Devanagari (Braille)

The Devanagari recording system in Braille is mainly alphabetic in nature, but at the same time retains the peculiarity of the Indian abugida , in which the vowel sound is not recorded by default if it is not at the beginning of the word or before another vowel. For example, the combination क ( ka ) will be written in braille as ⠅ (consonant K ), and थ ( tha ) as ⠹ (TH). To indicate that the consonant does not follow the vowel (for example, in cases where it follows another consonant, or is at the end of the syllable), the viram prefix is ​​used: ⠈⠅ (∅-К) means क् k , and ⠈⠹ (∅- TH) means थ् th . When writing in Hindi, viram is usually omitted at the end of a word, according to the rules of spelling. However, unlike Abugida, the Devanagari record in Braille does not contain diacritics for vowels: vowels following consonants are written completely, regardless of their location in the word. For example, in the word कि ki, the vowel i is usually reduced, but written in full Braille: ⠅⠊ (KI), which is equivalent to writing ⟨कइ⟩ ki . Thus, the word क्लिक klika is written in Braille as ⠈⠅⠇⠊⠅ (∅-KLIK). For some time, the vowel a , which is not at the beginning of the word, was written in Braille only when another vowel followed. This should indicate that a vowel exists at this point, because otherwise the next vowel should have been read as if it were after a consonant. Thus, the word कइ kai is written in Braille as ⠅⠁⠊ (KAI).

With the exception of the combinations kṣ and jñ , each of which has its own notation in Braille, the braille for Devanagari does not contain union designations. Instead of unions, viramas are used. Thus, the braille for Devanagari becomes equivalent to the Grade-1 version of the English Braille, although there are plans to expand it to include unions.

Letters	अ	आ	इ	ई	उ	ऊ	ऎ	ए	ऐ	ऒ	ओ	औ
ISO	a	ā	i	ī	u	ū	e	ē	ai	o	ō	au
Braille

Not all letters used in Sanskrit are used in the Nepali language in Nepal.

Point Bharati ⠐ is used to indicate syllabic consonants. Long syllabic consonants are preceded by point-6, which is also transcribed in the visargue.

Diacriticals are also used to indicate consonants that use a period in their spelling. Most of these consonants are derived from Persian :

There are exceptions to these rules. For example, फ़ f and ज़ z , which are found in both Persian and English borrowings, are transcribed in English and international Braille like ⠋ and ⠵ (see the previous section), while allophones ड़ ṛ and ढ़ ṛh in Braille are denoted by ⠻ and derivatives of this grapheme.

Exceptions occur in cases where, according to the decision of UNESCO (2013), Braille for Hindi and Urdu have discrepancies. So, the has some additional elements in the style that are not in the Devanagari alphabet. In the braille for Urdu, the designations ⠭ and ⠟ take their English / international values ​​of x and q , replacing ⠐⠅ and ⠐⠨, respectively. In addition, grapheme ⠱ jñ is used to write ح ḥ , and ⠷ (not available in braille for Devanagari) is used to write ع ʿ , which replaces अ in Devanangari for Urdu, but is missing in Hindi.

The braille used in Nepal has some minor differences from the version used for the Nepali language in India . regarding punctuation marks. An asterisk in Nepal is ⠐⠔, different from ⠔⠔ used in India, unless it is a copying error in UNESCO (2013). Single quotes and extra brackets are specific to Nepal, but not to India.

There are also differences from punctuation used in Bangladesh .

An example of a Braille text in Hindi, a fragment of article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights :

⠁⠝⠥⠈⠉⠡⠑⠙⠀⠼⠁⠀⠤⠤⠀⠎⠘⠔⠀⠍⠝⠥⠈⠯⠽⠕⠰⠀⠅⠕⠀⠛⠪⠗⠧⠀⠪⠗⠀⠁⠮⠊⠅⠜⠗⠕⠰⠀⠅⠑ ⠀⠍⠜⠈⠍⠇⠑⠀⠍⠑⠰⠀⠚⠈⠝⠍⠚⠜⠞⠀⠈⠎⠧⠞⠈⠝⠈⠞⠗⠞⠜⠀⠪⠗⠀⠎⠍⠜⠈⠝⠞⠜⠀⠈⠏⠗⠜⠈⠏⠞ ⠀⠓⠌⠰⠲

⠥⠈⠝⠓⠑⠰⠀⠃⠥⠈⠙⠮⠊⠀⠪⠗⠀⠁⠈⠝⠞⠗⠜⠈⠞⠍⠜⠀⠅⠔⠀⠙⠑⠝⠀⠈⠏⠗⠜⠈⠏⠞⠀⠓⠌⠀⠪⠗⠀⠏ ⠗⠈⠎⠏⠗⠀⠥⠈⠝⠓⠑⠰⠀⠘⠜⠔⠉⠜⠗⠑⠀⠅⠑⠀⠘⠜⠧⠀⠎⠑⠀⠃⠈⠗⠞⠜⠧⠀⠅⠈⠗⠝⠜⠀⠉⠜⠓⠊⠽⠑ ⠲⠀

अनुच्छेद 1 - सभी मनुष्यों को गौरव और अधिकारों के मामले में जन्मजात स्वतन्त्रता और समानता प्राप्त हैं।

उन्हें बुद्धि और अन्तरात्मा की देन प्राप्त है और परस्पर उन्हें भाईचारे के भाव से बर्ताव करना चाहिये।

Article 1. All people are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

They are endowed with reason and conscience and must act towards each other in a spirit of brotherhood.