Letters as Simple Upper Wordsigns - BANZAT

UNIFIED ENGLISH BRAILLE MANUAL New Zealand Edition March 2017
Unified English Braille Manual, 2016 New Zealand Edition Adapted from the Unified English Braille Primer
Australian Edition 2007 Edited by Josie Howse Produced by the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the
Blind
Auckland, New Zealand FOREWORD
I am pleased to introduce the Unified English Braille Manual: New Zealand
Edition. Unified English Braille represents a great deal of work over many
years by dedicated experts around the world to develop Unified English
Braille and transform the theoretical code into every-day use. On 2 April 2004 Unified English Braille was agreed by the International
Council on English Braille as sufficiently complete for consideration by
member countries for adoption as their national braille code. On 29
November 2005 the New Zealand Braille Authority adopted Unified English
Braille as New Zealand's braille code with full implementation envisaged
over the following five years. The manual is an adapted version of the Unified English Braille Primer:
Australian Edition which was based on the Braille Primer Revised Edition
2005 published by the Royal National Institute of the Blind in the United
Kingdom. Their significant contribution is acknowledged, and that of the
Australian Braille Authority for allowing the adaptation of the Primer for
use in New Zealand. The outstanding contribution and support of Josie Howse
who prepared the text of the Australian Primer is especially acknowledged. This edition of the Manual is a revision of the September 2016 version. My
thanks to all those who contributed to its development. Maria Stevens
Chairperson, The Braille Authority of New Zealand Aotearoa Trust March 2017 Table of Contents
Introductory Remarks viii
General Instructions xi
Advice to Beginners xiv
Letters of the Alphabet:
Lessons 1-4 Lesson 1. a - j, Numeric Mode Indicator, Full Stop,
Capital Sign 1
Lesson 2. k - t, Comma 4
Lesson 3. u - z 6
Lesson 4. Letters as Simple Upper Wordsigns 9
Lesson 5. Wordsigns: (and) (for) (of) (the) (with),
Semicolon 12
Simple Upper Groupsigns:
Lessons 6-9 Lesson 6. (and) (for) (of) (the) (with) as Groupsigns,
Exclamation Mark, Question Mark 15
Lesson 7. (ch) (gh) (sh) (th) (wh), Wordsigns,
Apostrophe 18
Lesson 8. (ed) (er) (ou) (ow), Wordsign, Colon,
Quotation Marks 22
Lesson 9. (st) (ar) (ing), Wordsign, Hyphen,
Compound Words 26
Lower Signs: Lessons 10-14
Lower Groupsigns: Lessons 10-12 Lesson 10. (be) (con) (dis), Dash, Shortforms 30
Lesson 11. (ea) (bb) (cc) (ff) (gg), Round Brackets or
Parentheses 36
Lesson 12. (en) (in), Lower Sign Rule 39
Lower Wordsigns: Lessons 13-14 Lesson 13.
1 (be) (were) (his) (was) 42
2 (enough) (in), Shortforms 43
Lesson 14. Concluding Remarks on Lower Signs,
Shortforms 48
Composite Signs:
Lessons 15-23
Initial Wordsigns: Lessons 15-19 Initial Wordsigns with Dot 5 Lesson 15. Dot 5 and D-M, Shortforms 54
Lesson 16. Dot 5 and N-U, Shortforms 59
Lesson 17. Last group of signs with Dot 5, Shortforms 65
Initial Wordsigns with Dots 4 5 Lesson 18. (upon) (word) (these) (those) (whose) 69
Initial Wordsigns with 4 5 6 Lesson 19. (cannot) (had) (many) (spirit) (their) (world) 71
Final Groupsigns: Lessons 20-22 Lesson 20. First group: -(ance), -(ence), -(sion), -(tion),
-(less), -(ness) 75
Lesson 21. Second group: -(ound), -(ong), -(ount),
-(ment) 79
Lesson 22. Third group: -(ful), -(ity) 81
Composite Punctuation Signs: Lesson 23 Lesson 23.
1 Compound Quotes 84
2 Other Quote Signs 85
3 Square Brackets 85
4 Dash and Long Dash 86
5 Ellipsis 87
6 Asterisk 87
7 Dagger 87
8 Double Dagger 87
9 Bullet 87
General Signs and Special Print Symbols:
1 Transcriber's Brackets 88
2 Dot Locator 88
3 Trademark 88
4 Registered Trademark 88
5 Copyright 88
6 Backslash 88
7 Forward Slash 88
8 Ditto mark 89
9 Tilde 89
10 Underscore 89
11 Percent 89
12 Ampersand 89
13 At 89
Summary of Rules on Punctuation 90
New Arrangement of Drills and Practices 92
Braille Mode Indicators:
Lessons 24-27 Order of Braille Indicators and Other Signs 97
Lesson 24. Numeric Mode Indicator 98
Lesson 25.
