Spanish Contractions in Duxbury DBT

The Duxbury DBT translator has a long history. The Spanish translator was the first non-English contracted translator. Here are some notes from the company history:

1976 (December): Tables were developed to allow the Duxbury Translator to translate contracted Spanish Braille, working from a specification written by Mr. Carl Rogers (nee Carlos Rodriguez) of the American Foundation for the Blind, and edited by Bob Gildea. This is believed to be the first automation of contracted Spanish, and the first instance of a single Translator being used for two different contracted languages. The first installation of these tables was a few years later at the Organizacion Nacional de Ciegos (ONCE), Madrid, Spain. Pedro Zurita of ONCE, currently Secretary General of the World Blind Union (WBU), has provided specification information since that time. There is also a less-contracted form of Spanish, for which a table was later constructed in cooperation with the Comite Internacional pro Ciegos in Mexico City.

From various notes, it appears that the last contraction changes (updates) were made in April, 1995. The Spanish translation table is under continuing changes, but changes to contractions has stopped. This document is not intended as any sort of definative document about the rules for contracted Spanish. Instead, this is an attempt to document what the Duxbury contracted Spanish translator does.

There are many documents produced by authors around the world that describe uncontracted Spanish braille. The author of this document urges any reader to consult these supplemental documents for clarification of capitalization, emphasis, punctuation, mathematics, and many other issues.

This document starts with a listing of contractions, followed by a set of rules to use them. Please notice how the listing is divided into 4 sections: full, beginning, middle, and end. To use a contraction in the "full" group, the entire word must match. To use the beginning contraction, a word must start with the letter pattern, etc. The braille is shown in the North American braille ASCII encoding.

Contaction List

Contraction Rules

Contractions Used at the Beginning of Words

Com - dots 3, 6

Con - dots 2, 5

Dis - dots 2, 5, 6

Entre - dots 3, 5, 6

Ex - dots 1, 3, 4, 6

Inter - dots 1, 3, 4, 5, 6

Pre - dots 2, 3, 5

Re - dots 1, 2, 3, 5

Sobre - dots 2, 3

Rule: First, these word beginnings may be used only before a consonant which does not form a part of a contraction, and such a consonant must be followed by another consonant or a vowel. We will see what this means in the examples.

Examples:

Compas - rhythm - contracted dots 3, 6 and then p-a-s

Contrato - contract - contracted dots 2, 5, t, r, a, t, o Rey - Ring - r-e-y (no contraction)

The second part of the same rule states as follows: A beginning word contraction must not be sacrificed in preference to the use of another contraction.

Examples:

Resto - remainder - contracted dots 1, 2, 3, 5, s, t, o Presa - prey - contracted dots 2, 3, 5, s, a

The other possible contraction that would be used here would be the e-s contraction, which will be dealt with later. Do not sacrifice the word beginning contraction in lieu of the e-s contraction.

The third part of the rule states, in effect, that a beginning word contraction is always a beginning word contraction.

Example:

In the word represa, meaning dam, you must use dots 1, 2, 3, 5 for r-e. So it's r-e (contracted), presa (not contracted).

The following may be used as initial, middle, or final contractions. Their use may be limited as we go along.

1) A1 - dots 1, 3

2) Qu - dots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

3) On - dots 1, 3, 4, 6 (this contraction must always be preceded by a consonant, other¬wise it would stand for e-x)

4) As - dots 1, 2, 3, 4

5) Ar - dots 1, 6

6) Em - dots 1, 2, 6

7) An - dots 1, 4, 6

8) Ad - dots 1, 4, 5, 6

9) Or - dots 1, 5, 6

10) Es - dots 1, 2, A, 6

11) Ue - dots 1, 2, 5, 6 (note: this contraction may not be used when preceded by the letter g)

12) Os - dots 2, 4, 6

13) Om - dots 2, 4, 5, 6

14) Ab - dot 2 (Not to be used as a final contraction because i the comma)

15) Br - dots 2, 3

16) Cr - dots 2, 5

17) Dr - dots 2, 5, 6

18) En - dots 2, 6

19) Pr - dots 2, 3, 5

20) Gr - dots 2, 3, 5, 6

21) Er - dots 2, 3, 6

22) In - dots 3, 5

23) Tr - dots 3, 5, 6

24) Ion - dots 3 consonant) 5, 6 (note: this contraction may be used only when preceded by a

25) Im - dots 3, 5

Rules:

1) These contractions may be used as a whole syllable, part of a syllable and may inter lap syllables.

