Skip to main content

Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developers.remeinium.com/docs/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Understanding how Singlish maps English characters to Sinhala phonemes is key to using the library effectively.

​
Phonetic Transliteration

Singlish uses a phonetic mapping scheme, inspired by the standard method popularized by Helakuru. This means you type the sound of the letter rather than the key position (as in Wijesekara layout).
Writing using the Phonetic Method “The Phonetic Method is a Sinhalese typing system first introduced by Helakuru for mobile phone keyboards. It allows you to type Sinhala characters by using English letters that match their sound.” — Helakuru.lk
We acknowledge and credit Helakuru for their innovation in establishing this now-standard mapping for digital Sinhala typing.
  • Short vowels: a (අ), i (ඉ), u (උ), e (එ), o (ඔ)
  • Long vowels: Double the letter (aa -> ආ, ii -> ඊ)
  • Consonant base tokens: A bare consonant maps to a hal form (k -> ක්, g -> ග්).
  • Inherent vowel commit: Appending a commits the consonant with inherent vowel (ka -> ක, ga -> ග).
  • Aspirated (Mahaprana): Add h (kh -> ඛ්, kha -> ඛ).
  • Retroflex / legacy forms: Uppercase and specific digraphs map to retroflex/aspirated variants (D -> ඪ්, Da -> ඪ, N -> ණ්).

​
Greedy Tokenization

The engine uses a greedy tokenization strategy. It always tries to match the longest possible pattern from the current position. Example: zdha vs z + d + h + a The engine checks patterns in descending order of length:
  1. Does zdha match a known pattern? Yes (Matches SANYAKA_DHA -> ඳ).
  2. It consumes all 4 characters and outputs ඳ.
If you typed zda:
  1. Does zda match? Yes (Matches SANYAKA_DA -> ඬ).
If you typed ka:
  1. It resolves k as a consonant base with hal (ක්).
  2. Then a applies the inherent vowel commit.
  3. Final output becomes ක.

​
The Trie Structure

To support real-time typing efficiently, Singlish uses a Prefix Trie. This allows the engine to:
  • Instantly validate if the current input could be the start of a longer sequence.
  • “Look ahead” without converting prematurely.
For example, when you type k, the engine converts it to ක් (with hal). If you then type a, the engine sees ka, backtracks/updates the buffer, and produces ක. This buffering is handled transparently by the SinglishIME class and the useSinglishConverter hook.