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.
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 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,

⠅ (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)
ㄨㄛ ˊ ˇ ㄧㄢ ˇ ˋ ˋ ˋ
guó diǎn hào

Charts

Initials

Zhuyin
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 consonantsj (/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
MoeKai Bopomofo U+312D.svg
/ㄦ
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 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 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 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

MoeKai Bopomofo U+312D.svg
-i ([ɨ]), which is not written in zhuyin, and the rime ㄦ er ([ɐɚ]). See for example 斯 () 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 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