Taiwanese Braille
⠅⠒⠂⠳⠈⠀⠙⠞⠈⠓⠱⠐
Script type
Print basis
Zhuyin
LanguagesStandard Mandarin
Related scripts
Parent systems
Night writing
A quadriscriptal text in Chinese and Roman print and braille. In the lower right corner is the character 結 jié, written in braille as ⠅⠬⠂ gyé; compare 西 xī at the center top, rendered in braille as ⠑⠡⠄ syī.

Taiwanese Braille is the braille script used in Taiwan for Taiwanese Mandarin (Guoyu).[1] Although based marginally on international braille, most consonants have been reassigned;[2] also, like Chinese Braille, Taiwanese Braille is a semi-syllabary.

An example is,

國 語 點 字 記 號
⠅ (braille pattern dots-13) ⠒ (braille pattern dots-25) ⠂ (braille pattern dots-2) ⠳ (braille pattern dots-1256) ⠈ (braille pattern dots-4) ⠙ (braille pattern dots-145) ⠞ (braille pattern dots-2345) ⠈ (braille pattern dots-4) ⠓ (braille pattern dots-125) ⠱ (braille pattern dots-156) ⠐ (braille pattern dots-5) ⠅ (braille pattern dots-13) ⠡ (braille pattern dots-16) ⠐ (braille pattern dots-5) ⠗ (braille pattern dots-1235) ⠩ (braille pattern dots-146) ⠐ (braille pattern dots-5)
ㄍ ㄨㄛ ˊ ㄩ ˇ ㄉ ㄧㄢ ˇ ㄗ ㄭ ˋ ㄐ ㄧ ˋ ㄏ ㄠ ˋ
guó yǔ diǎn zì jì hào

Charts

Initials

Zhuyin ㄅ ㄆ ㄇ ㄈ ㄉ ㄊ ㄋ ㄌ ㄍ ㄎ ㄏ ㄐ ㄑ ㄒ ㄓ ㄔ ㄕ ㄖ ㄗ ㄘ ㄙ
Pinyin b p m f d t n l g k h j q x zh ch sh r z c s
Braille ⠕ (braille pattern dots-135) ⠏ (braille pattern dots-1234) ⠍ (braille pattern dots-134) ⠟ (braille pattern dots-12345) ⠙ (braille pattern dots-145) ⠋ (braille pattern dots-124) ⠝ (braille pattern dots-1345) ⠉ (braille pattern dots-14) ⠅ (braille pattern dots-13) ⠇ (braille pattern dots-123) ⠗ (braille pattern dots-1235) ⠅ (braille pattern dots-13) ⠚ (braille pattern dots-245) ⠑ (braille pattern dots-15) ⠁ (braille pattern dots-1) ⠃ (braille pattern dots-12) ⠊ (braille pattern dots-24) ⠛ (braille pattern dots-1245) ⠓ (braille pattern dots-125) ⠚ (braille pattern dots-245) ⠑ (braille pattern dots-15)

The braille letters for zhuyin/pinyin ㄍ g (/k/), ㄘ c (/tsʰ/), and ㄙ s (/s/) double for the alveolo-palatal consonants ㄐ j (/tɕ/), ㄑ q (/tɕʰ/), and ㄒ x (/ɕ/).[3] The latter are followed by close front vowels, namely ㄧ i (/i/) and ㄩ ü (/y/), so the distinction between g, c, s (or z, k, h) and j, q, x in zhuyin and pinyin is redundant.

Medial + rime

Each medial + rime in zhuyin is written with a single letter in braille.

