Zambian Braille is any of several braille alphabets of Zambia. It has been developed for the languages Bemba, Chewa, Lozi, Kaonde, Lunda, Luvale, and Tonga.
| Zambian Braille | |
|---|---|
| Script type | alphabet
|
Print basis | Bemba alphabet |
| Languages | Bemba, Chewa, Kaonde, Lozi, Lunda, Luvale, Tonga |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | Braille
|
It is based on the 26 letters of the basic braille alphabet used for Grade-1 English Braille, so the print digraph ch is written as a digraph ⠉⠓ in braille as well. The letter ñ/ŋ [ŋ] of several of the print alphabets is distinguished from the sequence ng [ŋɡ] with an apostrophe: ⠝⠛⠄ ñ, as in the equivalent ng’ of print Bemba. The various alphabets, including digraphs that occur in any one of them, can thus be summarized as:
a
b
bb
c
cc
ch
d
e
f
g
h
hh
i
j
k
kh
kk
l
m
n
ñ, ŋ, ng’
o
p
ph
q
r
s
sh
th
t
u
v
w
x
y
z
Bemba has the basic alphabet plus ng’, sh, and in some orthographies ch in place of c. Chewa (Nyanja) has ch; Lozi, Lunda and Kaonde have ch, sh, and ñ; Luvale has ch, sh, ph, kh, th; and Tonga has ch, sh, bb, cc, hh, kk, and ŋ.
Numbers and punctuation are as in traditional English Braille.
References
- UNESCO (2013) World Braille Usage, 3rd edition.
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