Tibetan Braille is the Braille alphabet for writing the Tibetan language. It was invented in 1992 by German social worker Sabriye Tenberken.[1] It is based on German braille, with some extensions from international usage. As in print, the vowel a is not written.

Tibetan Braille
Script type (non-linear)
CreatorSabriye Tenberken
Time period
1992
Print basis
Tibetan alphabet
LanguagesTibetan
Related scripts
Parent systems

Despite Tibetan and Dzongkha (Bhutanese) using the same alphabet in print, Tibetan Braille differs significantly from Dzongkha Braille, which is closer to international norms.

Alphabet

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Tibetan Braille follows print orthography. (See Tibetan script.) This is often a poor match for how words are pronounced. Each syllable is rendered in the following order:

pre-consonant, superscript consonant, head consonant, subscript consonant, vowel, post-consonant(s)[2]

The invariable consonants are:[3]

Consonant ka kha ga nga ca cha ja nya
Print
Braille                
Consonant ta tha da na pa pha ba ma
Print
Braille                
Consonant tsa tsha dza zha za 'a sha ha
Print
Braille                

Several consonants, wa, ya, ra, la, and sa, are provided with forms corresponding to the superscript and subscript positions in print:[4]

Consonant wa ya ra la sa
Print
Braille as base letter          
as superscript    
as subscript        

The assignments for zh and z also match international conventions, as those letters are pronounced like sh and s. Several of the assignments which do not match international braille have the values of German Braille: ch for c (ch), j for y [j], z [ts] for tsh, s [z] for z, sch [ʃ] for sh [ʃ], ß [s] for s. Letters which are not basic to the German alphabet (c, q, x, y) have been reassigned. Several of the aspirated consonants (ch, th, ph) are equivalent to the corresponding unaspirated consonant with an extra dot in the third row.

The short vowel "a" is inherent in the head (main) consonant, and is not written explicitly. When a vowel occurs at the beginning of a word, it is carried by a null consonant :

Vowels a i u e o
Print
(on )
ཨི ཨུ ཨེ ཨོ
Braille              

Numbers and punctuation

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Digits are as in English Braille. Basic punctuation:[3]

Print , ; .
Braille       

References

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  1. ^ Kronenberg, Paul. "Tibetan Braille Script". Braille without Borders. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  2. ^ From email correspondence with Sabriye Tenberken: Single consonants are written without a "a". Only i e o and u are indicated. The order goes like this:
    first the pre consonant, this could be a b, m d ' etc. Then the main consonant. After the main consonant the vowel and then the post consonant. If the main consonant has a super or a sub script, an extra letter that indicates the super script or the subscript is put before and after the main consonant. However it has to be placed before the vowel.
    If you have a word with all letters possible, it looks as follows:
    1. Pre consonant
    2. superscript
    3. main consonant
    4. sub script
    5. vowel
    6. post consonant
    7. second post consonant
    For example: bsgrubs
  3. ^ a b World Braille Usage, UNESCO, 2013
  4. ^ Tibetan Braille01.jpg (Email correspondence/image), Braille without Borders