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I have defined a mainfont, but have further defined its italics to come from a different font. My question: What is the simplest way to get the "original" main font back just for numbers?

I wish to set up my document with a good serif font with old style numbers. But I also need that font to have well-behaved stacking diacritics for italics. Finding that apparently simple combination is proving quite difficult: my preferred fonts with old-style numbers misbehave with diacritics; the best behaved fonts for diacritics lack old-style numbers.

So I have come up with this dodge:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont{TeX Gyre Pagella}[
    ItalicFont=Gentium Plus Italic,
    Numbers=OldStyle
]

\begin{document}

In 2013 it \textit{looks} new, but in \textit{2019} it won't.

\end{document}

But it leads to this result:

result

I will only rarely need to use italics where numbers are involved. Thus my question: what is the simplest way of pulling the italics old-style numbers from (in this case) TeX Gyre Pagella (the "original" main font), rather than from Gentium Plus (the italics partner)? (I have looked at one or two other Q&As, but the discussions I have found don't quite address this specific issue.)

Update - I haven't been able to crack this one with my neophyte knowledge of TeX. I have now run across these Q&As which either pose a related problem, or suggest a possible approach:

Along with a couple of commentators to this question, I'm still interested in whether any flavour of TeX can solve this general problem, and if so ... how!

Community
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Dɑvïd
  • 465
  • I installed Gentium Plus, but it doesn't appear to have old style numerals. – egreg Feb 27 '16 at 14:22
  • Thanks for checking, egreg - but that's my point! I think I see another possibility though. Perhaps I need to say more about my "use case". About to post a "selfie". :) – Dɑvïd Feb 27 '16 at 14:31
  • I would be interested in a more general answer to that question too, if anyone has the skill to produce it (if even possible without too much hassle). I have a font which is just perfect for everything except numbers and for which I would like a substitute. – ienissei Feb 27 '16 at 19:25
  • @ienissei I too would be interested in a more general answer. Even in OpenType, some typefaces have their old style figures in a separate, small caps font (e.g., Schneidler, from URW++). It would be desirable not to have to surround all numbers with \textsc{} in the source. – Thérèse Feb 28 '16 at 20:26

1 Answers1

1

For my immediate needs, the following "solution" suffices.

Since the "well-behaved diacritics" are only needed for "scientific" transliterations, is there any reason why I shouldn't use this work-around:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont{TeX Gyre Pagella}[Numbers=OldStyle]
\newfontfamily{\Tr}{Gentium Plus Italic}

\begin{document}

In 2013 it \textit{looks} new, but in \textit{2019} it won't.

Using `italics' gives me \textit{hå̄ʾå̄rɛṣ}, but using the \texttt{Tr} `font family', with well-behaved diacritics, I get {\Tr hå̄ʾå̄rɛṣ}.

TeXGP \textit{italics} but GenPlus {\Tr italics}.

\end{document}

This allows for "mainfont" italics (which include old-style numbers) for general "italics" use, but the "well-behaved" font for transliterations. Here's the new result:

new result

Dɑvïd
  • 465
  • The two italics are to similar to my liking. One can see that they are different, but it is not enough to show that it is by purpose. – Ulrike Fischer Feb 27 '16 at 16:08