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Translingual
A character of the braille script, originally used as a comma. Some alphabets use it for a variant of a because it is a lowered version of the braille letter ⠁ a.
Etymology
Invented by Louis Braille, braille cells were arranged in numerical order and assigned to the letters of the French alphabet. Most braille alphabets follow this assignment for the 26 letters of the basic Latin alphabet or, in non-Latin scripts, for the transliterations of those letters. In such alphabets, the first ten braille letters (the first decade: ⠁⠃⠉⠙⠑⠋⠛⠓⠊⠚) are assigned to the Latin letters A to J and to the digits 1 to 9 and 0. (Apart from '2', the even digits all have three dots: ⠃⠙⠋⠓⠚.)
The letters of the first decade are those cells with at least one dot in the top row and at least one in the left column, but none in the bottom row. The next decade repeat the pattern with the addition of a dot at the lower left, the third decade with two dots in the bottom row, and the fourth with a dot on the bottom right. The fifth decade is like the first, but shifted downward one row. The first decade is supplemented by the two characters with dots in the right column and none in the bottom row, and that supplement is propagated to the other decades using the generation rules above. Finally, there are four characters with no dots in the top two rows. Many languages that use braille letters beyond the 26 of the basic Latin alphabet follow an approximation of the English or French values for additional letters.
Punctuation mark
⠂
- (IPA Braille) the comma (,)
- Non-Latin transliteration
- (Thai Braille) the reduplication mark, ๆ
- (Bharati Braille) the avagraha, ऽ (’ )
Letter
⠂
- (Arabic Braille) ـَ (a)
- (Thai Braille) combines with ⠗ r and ⠇ l to produces the former syllabic consonants, ⠗⠂ (⠗⠂) ฤ (rʉ́) and obsolete ⠇⠂ (⠇⠂) ฦ (lʉ́).
- (Cantonese Braille) Tone 6
Symbol
⠂
- (music, fingering) fourth finger
See also
English
Punctuation mark
⠂ (,)
- the comma (,)
Usage notes
- Not used for the decimal point, which is ⟨⠨⟩.
See also
- ⠐⠂ (ditto mark)
Letter
⠂ (ea)
- Renders the print sequence -ea-.
Usage notes
Can only appear within a word where it does not contact an apostrophe or hyphen – that is, not in tea-time; at the end of a word it would be confused with a comma. May be used either where the ea spells a single vowel, as in head, or two, as in idea or create, but not across an obvious affix as in preamble, or in a compound such as pineapple. In order to keep the spelling regular, it is not used in words like uneasy, anteater, southeast because it is not used in easy, eater, east (due to that being in word-initial position).
Prefix
⠂
- Marks non-Latin letters, such as the following for International Greek Braille:
- α ⠂⠁, β ⠂⠃, γ ⠂⠛, δ ⠂⠙, ε ⠂⠑, ζ ⠂⠵, η ⠂⠱, θ ⠂⠹, ι ⠂⠊, κ ⠂⠅, λ ⠂⠇, μ ⠂⠍, ν ⠂⠝, ξ ⠂⠭, ο ⠂⠕, π ⠂⠏, ρ ⠂⠗, σ ⠂⠎, τ ⠂⠞, υ ⠂⠥, φ ⠂⠋, χ ⠂⠯, ψ ⠂⠽, ω ⠂⠺
Usage notes
- This is read as a comma when followed by a space, as a marker of non-Latin script when not. The non-Latin script is determined by context. The examples above would only be read as Greek letters if that were so established.
- The prefix has been abolished in Unified English Braille.
French
Punctuation mark
⠂ (,)
- The comma, ⟨,⟩.
Contraction
⠂ (an)
- The letter sequence an.
Usage notes
- The sequence an may appear anywhere in its word, with the proviso that it is followed by at least one letter.
Korean
Letter
⠂ • (-l)
- Syllable-final ㄹ (l).
Coordinate terms
- Syllable-initial ⠐.
Luxembourgish
Punctuation mark
⠂ (,)
- The comma.
Mandarin
Letter
⠂
- (Mainland Braille, Taiwan Braille) Tone 2
Contraction
⠂
- (Two-Cell Braille) the suffix 们 (-men)