[XeTeX] using different fonts for one language (Syriac)

[Ulrike Fischer]

Am Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:01:50 +0100 schrieb Philip Taylor (Webmaster,
Ret'd):

>> Text with "western script" can easily use different fonts or
>> variants: You can change the family (\ttfamily, \sffamily,...) or
>> switch to a variant with \itshape. Similar things can naturally be
>> done with other scripts too. Check the fontspec documentation for
>> ideas.
 
> I'm way out of my depth here, but looking at the entry for Syriac
> in Daniels & Bright;s "The World's Writing Systems" is seems to
> me that it would be a major deviation from the intended and
> apparent meaning  of \ttfamily, \slfamily or \itshape
> if one were to try to use them for switching between Estrangelo,
> Serto, Nestorian & Jacobite.  Are there no more better hooks
> that can be used for switching between related scripts that do
> not fall into the categories that Ulrike proposes ?

Well as I said I have no idea what Estrangelo, Serto, Nestorian ...
actually are ;-). So I don't know if a hook should be based on font
categories (like family, shape, series), or on a language switch
(like the \textlatin command in polyglossia) or some meaningful
environment. All I wanted to say is that fontspec contains a lot of
commands which can be used.   


-- 
Ulrike Fischer