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braille Braille ( , ) is a Tactile alphabet, tactile writing system used by blindness, blind or visually impaired people. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displays that connect to computers and smartphone device ...
alphabets are used in Ghana. For English,
Unified English Braille Unified English Braille Code (UEBC, formerly UBC, now usually simply UEB) is an English language Braille code standard, developed to encompass the wide variety of literary and technical material in use in the English-speaking world today, in unifor ...
has been adopted. Four other languages have been written in braille: Akan (Twi), Ga, Ewe, and
Dagaare Dagaare is the language of the Dagaaba people of Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast. It has been described as a dialect continuum that also includes Wali language (Gur), Waale and Birifor language, Birifor. Dagaare language varies in dialect s ...
. All three alphabets are based on the basic braille letter values of basic Latin alphabet: : The braille equivalents of print letters beyond these are described below. English Braille punctuation is used in both Ghana and (according to UNESCO 2013) Togo. Braille is not in active use in Ghana for any language but English. However, there are some older publications in these braille alphabets.


Akan (Twi) Braille

Akan has one extra vowel letters. ''É”'' could be expected from international/African norms; ''É›'' is specific to Ghana.


Ga and Dagaare Braille

Ga and Dagaare add a third extra letter, ''Å‹''.


Ewe Braille

Ewe adds several additional consonants: ''É–'', ''Æ’'', ''É£'', ''Ê‹''. The ''É–'' and ''É£'' are the international/African norm (see also Nigerian braille); ''Æ’'' and ''Ê‹'' are from the English ''th'' sounds, the closest approximation in that language after ''f'' and ''v''.


Braille for Togolese languages

Ewe is the primary language of
Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...
, and is evidently used in Togo with the same braille assignments as in Ghana. UNESCO (2013 990 reports several additional Togolese alphabets it was unable to confirm, but which were designed in conjunction with the Ghanaian languages; they evidently use the Ghanaian Ewe assignments: *
Bassar Bassar is a town in Bassar Prefecture, Kara Region in Togo, situated west of Kara. The town borders Tatale which is in Ghana. The town has a population of 64,888. Culture Bassar was originally a centre for iron Iron is a chemical element ...
and Konkomba are written in basic braille plus Ewe ''ŋ, ɔ''. * Kabiye has ''ɖ ɛ ɣ ɩ ŋ ɔ ʊ''. The letters '' ɩ'' and '' ʊ'' follows international norms, and are equivalent to ''ị'' and ''ụ'' in Igbo Braille. (Unesco reports ''u/ʊ'' braille values are exchanged from the norm, a likely copy error.) The other letters are as in Ewe. * Moba has ''ɛ ɩ ŋ ɔ'', with ''ɩ'' as in Kabiye. * Tem has ''ɖ ɛ ɩ ŋ ɔ υ'', as in Kabiye. In addition, UNESCO reports that various Togolese languages have for
nasal vowel A nasal vowel is a vowel that is produced with a lowering of the soft palate (or velum) so that the air flow escapes through the nose and the mouth simultaneously, as in the French vowel /ɑ̃/ () or Amoy []. By contrast, oral vowels are p ...
s, for high tone, for mid tone, and for low tone. All five of these languages are spoken in Ghana as well as Togo, but Unesco does not report on them being reduced to braille there.


References

*UNESCO (2013
World Braille Usage
3rd edition. {{Braille French-ordered braille alphabets Akan language