Tamil Keyboard Layouts

1.1 Tamil '99 Keyboard Layout
1.2 Tamil '99 Extended Keyboard Layout
1.3 Tamil '99 KeyBoard Methodology
2.1 Typewriter Keyboard Layout
2.2 Typewriter Enhanced Keyboard Layout
2.3 Typewriter KeyBoard Methodology
3.1 Elango Phonetic Keyboard
3.2 Elango Phonetic Keyboard Methodology
4.1 Transliteration Table
4.2 Transliteration Layout
4.3 Transliteration with ^ Combination
4.4 Transliteration Keyboard Methodology

1.1 Tamil '99 Keyboard Layout

1.3 Tamil '99 KeyBoard Methodology

This layout is an International Standard for Tamil Keyboard Layout approved by the Tamil Nadu Government (G.O. No. 17). This is working on sound-based combination.

1. The keyboard has the twelve vowels Ü, Ý, Þ, ß, à, á, â, ã, ä, å, æ,  å÷ and aaytham ç, the eighteen pure Tamil consonants (combined with the first vowel Ü), the five grandha consonants ú, û, ü, ý, þ and the letter ÿ.

Also additional Tamil symbols like ðø¢Á, õó¾, âí¢, Ïð£ò¢, «ñø¢ð®, «îî¤, ñ£îñ¢, õ¼ìñ¢, è£ô¢, ܬó, ºè¢è£ô¢ are provided in the Tamil '99 Keyboard. These symbols are widely used in Tamil Calendars, Panchangams, Tamil accounting, etc. These symbols are available only in TAM-monolingual fonts. Personal(Mini) Pack doesn't support TAM fonts and hence Mini Pack user will not be able to use these symbols. only However Office(Normal) and Professional(Jumbo) Pack users will be able to use these symbols while using the TAM font encoding.

2. The pulli, which symbolizes a pure consonant, is provided as a separate key (lower case f). The following combination will work with all the 18 consonants and 5 grandha consonants.

            è + (¹÷¢÷¤) = 袠 (or)     è +  ¢ = è¢

            ú +  ¢= ú¢

3. A consonant symbol followed by a vowel produces a vowelised consonant.

4. A consonant symbol followed by the same consonant symbol automatically puts pulli for the first consonant symbol. This is to save typing time of the operator.

                   è + è = è¢è

If you want to type Üð¢ð£,

just type Ü + ð + ð + Ý (4 key strokes) instead of

typing Ü + ð +  ¢+ ð + Ý (5 key strokes).

5. Similarly, when the same consonant symbol is typed three times continuously one after another, then the first consonant symbol alone gets the pulli automatically, and the second consonant symbol does not get a pulli, since when the third consonant symbol is typed the automatic pulli feature is temporarily disabled. This feature will be restored immediately after that.

If you want to type the word   ê¤è¢è£«è£, just type ê + Þ + è + è + Ý + è + æ

Similarly for Üð¢ðð¢ð£, type Ü + ð + ð + ð + ð + Ý

6. When the first vowel Ü is typed after a consonant symbol, this disables temporarily the combining of any stroke with the previous stroke. Hence typing any vowel will not join with the previous consonant symbol. Similarly the auto pulli feature will also be disabled for the next stroke alone. This auto pulli feature gets restored immediately after the next stroke. The vowel Ü works as the delinking symbol.

7. The same auto pulli feature is provided when a soft consonant symbol is followed by the corresponding hard consonant symbol. The soft and hard consonants pairs are  (é, è), (ë, ê), (ï, î), (í, ì), (ñ, ð), (ù, ø).

8. The glyphs like kombu, kokki, etc., which work as a vowel modifiers, can be got by typing the caret (^) sign first and then the corresponding vowel.

When you want to bring the following glyphs  ¤ , ¦, §, ¨, ª, «, ¬ which are made available in the Tamil '99 Extended Keyboard, first press ^ (shift+6) and then the appropriate mathras. Please refer to the Tamil '99 Extended Keyboard Layout (with ^ Combination) in the User Manual for the respective key stokes. To view the Tamil '99 Extended Keyboard, select 'Options' menu and choose 'Onscreen Keyboard Map' and click on 'Tamil '99 (with ^ Combination)'.

