Burmese Braille

Burmese Braille is the braille alphabet of languages of Burma

Burmese Braille
written in the Burmese script, including Burmese and Karen.
Karen Braille
Letters that may not seem at first glance to correspond to
international norms are more recognizable when traditional
romanization is considered. For example, သ s is rendered ⠹ th,
which is how it was romanized when Burmese Braille was
developed (and is how it often still is romanized); similarly စ c
and ဇ j as ⠎ s and ⠵ z.

The first braille alphabet for Burmese was developed by a Father

Jackson ca. 1918.[1] There was no provision for the voiced
aspirate series of consonants (gh, jh, dh, bh), nor for the retroflex
(tt etc.), and Jackson provided distinct letters for complex onsets
such as ky, hm and for various syllable rimes (ok, ein, aung, etc.),
with no regard to how they are written in the print Burmese
alphabet. These aspects have all been changed, as have several of
the letters for the values which were retained. However, some of
the old letters, unusual by international standards, remain, such as
⠌ for င ng and ⠪ for ◌ ီ i. Type Alphabet
Languages Burmese, Karen
Parent Braille
Contents systems
English Braille?
Charts
Print letters Burmese
Stacked consonants Braille
Print diacritics Print basis Burmese alphabet
Punctuation
References

Charts

Print letters
The letters in print Burmese transcribe consonants and, in syllable-initial position, vowels. The
consonants each have a corresponding letter in braille, but the initial (stand-alone) vowels in print are in
braille all written ⠰ plus the letter for the appropriate diacritic (see next section). The consonant ny has
two forms in print which are distinct in braille as well.[2][3]
 Braille

Print က ခ ဂ ဃ င စ ဆ ဇ ဈ ည
Roman k kh g gh ng c ch j jh ny

Braille

Print ဋ ဌ ဍ ဎ ဏ တ ထ ဒ ဓ န
Roman tt tth dd ddh nn t th d dh n

Braille

Print ပ ဖ ဗ ဘ မ ယ ရ လ ဝ သ
Roman p ph b bh m y r l1 w s

Braille

Print ဟ ဠ အ (initial
ဉ
vowel)
Roman h l ' -ny-

Stacked consonants
The stacking of consonants (conjuncts) in print is indicated with ⠤ in braille. That is, Burmese Braille
has two viramas, one corresponding to print virama (see next section), and one corresponding to stacking.
For example, ကမာ kambha "world" is written ⠅ ⠍ ⠤ ⠃ ⠁ .[4]

Print diacritics
The diacritics in print, which transcribe both vowels and consonants, are rendered as follows in Karen
Braille.[3]

Braille

Print ◌ာ ◌ါ ိ ◌ ီ ◌ ◌ ◌ ေ◌ ဲ ◌ ? ံ ◌ ◌

Roman -a[5] -i. -i -u. -u -e -ai: [6] -m -ing

 Braille

Print ◌ျ ြ◌ ်
◌ ွ ◌ ှ ◌ ့◌ ◌း (initial
vowel)
Roman -y- -r- (virama) -w- h- -.[7] -:[8]

⠰ is used to mark syllable- or word-initial vowels, which have distinct letters in the Burmese print
alphabet. For example,

braille ⠰ ⠑ is print ဥ u.,

⠰⠑⠪⠆ = ဦး u:,
⠰⠱ = ဧ e,
⠰⠊ = ဣ i.,
and ⠰⠪ = ဤ i.

Punctuation
The following punctuation is specific to Burmese. (See Burmese alphabet#Punctuation for an
explanation.) Western punctuation presumably uses Western braille conventions.

Braille ? ?

Print ၍ ၏ ၌ ၎င်း ၊ ။
Roman (..and..) . @ (ditto) , .

References
1. World Braille Usage, UNESCO, 1954.
2. World Braille Usage (http://www.pharmabraille.com/LiteratureRetrieve.aspx?ID=122064),
UNESCO, 2013
3. Karen Braille chart (http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/braille/ExhibitionItems/ExhibitObjects/Karen
Braille.aspx?Enlarge=true&ImageId=390cdf2b-0a6b-494d-891e-8efd35d34982%3abe9e061
d-d96e-4cfb-a2ce-293e24a9602f%3a37&PersistentId=1%3a390cdf2b-0a6b-494d-891e-8efd
35d34982%3a4&ReturnUrl=%2fExhibitions%2fbraille%2fExhibitionItems%2fExhibitObject
s%2fKarenBraille.aspx) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20131109003359/http://mylo
c.gov/Exhibitions/braille/ExhibitionItems/ExhibitObjects/KarenBraille.aspx?Enlarge=true&Im
ageId=390cdf2b-0a6b-494d-891e-8efd35d34982%3Abe9e061d-d96e-4cfb-a2ce-293e24a96
02f%3A37&PersistentId=1%3A390cdf2b-0a6b-494d-891e-8efd35d34982%3A4&ReturnUrl
=%2FExhibitions%2Fbraille%2FExhibitionItems%2FExhibitObjects%2FKarenBraille.aspx)
November 9, 2013, at the Wayback Machine at the LoC
4. The sources used for this article are not explicit on the order of the braille letters.
5. Low tone
6. Labeled as a visarga, like ⠆ ◌း. However, it looks like the virama ◌ ်.
7. Creaky tone
 8. High tone

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This page was last edited on 3 November 2019, at 18:25 (UTC).

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