Chinese braille

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Chinese braille (盲文mángwén、凸文tūwén) is a braille system for the Chinese language, especially in People's Republic of China. It is different from other braille systems. One Chinese character is generally represented by 1 to 3 Braille cells. Following its sounds, one Chinese syllable is divided into 3 parts; consonant(声母,聲母), vowels + finals (韵母,韻母), and tone (声调,聲調).

Contents

[edit] Symbols

[edit] Consonants

Consonants b c d f g/j h/x r k/q l m n p ch s t z sh zh
Brailles ⠃ ⠉ ⠙ ⠋ ⠛ ⠓ ⠚ ⠅ ⠇ ⠍ ⠝ ⠏ ⠟ ⠎ ⠞ ⠵ ⠱ ⠌

[edit] Vowels + Finals

V + F Brailles
yi/i ⠊
wo/uo ⠕
er ⠗
wu/u ⠥
an ⠧
wei/ui ⠺
yang/iang ⠵
wai/uai ⠽
yuan/uan ⠯
wa/ua ⠿
ou ⠷
ei ⠮
yue/ue ⠾
ying/ing ⠡
yin/in ⠣
yan/ian ⠩
yong/iong ⠹
ya/ia ⠫
wan/uan ⠻
you/iu ⠳
ai ⠪
wen/un ⠒
weng/ong ⠲
o/e ⠢
ao ⠖
wang/uang ⠶
ang ⠦
a ⠔
en ⠴
yao/iao ⠜
yu/ü ⠬
eng ⠼
yun/ün ⠸

[edit] Tones

tones 1 2 3 4
Brailles ⠁ ⠂ ⠄ ⠆

[edit] Symbols

Symbols 。 ， ？ ！ ： ； - … ·（中点） （ ） [／]
Brailles ⠐⠆ ⠐ ⠐⠄ ⠰⠂ ⠒ ⠰ ⠠⠤ ⠐⠐⠐ ⠠⠄ ⠰⠄ ⠠⠆ ⠰⠆

[edit] Examples

  • Make spaces a Chinese character.
 Ex) Chinese      时间不早了！
 Ex) Chinese      時間不早了！
     Pin Yin  Shíjiān bù zǎo le!
    
     Braille    ⠱⠊ ⠛⠩ ⠃⠥ ⠵⠖ ⠇⠢⠰⠂
  • If it is not obvious, the tone is represented immediately after the final.

[edit] Ambiguities and future of Chinese Braille

It can be seen from the above tables that some of the initials and finals are ambiguous (that is, the same dot pattern can mean more than one initial or final). Frequently this ambiguity is resolved by the fact that not all combinations of initial and final make sense. However, there remain the following complete syllables that are still ambiguous (all of the following syllables are actually used in the language, according to the Unihan database):

  • gu and ju (both can be used with tones 1, 2, 3 and 4)
  • guan and juan (both can be used with tones 1, 3 and 4)
  • ku and qu (both can be used with tones 1, 3 and 4)
  • kuan and quan (both can be used with tones 1, 3 and 4, although if only characters with GB-2312 mappings are taken into account then the conflict occurs only on tones 1 and 3)
  • kun and qun (both can be used with tones 1 and 3)
  • hu and xu (both can be used with tones 1, 2, 3 and 4)
  • huan and xuan (both can be used with tones 1, 2, 3 and 4)
  • hun and xun (both can be used with tones 1, 2 and 4)
  • e and yo (both can be used with tones 1, 2 and 4)

The above ambiguities are not necessarily a problem if the syllables are used in a sentence, the reader is fluent with the language, and the syllables are part of a normal word (rather than, for example, a Chinese transcription of an unfamiliar foreign name). However, if the reader is not fluent or if the text is something unusual then the ambiguities can be a problem.

The following additional ambiguities are less serious:

  • le and lo (both can be used with neutral tone) can easily be distinguished from context
  • me and mo (both can be used with neutral tone): according to Unihan, the associated hanzi characters themselves can all be read as either "me" or "mo", except for 庅 which has no mapping to GB-2312 and is therefore seldom if ever used in PRC
  • gun and jun: both can be used with tones 1, 3 and 4, but when only characters with GB-2312 mappings are taken into account, the clash is only on tone 4, and gun4 is used much less frequently than jun4 (the only character with a GB-2312 mapping and a gun4 reading is 棍 and it can usually be identified from the context)

There is some talk of reforming Chinese Braille in the future to reduce ambiguities, but it is unclear how this is progressing.

[edit] References

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