The Braille translation program of Münster University

Abstract

Let ms first give a rough summary of the German Grade 2 system. In this I can be very brief with those kinds o f contractions and rules that exist in Braille Grade 2 for every language, but it might be useful to give some details of th e typical German problems. The contractions in German Grade 2 can be grouped into seven classes : I) For simplicity of speaking let us say that the ordinary letters are contractions, too. 2) Letter contractions, such as " in", "II", are represented by one Braille sign. 3) Prefixes, such as "ex", "pro", etc ., are represented by one Braille sign if they appear at the beginning of a word. 4) Suffixes, such as " nis " , " ung" (cf. English " ness " resp. " ing "), are represented by one sign. Other suffixes, suc h as "ation", "ativ", are represented by dot 5 plus one sign. 5) So-called "two-forms word-contractions'", such as "dt" for "demokrat", "bi" for "blind", are used for isolate d words, and most of them also in compound words. 6) So-called "one-form word-contractions", such as "g" for "gegen" (=against), "n" for "nicht" (=not) are used fo r isolated words, and about half of them are also used in compound words, where they are indicated by a dot 2 precedin g them. 7) So-called "comma-contractions", such as dot 2 + "e" for "setz", dot 2 + "i" for "sitz" (stems of the verbs setze n = to set, sitzen = to sit) can be regarded as a special kind of two-forms contractions. (Of course, the second sign of a comma-contraction can be only a sign which, regarded as a one-form word-contraction, would not be allowed to appear after a dot 2, i. e. , in compound words .) Additional contractions are derived from word-contractions and comma-contractions for words or word stems containing one of the vowels a, o, or u (or the diphtong au), by the following rule : If in a derived form of a ,word this vowe l changes to the corresponding (Umlaut" iz, o, u respectively, then the contraction is also used, but preceded by dot 5. I f a dot 2 is involved in the contraction, the dot 5 replaces the dot 2 instead of preceding it. Example : o is a one-form word-contraction for the word "volt" (=full) in the compound word "vollkommen" …