Greek Braille

Greek Braille is the braille alphabet of the Greek language. It is based on international braille conventions, generally corresponding to Latin transliteration. In Greek, it is known as Κώδικας Μπράιγ Kôdikas Mpraig "Braille Code".

There are actually two Greek braille alphabets, which differ in the assignment of a few letters: Modern Greek Braille used in Greece, and International Greek Braille for Greek letters or words used in mathematics or otherwise embedded in English and other languages.

Modern Greek Braille

Modern Greek Braille
Type
alphabet
Languages Greek
Parent systems
Braille
Print basis
Greek alphabet

Modern Greek Braille runs as follows:[1]

Letters

Basic print alphabet
α β γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ λ μ
⠁ (braille pattern dots-1) ⠃ (braille pattern dots-12) ⠛ (braille pattern dots-1245) ⠙ (braille pattern dots-145) ⠑ (braille pattern dots-15) ⠵ (braille pattern dots-1356) ⠜ (braille pattern dots-345) ⠹ (braille pattern dots-1456) ⠊ (braille pattern dots-24) ⠅ (braille pattern dots-13) ⠇ (braille pattern dots-123) ⠍ (braille pattern dots-134)
ν ξ ο π ρ σ τ υ φ χ ψ ω
⠝ (braille pattern dots-1345) ⠭ (braille pattern dots-1346) ⠕ (braille pattern dots-135) ⠏ (braille pattern dots-1234) ⠗ (braille pattern dots-1235) ⠎ (braille pattern dots-234) ⠞ (braille pattern dots-2345) ⠽ (braille pattern dots-13456) ⠋ (braille pattern dots-124) ⠓ (braille pattern dots-125) ⠯ (braille pattern dots-12346) ⠚ (braille pattern dots-245)
Letters for print digraphs
αι ει οι υι αυ ευ ηυ ου
⠣ (braille pattern dots-126) ⠩ (braille pattern dots-146) ⠪ (braille pattern dots-246) ⠻ (braille pattern dots-12456) ⠡ (braille pattern dots-16) ⠱ (braille pattern dots-156) ⠳ (braille pattern dots-1256) ⠥ (braille pattern dots-136)

Punctuation and formatting

Period Comma Apostrophe ; (question mark)  : Hyphen
⠲ (braille pattern dots-256) ⠂ (braille pattern dots-2) ⠄ (braille pattern dots-3) ⠢ (braille pattern dots-26) ⠆ (braille pattern dots-23) ⠤ (braille pattern dots-36)
Parenthesis Open quote Close quote Capital Accent
⠶ (braille pattern dots-2356) ⠦ (braille pattern dots-236) ⠴ (braille pattern dots-356) ⠨ (braille pattern dots-46) ⠐ (braille pattern dots-5)

The accent mark (acute accent) comes before the vowel or diphthong, but after the capitalization sign: ά, Ά, αί. It's not used for diaeresis; ϊ is just .

Numbers

Digits are the same as in English Braille. Arithmetical symbols are:

+ * / =
⠮ (braille pattern dots-2346) ⠤ (braille pattern dots-36) ⠡ (braille pattern dots-16) ⠌ (braille pattern dots-34) ⠭ (braille pattern dots-1346)

International Greek Braille

International Greek Braille
Type
alphabet
Languages Greek
Parent systems
Braille
Print basis
Greek alphabet

International letter assignments differ somewhat from those above. In Modern Greek Braille, for example, the letter omega is written the same as Latin jay, whereas in English or French braille texts it is written as a double-u, which it resembles in print (ω ~ w). Similarly, Modern Greek upsilon is written as Latin wye, but in international Greek it's written as u, and the letter eta is inverted.

This alphabet is used, for example, in mathematical notation in an otherwise Latin-braille text. It also forms the basis for Greek letters in the Nemeth Braille and Gardner–Salinas braille codes. It is not used in Greece or Cyprus.[2] In the table below, the letters which differ from Modern Greek Braille are highlighted.

Greek letters found in English Braille text
α β γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ λ μ
⠁ (braille pattern dots-1) ⠃ (braille pattern dots-12) ⠛ (braille pattern dots-1245) ⠙ (braille pattern dots-145) ⠑ (braille pattern dots-15) ⠵ (braille pattern dots-1356) ⠱ (braille pattern dots-156) ⠹ (braille pattern dots-1456) ⠊ (braille pattern dots-24) ⠅ (braille pattern dots-13) ⠇ (braille pattern dots-123) ⠍ (braille pattern dots-134)
ν ξ ο π ρ σ τ υ φ χ ψ ω
⠝ (braille pattern dots-1345) ⠭ (braille pattern dots-1346) ⠕ (braille pattern dots-135) ⠏ (braille pattern dots-1234) ⠗ (braille pattern dots-1235) ⠎ (braille pattern dots-234) ⠞ (braille pattern dots-2345) ⠥ (braille pattern dots-136) ⠋ (braille pattern dots-124) ⠯ (braille pattern dots-12346) ⠽ (braille pattern dots-13456) ⠺ (braille pattern dots-2456)

The Modern Greek diphthongs are not used. In addition, there are assignments for obsolete letters used in Greek numerals:

Obsolete letters[2][3]
ϛ[4] ϡ[4] ϝ ϙ/ϟ
⠉ (braille pattern dots-14) ⠮ (braille pattern dots-2346) ⠧ (braille pattern dots-1236) ⠟ (braille pattern dots-12345)

Polytonic

International Greek braille does, however, represent the polytonic vowels of ancient forms of the language, either as a separate accent mark with the normal vowel signs, or as a single braille cell for vowel+accent. Polytonic vowels sharing a braille pattern with obsolete letters are highlighted in the table.

Polytonic letters[2]
Accent α ε η ι ο υ ω
Acute ´
(oxia)
⠈ (braille pattern dots-4) ⠜ (braille pattern dots-345) ⠫ (braille pattern dots-1246) ⠿ (braille pattern dots-123456) ⠻ (braille pattern dots-12456) ⠪ (braille pattern dots-246) ⠳ (braille pattern dots-1256) ⠚ (braille pattern dots-245)
Circumflex ῀
(perispomeni)
⠐ (braille pattern dots-5) ⠡ (braille pattern dots-16) - ⠣ (braille pattern dots-126) ⠩ (braille pattern dots-146) - ⠧ (braille pattern dots-1236) ⠼ (braille pattern dots-3456)
Grave `
(varia)
⠠ (braille pattern dots-6) ⠷ (braille pattern dots-12356) ⠉ (braille pattern dots-14) ⠮ (braille pattern dots-2346) ⠌ (braille pattern dots-34) ⠬ (braille pattern dots-346) ⠾ (braille pattern dots-23456) ⠟ (braille pattern dots-12345)

References

  1. Kouroupetroglou & Phlôrias, "Ελληνικο συστημα Braille", in Επιστμονικα συμβολα κατα Braille στον Ελληνικο χωρο
  2. 1 2 3 UNESCO (2013) World Braille Usage, 3rd edition.
  3. 1 2 Sampi and stigma are here shown as they appear in Unesco (2013), as this makes more sense in terms of international norms than the previous reference, which has them inverted.
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