Jira pending: Add Nogai (nog) Keyboards: Add Cyrillic, Latin, Arabic, and Runic layouts

[murza-enikeeff]

Jira ticket creation is temporarily pending due to new account permission restrictions (Account: Enikeev).

• This PR completes the ticket.

Sociolinguistic and Technical Justification for Nogai Layouts (nog-Cyrl, nog-Latn, nog-Arab, nog-Runr)

1. UNESCO Status and Current Linguistic Peril

The Nogai language (nog) is officially classified by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger as "Definitely Endangered." The language faces severe existential pressure due to a historical lack of institutional support, a critical shortage of native-language schools, and systematic displacement from official and educational spheres. Providing native digital input mechanisms is a critical, non-negotiable step toward preventing total language extinction.

2. Historical Context: Forced Script Transitions as Structural Assimilation

The orthographic history of the Nogai language is a documentation of forced linguistic engineering and voluntary-compulsory Russification of minoritized indigenous peoples:

• Pre-1928: The Nogai people utilized a highly functional Arabic-based script, maintaining deep cultural and historical ties with their heritage.
• 1928–1938: The Arabic script was officially replaced by a Latin-based alphabet.
• 1938–Present: As part of a centralized policy of forced cultural assimilation, the Latin script was abruptly abolished and replaced with a modified Cyrillic alphabet.

These rapid, politically driven script disruptions fractured intergenerational literacy, isolated the population from their historical literature, and acted as structural elements of linguistic ethnocide.

3. Digital Marginalization as Ongoing Assimilation

Currently, major operating systems and input engines (including Google Gboard, iOS, and Windows) completely lack native support for Nogai layouts. This absence forces Nogai speakers into absolute digital dependency on surrogate layouts:

• Forced Substitution: Speakers are systematically forced to use either standard Russian or Kazakh keyboards.
• Technical Fragmentation: Using the Russian layout forces users to manually split native digraphs (Аь, Оь, Уь, Нъ) into separate characters. This breaks digital text processing, renders spell-check and predictive text impossible, and corrupts corpus linguistics data.
• Digital Colonialism: Forcing an endangered language community to adopt the dominant state language's layout (Russian) functions as an ongoing mechanism of digital assimilation, stripping the language of its visual autonomy.

4. Technical Philosophy of the Multi-Script Layout (nog-Cyrl.xml)

The proposed nog-Cyrl.xml layout is designed not merely as a typing utility, but as a decolonial tool for cultural reclamation and linguistic self-determination.

While the base layer conforms to the currently enforced Cyrillic orthography to meet immediate practical needs, the longpress (extended hold) functionality strategically bridges the fractured historical layers of the language:

• Arabic Graphics (Arab): Integrated via longpress to accommodate the historical literary heritage and to support the active Nogai diaspora (e.g., in Turkey and the Middle East) who still cultivate or study Arabic-based materials.
• Old Turkic Runes (Runr): Integrated to support a powerful grassroots cultural revival and historical reclamation movement among younger generations, activists, and researchers seeking to reconnect with pre-colonial roots.
• Latin Graphics (Latn): Included to provide a functional bridge for future orthographic modernization and integration with the wider Turkic digital space.

Conclusion

By unifying these graphic systems into a cohesive, longpress-accessible architecture, this specification empowers a marginalized speech community to bypass structural barriers, reclaim their graphic history, and democratically determine the future trajectory of their language.

ALLOW_MANY_COMMITS=true

[CLAassistant]

All committers have signed the CLA.

[srl295]

Jira ticket creation is temporarily pending due to new account permission restrictions (Account: Enikeev).

send me an email srl295@gmail.com and i'll send you an invite link

And on topic for this PR, we would add keyboards after the core locale itself is added, could you work on getting nog added,

1. best is if there's an organization https://cldr.unicode.org/index/survey-tool/cldr-organization that can support it
2. from a data perspective https://cldr.unicode.org/index/cldr-spec/core-data-for-new-locales

[srl295]

fyi @unicode-org/cldr-keyboards

[murza-enikeeff]

Hello @srl295, I have submitted the Core Data form for the Nogai locale (nog_RU) as you requested. I also sent you an email earlier regarding the invite link. Ready to proceed with the Basic Data once access is granted!

[murza-enikeeff]

Pushed a minor correction to the Arabic and Cyrillic layouts. Updated the character mapping for the 'уь' and 'оь' sounds to use the phonetically correct letters (ۈ and ۉ respectively).

[murza-enikeeff]

Final fixes (layout): correct Arabic character mapping and add historical softness markers

Update Cyrillic layout (nog-Cyrl):

• Corrected the longpress mapping for the 'э' key to use the standard 'ئە' combination.

Update Arabic layout (nog-Arab):

• Added 'ئە' to the longpress of the 'ە' key for faster typing.
• Added the High Hamza ('ٴ', U+0674) to the longpress of the 'ئ' key. This serves as a word-level softness marker, aligning the layout with the historical steppe Arabic standard (Tote zhazu).

[murza-enikeeff]

Final: this commit adds missing historical ligatures and regional variants (such as 𐰗 [OT/UT], 𐰩 [Orkhon NY], etc.) to the longpress pop-ups of the Nogai Runic (nog-Runr) layout.

Justification for Historical-Academic Completeness:
While modern phonetic typing can be achieved using basic character combinations (e.g., typing 'N' + 'CH'), the Old Turkic script historically utilized specific ligatures and regional variants (Orkhon-Yenisei) to optimize space on stone monuments.

By adding these specific characters to the longpress attributes, we achieve two critical goals:

1. Modern Usability: The primary keyboard layer remains clean and intuitive for everyday modern use.
2. Academic Utility: It provides linguists, historians, and language enthusiasts with the full Unicode Old Turkic block necessary to accurately transcribe and reproduce original historical inscriptions without cluttering the main UI.

This makes the layout a versatile tool for both daily communication and linguistic research.

[murza-enikeeff]

This commit finalizes the academic completeness of the Nogai Runic (nog-Runr) layout by adding essential Yenisei regional variants (𐱀, 𐰕) and specific historical ligatures (𐰦 [NT/ND], 𐰸 [OK/UK]) to the longpress menus.

While the base layer provides a clean, phonetic typing experience for modern use, these additions ensure that the layout becomes an absolute reference standard for the historical and linguistic community. It allows researchers and enthusiasts to accurately transcribe authentic historical artifacts (encompassing both Orkhon and Yenisei styles) directly from the keyboard, without cluttering the primary user interface.

[xadxura]

Thank you @murza-enikeeff, it's great to this PR for your contribution to the LDML keyboards.
We discussed your PR in our Keyboard Working Group meeting today. As a next step, we would like you to split your submission into separate PRs, one for each keyboard layout. That will help with tracking PR feedback and broader record keeping.
We will have additional feedback on the individual layouts once split.

Andrew

[murza-enikeeff]

Thank you, @xadxura!

As requested, I have split this submission into 4 separate PRs for each layout to make tracking and reviewing easier: #5858, #5859, #5860, #5861.

I will close this combined PR.