      Press ( ^ + f )   you will get    ¢(¹÷¢÷¤) mathra alone

      Similarly,

       ^  +  s    =    ¤
       ^  +  w   =   ¦
       ^  +  d    =   §
       ^  +  e    =    ¨
       ^  +  g    =   ª
       ^  +  t   =  «
       ^  +  r  =    ¬
       ^  +  c   =    ©
       ^  +  .   =    .
       ^  +  2   =  
       ^  +  3   =   z
       ^  +  4   =   
       ^  +  7   =   '
       ^  +  8   =   '
       ^  +  9   =    "
       ^  +  0   =    "

2.1 Typewriter Keyboard Layout

2.3 Typewriter  KeyBoard Methodology

1. The Remington Typewriter keyboard has the 11 vowels Ü, Ý, Þ, ß, à, á, â, ã, ä, å, æ, the aaytham ç, the 18 Tamil consonants è, é, ê, ë, ì, í, î, ï, ð, ñ, ò, ó, ô, õ, ö, ÷, ø, ù, the 17 vowel consonants µ, Á, ¸, ², Ã, ½, ¼, ®, ¯, À, Â, °, ¿, ¶, º, ´, Å, the grandha consonants ú, û, ü, ý, þ, the cluster ÿ, the sigh ......... Out of these six dead keys, the pulli (  ¢) and the two kokkis (  ¤  ¦) are available in the TAM and TAB font coding as separate symbols. So, they can be got by typing these dead keys followed by one space, as done in the manual typewriter. 2. The pulli followed by the following 18 consonant symbols and 5 grandha characters will produce pure consonants.

E.g. 
           ¢ + è = 袠        ¢ + ñ = ñ¢
           ¢ + ô = ô¢         ¢ + ú = ú¢
           ¢ + ù = ù¢        ¢ + ü = ü¢

3. The sign '  ¤ ' followed by the following 17 consonant symbols (except ®) and 5 grandha characters will produce kuril Þ consonants.

E.g.
           ¤ + é = 餠              ¤ + ö = ö¤
           ¤ + ÷ = ÷¤               ¤ + ý = ý¤
           ¤ + ó = ó¤                ¤ + î = î¤

4. The sign '  ¦ ' followed by the following 17 consonant symbols (except ¯) and 5 grandha characters will produce nedil ß consonants.

E.g.

         ¦+ ê = ꦠ                   ¦+ û = û¦
         ¦+ ð = 𦠠                  ¦+ õ = õ¦
         ¦+ ò = ò¦                    ¦+ ô = ô¦

5. The sign ' A ' followed by the following 4 consonant symbols only will produce kuril  à consonants.

E.g.
     A + ð = ¹         A  + ò = »
     A + õ = ¾       A  + é = ±

6. The sign ' B ' followed by the following 4 consonant symbols only will produce nedil á consonants.

E.g.
     B + ð = Ì        B + ò = Î
     B + õ = ×       B + é = Ä

7. The sign  ' C' followed by the following 5 consonant symbols only will produce nedil  á consonants.

E.g.
       C + ´ = Ç              C + º = Í
       C + ¼ = Ï              C + ¿ = Ø
       C + À = Ù

8. The following 7 consonant symbols followed by the sign ' D ' will produce nedil  á consonants.

E.g. 
        ³ + D = ³          µ + D = È
           ¶ + D = É            ¸ + D= Ë
           ½ + D= Ö            Á + D = Ú
           Â + D= Û

9. The following 5 grandha consonants followed by the sign § , produce kuril à consonants.

E.g.
         ú + § = ú§             û + § = û§
         ü + § = ü§              ý + § = ý§
         þ + § = þ§

10. The following 5 grandha consonants followed by the sign ¨ , produce nedil á consonants.

E.g.
                  ú + ¨ = ú¨             û + ¨ = û¨
                  ü + ¨ = ü¨              ý + ¨ = ý¨
                  þ + ¨ = þ¨

11. The following 8 characters can be got by typing either as full characters or as combination characters as in typewriter.

E.g.

Shift + Z = û    (or)   à  + E = û
Shift + B = þ     (or)   Ã + E= û
  ¤ + û = û¤     (or)   à  +   ¤ + E = û¤
  ¤ + þ = þ¤   (or)   Ã +   ¤ + E = þ¤
  ¦ + û = û¦   (or)  à  +   ¦ + E = û¦
  ¦ + þ = þ¦ (or)   Ã +   ¦ + E = þ¦
  ¢+ û = û¢      (or)   à  +    ¢+ E = û¢
  ¢+ þ = þ¢     (or)   Ã +    ¢+ E = þ¢

12. The following 3 characters can be got by typing as full characters only. (The position 'Q' (i.e.) the position of second half of µ is left blank)

