If the second subtag of a BCP 47 tag is three letters long, it denotes
an extended language. The tag converter ignores the language subtag and
uses the extended language instead.
There are some grandfathered exceptions, which are handled earlier.
The new script, gen-tag-table.py, generates `ot_languages` automatically
from the [OpenType language system tag registry][ot] and the [IANA
Language Subtag Registry][bcp47] with some manual modifications. If an
OpenType tag maps to a BCP 47 macrolanguage, all the macrolanguage's
individual languages are mapped to the same OpenType tag, except for
individual languages with their own OpenType mappings. Deprecated
BCP 47 tags are canonicalized.
[ot]: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/opentype/spec/languagetags
[bcp47]: https://www.iana.org/assignments/language-subtag-registry/language-subtag-registry
Some OpenType tags correspond to multiple ISO 639 codes. The mapping
from ISO 639 codes lists OpenType tags in priority order, such that more
specific or more likely tags appear first.
Some OpenType tags have no corresponding ISO 639 code in the registry so
their mappings use BCP 47 subtags besides the language. For example, any
BCP 47 tag with a fonipa variant subtag is mapped to 'IPPH', and 'IPPH'
is mapped back to und-fonipa.
Other OpenType tags have no corresponding ISO 639 code because it is not
clear what they are for. HarfBuzz just ignores these tags.
One such ignored tag is 'ZHP ' (Chinese Phonetic). It probably means
zh-Latn. However, it is used in Microsoft JhengHei and Microsoft YaHei
with the script tag 'hani', implying that it is not a romanization
scheme after all. It would be simple enough to add this mapping to
gen-tag-table.py once a definitive mapping is determined.
The manual modifications are mainly either obvious mappings that the
OpenType registry omits or mappings for compatibility with previous
versions of HarfBuzz. Some of the old mappings were discarded, though,
for homophonous language names. For example, OpenType maps 'KUI ' to
kxu; previous versions of HarfBuzz also mapped it to kvd, because kvd
and kxu both happen to be called "Kui".
gen-tag-table.py also generates a function to convert multi-subtag tags
like el-polyton and zh-HK to OpenType tags, replacing `ot_languages_zh`
and the hard-coded list of special cases in `hb_ot_tags_from_language`.
It also generates a function to convert OpenType tags to BCP 47,
replacing the hard-coded list of special cases in
`hb_ot_tag_to_language`.
The old hb-ot-tag.cc functions, `hb_ot_tags_from_script` and
`hb_ot_tag_from_language`, are now wrappers around a new function:
`hb_ot_tags`. It converts a script and a language to arrays of script
tags and language tags. This will make it easier to add new script tags
to scripts, like 'dev3'. It also allows for language fallback chains;
nothing produces more than one language yet though.
Where the old functions return the default tags 'DFLT' and 'dflt',
`hb_ot_tags` returns an empty array. The caller is responsible for
using the default tag in that case.
The new function also adds a new private use subtag syntax for script
overrides: "x-hbscabcd" requests a script tag of 'abcd'.
The old hb-ot-layout.cc functions,`hb_ot_layout_table_choose_script` and
`hb_ot_layout_script_find_language` are now wrappers around the new
functions `hb_ot_layout_table_select_script` and
`hb_ot_layout_script_select_language`. They are essentially the same as
the old ones plus a tag count parameter.
Closes#495.
The BCP-47 registry defines a variant subtag "fonipa" that can be used
in combination with arbitrary other language tags. For example,
"rm-CH-fonipa-sursilv" indicates the Sursilvan dialect of Romansh
as used in Switzerland, transcribed used the International Phonetic
Alphabet.
http://www.iana.org/assignments/language-subtag-registry/language-subtag-registry
David Corbett
Behdad Esfahbod
Ebrahim Byagowi
Sascha Brawer