Subject: braille ipa

at the end of 1994 , i sent out a request for information on a braille ipa . a number of people responded . i will begin by thanking them here ( in order of receipt of their messages ) : richard ogden sebastian adorjan dyhr martin lange david hathaway robert hoberman patrick griffiths robert englebretson one source is the royal national institute for the blind in england for which i was given two addresses : stephen phippen , chief editor braille transcription royal national institute for the blind po box 173 peterborough , england pe2 6ws telephone : 0345 023153 and royal national institute for the blind 224 , great portland street mount pleasant london great britain in addition , patrick griffiths wrote : ) alan kemp ( who has recently retired from the linguistics department at ) edinburgh university ) supplied me with computer versions of a braille ) phonetics system that he and bob ladd had devised for a student there a ) few years ago . i imagine that writing to or emailing dr d robert ladd , ) linguistics department , edinburgh university , 40 george square , edinburgh ) eh8 9ll , scotland , uk , would be a way of pursuing this lead . finally , robert englebretson , a grad student in linguistics at the university of california at santa barbara provided a very detailed message . he is himself blind and has used some form of transcription . among other things , he wrote : ) the basic source of information on the braille ipa system is the standard ) " code of braille textbook formats and techniques , 1977 " rule xix , section 45 , ) which gives a complete list of ipa and other commonly-used diacritics and ) symbols , and discusses rules for braille transcription of linguistics ) materials in general . ( the basic symbols listed in this work , with some ) additions and changes , are from " a braille notation of the international ) phonetic alphabet " , by w . percy merrick and w . potthoff , royal national ) institute for the blind , london , 1932 ; revised 1948 ) . the relevant section ) from " code of braille textbook formats . . . " gives a good overview of each ) braille symbol and how it is used , and describes the print symbol it ) represents . the verbal descriptions of the printed symbols are extremely ) useful , since they can provide a means of communicating about a particular ) symbol without having to see it visually . i have a copy of this section in ) both print and braille , and have found both very useful . i can provide ) information about where to get both a braille and a print copy of this ) section , if you are interested . ) a second work i have found useful , was compiled by a braille transcriber ) ( unfortunately now deceased ) who had a great interest in linguistics . it is ) entitled " phonetic - phonemic symbols in tactile representation " , and is a list ) of raised tactile drawings of print symbols , with their braille equivalents . ) this is a very useful work for a blind student to get a " feel " for the print ) symbols and also as a reference to the braille symbols . the braille edition ) of this booklet costs about $ 3 , and i will be happy to provide contact and ) ordering information upon request . ) i would very much like to get in touch with other people who know ) and / or use the ipa braille system ( both to possibly find braille ) transcribers who know it , as well as to " network " with others who ) either use braille or are interested in it . his email address is : 6500reng @ ucsbuxa . ucsb . edu
