IPA Braille

Developed by Dr. Robert Englebretson in conjunction with the International Council on English Braille.



Status of IPA Braille

IPA Braille was published by CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind) under the auspices of the International Council on English Braille in April, 2008. BANA (the Braille Authority of North America) adopted IPA Braille as the authorized BANA code for phonetics in February 2010. The publication is available for free download at http://www.iceb.org/icebipa.htm.

The following JIPA article summarizes IPA Braille, and is intended for students, phoneticians, and linguists who have little to know experience with braille. Click here for a PDF. Full citation is:Englebretson, Robert. 2009. “An overview of IPA Braille: an updated tactile representation of the International Phonetic Alphabet.” Journal of the International Phonetic Association 39 (1): 67-86. (Copyright © Journal of the International Phonetic Association.)) Please note that if you print out the charts in the appendix, the first page needs to be printed in landscape orientation to keep it from being cut off.

The following article in the Braille Monitor gives some basic information about IPA Braille: Englebretson, Robert. 2013. “Braille and the IPA: Empowering careers in the language sciences.” The Braille Monitor, 56: 2. https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm13/bm1302/bm130211.htm

If you have any questions related to the IPA and braille, please feel free to contact me at reng {at} rice.edu.


Other Useful Resources

This section contains links to other resources related to braille, IPA, and accessibility for blind students and professionals in linguistics, along with software and fonts relevant to this project. Please e-mail me with suggestions to add to this list.

IPA, Linguistics, Braille, and Accessibility

Relevant Software and Fonts


Return to Robert Englebretson's Home page