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.