French Braille is the original braille alphabet, and the basis of all others. The alphabetic order of French has become the basis of the international braille convention, used by most braille alphabets around the world. However, only the 25 basic letters of the French alphabet plus w have become internationalized; the additional letters are largely restricted to French Braille and the alphabets of some neighboring European countries.
The final form of Braille's alphabet, according to Henri (1952). The decade diacritics are listed at left, and the supplementary letters are assigned to the appropriate decade at right. Characters are derived by combining the diacritic on the left with the basic letters at top. "(1)" indicates markers for musical and mathematical notation. Parentheses and quotation marks follow English Braille usage. The number sign is used to create several arithmetical symbols which are no longer in use, or that continue in Antoine notation.
The original French Braille alphabet, according to Loomis (1942). Most accented letters of the 1829 version have been replaced with digraphs, but these are not used today.
The traditional system of digits is to add the number sign ⠼ in front of the letters of the first decade (a–j), with ⠼⠁ being ⟨1⟩ and ⠼⠚ being ⟨0⟩. This is the internationally recognized number system. However, in French Braille a new system, the Antoine braille digits, is used for mathematics and is recommended for all academic publications. This uses ⠠ combined with the first nine letters of the fourth decade, from ⠠⠡ for ⟨1⟩ to ⠠⠪ for ⟨9⟩, with the preceding ⠠⠼ for ⟨0⟩. The period/decimal and fraction bar also change. The Antoine numbers are being promoted in France and Luxembourg, but are not much used in with French Braille in Quebec.
French Braille digits
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Traditional
Antoine
See the punctuation section above for Antoine mathematical notation.
History
A page from an undated early braille textbook, showing both readings, with additional readings not included in Loomis. It is captioned Écritare à l'usage des Aveugles. Procédé de L. Braille. Professeur à l'institut Nl des Jnes Aveugles.
For the early history of braille, including obsolete characters, see 1829 braille.
Readings have changed slightly since modern braille was first published in 1837. The greatest change has been various secondary readings which were added to the alphabet and then abandoned.
Historical readings in Loomis (1942)
dec.
numeric sequence
supp.
a 1
b 2
c 3
d 4
e 5
f 6
g 7
h 8
i 9
j 0
'
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
t
ì ian
æ ien
-
u
v
x
y
z
ç oin
é
à
è
ù ieu
ò ion
(NUM)
â an
ê in
î on
ô un
û eu
ë ou
ï oi
ü ch
œ gn
w (i)ll
(CAP)
(ITAL)
,
;
:
.
?
!
()
«
*
» ×
Similar alphabets
In general, only the assignments of the basic 26 letters of the French alphabet are retained in other braille alphabets. For example, among the additional letters, in German Braille only ü and ö coincide with French Braille. However, there are several alphabets which are much more closely related. Italian Braille is identical to the French apart from doubling up French Braille ò to Italian ó and ò, since French has no ó. Indeed, a principal difference of these alphabets is the remapping of French vowels with a grave accent (à è ì ò ù) to an acute accent (á é í ó ú), as the French alphabet does not support acute accents apart from é. Spanish changes all five of these vowels, as well as taking ü. Portuguese Braille is also very similar to the French, though the shift of grave to acute accents necessitated a chain of other changes, such as circumflex to grave, and the Portuguese tildes were taken from French diaereses (Portuguese ã õ for French ä ö/œ). The continental Scandinavian languages took the extended French letters â (for å), ä/æ, and ö/ø. Vietnamese Braille is also quite similar, though it has added tone letters, and uses French ⠵z for d, which is pronounced like z.
Catalan Braille adds ⠇⠐⠇ for print ⟨l·l⟩, and Spanish Braille uses ⠻ (French ï) for the non-French consonant ñ. Luxembourgish Braille has since switch to eight-point braille, adding a dot at point 8 for the three vowels with accents.
Punctuation and formatting are in general similar as well, though changes in French punctuation over time means that some languages use older French conventions. For example, French parentheses and quotation marks originally had the opposite values they do today, values which remain in English Braille. Other changes have accrued over time, and in some cases vary from country to country. For example, Italian Braille uses the old French quotation marks ⠦⠀⠴ and asterisk ⠔, but also shifted the old French parentheses ⠶⠀⠶ to brackets and innovated ⠢⠀⠔ for parentheses; in addition, it uses point 3, ⠄, for both apostrophe and full stop / period.
A sample of Moon type in various languages including French.
Moon type is a simplification of the Latin alphabet for embossing. An adaptation of French-reading blind people has been proposed.
^ abcdVietnamese à è ì ò ù are written as a tone letter plus a e i o u.