Examples:

Cable - c-a-b-l-e (normally); c-dot 2 (for ab)-l-e (contracted)

Auditor - auditor - a-u-d-i-t-or sign (dots 1, 5, 6)

Carro - car - c-a-r-r-o (normally); c-ar sign-r-o (contracted)

If "carro" is to be hyphenated and carried to a new line, then we have:

Ca- hyphen- r- r- o

The ar sign cannot be used then.

When it is necessary to divide a word at the end of a line, strict syllabication rules must be observed, even if this means the omission of a contraction.

Mar - sea - m-ar sign (dots 1, 6 for the ar)

2) Any number of contractions may be used in a single word, and a contraction may even be repeated consecutively.

Example:

q-u-dots 2, 3, 6-dots 2, 3, 6 would spell querer, meaning to like or to love.

3) If a word consists of letter groups, all of whose contractions will be lower signs, the first contraction must be sacrificed. (Note: a lower sign is a sign which contains neither dot 1 nor dot 4)

Examples:

Entren - come in - e-n-dots 3, 5, 6 (for t-r)-dots 2, 6 (for e-n)

Notice that the first e-n has been sacrificed.

Crin - mane - c-r-dots 3, 5 (for the i-n sign)

Notice that the c-r sign (dots 2, 5) has been sacrificed.

4) When a vowel in a letter group for which there is a contraction bears the orthographic accent, the contraction must be sacrificed.

Example:

America - A-m-e-r-1-c-a

Notice that the e-r contraction has not been used because of the accented e.

5) When either one of two possible contractions can include a given letter, always use the second contraction.

Examples:

Hueso - bone - h-u-es contraction-o (not h-ue contraction-s-o)

Cabra - kid - c-a-br contraction-a (not c-ab contraction-r-a)

Word Endings

1) Accion - the letter a, dots 3, 4, 5, 6 in next cell

2) Ando - dots 1, 4, 6, the letter d in the next cell (in other words, the an contraction d)

3) Eccion - the letter e, dots 3, 4, 5, 6 in the next cell

4) Endo - dots 2, 6, the letter d in the next cell (in other words, the en sign, d)

5) Iccion - the letter i, dots 3, 4, 5, 6 in next cell

6) Iendo - dots 2, 5, 6, the letter d in next cell

7) Ion - dots 3, 4, 5, 6

8) Mente - the letter m

9) Que - the letter q

10) Uccion - the letter u, dots 3, 4, 5, 6 in next cell

Rules:

1) These word endings must be used and must not give way to other possible contractions

uses.

Example:

Suavemente - softly - should be written s-u-a-v-e-m (the ending); not s-u-a-v-e-m sign- en sign-t-e (that would be incorrect)

2) Sometimes, the letter s is added to the word endings "mente" (contracted with the letter m) and "que" (contracted with the letter q). When this occurs, simply add the s to the m or q.

Examples:

Dementes - demented ones - d-e-m-s

Indiques - that you should indicate - in contraction-d-i-q-s In the case of other word endings, add the contraction e-s (dots 1, 2, 4, 6) to the word ending

Examples:

Selecciones - selections - s-e-l-e-dots 3, 4, 5, 6, followed by the contraction e-s (dots 1, 2, 4, 6)

Rules for Full Words (short form words)

1) The short form of a word may be made feminine simply by adding the vowel "a" to the short form.

Example:

Este - demonstrative adjective, masculine form. The contraction for este is "z". The contraction for Esta (the feminine form of the word) would be z, a.

/ Ultimo (last) is the masculine form. Ultima is the feminine form. The masculine is u, 1. The feminine is u", 1, a.

2) The short form words which have just been listed may be made plural by adding the letters a-s, e-s, or o-s depending on the grammatical requirements. These letters, of course, will be contracted as usual:

a-s - dots 1, 2, 3, 4, 6

e-s - dots 1, 2, 4, 6 o-s - dots 2, 4, 6

Just add each contraction to the forms given here and you'll have your plurals.

