When determining whether a script is viable for Unicode encoding, it can be helpful to ask a series of cascading questions.

These are guiding principles rather than strict checklists. Ultimately, proposals are interpreted by a group of experts. The criteria often evolve over time, reflecting deeper understanding of a script family’s needs or challenges encountered during implementation.

A script can be broadly defined as a visual system for communication that uses recurring symbols with stable meanings, shared by a social group to represent at least one human language.

Particularly for newly invented scripts, a number of additional considerations are important:

There are no hard-and-fast rules for any of these principles. For instance, there is no minimum number of users required to establish community acceptance, nor is a government letter automatically considered proof of support.

From our experience, the Unicode Technical Committee and Script Encoding Working Group are consensus-driven and risk-averse. If there is any indication of dispute or uncertainty, they are likely to pause and seek further clarification. This caution reflects Unicode’s stability guarantee: once something is encoded, it cannot be removed, so as to ensure the integrity of downstream software. This means a “wrong” decision will remain in the Standard, and motivates its maintainers to thoroughly vet new additions.

In the past, modern scripts have taken slight precedence over historic scripts for having a larger active user community.

Even if prioritized, please note that several years may pass before full implementation of a new script in digital devices becomes available. Unicode is primarily run by volunteers contributing their time to produce the Standard, and so review and inclusion of scripts is affected by the constrained capacity of the group.

Once you’ve determined that a script or character should be added to Unicode, you can begin preparing a proposal.

Refer to Unicode’s proposal template and guidelines for detailed instructions.

Note that at the heart of any script or character proposal is the character-glyph distinction. A character is an abstract unit (e.g., the Latin lowercase “a”) that can have multiple glyphs, or surface forms (e.g., single-storey, double-storey, cursive). 

Unicode encodes characters, not glyphs. But proposals should still include glyph information, especially when contextual variation is involved.

Successful proposals can be found via the Unicode Document Registry and on SEI’s Completed Proposals page. SEI can also provide guidance on relevant examples for specific types of scripts (e.g. historic scripts with large repertoires).

Before submission, we recommend circulating a draft among experts and community members for feedback. SEI can assist in identifying appropriate reviewers. Once finalized, follow Unicode’s instructions for submitting the proposal.

Then take a well-deserved breath—Unicode proposals are long and labor-intensive efforts that often require patience and persistence! The Script Encoding Working Group will typically reply with feedback in the following months. It is normal for a proposal to take 2-3 re-submissions before being recommended for inclusion in the Standard.