

A Brief Guide to ACIP Tibetan Input Code


Tibetan and Tibetanized-Sanskrit consonant letters (with vowel A)

KA    KHA   GA    GHA   NGA   CA    CHA   JA          NYA

tA    thA   dA    dHA   nA

TA    THA   DA    DHA   NA    PA    PHA   BA    BHA   MA

TZA   TSA   DZA   DZHA  WA    ZHA   ZA    'A    YA

RA    LA    SHA   shA   SA    HA    KshA  



Tibetan and Tibetanized-Sanskrit vowels

(When appearing after a consonant K)
KA    K'A   KI    K'I   KU    K'U   KRi   KR'i  KLi   KL'i
KE    KEE   KO    KOO   KAm   KA:

(When appearing in the initial position of a syllable)
AA    A'A   AI    A'I   AU    A'U   Ri    R'i   Li    L'i
AE    AEE   AO    AOO   AAm   AA:
 
Note that the "vowels" -Am and -A: are additive; the "A" portion 
can be replaced by other vowels:
therefore we might see KEE + -Am  -> KEEm;  AO + -Am -> AOm and
so forth.


Other Conventions

1. The GA-prefixed YA is rendered as G-Y (or GA-Y) in order to
distinguish it from YA-subscribed GA (which is rendered as GY).

2. The wazur is rendered using the letter V, as in ZHVA, GRVA, etc.

3. A plus-sign is used to indicate a vertical stacking of two letters
in those cases where ambiguity might occur.  When two roman letters are 
written in sequence, there are three possibilities:
a. representing a single Tibetan letter as in  NYA, TSA, SHA
b. representing a prefix-root sequence as in  DMIGS, DGE
c. representing a vertical stack of letters as in  KYA, RMA

Therefore, the plus-sign is required in D+MA to show stacking as opposed
to prefixing (DMA), and it is required in N+YA and T+SA to show stacking
as opposed to a single letter (NYA, TSA).  Plus-signs may occur in ACIP
data even in cases where they are not strictly required for resolving
ambiguity.

The hyphen is used to indicate that two letters appear in horizontally 
adjacent position with no intervening "tsek" (as seen in G-Y, above).
Although the hyphen is usually not needed for resolving ambiguity (PADMA
is just as definite as PA-DMA or PA-D+MA), it is sometimes typed in cases
other than G-Y.  [The DMA sequence in PADMA does not strictly require a
plus-sign since the D can only be interpreted as a suffix to PA and not
as a prefix to MA; however, if written (incorrectly) as PA DMA, the D would
be interpreted as a prefix.]