Examples:

Manera - manner - m, n; Plural - maneras - m, n, as (dots 1, 2, 3, 4, 6)

Madre - mother - m; Plural - madres - m, a, dots 1, 2, 4, 6 (for es)

Nino - child - n, n*; Plural - n, dots 2, 4, 6 (for os)

3) When the plural is formed simply by adding the letter s to words ending in a, e,

or o, the appropriate contraction for a-s, e-s, or o-s is used to replace the a, e, or o.

Examples:

Buena - feminine adjective for "good" - b, a

Buenas - b, as (dots 1, 2, 3, 4, 6)

Alguno - masculine form for "someone", "something" - dots 1, 3, n, o

Algunos - plural - dots 1, 3, n, contraction os (dots 2, 4, 6)

4) For words that end in "mente" or in "amente" simply add m for "mente" or "amente" and you have derived the proper contraction.

Examples:

Interior - interior - dots 3, 5, r

Interiormente - dots 3, 5, r, m

Unico - uc

Unicamente - ucm

5) New short form words may be derived from the base short form words just given by using the word beginnings listed previously. These new short form words may be derived subject to the rules previously given. That is, the beginning word must be attached to a base word that begins with a consonant, and is followed by a vowel or another consonant not forming part of a contrac¬tion .

Examples:

Bajo - low - is contracted b, j. The word beginning r-e may be attached to that, thus forming r, b, j (rebajo - I make a discount)

Baja - feminine of low - rebaja (rebate) - r, b, j, a

Rebajos - lowerings - r, b, j, os contraction (dots 2, 4, 6)

In applying the foregoing methods of obtaining additional short form words, do not include the word "nada" fop the purpose of forming short form word combinations. The word "nada" is n, dots 1, 4, 5, 6. It must not be combined with words, like "internada", for the purpose of ob¬taining a short form word. Thus, "internada" (the feminine for intern), would be spelled i-n-t-e-r-n-a-d-a; and would be contracted dots 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 for "inter", n, dots 1, 4, 5, 6, a

The Double Functions of the Prefix. Dot 5

We have already had some contact with it, but we'd better explain it a little further.

One of these functions is to indicate that when a word is preceded by dot 5, an accent appears. It does not indicate where the orthographic accent appears. It simply indicates that the accent does appear somewhere in the word.

Example:

Take the sentence "As you like it".

The Spanish is:

"Como le guste".

Now the meaning of the word "como" can be changed simply by affixing an accent over the vowel of the first syllable - como. Now the word means "how".

Example:

"How do you like it?" -

Como le gusta?"

The contraction for "como", meaning "as", is dots 2, 4, 5, letter w). The contraction for "how" (como), remains the same, accent somewhere, the prefix 5 is used before dots 2, 4, 5, 6. 2, 4, 5, 6 for "como" in the following cell. 6 (the configuration but to indicate that Thus, 5 in one cell,

for the there is an dots

Example:

"Que"

This is a relative pronoun which may be translated variously as "that", "which", "who". It has no accent. However, when "que" assumes the meaning of "what", then it has an accent over the e.

Example:

"’Que quiere usted?" - "What do you want?"

The contraction for "que" is simply q. If we want to indicate the "que" has an accent, because it means "what", we simply put dot 5 before the q, and that makes it "que". Also, dot 5 is used as the introduction to an exclamation.

Example:

"How pretty!" - "’Que bonito!"

Then you also put the accent over the e and the prefix, dot 5 before the q (if you're using the contraction q for "que").

In the manual which we are using, the other function of the prefix dot 5, is entitled "Interuptor Estenografico", which might be roughly translated as "Interrupter of Contractions". It has the power to suspend the contraction value of the configuration. The wording, as to how dot 5 is used in this context, is not very clear. It is used:

1) Before punctuation marks or an expression which may appear before a word which does not begin with an initial capital letter.

Example:

(three dots for ellipses) "... and he said nothing more.

The Spanish:

. y no dijo nada mas."

The Braille:

period, period, prefix dot 5, period, no space, y no dijo nada mas.

