[vip_students] Re: Views on Irish Braille!
- From: "Flor Lynch" <florlync@xxxxxx>
- To: <vip_students@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:52:12 +0100
Cearbhall,
other European languages such as French and Spanish also have Grade II
representations of their accent signs, even in English braille being
used as the base language braille code. At present, I believe it would
be a mistake to employ English-alphabet non-irish letters as
contractions in irish braille Grade II. (It wouldn't reflect the reality
that most of us originally reading come from a bilingual English-irish
context.)
One question that might be or have been asked, is: How much conttraction
do we wnat? if just basic, then how much do we need?
As it is: AND, FOR, OF, THE, WITH contractions represent the vowels in
the sequence of á, é, í, ó, ú.
has anyone attempted to let the computer have a go at the issue, to see
what logical structure it might give to irish braille, based on the
frequency of letters and accent signs used? We mightn's like the result,
but as an experiment it might be worth trying out and we could then work
with it or reject it.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Cearbhall O'Meadhra" <omeadhrac@xxxxxxx>
To: <vip_students@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, April 12, 2013 12:17 PM
Subject: [vip_students] Re: Views on Irish Braille!
Ronan,
I think this is a valuable opportunity to achieve a good standard of
Braille
in Irish and I congratulate INBAF on the work being done.
I have been looking into the problem of expressing letters with long
accent
signs (fadas). I don't like the current practice of using the English
signs
"and, for, of, the, with" as "á, é, í, ó, ú" in Irish. This seems to be
an
easy solution but not an obvious choice of representation.
There is a suggestion that we might use a two character system of
employing
a dot-4 before each of the vowels to show their modified state. This
seems
more logical but is, I agree, adding length to the word and so runs
counter
to the aim of grade II Braille to reduce the length of words.
I admire the logical structure of Braille which makes it easy to learn
the
a-z alphabet in English - even though the "w" does not fit in. I would
like
to find a solution that brings Irish into a similarly intuitive
solution.
In Irish we have ten vowels effectively, while English only has five.
This
is our difficulty.
In Irish the characters "j, k, q, v, w, x, y, z" are not used. Likewise,
the
contractions for English " wh, ou, ow, of, the, with" are all available.
Could we find a reason to pick any five of these to logically represent
the
fada?
All the best,
Cearbhall
T: +353 (0)1 2864623 m: 08333 23487 E: omeadhrac@xxxxxxx
-----Original Message-----
From: vicsireland-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:vicsireland-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ronan McGuirk
Sent: 10 April 2013 17:44
To: irelandvipnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; vicsireland
Subject: [vicsireland] We need your views on Irish Braille!
Hello all,
We need your views on Irish Braille!
I am writing to you on behalf of the INBAF Irish Braille Working Group.
This working group is charged with the revision of the Braille code used
for
the Irish language (Gaeilge).
The current Irish Braille code is described by the Wikipedia article at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Braille
Pat Farrell, a member of the working group, took the initiative of
suggesting comprehensive Irish Braille code revision which has been
discussed by the group over the last year. We now have a full draft
version
of a suggested new Irish Braille code which is available in braille and
print and in electronic format (please contact Pat on
patfarrell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx for a copy).
We are especially interested in everyone's views on the suggested new
Irish
wordsigns and the two different options for expressing letters with long
accent signs (fadas).
The objective is to agree on a new code, preserving appropriate elements
of
the existing code and developing where needed. In revising the code, the
working group will take into account readability and ease of learning.
It is really important that all those with an interest inIrish Braille
express their views.
If you are a reader of Irish in Braille, or would like to read Irish in
Braille, whether in book format or on a Braille display, your views are
important.
Can you please contact us with your views. Proposed new drafts for trial
will be circulated in due course when agreed by the working group.
Can you please reply to this mail on the llist with your thoughts, or
email Pat Farrell at the above address with your comments and for a
copy of the new draft.
Can you please pass this mail on to anyone you know who may have an
interest
in Irish in Braille who is not on this list.
Many thanks
Ronan McGuirk, on behalf of
INBAF Irish Braille Working Group
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