November Stencil

The ideal proportions for Syllabics forms within a type system pairing with Latin result in the Syllabics being ideally 10-15% shorter than the Latin cap height. Additionally, the wide, open counter proportions inherent in Syllabics character forms result in the need for a significantly wider word space than that of the Latin script. To accommodate these inherent qualities of the Syllabics, November Stencil fonts provide Syllabics-specific word space, punctuation and special character, as well as numeral variants that a tailored to best suit the Syllabics. For more information about this, and other features specific to the Syllabics script, please read this in-depth article on Syllabics typographic guidelines.

In Syllabics typography, there are two notable style traditions: the Round Form styles, which is traditionally used by Inuktut, Nêhiyaw (Cree), and Anishinaabe (Ojibway) Syllabics-using communities, and the Square Form style, which is the form that users of the Dene Syllabics identify with. These systems differ typographically in their proportional relationships, particularly in the contrast of full and medium height syllabic characters and uni-height letters, and width proportions. November Stencil fonts come in both versions.

There is a local preference in Nunavik communities for the angma (ᖕ) finals character, which takes the graphical representation of a combination of ᓐ + ᒃ. This is in contrast to the local preference for this same character in Nunavut Inuktut communities who use Syllabics, who prefer the sequence ᓐ + ᒡ = ᖕ, which is the default representation of this character in Unicode.This is the same character with the same phonetic value across all communities, only that users from each community identify with their locally-preferred form. November Stencil fonts provide both form preferences.

The Dakelh (Carrier) Syllabics diverge quite considerably from the other Syllabics orthographies used within Indigenous communities across Canada, and as such, there are many differences between the Carrier Syllabics and the Algonquian, Inuktut, or Dene Syllablics in regards to orthographic and typographic requirements. For several decades, the Dakelh Syllabics were incorrectly represented in the Unicode code charts, and therefore in many common Syllabics typefaces. Typotheque submitted this proposal to the Unicode Consortium to ammend the Syllabics code charts to correct the Dakelh Syllabics glyph representation. These revisions are present in the November Stencil fonts, accommodating the Syllabics forms that Dakleh users expect. Watch this video to learn more about our work in collaboration with the Dakelh and Nattilik local Indigenous communities in the Syllabics project.