Several
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 ''Å‹, É”''.
*
Kabiye has ''ɖ ɛ ɣ ɩ ŋ ɔ ʊ''. The letters ''
É©'' and ''
ʊ'' follows international norms, and are equivalent to ''ị'' and ''ụ'' in
Igbo Braille. (Unesco reports ''u/ÊŠ'' braille values are exchanged from the norm, a likely copy error.
) The other letters are as in Ewe.
*
Moba has ''É› É© Å‹ É”'', with ''É©'' as in Kabiye.
*
Tem has ''É– É› É© Å‹ É” Ï…'', 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