Polish Braille (alfabet Braille'a) is a braille alphabet for writing the Polish language. It is based on international braille conventions, with the following extensions:[1]

Polish Braille
Script type
alphabet
Print basis
Polish alphabet
LanguagesPolish
Related scripts
Parent systems
Braille
  • Polish Braille
Base
letter
⠁ (braille pattern dots-1)
a
⠉ (braille pattern dots-14)
c
⠑ (braille pattern dots-15)
e
⠇ (braille pattern dots-123)
l
⠝ (braille pattern dots-1345)
n
⠎ (braille pattern dots-234)
s
⠥ (braille pattern dots-136)
u
⠽ (braille pattern dots-13456)
y
⠵ (braille pattern dots-1356)
z
Derived
letter
⠡ (braille pattern dots-16)
ą
⠩ (braille pattern dots-146)
ć
⠱ (braille pattern dots-156)
ę
⠣ (braille pattern dots-126)
ł
⠹ (braille pattern dots-1456)
ń
⠪ (braille pattern dots-246)
ś
⠬ (braille pattern dots-346)
ó
⠯ (braille pattern dots-12346)
ż
⠮ (braille pattern dots-2346)
ź

That is, for letters of the first and second decade of the braille script (a, c, e, l, n, s), a diacritic is written as dot 6, and any dot 3 is removed (or, equivalently, is moved to position 6)—that is, the base letter is moved to the fourth decade. For letters of the third decade (u, y, z), which already have a dot 6, the derivation is a mirror image. Ó is derived from u, which is how it is pronounced (also, the mirror image of o is already taken). Several of these conventions are used in Lithuanian Braille.

History

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Some form of a Braille alphabet had been adapted to the Polish language by 1957.[2]

Alphabet

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The full alphabet is this:

 
a
 
ą
 
b
 
c
 
ć
 
d
 
e
 
ę
 
f
 
g
 
h
 
i
 
j
 
k
 
l
 
ł
 
m
 
n
 
ń
 
o
 
ó
 
p
 
r
 
s
 
ś
 
t
 
u
 
w
 
y
 
z
 
ż
 
ź

Print digraphs in z are written as two letters in braille as well: cz, rz, sz.

Punctuation

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,
 
.   '[3]
 
 ;
 
 :
 
 ?
 
 !
 
-   —
 
@
 
*
 
/
 
\
  
#
  
   
 %
    
 
°
 
  
 
$
  
¢
  
  
  
©
  
Paired punctuation
 ... 
“ ... ”
  ...  
‘ ... ’
 ... 
( ... )
  ...  
{ ... } (?)[4]
 ... 
[ ... ]
  ...  
⟨ ... ⟩

Formatting

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(cap)
 
(l.c.)
 
(emph.)
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References

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  1. ^ "Braille - pismo punktowe dla niewidomych". Braille - pismo punktowe dla niewidomych (in Polish). Retrieved 2021-12-01.
  2. ^ Morrissey, Patrick (October 1957). "Reading Braille in Foreign Languages". The Modern Language Journal. 41 (6): 266. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.1957.tb01695.x. JSTOR 321522.
  3. ^ And thus for ellipsis.
  4. ^ It is not clear which brackets these are. In Polish, their name is nawias wydzielający, a phrase that refers specifically to these braille characters.