E.g.
        ]  =  ý
        q  = µ

13. The two characters ³ and Æ, which are not available in the manual typewriter, can be got as follows

E.g.
        A + ë = ³
        B + ë = Æ

II (B). Keyboard Sequences for Enhanced Typewriter KeyBoard Layout: 1. The conventional layout lacks many of the symbols available in the computer keyboard. Also the Tamil symbols, now available with the Tamil '99 keyboard are also not available. In order to make these symbols also available for the conventional typist, in an easy way, it is proposed in the Enhanced Typewriter Keyboard Layout to make the A (upper case A) as the escape key. This key is vacant in the Typewriter keyboard. Once this key A is pressed, all the symbols in the computer keyboard become available in the same positions as shown on a computer keyboard. The layout of all these keys are shown in Enhanced Typewriter Keyboard Layout (with 'A' Combination).

2. Note that this escape key is only for the symbols, and not for the numerals and the English letters. If any key other than those mentioned here is pressed, the effect of the escape key will be nullified, and the latest pressed key only will be activated.

3. The three numeral positions 2, 3 and 4 are shown in this layout. They correspond to the symbols of half, three quarter and quarter. This is easy to remember. These symbols are not available in the TAM and TAB coding schemes. For this, the positions 141 (half), 157 (three fourth) , and 158 (quarter)  are reserved.

4. The Tamil symbols ðø¢Á , õó¾ , âí¢ , Ïð£ò, «ñø¢ð® , «îî¤ , ñ£îñ¢ , õ¼ìñ¢ have also been provided, in the same places as in the Tamil '99 layout. Note that these symbols are available in the TAM code only and not in TAB.

5. The copyright symbol can be obtained by typing c after the escape letter A. The bullet sign can be got by typing the full stop after the escape sequence A. Note that among the symbols, only the full stop will not be available as such, after the escape symbol.

6. The non-breaking space (160) ... is available in the upper case N position.

3.1 Elango Phonetic Keyboard

3.2 Elango Phonetic Keyboard Methodology

The keyboard has the twelve vowels Ü, Ý, Þ, ß, à, á, â, ã, ä, å, æ,  å÷ and aaytham ç, the eighteen Tamil consonants (è, é, ê, ë, ì, í, î, ï, ð, ñ, ò, ó, ô, õ, ö, ÷, ø, ù, the five grandha consonants ú, û, ü, ý, þ and the letter ÿ. Also additional Tamil symbols like ðø¢Á , õó¾, âí¢, Ïð£ò, «ñø¢ð®, «îî¤, ñ£îñ¢, õ¼ìñ¢  and half , three quarter   and quarter are provided in the Elango Phonetic Keyboard.

4.1 Transliteration Table

4.4 Transliteration Keyboard Methodology

Transliteration keyboard - For people who are neither familiar with Tamil typewriter nor with Tamil scripts but understand spoken Tamil. Tamil can be typed in English scripts as we speak and it will be automatically transliterated to Tamil scripts as you type.

1.       All 12 vowels characters (uyir) and aaytham can be typed like this,

2.       All 18 consonants characters (mei) can type like this,

Vallinam

Mellinum

3.    To get Compound characters type mei + uyir
ie  è¢ + Ü = è
è£------ kA or kaa

ú¢------ S
û¢------ sh

ÿ------ sr or sri

5.    The below 8 Tamil Symbol characters can be typed like this, (These symbols are available only in Mono-lingual Encoding i.e., only in TAM font)

6.    The character 'r' ( ó¢) never appears after 'n' ( ù¢ ). So if a 'r' character appears after 'n', it must be a 'R' ( ø¢ ). This 'intelligence' has been fed into the keyboard driver. The following words can be typed like this,

7.    The same applies for 'tr'. Small 'r' ( ó¢) never follow a big 'R' ( ø¢) and small 'r' never gets repeated ( ó¢ó - not common ). So if two 'r's are appearing next to each other, it must be RR ( ø¢ø).  ie,  tr - ø¢ø¢

8.    When 'n' is typed immediately after a space, carriage return or tab, you will automatically get 'n-' ( ï¢).  Also if a 'th' follows 'n', the 'n' will be switched to 'n-'. The following line will render the 'n's correctly when typed in Tamil mode.
ie, nt - ï¢î¢

9.         When 'd' after an 'n' will switch the preceding 'n' to 'N'

    ie, nd - í¢ì¢,  ndr - ù¢ø

èí¢«ìù¢ -------     kandeen
ñí¢ìðñ¢  -------     mandapam
ïí¢´    -------     nandu

10.       njc can also be typed as njj 

11.         Similarlly thth can also be typed as tth