Text Input in Indic Scripts Anirudha Joshi Industrial Design Centre, IIT Bombay

Tele-density Share Urban 148% 62% Rural 40% 38% (Jan 2013, TRAI) Illiterate (26%) Illiterate (35%) Primary school (14%) Middle school (9%) Metric (8%) HSC / Diploma (4%) Graduates (3.7%)

Source: The Times of India

How many people in India speak English?

How many people in India prefer to speak in English?

Source: Top 10 Publications 2012 Q1, Hansa Research, MRUS, IRS

Source: An Installation in IDC

Structure of the Devanagari Script 4/20/2017 Structure of the Devanagari Script Vowels अ आ इ ई उ ऊ ए ऐ ओ औ अं अः Vowels Vowel modifiers ◌ ा ि ी ु ू े ै ो ौ ं ः Gutturals क ख ग घ ङ Palatals च छ ज झ ञ Linguals ट ठ ड ढ ण ट ठ ड ढ ण त थ द ध न Consonants Dentals त थ द ध न च छ ज झ ञ Vowels can all be recited in a sing-song manner without break Vowel modifiers appear only when vowels are combined with consonants. प फ ब भ म Labials प फ ब भ म क ख ग घ ङ Semi-vowels य र ल व श ष स ह ळ क्ष ज्ञ 12

Challenges in Text Input in Indian Languages 4/20/2017 Challenges in Text Input in Indian Languages Large number of characters ~660 frequent glyphs 2+ keystrokes = glyph क + ो = को (C + V) क + ो + ं = कों (C + V + V) Difference in pronunciation and visual sequence क + ि = कि Conjuncts (halant ् between two consonants) ट + ् + व = ट्व (C + C) Varying similarity between conjuncts and consonants स + ् + त = स्त क + ् + र = क्र र + ् + क = र्क क + ् + ष = क्ष Vowels अ आ इ ई उ ऊ ए ऐ ओ औ अं अः Vowels Vowel modifiers ◌ ा ि ी ु ू े ै ो ौ ं ः Gutturals क ख ग घ ङ Palatals च छ ज झ ञ Linguals ट ठ ड ढ ण Consonants Dentals त थ द ध न 34+11+10+8 chars req to form the 660 freq occuring glyphs Complex script More than one keystroke ex. Other challenges add to the complexity of input in Devanagari Labials प फ ब भ म Semi-vowels य र ल व श ष स ह ळ क्ष ज्ञ

Text Input in Indic Languages QWERTY keyboard for Devanagari input Devanagari needs 52 keys (13 vowels, 34 consonants, 4 conjuncts, 1 halant) QWERTY has 26 un-shifted keys Leads to cognitive load on users Complex structure of Indic scripts (G > K) Large number of glyphs Need much training and practice 30-50 hours to reach 25 wpm Slow starts Only professional typists put in the effort QWERTY is not suitable

Source: Anshuman Kumar

Task Success /5 Users Without help Total p (one tailed) p (one tailed) Nokia (0.208) Samsung (0.195) Sony (0.001) Total p (one tailed) Nokia (0.000) Samsung (0.010) Sony (0.000)

Disha

Swarachakra

Inscript

Oct 2013 Jun 2013 Aug 2013 Jan 2014