Zhuyin /ㄦ ㄚ ㄛ ㄜ ㄝ ㄞ ㄟ ㄠ ㄡ ㄢ ㄣ ㄤ ㄥ
Pinyin -i/er a o e ê ai ei ao ou an en ang eng
Braille ⠱ (braille pattern dots-156) ⠜ (braille pattern dots-345) ⠣ (braille pattern dots-126) ⠮ (braille pattern dots-2346) ⠢ (braille pattern dots-26) ⠺ (braille pattern dots-2456) ⠴ (braille pattern dots-356) ⠩ (braille pattern dots-146) ⠷ (braille pattern dots-12356) ⠧ (braille pattern dots-1236) ⠥ (braille pattern dots-136) ⠭ (braille pattern dots-1346) ⠵ (braille pattern dots-1356)
Zhuyin ㄧ ㄧㄚ ㄧㄛ ㄧㄝ ㄧㄞ ㄧㄠ ㄧㄡ ㄧㄢ ㄧㄣ ㄧㄤ ㄧㄥ
Pinyin i ia io ie iai iao iu ian in iang ing
Braille ⠡ (braille pattern dots-16) ⠾ (braille pattern dots-23456) ⠴ (braille pattern dots-356) ⠬ (braille pattern dots-346) ⠢ (braille pattern dots-26) ⠪ (braille pattern dots-246) ⠎ (braille pattern dots-234) ⠞ (braille pattern dots-2345) ⠹ (braille pattern dots-1456) ⠨ (braille pattern dots-46) ⠽ (braille pattern dots-13456)
Zhuyin ㄨ ㄨㄚ ㄨㄛ ㄨㄞ ㄨㄟ ㄨㄢ ㄨㄣ ㄨㄤ ㄨㄥ
Pinyin u ua uo uai ui uan un uang ong
Braille ⠌ (braille pattern dots-34) ⠔ (braille pattern dots-35) ⠒ (braille pattern dots-25) ⠶ (braille pattern dots-2356) ⠫ (braille pattern dots-1246) ⠻ (braille pattern dots-12456) ⠿ (braille pattern dots-123456) ⠸ (braille pattern dots-456) ⠯ (braille pattern dots-12346)
Zhuyin ㄩ ㄩㄝ ㄩㄢ ㄩㄣ ㄩㄥ
Pinyin ü üe üan ün iong
Braille ⠳ (braille pattern dots-1256) ⠦ (braille pattern dots-236) ⠘ (braille pattern dots-45) ⠲ (braille pattern dots-256) ⠖ (braille pattern dots-235)

⠱ is used for both the empty rime -i ([ɨ]), which is not written in zhuyin, and the rime ㄦ er ([ɐɚ]). See for example 斯 sī (⠑⠱⠄) located above the word Daguerre in the image at right.

Tone Marks

Tone: 1 2 3 4 0
Zhuyin — ˊ ˇ ˋ ˙
Pinyin ˉ ˊ ˇ ˋ —
Braille ⠄ ⠂ ⠈ ⠐ ⠁

Tone is always marked.[4] This includes toneless syllables such as 了 le, rendered ⠉⠮⠁lė in the image above-right.

Punctuation marks

Punctuation[5]

Print 。 ・ ， ； 、 ？ ！ ：
Braille ⠤ ⠆ ⠰ ⠠ ⠕ ⠇ ⠒⠒
Print ＿＿ ﹏﹏ …… — —— —— ※ ◎
Braille ⠰⠰ ⠠⠤ ⠐⠐⠐ ⠐⠂ ⠐⠂ ⠐⠂ ⠈⠼ ⠪⠕
Print 「 ... 」 『 ... 』 （ ... ） 〔 ... 〕 ｛ ... ｝
Braille ⠰⠤ ... ⠤⠆ ⠦⠦ ... ⠴⠴ ⠪ ... ⠕ ⠯ ... ⠽ ⠦ ... ⠴

References

  1. ^ Not for Taiwanese Hokkien, which commonly goes by the name "Taiwanese"
  2. ^ Only p m d n g c a e ê ü (from p m d n k j ä è dropped-e ü) approximate the French norm. Other letters have been reassigned so that the sets of letters in groups such as d t n l and g k h are similar in shape.
  3. ^ [sic] One might expect ㄐ j (/tɕ/) to pair with ㄗ z (/ts/), by analogy with the others. Compare here, where the character 學 xué is rendered ⠑⠦⠂ "süé". Historically it could have been either. The principal behind the assignments seems to be that, of the historically appropriate pairs of letters g~z, k~c, and h~s, the letter with the fewer dots is used for j, q, x.
  4. ^ "JAPANESE BRAILLE. : languagehat.com". languagehat.com. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
  5. ^ 萬明美, 2001, 「視障教育」, 五南圖書出版股份有限公司, p. 74 ff

External links

Braille ⠃⠗⠁⠊⠇⠇⠑
Chinese language or Sinitic languages
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