Dai Banna
About
Dai Banna SIL is a Unicode font package for rendering New Tai Lue (Xishuangbanna Dai) characters.1 It includes a complete set of New Tai Lue consonants, vowels, tones, and digits, along with punctuation and other useful symbols. A basic set of Latin glyphs, including Arabic numerals, is also provided. Apart from a few New Tai Lue characters and Chinese punctuation marks, the design is the same as its predecessor, SIL Dai Banna (obsolete). Two font families, differing only in weight, allow for a wide range of uses.
For a different style of New Tai Lue script, see SIL’s Nokyung fonts.
The New Tai Lue script is used by approximately 300,000 people who speak the Xishuangbanna Dai language in Yunnan, China. It is a simplification of the Tai Tham (Old Tai Lue) script as used for this language for hundreds of years.
We particularly thank the Dai News Department of Xishuangbanna Daily for valuable advice during the development of this Unicode font package. Xishuangbanna Daily, established in 1957, is the largest newspaper company in Yunnan, China that publishes in the New Tai Lue script.
Linebreaking Control
The Dai Banna SIL fonts have built-in Graphite smart font code to control line breaking by allowing it between syllables only. This is useful because intersyllabic space is optional in New Tai Lue text, and without space marking syllable boundaries, standard applications will just break the line whenever it is full, likely splitting up a syllable.
To correctly render a run of text with no intersyllabic space, you must be using applications and/or operating systems that provide an adequate level of support for Graphite. Tested applications which make use of the Graphite capabilities of the fonts include:
- LibreOffice Writer (cross-platform)
- GrInD (for use with InDesign)
Non-tested but possible functionality might include these applications:
- FireFox browser
- XeTeX typesetting program
More information on Graphite technology and related applications is available at Graphite.
Downloads
License
These fonts are licensed under the SIL Open Font License (OFL)
Fonts
| Dai Banna SIL 3.000 | for all platforms |
The font release contains a set of eight font files and documentation. (NB: No keyboard is provided.)
Release note
Dai Banna SIL v3.000 uses visual order instead of logical order for left vowels.
Source Code
Dai Banna is licensed according to the terms of the SIL Open Font License. The latest source files are available in a Github project.
Previous versions
| Dai Banna SIL 2.200 | for all platforms | |
| Dai Banna SIL source files 2.200 | for all platforms | |
| Dai Banna SIL 2.1 | for all platforms | |
| Dai Banna SIL source files 2.1 | for all platforms | |
| Dai Banna SIL 2.0_beta | for all platforms | |
| Dai Banna SIL source files 2.0_beta | for all platforms |
V2.200 included the following changes:
- Added support for Unicode 5.2 additions
- Renamed ‘Oblique’ fonts to ‘Italic’ (for user-friendliness)
- Added .notdef, NULL, and CR to masters
- Fixes:
- Open contours: 0020, 005F, 00A0, 2009, 200B, 2060
- Connection types: CJK punctuation
- Design changes:
- U+19D2
NEW TAI LUE DIGIT TWO - U+19D4
NEW TAI LUE DIGIT FOUR
- U+19D2
- New characters:
- U+19AA
NEW TAI LUE HIGH SUA - U+19AB
NEW TAI LUE LOW SUA
- U+19AA
Also in v2.200, Graphite or OpenType smart font technology was needed to reorder four vowels to the left of the base consonant for correct display:
| USV | Glyph | Unicode Name |
|---|---|---|
| U+19B5 |  | NEW TAI LUE VOWEL SIGN E |
| U+19B6 |  | NEW TAI LUE VOWEL SIGN AE |
| U+19B7 |  | NEW TAI LUE VOWEL SIGN O |
| U+19BA |  | NEW TAI LUE VOWEL SIGN AY |
Before Unicode 8 (2015) these vowels were stored in logical order, i.e., consonants were always stored before vowels. Now, these vowels are stored in visual order (i.e. before the consonant), so no reordering needs to be done in Graphite (or OpenType).
Dai Banna SIL 2.1 (version 2.001) included the following changes which reflect amendments made to ISO 10646:2003 in April 2008:
- Added: U+19DA
NEW TAI LUE THAM DIGIT ONE (new code point added in PDAM6.2) - Glyph change: U+19D1 NEW TAI LUE DIGIT ONE: →
(glyph change in FPDAM5). - Deleted: U+E380 NEW TAI LUE DIGIT ALTERNATE ONE (PUA)
The v2.0 beta release included the following changes:
- Code points updated to Unicode 5.0.
- Released under SIL Open Font License (OFL).
- New features:
- Support for re-ordrant vowels (affects: U+19B5, U+19B6, U+19B7, U+19BA).
- Line-breaking rules (affects: all characters).
- Added:
- Geometric Shapes: U+25CC ◌ DOTTED CIRCLE
- CJK Symbols and Punctuation:
- U+3000 IDEOGRAPHIC SPACE
- U+3001 、 IDEOGRAPHIC COMMA
- U+3002 。 IDEOGRAPHIC FULL STOP
- U+3008 〈 LEFT ANGLE BRACKET
- U+3009 〉 RIGHT ANGLE BRACKET
- U+300A 《 LEFT DOUBLE ANGLE BRACKET
- U+300B 》 RIGHT DOUBLE ANGLE BRACKET
- PUA: U+E380 NEW TAI LUE DIGIT ALTERNATE ONE
- Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms:
- U+FF01 ！ FULLWIDTH EXCLAMATION MARK
- U+FF08 （ FULLWIDTH LEFT PARENTHESIS
- U+FF09 ） FULLWIDTH RIGHT PARENTHESIS
- U+FF0C ， FULLWIDTH COMMA
- U+FF0E ． FULLWIDTH FULL STOP
- U+FF1A ： FULLWIDTH COLON
- U+FF1B ； FULLWIDTH SEMICOLON
- U+FF1F ？ FULLWIDTH QUESTION MARK
1 The New Tai Lue block was first added to Unicode 4.1 and subsequently amended up through Unicode 5.2. See the latest code chart.
Information for Contributors
We welcome contributions to this font project, such as new glyphs, enhanced smart font code, or bug fixes. The best way to begin the process is to file an issue in the Github project (Dai Banna) or respond to an existing issue and express your interest. Then we can begin to correspond with you regarding what all might be required and discuss how to best submit your contributions.
To enable us to accept contributions in a way that honors your contribution and respects your copyright while preserving long-term flexibility for open source licensing, you would also need to agree to the SIL International Contributor License Agreement for Font Software (v1.0) prior to sending us your contribution. To read more about this requirement and find out how to submit the required form, please visit the CLA information page.
Support
As these fonts and utilities are distributed at no cost, we are unable to provide a commercial level of personal technical support. We will, however, try to resolve problems that are reported to us.
We do hope that you will report problems so they can be addressed in future releases. Even if you are not having any specific problems, but have an idea on how this system could be improved, we want to hear your ideas and suggestions.
Please note that these fonts are intended for use by experienced computer users. Installing and using these fonts is not a trivial matter. The most effective technical support is usually provided by an experienced computer user who can personally sit down with you at your computer to troubleshoot the problem.
Contact
General troubleshooting information, including frequently asked questions, can be found in the documentation. Additional information is also available on the general Font FAQ page. If that fails to answer your question, send an email via this contact form.
Before requesting technical support, please:
- Carefully read all the documentation provided with the font and on this site.
- Try the Support and Troubleshooting path on scripts.sil.org.
Language Software Community
Support from other software users may be available through the SIL Language Software Community. This community will be growing to become the major source of software support.
If that fails to answer your question, or you have a bug report, feature suggestion, or need help using the software, please contact us using the form below.