In this lesson, we will learn about the signs for basic punctuation in 8-dot Arabic Braille. For all signs and punctuation signs, please refer to the reference of 8-dot braille in the references section.
During the creation of the 8-dot computer Arabic table, a great effort was made to try to preserve the same dots representing the basic punctuation signs in the 6-dot Arabic Braille so that it would be easier to deal with them in the computer table, but at the same time, some adjustments had to be made to these signs dots. The following are the most prominent of these signs:
###Punctuation signs the same as the 6-dot table
Some of the signs remain the same in the 6-dot verbatim braille, and these signs are such as:
Question mark “?”
⠦
Dots 236
Full stop “.”
⠲
Dots 256
Exclamation mark “!”
⠖
Dots 235
Quotation mark “””
⠶
Dots 2356
####Examples:
كيف حالك؟ (How are you?)
⠅⠊⠋⠀⠱⠁⠇⠅⠦
“الحكمة ضالة المؤمن” (“Wisdom is what believers seek”)
⠶⠁⠇⠱⠅⠍⠡⠀⠫⠁⠇⠡⠀⠁⠇⠍⠳⠍⠝⠲⠶
غريب جداً! (Very strange!)
⠣⠗⠊⠃⠀⠚⠙⠁⠆⠖
1.5
⢁⠲⢑
###The seventh dot with punctuation
Some punctuation remained the same in the 6-dot literary braille, but the seventh dot was added to it, in order to avoid conflicting with other signs. These signs include:
Comma “،”
⡐
Dots 57
Semicolon “؛”
⡰
Dots 567
Colon “:”
⡒
Dots 257
English comma or mathematical comma “,”
⡂
Dots 27
####Examples:
الكلمة: اسم، أو فعل، أو حرف. (Word: name, verb, or letter.)
⠁⠇⠅⠇⠍⠡⡒⠀⠁⠎⠍⡐⠀⠌⠺⠀⠋⠷⠇⡐⠀⠌⠺⠀⠱⠗⠋⠲
أنا مسرور بك؛ لأنك تؤدي واجباتك. (I’m glad you’re doing your duties.)
⠌⠝⠁⠀⠍⠎⠗⠺⠗⠀⠃⠅⡰⠀⠇⠌⠝⠅⠀⠞⠳⠙⠊⠀⠺⠁⠚⠃⠁⠞⠅⠲
1,000,789
⢁⡂⢚⢚⢚⡂⢛⢓⢊
It is worth noting that the correct format is to write punctuation signs adjacent to the letter that precedes them without leaving a space between them. As for opening the quotation signs, it is written also adjacent to the letter that follows it, without leaving a space between them. It is also indicated – as seen in the examples above – that the English full stop and comma are used with both numbers and speech.