References
Sources
, 2nd edition, 2008
, 1999
M. S. Loomis, 1942, The Braille Reference Book
Pierre Henri, 1952, La vie et l'œvre de Louis Braille, PUF-GIAA, Paris
February 22, 2023
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This article includes a list of references related reading or external links but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations April 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message French Braille is the original braille alphabet and the basis of all others The alphabetic order of French has become the basis of the international braille convention used by most braille alphabets around the world However only the 25 basic letters of the French alphabet plus w have become internationalized the additional letters are largely restricted to French Braille and the alphabets of some neighboring European countries French BrailleScript typeAlphabet non linear CreatorLouis BrailleTime period1837Print basisFrench alphabetLanguagesFrenchRelated scriptsParent systemsnight writingearly brailleFrench BrailleChild systemsEnglish BrailleGerman BrailleArabic Brailleetc etc UnicodeUnicode rangeU 2800 to U 283F Contents 1 Letters 2 Punctuation 3 Formatting and mode 4 Numbers 5 History 6 Similar alphabets 7 Notes 8 References 8 1 SourcesLetters Edit The final form of Braille s alphabet according to Henri 1952 The decade diacritics are listed at left and the supplementary letters are assigned to the appropriate decade at right Characters are derived by combining the diacritic on the left with the basic letters at top 1 indicates markers for musical and mathematical notation Parentheses and quotation marks follow English Braille usage The number sign is used to create several arithmetical symbols which are no longer in use or that continue in Antoine notation The original French Braille alphabet according to Loomis 1942 Most accented letters of the 1829 version have been replaced with digraphs but these are not used today In numerical order by decade the letters are a 1 b 2 c 3 d 4 e 5 f 6 g 7 h 8 i 9 j 0 k l m n o p q r s t u v x y z c e a e u a 1 e 2 i 3 o 4 u 5 e 6 i 7 u 8 œ o 9 wFor the purposes of accommodating a foreign alphabet the letters i a o may be added i ae a oThere are also numerous contractions and abbreviations in French braille Punctuation EditPunctuation is as follows subscript a b c The lower values are readings within numbers after the Antoine number marker see below Formatting and mode EditFormatting and mode changing marks are Capitals Emphasis start end Super script Symbol Currency Traditionalnumber AntoinenumberAs in English Braille the capital sign is doubled for all caps and are used to begin and end emphasis within a word The symbol marker combines with a following initial letter to produce the following amp c The currency marker combines with a following initial for It is also used in comic strips speech bubble thought bubble Numbers EditThe traditional system of digits is to add the number sign in front of the letters of the first decade a j with being 1 and being 0 This is the internationally recognized number system However in French Braille a new system the Antoine braille digits is used for mathematics and is recommended for all academic publications This uses combined with the first nine letters of the fourth decade from for 1 to for 9 with the preceding for 0 The period decimal and fraction bar also change The Antoine numbers are being promoted in France and Luxembourg but are not much used in with French Braille in Quebec French Braille digits 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9Traditional Antoine See the punctuation section above for Antoine mathematical notation History Edit A page from an undated early braille textbook showing both readings with additional readings not included in Loomis It is captioned Ecritare a l usage des Aveugles Procede de L Braille Professeur a l institut Nl des Jnes Aveugles For the early history of braille including obsolete characters see 1829 braille Readings have changed slightly since modern braille was first published in 1837 The greatest change has been various secondary readings which were added to the alphabet and then abandoned Historical readings in Loomis 1942 dec numeric sequence supp a1 b2 c3 d4 e5 f6 g7 h8 i9 j0 k l m n o p q r s t iian aeien u v x y z coin e a e uieu oion NUM aan ein ion oun ueu eou ioi uch œgn w i ll CAP ITAL Similar alphabets EditIn general only the assignments of the basic 26 letters of the French alphabet are retained in other braille alphabets For example among the additional letters in German Braille only u and o coincide with French Braille However there are several alphabets which are much more closely related Italian Braille is identical to the French apart from doubling up French Braille o to Italian o and o since French has no o Indeed a principal difference of these alphabets is the remapping of French vowels with a grave accent a e i o u to an acute accent a e i o u as the French alphabet does not support acute accents apart from e Spanish changes all five of these vowels as well as taking u Portuguese Braille is also very similar to the French though the shift of grave to acute accents necessitated a chain of other changes such as circumflex to grave and the Portuguese tildes were taken from French diaereses Portuguese a o for French a o œ The continental Scandinavian languages took the extended French letters a for a a ae and o o Vietnamese Braille is also quite similar though it has added tone letters and uses French z for d which is pronounced like z Related alphabets Braille French c e a e u a e i o u e i u œ o w i ae a oPortuguese c e a e u a e i o u a i u o o w i a oCatalan c e a e u i u o w i oSpanish Galician a e u n u w i oItalian e a e u o w i oLuxembourgish old e e w a Scandinavian d a o o w a ae Vietnamese e e a e o ư ơ e ă e Braille Patterns Catalan Braille adds for print l l and Spanish Braille uses French i for the non French consonant n Luxembourgish Braille has since switch to eight point braille adding a dot at point 8 for the three vowels with accents Punctuation and formatting are in general similar as well though changes in French punctuation over time means that some languages use older French conventions For example French parentheses and quotation marks originally had the opposite values they do today values which remain in English Braille Other changes have accrued over time and in some cases vary from country to country For example Italian Braille uses the old French quotation marks and asterisk but also shifted the old French parentheses to brackets and innovated for parentheses in addition it uses point 3 for both apostrophe and full stop period A sample of Moon type in various languages including French Moon type is a simplification of the Latin alphabet for embossing An adaptation of French reading blind people has been proposed Notes Edit The space in numbers between thousands Also marks the end of a verse Used to mark a footnote or endnote Swedish Danish Norwegian and Finnish a b c d Vietnamese a e i o u are written as a tone letter plus a e i o u References EditSources Edit Code braille francais uniformise pour la transcription des textes imprimes CBFU 2nd edition 2008 Code de transcription en braille des textes imprimes 1999 M S Loomis 1942 The Braille Reference Book Pierre Henri 1952 La vie et l œvre de Louis Braille PUF GIAA Paris Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title French Braille amp oldid 1089809896, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
