Gaining production rules for a MARKOV Braille translation algorithm

Abstract

When we contract a word in Braille the chief difficulty is whether the contraction is correct in the etymologica l sense of the word . Let me give an example : suppose, the ending -ion is correctly shortened in words as religion, section , union, commission, etc ., its usage in the word "lion", however, would not be permitted by the majority of (German ) Braille-readers up to now . Especially the teachers of the blind raise the objection that the reader would loose the touch o f natural language if those contractions were allowed . This may be doubted for the sample quoted above, but it is beyon d discussion that a misused contraction is a grievous obstacle for the Braille-reader, especially, if in a compound word one par t of the contraction belongs to the first and one part of it to the second word .