iPad polytonic greek keyboard doesn't have a circumflex?

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iPad polytonic greek keyboard doesn't have a circumflex?

I'm in an Ancient Greek class and I use my iPad for everything that I do at school. I was excited when I realized that the iOS supports Greek as an international keyboard! Additionally, I use a bluetooth keyboard, therefore I can utilize the "polytonic greek" hardware keyboard setting. This works much better for ancient greek.

Everything is great, however I can't seem to find the "circumflex" accent. This is very important to the language. As far as I know, there are only 3 accents (and 2 breath-marks) in koine greek. I thought it was weird that all of them are available except the circumflex.

After further investigation, I realized that the English keyboard has circumflex (alt + i), except this doesn't help me. A circumflex is positioned on top of a greek vowel. It wont let me select the circumflex under the English keyboard then switch over to Greek. Overall, I find it ironic that the English keyboard offers a circumflex (though we don't use it in our spelling) but the Greek keyboard doesn't have it (though it's a major part of their language).

Any help or advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

iPad 2, iOS 5.1.1

Posted on Jun 8, 2012 1:45 PM

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Answer 1

Tom Gewecke

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Jun 8, 2012 2:23 PM in response to NickErtel

I think Apple's Greek Polytonic keyboard layout uses the tilde convention for circumflex. It is located just to the right of the P/π.

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Answer 2

Jun 8, 2012 2:29 PM in response to NickErtel

On your hardware keyboard use the 'ALT/OPTION' key plus the i to get your circumflex up, the circumflex will be highlighted, (^) release the keys, then hold the shift key and select your letter (Î Ê Â etc), which will be inserted with the circumflex.

regards, Ct

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Answer 3

Tom Gewecke

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Jun 8, 2012 2:45 PM in response to Coppertiger

Coppertiger wrote:

On your hardware keyboard use the 'ALT/OPTION' key plus the i to get your circumflex up,

He's asking about it for the Greek Polytonic keyboard layout, not the US English layout. Your suggestion only applies to the latter.

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Answer 4

NickErtel Author

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Jun 8, 2012 2:50 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

I think you're referring to the ῀ (as in "niño") however, like you said, that is a "tilde". I did a little research and it turns out that the tilde was first used in polytonic orthography of ancient Greek. It was a variant of the circumflex. So, your suggestion was pretty close.

Unfortunately, I cannot use a tilde to replace a circumflex for my class. It's a close second, but I can't use it. My professor requires the official circumflex: ˆ

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Answer 5

KiltedTim

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Jun 8, 2012 2:54 PM in response to NickErtel

Switch to Latin. 😉

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Answer 6

NickErtel Author

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Jun 8, 2012 2:57 PM in response to NickErtel

btw: I just realized something. In my last comment, it appeared to be a tilde before I posted. However, after I posted the comment, my first tilde turned into a circumflex but the second one (above the n in "nino") stayed the same. That's weird. It types as a tilde on my iPad.

Interesting.

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Answer 7

Jun 8, 2012 3:14 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Correct - but I have the Greek polytonic keyboard set for hardware in keyboards, and using the ALT/OPTION key pressed lets me type the greek characters. A layout diagram assists in correct character selection. However, I take your comment on board that this not necessarily the solution the poster was looking for. Thankyou for your direction.

Best regards, Ct

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Answer 8

Tom Gewecke

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Jun 8, 2012 3:22 PM in response to Coppertiger

Coppertiger wrote:

using the ALT/OPTION key pressed lets me type the greek characters.

Do let us know if you find a way to type circumflex over those greek characters on an iPad.

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Answer 9

Tom Gewecke

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Jun 8, 2012 3:31 PM in response to NickErtel

NickErtel wrote:

My professor requires the official circumflex: ˆ

I don't think I have seen anyone use that recently. If not a tilde, then people use an inverted breve. The technical term for the accent is perispomeni. Try using different fonts -- a few replace the tilde by the inverted breve, but I am not sure if the iPad has any like that.

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Answer 10

Tom Gewecke

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118,452 points

Jun 8, 2012 4:05 PM in response to NickErtel

PS In OS X you can get perispomeni represented as an inverted breve instead of a tilde by using these fonts: Arial Unicode, Geneva, Helvetica, Times.

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Answer 11

NickErtel Author

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Jun 8, 2012 4:17 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Tom,

Thanks for the tip! I've realized it is not a keyboard problem, but a font problem. To summarize, mostly all serif fonts use the Tilde instead of the circumflex. San-serif fonts use the circumflex.

Once I started scrolling through fonts, it all made since. I originally was using Times New Roman (because it portrayed the greek letters very similar to my textbook). However, once I highlighted the tilde and changed to a san-serif font, it changed to a circumflex. This would also explain why my tilde turned into a circumflex one I posted it to the apple discussion board (Apple uses a san-serif font for their discussion board posts).

While I was researching the problem, I came across this article about unicode fonts and their usage of the tilde, circumflex, and the perispomeni. Pretty interesting if anyone wants to read it:

Read section 1.2

http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/unicode/gkdiacritics.html

Thanks again for your help!

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Answer 12

Tom Gewecke

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118,452 points

Jun 8, 2012 5:11 PM in response to NickErtel

NickErtel wrote:

http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/unicode/gkdiacritics.html

A very useful reference, thanks!

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Answer 13

Jun 8, 2012 5:17 PM in response to NickErtel

Load the romanian font under Settings\General\Keyboard Use the web sign on your ipad keypad to switch between greek and romanian - hold your finger on the i and then select your î

The following is a useful reference too

http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/unicode/gkdiacritics.html

Regards, Ct

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Answer 14

Tom Gewecke

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118,452 points

Jun 8, 2012 6:39 PM in response to Coppertiger

Coppertiger wrote:

hold your finger on the i and then select your î

But that produces Romanian characters, not Greek.

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Answer 15

Nov 21, 2012 1:17 AM in response to NickErtel

I have a cludge of a workaround. It's not the most elegant solution.. And the real answer is probably "request that apple add polytonic greek support"

But if your trying to type on your ipad when your Bluetooth keyboard is not around..

I have shortcuts for every option:

Settings -> General -> Keyboard -> add new shortcut

Paste a combo and use what you think it should be as you "shortcut" (more like a long-cut)

So for ῶ or any vowel with a circumflex, I have a shortcut that is vowel immediately followed by ΅

You can make the, whatever you want.

For aspirant mark, I follow whatever it is with a comma like so.. ἤ

Easy at the beginning of a word, but painful in the middle at the beginning of a word press space and then delete a space and keep going, in the middle of a word you need a spacembeforemthe vowel, then move the cursor to delete that space.

Maybe I should repeat that we should all request Apple Support Feedback should just add polytonic support?

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