Zambian Braille

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 English Braille Zambian 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.