Devanagari: 3.8 Emphasis and Highlights - Bold and Italics are non-native, should not be allowed

[alolita]

https://w3c.github.io/iip/gap-analysis/deva-gap.html#emphasis

Add usage examples based on Latin script styles provided by DTP software applied to Devanagari text.

Issue: Bold and Italics are not allowed in Devanagari based languages. Add tests to support correct behavior.

[r12a]

So how does one indicate emphasis in Devanagari text? Is it purely linguistic, or are other devices used?

[vivekpani]

Bold is used. Italics, underline and other such features aren't.

[kulpreetchilana]

I'm not 100% sure we should discourage the use of Italics for Indic text. At least for Gurmukhi, I've found two samples from pre-1980s that show some semblance of slanted / cursive-style text used for emphasis or added style.

This is from Giani Gurdit Singh's Mera Pind. The first line of every chapter is a couplet in what looks to be synthetically-slanted Gurmukhi (I don't think typesetting software existed for Gurmukhi at the time this was published)

This is a sign board from a village in Punjab with two interesting Italic-style designs used for emphasis.

These samples are from 40+ years ago. Language is constantly changing and evolving, so it's reasonable that cursive / slanted Gurmukhi is accepted as a form of emphasis today. I think the slanted hand-lettering style should be preferred to the synthetically slanted style, but unfortunately I have yet to find a Gurmukhi font in this style.