| Zambian Braille | |
|---|---|
| Script type | alphabet |
Print basis | Bemba alphabet |
| Languages | Bemba,Tumbuka,Chewa,Kaonde,Lozi,Lunda,Luvale,Tonga |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | Braille
|
Zambian Braille is any of severalbraille alphabets ofZambia. It has been developed for the languagesBemba,Tumbuka,Chewa,Lozi,Kaonde,Lunda,Luvale, andTonga.
It is based on the 26 letters of thebasic braille alphabet used for Grade-1English Braille, so the print digraphch is written as a digraph⠉⠓ in braille as well. The letterñ/ŋ[ŋ] of several of the print alphabets is distinguished from the sequenceng[ŋɡ] with an apostrophe:⠝⠛⠄ñ, as in the equivalentng’ of print Bemba. The various alphabets, including digraphs that occur in any one of them, can thus be summarized as:
 a |  b | bb |  c | cc |  ch |  d |  e |  f | |||
 g | h | hh |  i |  j |  k | kh | kk |  l | |||
 m |  n |  ñ, ŋ, ng’ |  o |  p | ph |  q |  r |  s | |||
sh |  th | t |  u |  v |  w |  x |  y |  z |  | ||
Bemba has the basic alphabet plusng’, sh, and in some orthographiesch in place ofc. Chewa and Tumbuka hasch; Lozi, Lunda and Kaonde havech, sh, andñ; Luvale hasch, sh, ph, kh, th; and Tonga hasch, sh, bb, cc, hh, kk, andŋ.
Numbers and punctuation are as in traditionalEnglish Braille.