Thai Braille (อักษรเบรลล์) andLao Braille (ອັກສອນເບຣລລ໌) are thebraille alphabets of theThai language andLao language. Thai Braille was adapted byGenevieve Caulfield, who knew both English and Japanese Braille. Unlike the printThai alphabet, which is anabugida, Thai and Lao Braille have full letters rather than diacritics for vowels. However, traces of the abugida remain: Only the consonants are based on the internationalEnglish and French standard, while the vowels are reassigned and the five vowels transcribeda e i o u are taken fromJapanese Braille.
Thai and Lao Braille run as follows:[1][2][3]
Consonants follow English and international conventions except where, as inb andf, there is interference from the Japanese-derived vowels. Low-tone-classkh, ng, ch, s, th, f are derived from English Braillek, g, st, s, th, f by adding dot 6.B and lowph are derived from highph through reflection;p is a superposition ofb andph; the three consonants had been transcribedb, bp, p in Caulfield's day.
| Thai | กk | ขkh | ฃ*kh | คkh | ฅ*kh | ฆkh | งng |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lao | ກk | ຂkh | ຄkh | ງng | |||
| Braille |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| จc | ฉch | ชch | ซs | ฌch | ญy | ||
| ຈch | ຊs | ຢy | |||||
 |  |  |  | |  | ||
| ฎd | ฏt | ฐth | ฑth | ฒth | ณn | ||
 |  |  |  | |  | ||
| ดd | ตt | ถth | ทth | ธth | นn | ||
| ດd | ຕt | ຖth | ທth | ນn | |||
| | | | | | ||
| บb | ปp | ผph | ฝf | พph | ฟf | ภph | มm |
| ບb | ປp | ຜph | ຝf | ພph | ຟf | ມm | |
 |  |  |  |  |  | |  |
| ยy | รr | ลl | วw | ศs | ษs | สs | หh |
| ຍⁿy | ຣr | ລl | ວw | ສs | ຫh | ||
|  |  |  |  | | |  |
| อ ' | ฬl | ฮh | |||||
| ອ ' | ຮh | ||||||
 | |  | |||||
Letters with asterisks are obsolete. Light cells are high tone-class letters in Thai, medium cells mid tone class, and dark cells low tone class. Consonants of different tone classes have distinct braille letters; complete homonyms, found in Thai only, are distinguished by prefixes. The one prefix in Lao is found in/jaː/ (ຢ⠠⠽y), which corresponds to Thaiying (ญ⠠⠽y) in Braille but corresponds to Thaiyak (ย⠽y) in alphabetic (non-Braille) position. Lao/ɲúŋ/ (ຍ⠽ny) corresponds to Thaiyak (ย⠽y) in Braille and looks but corresponds to Thaiying (ญ⠠⠽y) in alphabetic position.
In Thai,⠓h is prefixed to low-class nasal stops and non-plosives⠻⠀⠠⠽⠀⠝⠀⠍⠀⠗⠀⠇⠀⠺ng y n m r l w to move them to the high-tone class. Lao has the same system for similar characters⠻⠀⠽⠀⠝⠀⠍⠀⠇⠀⠺ng ny n m l w.
The short vowels transcribeda e i o u are taken from Japanese Braille, and the long vowelsā ē ī ō ū are derived from these.⠕aw (ɔ) is French and internationalo, and⠪eu/ue is Frenchœ. The other vowels have little recognizable connection to other braille alphabets.
All vowels, including the default, are written after the consonant in braille, regardless of their order in print. Although the vowels have different forms in print, depending on their environment, they have a single form in braille with few exceptions (shorta and in Lao shorto).⠕ is both the inherent vowelaw and the null consonant, so the syllableaw is written⠕⠕.
| ◌ะa ◌ະ | ◌าā ◌າ | ิi ◌ິ | ีī ◌ີ | ึeu ◌ຶ | ืe͞u ◌ື | ุu * | ูū ◌ູ |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| ัa ◌ັ | แ◌a͞e ແ◌ | เ◌ē ເ◌ | โ◌ō ໂ◌ | ◌อǭ ◌ໍ | เ◌าะǫ ເ◌າະ | เ◌อo͞e ເ◌ີ | |
 |  |  |  | | |  | |
| ำam ◌ໍາ | ไ◌ai ໄ◌ | ใ◌ai ໃ◌ | เ◌าao ເ◌ົາ | ัวūa ◌ົວ | เียīa ເ◌ຍ | เือe͞ua ເ◌ືອ | |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  | |
| ฤrue | ฦlue | * ◌ຸu | * ◌ົo | ◌ຽoi | |||
| | | |  | |||
*Lao has reassigned⠉ to ◌ົo and moved ◌ຸu to⠤.
When⟨ะ⟩ is used in print to indicate a short vowel,⟨⠁⟩ is appended to the vowel in braille. ฤๅ and ฦๅ are written as ฤ or ฦ plus า in braille. The one irregularity in Thai, also found in Lao, is⟨⠕⠁⟩ for⟨เ–าะ⟩ shortǫ, written in braille though not in print as the short variant of⠕ –อ longǭ. Lao has additional, similar regularization of print conventions:⠩⠁ for short ເ◌ິoe, and similarly the braille short sign for a different print diacritic in short ເ◌ຶອeua and ເ◌ັຍia.
| ่ ◌່ ¹ | ้ ◌້ ² | ๊ ◌໊ ³ | ๋ ◌໋ ⁴ |
 |  |  |  |
| ์ | ๆ | ็ ฺ | ฯ | ฯลฯ | ◌̊ |
| ໆ | |||||
| silent characters | reduplication | denotes short vowel | abbreviation | etc. | anusvara |
| |  |  | |  |
The short sign (⠄ ็) is also used for the rarervirama (⠄ ฺ).
Numbers are the same as in other braille alphabets, though dot six⠠ is prefixed to the⠼ to specify that they're Thai or Lao digits. Thus, a sequence of numbers begins with⠠⠼.
| prefix denoting numbers |
 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thai Numerals | ๑ | ๒ | ๓ | ๔ | ๕ | ๖ | ๗ | ๘ | ๙ | ๐ |
| Lao Numerals | ໑ | ໒ | ໓ | ໔ | ໕ | ໖ | ໗ | ໘ | ໙ | ໐ |
| Braille | | | | | | | | | | |
Single (though not paired) clause-final punctuation may introduced with⠸, but is otherwise as in English Braille.
| . | ? | ! | ; | : | / |
| | | | | |
There is some variability in the use of the⠸ to mark stop/period, comma, and the exclamation point. Thai Braille seems to use⠄ for the comma, while Lao Braille uses⠸⠂, unless the latter is a copy error in Unesco (2013).
| – | = | ″ | % |
| | |  |
| “ ... ” | ( ... ) | ........ | ----- |
| ... | ... | |  |
| Braille | ⠺⠃ | ⠛⠃ | ⠹⠆ | ⠙⠷ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thai | วิ | กิ | พี | เดีย |
| Lao | ວິ | ກິ | ພີ | ເດຍ |