Syriac Abbreviation Mark

Question

I'm trying to implement in XeLaTeX the Syriac Abbreviation Mark (see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syriac_Abbreviation_Mark).

The code I came up with is the following:

\catcode`^^^^070f=13
\chardef\zwj="200D
\def^^^^070f#1 {\zwj\aemph{#1}\ }

Now I can use the control character in the text (assuming I have a Syriac font):

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{polyglossia}

\setmainlanguage{syriac}

\setmainfont{Estrangelo Edessa}


\catcode`^^^^070f=13
\chardef\zwj="200D
\def^^^^070f#1 {\zwj\aemph{#1}\ }

\begin{document}

ܫܠ܏ܡܳܐ ܫܠܡܐ.

\end{document}

Here is the result:

This is not perfect for two reasons. First, it requires a space to end the control sequence (in fact, it should be ended by any non-Syriac character). Second, ideally the result should be an overline with 3 dots in it (beginning, end and middle - see above Wikipedia article for example).

Could anyone help me out with this?

Answer 1

It's implemented in the font now (per Werner's question).

Random unicode input, compiled with xelatex.

MWE:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\pagecolor{red!3}

\usepackage{polyglossia}
%Options:
%‣ numerals = western (i.e., 1234567890), eastern (for which the Oriental Arabic
%numerals are used: ١٢٣٤٥٦٧٨٩٠), or abjad.  .
%v1.0.1
%Commands:
%\abjadsyriac ‣ \abjadsyriac (see section 9)
%\aemph ‣ \aemph (see section 6.1).

\setdefaultlanguage[numerals=abjad]{syriac}
\setotherlanguage{english}

\newfontfamily\fgfontc[Scale=2.3,Script=Syriac,Colour=green]{Noto Sans Syriac Eastern}
\newfontfamily\fgfontck[Scale=2.3,Script=Syriac,Colour=blue]{Noto Sans Syriac Eastern}\newfontfamily\fgfontd[Scale=4.5,Script=Syriac,Colour=red]{Noto Sans Syriac Eastern}
\newfontfamily\fgfontdk[Scale=4.5,Script=Syriac,Colour=blue]{Noto Sans Syriac Eastern}

\setmainfont{Noto Sans Syriac Eastern}
\newfontfamily\englishfont{Noto Serif}

\begin{document}

\pagestyle{empty}

\begin{center}


\begin{english}
Syriac font,
with \textbackslash kern and \textbackslash llap commands. 
\end{english}

\fgfontc ܞ܏ܞܭܬܩܨܧܦܗܡܠܡܐ\kern-1.25pt\llap{\fgfontck ܞ܏ܞܭܬܩܨܧܦܗܡܠܡܐ}

܏ܘܗܖ܏ܛܚܙ܏ܩ܏ܨܧ܏܏܏ܤ

\fgfontd  ܞ܏ܞܭܬܩܨܧܦܗܡܠܡܐ\kern-1.45pt\llap{\fgfontdk ܞ܏ܞܭܬܩܨܧܦܗܡܠܡܐ}

\end{center}

\begin{english}
Syriac font, regular and bold:
\end{english}


ܞ܏ܞܭܬܩܨܧ ܦܗܡܠܡܐ

\bfseries
ܞ܏ܞܭܬܩܨܧ ܦܗܡܠܡܐ 

\mdseries\Large
ܞ܏ܞܭܬܩܨܧܦܗܡܠܡܐ 

\bfseries
ܞܭܬܩ܏ܨܧ܏ܦܗܡܠܡܐ 
܏ܘܗܖ܏ܛܚܙ܏ܩܨܧܤ

\end{document}

Answer 2

Here is a TikZ method:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{xspace}
\tikzstyle{zwj}=[inner sep=0pt,outer sep=0pt,anchor=base]
\tikzstyle{zwjdot}=[circle,draw,fill,inner sep=0pt,outer sep=0pt,minimum width=1pt]
\newcommand{\zwj}[1]{%
   \tikz[baseline]{
      \node[zwj] (text) {#1};
      \useasboundingbox (text.base west) rectangle (text.north east);
      \draw ([yshift=2ex]text.base west) -- ([yshift=2ex]text.base east)
         node[pos=0,zwjdot] {}
         node[pos=1,zwjdot] {}
         node[pos=0.5,zwjdot] {};
   }%
}
\begin{document}

\begin{tabular}{ll}
foobar         & puckluck \\
\zwj{foo}bar   & \zwj{puck}luck
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

At this point the descenders are changing the vertical alignment. I'll try more later.

Answer 3

OpenType have already introduced 'stch' feature which used to generate this special overline, if you use some TeX engines as latest version of XeTeX you could get proper effect.