That would be "y", space, "no" (the contraction n for "no"), "dijo" (the contraction d, j)> "nada" (n, contraction dots 1, A, 5, 6), "mas" (contraction dots 1, 2, 3, 5, 6), period. Notice that dot 5 was prefixed before the last period because "y" (the letter y) was a small and not a capital letter.

2) Before every word, whether the word is Spanish or foreign, which contains letter groups that could be contracted, but full spelling must be used instead of contractions.

3) Every foreign word, or proper name, must be fully spelled and therefore must be preceded by dot 5. When a sequence of more than three such foreign proper names or words occurs, the prefix dot 5 is doubled preceding the first word in the secuence and placed singly before the last word in the sequence. The manual illustrates this rule as follows:

"Se hace referencia a la famosa fabula de La Fontaine cue comiensa maitre carbo sur un arbre perchZ "

Explanation:

In the Spanish portion of the example, there is a proper noun, La Fontaine. This is how they do it:

Dot 5, the capital prefix (dots 4, 6), followed by La Fontaine (fully spelled).

The sequence of French words consisting of more than three words ("maitre carbo sur un arbre perche^1) begins the phrase. It is begun with^the double prefix, dot 5, dot'5, followed by the capital letter sign (dots A, 6) and then "maitre" (with the circumflex i m regular French Braille). Since "perche" is the last word of the secuence of fully spelled, uncontracted words, it is preceded by the single prefix, dot 5, to show the end of the full spelling sequence.

It translates: "Reference is made to La Fontaine's famous fable which begins 'Master crow, roosting on a tree1".

A) Sometimes the Spanish conjunctions "y" (meaning "and", and spelled with the letter y) and "o" (meaning "or", and spelled with the letter o) become respectively "e" and "u". E is spelled with the letter e; u is spelled with the letter u. This happens to avoid a haitus when the word following the conjunction begins with the sound "y” or with the sound

Examples:

Padre y madre - father and mother;

but

Padre e hijo

The conjunction "y" becomes "e" before "hijo".

Profesion u oficio - profession or trade

The conjunction "o" becomes "u" before oficio.

Prefix, dot 5, must be placed before "e" (spelled with the letter e) and "u" (spelled with the letter u) in order to canqel out the contraction value of the letter e (which is "el", the masculine form of "the") and of the letter u (which is "un", one of the masculine forms of the indefinite article "a").

5) Prefix, dot 5, must precede the closing quotation, dots 3, 5, 6, when the quoted phrase ends with the words "a", "de", "me", or "o". The placing of dot 5 before the closing quotation in these instances is necessary because dots 3, 5, 6 also have the value of t-r and appear in combination with:

a, followed by dots 3, 5, 6 for atras

de, followed by dots 3, 5, 6 for detras

m, followed by dots 3, 5, 6 for mientras

o, followed by dots 3, 5, 6 for otro.

(Note that the word "me" is contracted with the letter m. Consequently "m". followed by dots 3, 5, 6 would not read "me" at all but would read "mientras", which is the reason why confusion would result if prefix, dot 5, were not placed before the closing quotation mark.)

Now we come to what the manual designates as "Diferenciador Estenografico". (Literally, "Contraction Differentiator"). This terminology doesn't mean a thing either in English or in Spanish. The symbol comprises of dots 5, 6. Its effect is to reduce a configuration to its pure letter value. For example:

We know that the letter "e" alone stands for the word "el" (the). Here is an example in which the letter "e" must appear in its pure letter value.

"La letra e ocurre con mucha frecuencia en Espanol y en Ingles." (The letter e occurs with great frequency in Spanish and in English.)

In the Spanish sentence, the prefix or letter sign, dots 5, 6 before the "e" takes away the contraction value (el) and reduces it to its pure letter value. In the English sentence, the same letter sign takes away the contraction value assigned to the letter e, namely "every" and reduces it to its pure letter value "e". The use of the letter sign, dots 5, 6 cannot be made analagous to the use of the prefix dot 5. Dot 5 may take contraction values away from characters that also function as punctuation marks. The function of the letter sign, dots 5, 6 is limited solely to reducing letters to their pure letter value.

This completes the contractions and rules for their use in the manual "Systema Braille Grado Dos (II)"