Contracted Braille is an exciting phenomenon because it represents a separate level within the Braille system. Some languages do not have their own shorthand, while in others it has been established for many decades. In some cases, its rules are reformed from time to time to adapt to changes in a language.
And in some countries, contracted Braille has a very eventful history, such as in Finland. Susanna Halme has dealt with this topic in detail in her article.
Thank you, Susanna, for bringing us this piece of recent Braille history so vividly!
CONTRACTED BRAILLE: GOOD OR BAD?
Braille takes up quite a lot of space, and longer texts can easily expand into many sheets and volumes. For this reason, several languages use their own contracted braille systems. Uncontracted braille is largely a translation of the print alphabet used by sighted readers. Contracted braille, in contrast, is a language-specific code system in which various letter combinations, suffixes, words, and parts of words can have their own special signs.
Contracted braille is used by more experienced braille readers. It contains the same letters, punctuation marks, and numbers as uncontracted braille, but it also includes a series of special signs that represent common words or letter combinations. Compared to standard braille, it is essentially a way of shortening—using fewer signs to express the same thing.
For example, in English, contracted braille is widely used. Almost all braille books and magazines are produced in contracted braille; its use significantly reduces the amount of paper required. Learning contracted braille is strongly recommended, and practically everyone who uses braille more extensively learns it. It takes longer to learn than uncontracted braille. Typically, people first learn uncontracted braille and later move on to contracted braille, so that they can read all the material available in braille. In English contracted braille, there are specific signs for many common small words such as “the,” “for,” and “will”, as well as for frequent letter combinations like “ing,” “er,” and “sh.” Many people find this makes reading and writing faster than with uncontracted braille, and it also saves space. (RNIB 2024.)
However, contracted braille has not been viewed solely as a helpful and supportive tool for reading and writing; potential problems and drawbacks have also been recognized. Some students with learning difficulties have found the system too challenging or the learning process too time-consuming. It has also been observed that in inclusive classrooms and learning environments, issues may arise when the text produced by a student using contracted braille does not correspond directly to the print text used by sighted peers. (DAB & ICEVI 2018.)
On the other hand, for example, Heather Field (2013) strongly advocates teaching contracted braille from the very beginning. She argues that it enables children to start reading and accessing information more quickly. Information and meaning are available even before all the letters are fully learned. According to Field, this may even help some learners who have difficulties. However, she acknowledges that by learning contracted braille, children do not learn to spell and perceive letters and words at the same pace as their sighted peers.
It therefore seems that contracted braille clearly has both advantages and disadvantages. It compresses the information conveyed through braille into a smaller space and can speed up reading. On the other hand, even without contractions, one can achieve a very good reading speed in braille, so contractions are not strictly necessary. Furthermore, it is true that contracted braille does not contain the same information about the structure of the language, spelling, and the composition and meanings of letters and words as uncontracted braille does.
In Finland, too, an attempt was made to develop a national contracted braille system, but it never became established or widely used. The first version was published in 1968, updated in 1979, and for the last time in 1997 (Näkövammaisten Keskusliitto ry 1997: 3). The proposed Finnish contracted braille system is presented in detail in the 1997 Contracted Braille Guide, so it can be examined today as an interesting historical document.
The Finnish system was based on shortening long vowels, double consonants, diphthongs, and certain syllables. In addition, contractions were proposed for various word beginnings (e.g., epä-, yksi-) and endings (e.g., -nut, -lut, -kka/kkä), as well as for whole words (e.g., ehkä “perhaps,” joskus “sometimes,” kaikki “all”). There was also a set of internal word contractions and fusions, as well as various rules for their use. All in all, there were many contractions, and several rules governing their application. (Näkövammaisten Keskusliitto ry 1997.)
What makes the system particularly complex is that many braille signs had double meanings — the same contraction could mean several things depending on the context. This makes the system perhaps more of a coded language than a straightforward way of representing written Finnish for the sighted. From a modern braille reader’s perspective, the proposed Finnish contracted braille system seems highly complex and rule-heavy, making it quite laborious to learn and use. This is probably the reason why the system was never adopted or gained users. On the other hand, many other countries likely have fairly complex contraction systems in use as well, so perhaps with more systematic work, it might have been possible to develop a functional contracted braille system for Finnish too.
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