U+1ACB COMBINING TRIPLE ACUTE ACCENT has no small-caps variant

[dscorbett]

Fonts

NotoSans-Regular.otf
NotoSansMono-Regular.otf
NotoSerif-Regular.otf

Where the fonts came from, and when

Site: https://github.com/notofonts/latin-greek-cyrillic/releases/tag/NotoSans-v2.011
Site: https://github.com/notofonts/latin-greek-cyrillic/releases/tag/NotoSansMono-v2.012
Site: https://github.com/notofonts/latin-greek-cyrillic/releases/tag/NotoSerif-v2.010
Date: 2023-04-16

Font versions

Noto Sans: Version 2.011
Noto Sans Mono: Version 2.012
Noto Serif: Version 2.010

Issue

U+1ACB COMBINING TRIPLE ACUTE ACCENT has no small-caps variant. If U+0301 COMBINING ACUTE ACCENT and U+030B COMBINING DOUBLE ACUTE ACCENT need small-caps variants, presumably so does U+1ACB.

Character data

b́b̋b᫋
U+0062 LATIN SMALL LETTER B
U+0301 COMBINING ACUTE ACCENT
U+0062 LATIN SMALL LETTER B
U+030B COMBINING DOUBLE ACUTE ACCENT
U+0062 LATIN SMALL LETTER B
U+1ACB COMBINING TRIPLE ACUTE ACCENT

Screenshots

[verdy-p]

May be it's not clear with the given screenshots, but base Latin letters are lowercase in smallcaps style, and properly dislpayed, but the single or double accute accents are placed at a lower position (just like other supported diacritics above letters), but not the triple accent.

The effect is not dramatically wrong, just not optimal to match the expected "smallcaps" style for lowercase letters in Latin, Greek, Cyrillic.

---

This may eventually be also the case for the modern Georgian script (Mkedruli for lowercase, plus Mtavruli for its "allcaps" style) that also uses a few generic diacritics above its letters (like the macron, circumflex, and diaeresis), but apparently not this triple accent in known transcriptions for some other Karvelian, Caucasian, Slavic, Turkic, Indo-Aryan and Semitic languages).

I don't know if the two modern Georgian alphabets (which are nominally unicameral) are also used in a bicameral way for transcriptions of other non-Kartvelian languages (an old attempt has been made in the 19th century to use old Assomtavruli for capitals, it was abandoned long before the creation of modern Mtavruli, based on modern Mhedruli letter forms for titling, emphasizing, monumental inscriptions, and modern displays like road indicators, car plates, or advertizing)

As well I don't know if Mkedruli may then need support for "smallcaps" for other non-Kartvelian transcriptions, or for smallprints (e.g. at bottom of contracts or in footnotes at small font sizes, to make them more readable than with basic Mkedruli); but I think that if "smallcaps" has some effect in Georgian, and given that Mtavruli are just already capitalized Mkhedruli letter forms, all the same M-height, whereas Mkedruli has letters with variable height for its ascenders above the x-height, the effect of "smallcaps" on Mkedruli would just convert them to Mtavruli.

If a "smallcaps" style is defined for Georgian, then its lowercase letters should all match the same small height as lowercase, with similar letter forms to those that exist in Mtavruli (the alternative would be to convert lowercase base Mkhedruli letters to Mtavruli and in that case all diacritics above will get the highest position at M-height).

Note also that the Georgian script uses a few vertically stacked diacritics (macron+circumflex) which already require special positioning (mark-to-mark, not just base-to-mark). This may be language-dependant (i.e. needing "locl" feature) for transcription of non-Karvetlian languages: if one of them needs the triple acute accent, then smallcaps support and language-dependant positioning of multiple diacritics would also be needed in Georgian, like it should be done for single and double acute accents, exactly like it should be done in Latin, Greek, Cyrillic.