Amharic Braille

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Amharic Braille
Amharic Braille chart.jpg
Type
alphabet
Languages Amharic
Parent systems
Braille
Print basis
Amharic alphabet

Amharic Braille is the braille alphabet of the Amharic language. Letter values are mostly in line with international usage.

Braille Tactile writing system for blind and visually impaired people

Braille is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired. It is traditionally written with embossed paper. Braille users can read computer screens and other electronic supports using refreshable braille displays. They can write braille with the original slate and stylus or type it on a braille writer, such as a portable braille notetaker or computer that prints with a braille embosser.

Contents


Alphabet

Amharic Braille is a consonant–vowel alphabet, not an abugida like the print Amharic script. However, because the alphabetic chart (right) is organized by syllable rather than by letter, the vowels, which do not occur alone, are listed given first in the chart below, then the consonants are listed in Ge'ez order.

Abugida writing system

An abugida, or alphasyllabary, is a segmental writing system in which consonant–vowel sequences are written as a unit: each unit is based on a consonant letter, and vowel notation is secondary. This contrasts with a full alphabet, in which vowels have status equal to consonants, and with an abjad, in which vowel marking is absent, partial, or optional. The terms also contrast them with a syllabary, in which the symbols cannot be split into separate consonants and vowels. Abugidas include the extensive Brahmic family of scripts of South and Southeast Asia, Semitic Ethiopic scripts, and Canadian Aboriginal syllabics.

The syllabic chart at right shows a blank cell being used for the vowel ə. This is perhaps an artefact of the presentation; Unesco (2013) shows it as a zero vowel that is simply not written. [1]

Braille QuestionMark.svg
Braille U.svg
-u
Braille I9.svg
-i
Braille A1.svg
-a
Braille E5.svg
-e
Braille O.svg
-o
Braille X.svg
-wa
Braille H8.svg
h ሀ
Braille L.svg
l ለ
Braille E.svg
ḥ ሐ
Braille M.svg
m መ
Braille S.svg
ś ሠ
Braille R.svg
r ረ
Braille O.svg
s ሰ
Braille SH.svg
š ሸ
Braille Q.svg
ḳ ቀ
Braille B2.svg
b በ
Braille T.svg
t ተ
Braille A.svg
č ቸ
Braille U.svg
ḫ ኀ
Braille N.svg
n ነ
Braille O.svg
ñ ኘ
Braille A.svg
ʾ አ
Braille K.svg
k ከ
Braille QuoteOpen.svg
x ኸ
Braille W.svg
w ወ
Braille U.svg
ʿ ዐ
Braille Z.svg
z ዘ
Braille QuoteClose.svg
ž ዠ
Braille Y.svg
y የ
Braille D4.svg
d ደ
Braille J0.svg
ǧ ጀ
Braille G7.svg
g ገ
Braille U.svg
ṭ ጠ
Braille C3.svg
č̣ ጨ
Braille ExclamationPoint.svg
p̣ ጰ
Braille E.svg
ṣ ጸ
Braille AND.svg
ṣ́ ፀ
Braille F6.svg
f ፈ
Braille P.svg
p ፐ
Braille V.svg
v ቨ

ə is not the default vowel in print Amharic, which is instead ä (braille ). For example, el + vowel is written ለ , ሉ lu, ሊ li, ላ la, ሌ le, ል , ሎ lo, ሏ lwa.

CwV and CyV other than Cwa are written with medial w and y: ገ , ጉ gu, ጊ gi, ጋ ga, ጌ ge, ግ , ጎ go, ጐ gwä, ጒ gwi, ጓ gwa, ጔ gwe, ጕ gwə. Note that Cwə is written as if it were Cwu, a sequence which does not occur in Amharic.

Numbers

Amharic digits do not follow the international pattern. They are also circumfixed with ... :

A circumfix is an affix which has two parts, one placed at the start of a word, and the other at the end. Circumfixes contrast with prefixes, attached to the beginnings of words; suffixes, attached at the end; and infixes, inserted in the middle. Circumfixes are common in Malay and Georgian.

1 10
2 20
3 30
4 40
5 50
6 60
7 70
8 80
9 90
10 100

The form of 100 suggests that the prefix may occur before each digit, while the suffix occurs only at the end of the number.

Western numbers are marked with as in other braille alphabets.

Punctuation

Native punctuation is as follows:

Print
Braille Braille Apostrophe.svg Braille CapitalSign.svg Braille Period.svg Braille Comma.svg Braille Semicolon.svg Braille Colon.svg Braille QuoteOpen.svg Braille ContractionPrefix.svg

The last is a 'tonal mark'.

There is also Western punctuation:

Print?!... - / *
Braille Braille QuoteOpen.svg Braille ExclamationPoint.svg Braille Apostrophe.svg Braille Apostrophe.svg Braille Apostrophe.svg Braille Colon.svg Braille Colon.svg Braille Hyphen.svg Braille Hyphen.svg Braille ContractionPrefix.svg Braille Comma.svg Braille Asterisk.svg Braille Asterisk.svg
Print « ... » ‹ ... › ( ... ) [ ... ]
Braille Braille QuoteOpen.svg Braille NULL.svg Braille QuoteClose.svg Braille CapitalSign.svg Braille QuoteOpen.svg Braille NULL.svg Braille QuoteClose.svg Braille Apostrophe.svg Braille Bracket.svg Braille NULL.svg Braille Bracket.svg Braille CapitalSign.svg Braille Bracket.svg Braille NULL.svg Braille Bracket.svg Braille Apostrophe.svg

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References

  1. Unesco (2013), World Braille Usage, 3rd ed.