Inputting Writing Systems with Medium Complexity: A Generalized Input Method Editor AKKHARA and Case Study on Myanmar Script

Abstract

In this study, an input method editor called AKKHARA is developed to accommodate writing systems comprising several tens to hundreds of symbols. As an engineering realization, AKKHARA accepts and applies a set of rewrite rules with priorities such that the alternation, substitution, and normalization of character strings are applied alongside the keystrokes. Compared with general key-character editors, AKKHARA provides a greater flexibility for Romanization-based rule editions. Compared with the input methods developed for Chinese and Japanese, AKKHARA is lightweight and easy to maintain. As an application case of AKKHARA, this study illustrates the realization of a Romanization-based Myanmar input method using the Unicode standard. A version of AKKHARA for Microsoft Windows was released that supports Unicode characters with customizable functions for rewriting rule editions.