1 Capitalisation 106
2 Grade 1 Mode Indicator 109
Lesson 26. Typeform Indicators 115
1 Italic Indicator 116
2 Bold Indicator 119
3 Underline Indicator 120
Lesson 27.
1 Accent Sign 123
2 Poetry Layout 124
3 Poetry Line Separator 126 Proper Names, Print Abbreviations, Capitals, Foreign Words:
Lessons 28-30 Lesson 28.
1 Proper Names 130
2 Print Abbreviations 131
3 Acronyms 132
Lesson 29.
Unit Abbreviations 135
Reference Abbreviations and Symbols 138
Lesson 30. Words in Other Languages
1 Maori and Polynesian Words 141 2 Foreign Words 142 Appendices Appendix A: Reading Practice 144
Appendix B: Layout of Exam Papers 155
Appendix C: Practice Exam 156
Appendix D: Answers to Drills 171
Appendix E: Answers to Practice Exam 206
Appendix F: Braille Reference 217
1. Bridging and Preference 217
2. Standing Alone Rule 219
3. Contractions with hyphens, dashes and
forward slashes 220
4. Word/Number Division 224
5. Shortform Rule 231
Appendix G: Hyphens and dashes ...........................................
250
Appendix H: UEB Contractions, Punctuation and
Special Symbols 252 Index 254
Introductory Remarks
Braille
Braille is a system of embossed signs which are formed by using
combinations of six dots, arranged and numbered thus: [pic]
The signs are embossed on special paper, either by hand with a tool called
a stylus which is pressed into the paper through holes in a perforated
frame, or by using a braille writing machine, such as a Perkins Brailler,
or by an embosser connected to a computer. A simple sign, e.g. a sign denoting a letter, occupies one space or "cell".
A blank space is left between words, and between the end of one sentence
and the beginning of the next. In this manual the dots in the cell will be indicated thus: 1 2 3 and 4 5
6, to denote the left and right hand of the cell respectively. The duty of a transcriber is to convey to the reader as exact a
representation of the printed copy to be transcribed as is possible or
feasible.
Learning Braille Learners are urged to work through each lesson in this manual in the order
given, and to perfect themselves in each lesson before proceeding to the
next. It is most important that each example given should actually be
written several times for practice. Only the words found in the lessons should be written; on no account
whatever should beginners try to write any words other than those included.
A large number of words are contracted or abbreviated in braille in order
to save space, and if these are not written correctly from the start,
certain principles could be misunderstood and would be difficult to unlearn
later. The best and quickest way to learn to write is by constant practice, and by
a firm resolve to send only faultless work to the instructor.
Drills and Practices
When transcribing the first 22 exercises start a new braille line for each
print line shown. Each line of braille may use up to 40 cells. The heading,
for example Drill 1 or Practice 4, should be centred on line 1.
Transcription should begin in the first cell of line 3. The braille page
number should be put in the last cells of line 25. Answers to Drills are given in Appendix D. The Practices should be given to
your instructor for checking.
Definitions 1. Simple sign - a sign occupying one cell only.
2. Composite sign - a sign occupying two or more cells.
3. Upper sign - a sign containing dot 1, or dot 4, or both.
4. Lower sign - a sign containing neither dot 1 nor dot 4.
5. Contraction - a sign which represents a word or a group of
letters.
6. Groupsign - a contraction which represents a group of letters.
7. Wordsign - a contraction which represents a whole word.
8. Shortform - a contraction consisting of a word specially
abbreviated in braille. [pic] GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS Inserting paper
(Braille paper measures 29x28 cms) Raise the paper releases on top of the brailler towards you.
Wind the paper feed knobs (the two grey knobs at each side of the braille
machine) away from you as far as they will go.
Slide the paper with the 29cm edge towards you under the carriage, lower
the paper releases and wind the paper feed knobs towards you as far as the
paper will go.
Press the line spacer once.
Braille margins and line length
The Perkins brailler has a 42 cell per line capability, but within the
manual only 40 cells are used. Margins should be set so that it is not possible to braille in the first
cell on the left or in the last cell on the right. A good way to set the
margins is to inse