Use ? for Ge'ez 3-Dot Question Mark Use `? for Ge'ez Stylized Question Mark .bp .SH The SERA Fidel 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 g`Iz ka`Ib sals rab`I hams sads sab`I diqala --> 8 (9) 10 11 12 13 1 he hu hi ha hE h ho 2 le lu li la lE l lo lW/lWa 3 He Hu Hi Ha HE H Ho HW/HWa 4 me mu mi ma mE m mo mW/mWa 5 `se `su `si `sa `sE `s `so `sW/sWa 6 re ru ri ra rE r ro rW/rWa 7 se su si sa sE s so sW/sWa 8 xe xu xi xa xE x xo xW/xWa 9 qe qu qi qa qE q qo qWe (qWu) qWi qWa qWE qW 10 `qe `qu `qi `qa `qE `q `qo 11 Qe Qu Qi Qa QE Q Qo QWe (QWu) QWi QWa QWE QW 12 be bu bi ba bE b bo bW/bWa 13 ve vu vi va vE v vo vW/vWa 14 te tu ti ta tE t to tW/tWa 15 ce cu ci ca cE c co cW/cWa 16 `he `hu `hi `ha `hE `h `ho hWe hWu hWi hWa hWE hW 17 ne nu ni na nE n no nW/nWa 18 Ne Nu Ni Na NE N No NW/NWa 19 e/\fBa*\fP u i a E I o ea 20 ke ku ki ka kE k ko kWe (kWu) kWi kWa kWE kW 21 `ke `ku `ki `ka `kE `k `ko 22 Ke Ku Ki Ka KE K Ko KWe (KWu) KWi KWa KWE KW 23 Xe Xu Xi Xa XE X Xo 24 we wu wi wa wE w wo 25 `e `u `i `a `E `I `o 26 ze zu zi za zE z zo zW/zWa 27 Ze Zu Zi Za ZE Z Zo ZW/ZWa 28 ye yu yi ya yE y yo yW/yWa 29 de du di da dE d do dW/dWa 30 De Du Di Da DE D Do DW/DWa 31 je ju ji ja jE j jo jW/jWa 32 ge gu gi ga gE g go gWe (gWu) gWi gWa gWE gW 33 `ge `gu `gi `ga `gE `g `go 34 Ge Gu Gi Ga GE G Go GWe (GWu) GWi GWa GWE GW 35 Te Tu Ti Ta TE T To TW/TWa 36 Ce Cu Ci Ca CE C Co CW/CWa 37 Pe Pu Pi Pa PE P Po PW/PWa 38 Se Su Si Sa SE S So SW/SWa 39 `Se `Su `Si `Sa `SE `S `So 40 fe fu fi fa fE f fo fW/fWa 41 pe pu pi pa pE p po pW/pWa .B * ``a'' is .I only valid for (e) in transcription for Amharic. .SH Equivalents Consonant Series Special Series Lone Vowels B = b s2 = `s O = o F = f h2 = `h `O = `o J = j S2 = `S U = u L = l e2 = `e `U = `u M = m q2 = `q A = a R = r g2 = `g `A = `a V = v Y = y .TP W = when not preceded by a consonant as defined above; it is left to the specific application to interpret. -- It may be ignored or given an additional phonetic character if available. .SH Punctuation and Numbers in Fidel Text Zones , Ge'ez Comma ; Ge'ez Semicolon `: Ge'ez Wordspace :- Ge'ez Preface Colon -: Ge'ez Colon : Ge'ez Wordspace \fBor\fP Ge'ez Colon Depending on Default Settings :: Ge'ez Full Stop << Ge'ez Left Quote >> Ge'ez Right Quote :|: Ge'ez Paragraph Terminator `! Ge'ez Sarcasm Mark `| Ge'ez 3-Dot Question Mark `? Ge'ez 3-Dot Question Mark \fBor\fP Ge'ez Stylized Question Mark Depending on Default Settings ? Ge'ez Stylized Question Mark \fBor\fP Ge'ez 3-Dot Question Mark Depending on Default Settings . Ge'ez Stylized Dot \\\\ Latin BackSlash \\, Latin Comma \\; Latin Semicolon \\: Latin Colon \\. Latin Full Stop \\' Latin Apostrophe \\` Latin Backquote ' is always ignored ` is ignored unless a special vowel, consonant, or punctuation follows -- s,S,h,g,q,e,u/U,i,a/A,E,I,o/O,? '' Geminates character on left `' Voiced Sads Vowel ('' and `' are for phonetic use and ignored in most software) 0...9 Arabic Numerals `1..`9 Ethiopic Numerals .SH Special Escapes .TP \^\\ Change to next language of the defined primary-secondary pair. .TP \^\\:;'. When followed by a punctuation list of one or more items the list is transcribed in the next language of the defined primary-secondary pair. .TP \^\\~x When \\~ is followed by a defined character "x", the appropriate event occurs. It is left to software houses to recognize each others' graphic escape sequences and provide filters. \\~ is recommended as a means to denote in ASCII the nonstandard characters, glyphs, or processing directives. .TP \^\\~! The "Verbatim Mode Toggle". The switch turns the mode on-off treating all text as one script until the closing \\~! . This allows extended use of \\ and \\~ without the requirement for \\ and \\~ but at the cost of using only one script within the text region. .TP \^\\~lang Change to language or script ``lang''. ``lang'' MUST be followed by " ", \\t, or \\n. .TP \^\\~lang1~lang2 Set/Reset primary and secondary languages. MUST be terminated by " ", \\t, or \\n. .TP \^ < > & ; Contents between remain in Latin script in HTML documents. .PP .SH SEE ALSO mule(1), sera2any(1), sera2latex(1), fbanner(1), ecal(1) .SH MAINTAINERS .PP dan'El ya`Iqob mekonn yacob\fB@\fPpadis.gn.apc.org yTna biniyam frdywek ybf2u\fB@\fPvirginia.edu