English Braille
American Edition
1994


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Definition of Braille

Rules of Braille
  1. Punctuation Signs
  2. Special Composition Signs
  3. Format
  4. Asterisk, Footnotes, References
  5. Accent Sign, Diphthongs, Foreign Languages
  6. Abbreviations
  7. Numbers and Roman Numerals
  8. Coinage, Weights, and Other Special Symbols
  9. Poetry, Scansion, and Stress
  10. General Use of Contractions
  11. One-cell whole-word contractions
  12. One-cell part-word contractions
  13. Lower Signs
  14. Initial-letter contractions
  15. Final-letter contractions
  16. Short-form words

Appendices
  • Index
    Typical and Problem Words

    Indices
  • Index
    BRL Courses
  • Intro to Braille
  • Braille Transcribers
  • Specialized Codes

  • RULE XVI - SHORT-FORM WORDS


    ab about 2n beneath
    abv above 2s beside
    ac according 2t between
    acr across 2y beyond
    af after bl blind
    afn afternoon brl braille
    afw afterward *n children
    ag again 3cv conceive
    ag/ against 3cvg conceiving
    alm almost cd could
    alr already dcv deceive
    al also dcvg deceiving
    al? although dcl declare
    alt altogether dclg declaring
    alw always ei either
    2c because f/ first
    2f before fr friend
    2h behind gd good
    2l below grt great
    h]f herself qk quick
    hm him rcv receive
    hmf himself rcvg receiving
    imm immediate rjc rejoice
    xs its rjcg rejoicing
    xf itself sd said
    lr letter %d should
    ll little s* such
    m* much !mvs themselves
    m/ must ?yf thyself
    myf myself td today, to-day
    nec necessary tgr together
    nei neither tm tomorrow, to-morrow
    o'c o'clock tn tonight, to-night
    "of oneself wd would
    \rvs ourselves yr your
    pd paid yrf yourself
    p]cv perceive yrvs yourselves
    p]cvg perceiving
    p]h perhaps

    47.Short-form words should be used alone or as part of a word. (See §47.d.) Ex:

    accordingly acly afterwards afws
    besides 2ss undeceived undcvd
    firstly f/ly belittled 2lld

    • Short-form words must not be divided at the end of a line, but they may be separated from any syllable addition. Ex:

      immediately   imm- (not im-
         ly     mly)
      perceive p]cv (not per-
            cv)
      misconceive   mis- (not miscon-
         3cv     cv)

    • A short-form word should be used as the whole proper name only. Ex:

      Louis Braille ,l\is   ,brl
      Thomas Little ,?omas    ,ll
      Hapgood ,hapgood     (not Hapgd)
      Doolittle ,doolittle   (not Dooll)
       Note:Short-form words which are common words are not to be considered as proper names when they appear in names of books, articles, chapter headings, publishers' names, etc. Ex:

       Society of Friends     ,society     (    ,frs

       Childrens Press     ,*ns   ,press

         MY FRIENDLY ENEMY

         ,,my ,,frly    ,,5emy

    •  An addition may be made to a short-form word provided it does not result in incorrect spelling. Ex:

         declaration    decl>,n     (not dclation)

       

    • An addition may be made to a short-form word only if it retains its original meaning and would not obscure recognition of the word. Ex:

       mustn't   m/n't    (but not in mustache)     mu/a*e

        aftermath  afma?    (but not in rafter)    raft]

       letterpress   lrpress

           (but not in bloodletter, a bleeder) bloodlett]

       

    • An addition may be made to a short-form word provided the combination does not violate lower-sign rules. (See §43.) Ex:

        preconceive  preconceive

        pre-                  pre-

        conceive     3cv

       

    • An addition may be made to a short-form word provided the combination could not be mistaken for, or have the appearance of, another word. The short-form words for "after," "blind," or "friend" should not be used when followed by a vowel. However, they may be used when followed by a consonant, or a hyphen in a divided word. Ex:

      Used   Not Used  
      blindfold blfold blinder bl9d]
      blindness bl;s blindage bl9dage
      purblind purbl blinded bl9d$
          blindest bl9de/
      friendly frly befriended 2fri5d$
      friendship fr%ip
      friends frs
      befriend- 2fr-
      ing. +4
      afterbirth afbir? aftereffect aft]e6ect
      thereafter "!af afterimage aft]image
      after- af-
      effect e6ect
       

    • A short-form word must not be used if it would cause confusion in pronunciation or in the recognition of an unusual word. Ex:

        Stirabout is a porridge.

        ,/irab\t is a porridge4

        Port Said      (not Sd) ,port ,said

    • The apostrophe should always be inserted in the exclamation "h'm!" (hm!) to distinguish it from the short-form word for "him" (hm). However, the apostrophe should not be inserted when two or more letter "m's" are used in the exclamation. Ex:

        Hm!   ,h'm6

        Hmmm!  ,hmmm6

    • When proper names such as "Al" or "Ab" appear at the beginning of a sentence, they should be preceded by the letter sign to distinguish them from the short-form words for "also" or "about." Ex:

        Ag, I said that!

        ;,ag1 ,i sd t6