Punjabi Braille Explained

Punjabi Braille
Also Known As:Gurmukhi Braille
Type:Alphabet
Languages:Punjabi language
Fam1:Braille
Fam2:English Braille
Fam3:Bharati Braille
Print:Gurmukhi alphabet
Ipa-Note:none
Footnotes:Indic

Punjabi Braille is the braille alphabet used in India for Punjabi. It is one of the Bharati braille alphabets, and largely conforms to the letter values of the other Bharati alphabets.[1]

Alphabet

The alphabet is as follows: Vowel letters are used rather than diacritics, and they occur after consonants in their spoken order.[2] For orthographic conventions, see Bharati Braille.

Pointing

The Bharati point,, is only used to derive one consonant, ਗ਼ ġa pronounced as //ɣə//, from the base consonant letter ਗ ga pronounced as //ɡə//. This system also operates in Hindi Braille and Indian Urdu Braille, but the Punjabi Braille alphabet is closer to Indian Urdu, as all other consonants that are pointed in print, such as ਖ਼ xa, are rendered with dedicated letters in braille based on international values. The six pointed letters in the Gurmukhi script have the following equivalents in braille:

Codas

Points are used for syllable codas.

Punctuation

See Bharati Braille#Punctuation.

Notes and References

  1. http://www.pharmabraille.com/LiteratureRetrieve.aspx?ID=122064 World Braille Usage
  2. UNESCO (2013) World Braille Usage, 3rd edition.
  3. Unesco (2013) also has for ੜ੍ਹ ṛh, but this is an apparent copy error: ੜ੍ਹ is a sequence ṛ-h, not the equivalent of the single letter ṛh in other Indic scripts.