The Moon System of Embossed Reading (commonly known as the Moon writing, Moon alphabet, Moon script, Moon type, or Moon code) is a

writing system A writing system is a method of visually representing verbal communication, based on a script and a set of rules regulating its use. While both writing and speech are useful in conveying messages, writing differs in also being a reliable fo ...

for the blind, using embossed symbols mostly derived from the

Latin script The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern ...

(but simplified). It is claimed by its supporters to be easier to understand than

braille Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are blind, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displ ...

, though it is mainly used by people who have lost their sight as adults, and thus already have knowledge of the shapes of letters.

History

Moon type was developed by William Moon (1818—1894), a blind Englishman living in Brighton,

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East ...

. After a bout of

scarlet fever Scarlet fever, also known as Scarlatina, is an infectious disease caused by '' Streptococcus pyogenes'' a Group A streptococcus (GAS). The infection is a type of Group A streptococcal infection (Group A strep). It most commonly affects chi ...

, Moon lost his sight at age 21 and became a teacher of blind children. He discovered that his pupils had great difficulty learning to read the existing styles of embossed reading codes, and devised his own system that would be "open and clear to the touch."Farrell, p. 102. Moon first formulated his ideas in 1843 and published the scheme in 1845. Moon is not as well known as

, but it is a valuable alternative touch reading scheme for the blind or partially sighted people of any age. Rather than the dots of braille type, Moon type is made up of raised curves, angles, and lines. As the characters are quite large and over half the letters bear a strong resemblance to the print equivalent, Moon has been found particularly suitable for those who lose their sight later in life or for people who may have a less keen sense of touch. It has also proved successful as a mode of literacy for children with additional physical and/or learning difficulties. Schools can borrow very simple children's books with added Moon type from the Clearvision Project in London.

Foreign languages

English Christian missionaries in

Ningbo Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...

, China, during the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

used Moon type to teach blind locals how to read

. Missionaries who spoke the Ningbo dialect ran the "Home for Indigent Old People" where most of the inmates were blind. In 1874, an English missionary taught a young blind man to read

romanised Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

Ningbo written in Moon type. The

Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, Nativity of Jesus, birth, Ministry of Jesus, ministry, Crucifixion of Jesus, death, Resurrection of Jesus, resurrection, and Ascensi ...

was then transcribed into two large volumes of Moon type. A Swiss missionary placed notices on placards throughout Ningbo stating that he would give food and money to the blind people who visited. The Gospel of Mark was transcribed into Moon type using romanized Mandarin, however, without the tone marks. Missionary Hudson Taylor, who had been involved with the transcription of the gospels, did not find tone marks necessary, as the romanised Ningpo vernacular has never used tone marks. However,

aspirated consonant In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of breath that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. In English, aspirated consonants are allophones in complementary distribution with ...

s were distinguished.

Characters

Letters

As with braille, there is a Grade 1 using one Moon character per one Latin character and a Grade 2 using

contraction Contraction may refer to: Linguistics * Contraction (grammar), a shortened word * Poetic contraction, omission of letters for poetic reasons * Elision, omission of sounds ** Syncope (phonology), omission of sounds in a word * Synalepha, merged ...

s and

shorthand Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''s ...

that make texts more compact and faster to read, though requiring more study.

Numbers

Similarly to Braille, the initial version of Moon type used the first ten letters with a "number start" symbol as digits. A later version used different symbols for each digit (''StaffsMaths''). These symbols are more complex to print.

Punctuation

The type also includes punctuation.

Dotty Moon

Besides the original type formed by lines, there is the possibility of using certain Braille embossers to produce dot patterns (Dotty Moon or Dotted Moon) in the shape of Moon characters. The patterns are disposed as a 5x5 grid.

Direction

Initially the text changed direction (but not character orientation) at the end of the lines. Special embossed lines connected the end of a line and the beginning of the next.
Moon Type for the Blind
', Ramseyer Bible Collection, Kathryn A. Martin Library,

University of Minnesota Duluth The University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) is a public university in Duluth, Minnesota. It is part of the University of Minnesota system and offers 16 bachelor's degrees in 88 majors, graduate programs in 25 different fields, and a two-year pro ...

. Around 1990, it changed to a

left-to-right A writing system is a method of visually representing verbal communication, based on a script and a set of rules regulating its use. While both writing and speech are useful in conveying messages, writing differs in also being a reliable form ...

orientation.

Reception

The

Royal National Institute for the Blind The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is a UK charity offering information, support and advice to almost two million people in the UK with sight loss. History The RNIB was founded by Thomas Rhodes Armitage, a doctor who had ey ...

for wider universality prefers braille.Moon
at the RNIB site.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

*

page at the

RNIB The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is a UK charity offering information, support and advice to almost two million people in the UK with sight loss. History The RNIB was founded by Thomas Rhodes Armitage, a doctor who had ey ...

. * ttps://archive.today/20121224091047/http://www.rnib.org.uk/livingwithsightloss/reading/how/braille/tactilecodes/moon/learningmoon/Pages/learning_moon.aspx Learning Moon*
Preliminary proposal for encoding the Moon script in the SMP of the UCS
at Unicode.org {{Authority control Tactile alphabets Latin-script representations 1845 introductions