UPPSALA UNIVERSITET : Institutionen för lingvistik och filologi : Bo Isaksson
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LingfilSemitica keyboard layout

Installation instructions for Windows XP and Vista

by Bo Isaksson

Contents

Quick install and test

  1. Download and install the font Charis SIL (free).
  2. Download and install Keyman Desktop (30 days free)
  3. Download and install LingfilSemitica (free)

Introducing LingfilSemitica

LingfilSemitica is a keyboard software (keyboard layout) for transcription of Semitic languages. It is suitable also for transcription of other languages than Semitic and for the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). A keyboard layout determines what happens when you press a key on the physical (hardware) keyboard.

LingfilSemitica is adapted for the national standard Swedish hardware keyboard (with specific keys for å, ä and ö). It can be used with other keyboards, but the funtionality is optimal for the Swedish keyboard.

What do I need to do transcription in my computer?

For writing transcription characters in Windows you will need:

  1. A good transcription font, for example Charis SIL.
  2. A keyboard layout for transcription: LingfilSemitica.
  3. A keyboard program that handles the keyboard layout. LingfilSemitica requires the program Keyman Desktop.

You need a good Unicode font that contains all the special characters. And to get those signs easily into your document a specialized keyboard layout is required. This is why I created the freeware LingfilSemitica.

LingfilSemitica is developed for the software program Keyman Desktop Light or Keyman Desktop Professional from Tavultesoft. Before LingfilSemitica can be used Keyman Desktop must have been installed on your computer. Keyman Desktop can be downloaded at low cost from Tavultesoft. LingfilSemitica is freeware.

LingfilSemitica is developed according to the Unicode standard. All fonts that follow this standard and - just as important - contain all the characters you need, can be used with LingfilSemitica. Such fonts are Charis SIL, which can be downloaded as freeware from SIL International (also included in one of the packages here), and the most recent versions of Times New Roman and Arial (included in Microsoft Windows Vista).

Installation

LingfilSemitica is installed by double-clicking the package file LingfilSemitica.kmp. This file contains the keyboard layout, on-screen keyboard, and user's manual (welcome.htm). In order to succeed with the installation, Keyman Desktop must be preinstalled.

Downloading

LingfilSemitica.kmp (package file)

User’s manual

Click the kmp-file and select ”save as” to a file on your computer which you name “LingfilSemitica.kmp” (do not forget the extension “.kmp”).

The installation is finished by double-clicking the downloaded package file.

User’s manual and on-screen-keyboard is included in the package.

Upgrading LingfilSemitica

If you are upgrading LingfilSemitica, then download the kmp-file and double-click the downloaded file.