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

5. 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%)

6. Source: The Times of India

7. How many people in India speak English?

8. How many people in India prefer to speak in English?

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

11. Source: An Installation in IDC

12. 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

13. 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
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

14. 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

17. Source: Anshuman Kumar

18. 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)

19. Disha

20. Swarachakra

21. Inscript

23. Oct 2013
Jun 2013
Aug 2013
Jan 2014