Release of Akatab 4.000 (Tifinagh script font)

[SIL Font News]

We are pleased to announce the release of Akatab 4.000. Akatab is a complete Unicode font for rendering Tifinagh characters in the Tamahaq, Tamashek, and Tawallammat languages. This release adds language system tags for accessing language-specific font features for these languages. It also adds support for all languages using Neo-Tifinagh characters.

Changes include:
- Added Tifinagh characters to complete the Unicode block:
    - U+2D32 TIFINAGH LETTER YABH
    - U+2D35 TIFINAGH LETTER BERBER ACADEMY YAJ
    - U+2D3A TIFINAGH LETTER YADDH
    - U+2D3B TIFINAGH LETTER YEY
    - U+2D3D TIFINAGH LETTER YAK
    - U+2D3F TIFINAGH LETTER YAKHH
    - U+2D41 TIFINAGH LETTER BERBER ACADEMY YAH
    - U+2D43 TIFINAGH LETTER YAHH
    - U+2D44 TIFINAGH LETTER YAA
    - U+2D45 TIFINAGH LETTER YAKH
    - U+2D47 TIFINAGH LETTER YAQ
    - U+2D4A TIFINAGH LETTER YAZH
    - U+2D52 TIFINAGH LETTER YAP
    - U+2D55 TIFINAGH LETTER YARR
    - U+2D56 TIFINAGH LETTER YAGH
    - U+2D5D TIFINAGH LETTER YATH
    - U+2D5E TIFINAGH LETTER YACH
    - U+2D60 TIFINAGH LETTER YAV
    - U+2D61 TIFINAGH LETTER YAW
    - U+2D65 TIFINAGH LETTER YAZZ
    - U+2D66 TIFINAGH LETTER YE
    - U+2D6F TIFINAGH MODIFIER LETTER LABIALIZATION MARK
- Added Neo-Tifinagh variants of existing encoded characters into the font:
    - TIFINAGH LETTER YA
    - TIFINAGH LETTER YAF
    - TIFINAGH LETTER YAL
    - TIFINAGH LETTER YU
    - TIFINAGH LETTER YASS
    - TIFINAGH LETTER YASH
    - TIFINAGH LETTER YAT
 - Added the capital Schwa to support case swapping with lowercase schwa
    - U+018F LATIN CAPITAL LETTER SCHWA
- Added features cv18 and ss18 to access Neo-Tifinagh characters
- Added TAQ, THV and TTQ language tags
- Added 'locl' features and lookups corresponding to language tags

Akatab (means writing) is designed to reflect a handwriting style and even the “writing in sand” effect. Historically this writing system has been written in both right-to-left and left-to-right orientations. Akatab has the necessary characters and features to write in both directions.

This font uses state-of-the-art OpenType font technology to provide accurate typography including the formation of bi-consonant ligatures. Variations of characters are included in the font to meet personal and regional preferences. Documentation included with the font package will show these variants and how to access them.

More information and a download of the release package can be found at https://software.sil.org/akatab/.

The SIL Writing Systems Technology Team