bug#50143: 28.0.50; Various issues with `tamil-itrans' input method

[Visuwesh]

[ஞாயிறு, ஆகஸ்ட் 22 2021] Eli Zaretskii wrote:

Hello, Eli

>> From: Ramesh Nedunchezian <rameshnedunchezian@outlook.com>
>> Date: Sat, 21 Aug 2021 14:55:23 +0530
>> 
>> I am working on `tamil-phonetic.el`, a "Tamil Phonetic Input for
>> Emacs".  See https://github.com/rnchzn/tamil-phonetic and
>> https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rnchzn/tamil-phonetic/main/tamil-phonetic.el.
>> I will be submitting this library for inclusion in NON GNU ELPA.
>> [...]
>> 3. `indian-make-hash` ALWAYS installs translation for decimal digits
>>    0-9.  Tamil decimal digits are NOT used at all i.e., it is not even
>>    taught in Schools in the state of TamilNadu, India.  So, I wanted a
>>    way NOT to insall the translation for digits.  I suggest one of the
>>    following:
>> 
>>    - Change signature of `(indian-make-hash TABLE TRANS-TABLE)' to
>>      `(indian-make-hash TABLE TRANS-TABLE &optional
>>      DONT-INSTALL-NATIVE-DIGITS)' or some such thing.
>
> This change of the API is acceptable, so please propose a patch along
> these lines.
>

I wanted to send a patch so I took a quick look at ind-util.el, and ISTM
that the hashtable `indian-tml-itrans-v5-hash' is calculated just once?
Unfortunately, I don't understand the dances in ind-util.el,
lisp/leim/indian.el, etc. so I'm afraid I cannot be of any help here.

[ It should be a simple change if we don't make it a defcustom AFAIU.  ]

>>      `indian-make-hash' is used by many indic scripts, so I am not
>>      sure if other indian language users would have a need for
>>      inputting native decimal digits.  I--as a representative of Tamil
>>      speakers--can say that we don't need that ON by default.
>
> We can use this for Tamil only for now, and wait for users of other
> languages to chime in.
>
> Thanks.

As a native Tamil speaker, I can attest that contemporary text uses the
Arabic numerals (in fact, Tamil digits are mentioned as a matter of fact
in schools).  I'm not sure about the situation in Sri Lanka, tho.

I can try asking the native speakers of Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam,
Hindi, Gujrati, and maybe Punjabi, Marathi and Bengali, too.  The sample
size will mostly be N=1 for most of these languages however, but given
that they are native speakers, their statement should hold a lot of
weight.