CJKV Information Processing, 2nd Edition

Typography

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Ideograph compound input—JapaneseTable 1-7.

Compound Reading Compounds with identical readings



K A N J I



Note how the list of ideograph compounds is much shorter in this case. ere is an even

higher-level input unit called an ideograph phrase. is is similar to inputting two or more

ideographs as a single compound, but it adds another element, similar to a preposition in

English, that makes the whole string into a phrase. An example of an ideograph phrase is

, which means “the ideograph” in Japanese. Because Chinese-language text is com-

posed solely of hanzi, ideograph phrases apply only to Japanese, and possibly Korean.

Some of you may know of input soware that claims to let you convert whole sentences

at once. is is not really true. Such soware allows you to input whole sentences, but the

sentence is then parsed into smaller units, usually ideograph phrases, and then converted.

Inputting whole sentences before any conversion is merely a convenience for the user.

Korean input has some special characteristics that are related to how their most widely

used script, hangul syllables, is composed. Whether input is by a QWERTY or a Korean

keyboard array, Korean input involves entering hangul elements called jamo. As the jamo

are input, the operating system or input soware attempts to compose hangul syllables

using an automaton. Because of how ha