We know that in Navajo, the ogonek should be centered, whereas in Polish (Ą, Ę, ą, ę) and Lithuanian (Ą, Ę, Į, Ų, ą, ę, į, ų), it should be attached to the rightmost part of the letter (except for Ų, where it's centered if the U doesn't have a downward stroke at the right side).
What does that mean for Lithuanian "Į" and "į"? If there is neither a serif nor a curved terminal at the bottom, then there is only one choice: attach the ogonek to the stem. If there is a curved terminal, the ogonek gets attached to the terminal. But what happens if there is a serif at the bottom, and in particular, if the serif is as large as in, say, Courier? Do Lithuanians attach the ogonek to the stem in this case, or is the serif considered as an integral part of the letter, so that the ogonek gets attached to the right end of the serif instead?
Comments
In this design, I've applied the same method to the Ą. In some others I have opted for the approach that replaces the inner serif.
I always center the origin on the stem on the I,i, because it would float otherwise in a sans.
In this case the serif ceases to function as a serif (especially in sans-serif fonts) and makes the letter become a different fundamental letterform, like a vs ɑ or g vs ɡ. It is a solid horizontal stem, and the ogonek anchors to it.
We don't https://github.com/adobe-fonts/source-sans/issues/75#issuecomment-77129302
While several Navajo works have centered ogoneks plenty also have right ogoneks including high quality typography works.
On further inspection, the high quality typography works using right ogoneks more than centered ogoneks seem to be the more dated ones. The more recent Navajo works use centered ogoneks.
The logical decision for type designers, then, would be to include BOTH a version with a right and centered ogoneks, one of them being the main one used in the font, and the other one - accessible as an alternative feature. In this way, no corners are cut, and nobody has cause to complain.
Do you agree?
Yes, having options is good, particulary since some users feel strongly about the position of the ogonek in Navajo, centered ogoneks should be available through the locl feature and/or a cvXX feature or a ssXX feature, and of course the aalt feature.
To somewhat go back to the original topic. There are other historical variants of the ogonek that have been used in Lithuanian or even in Polish, which may be useful in some corner case contexts. One of these forms was a small oblique stroke at the bottom right of the letters a, e, u but through the center of the i. It was also sometimes a short horizontal stroke on i.
See for example this Blackletter sample with a mix of the current ogonek on e, the oblique stroke ogonek on u and the horizontal stroke on u.