The Uyghur Braille alphabet in an undated photo. Picture courtesy of Harris Mowbray.
Protecting the Uyghur language
The number of visually impaired individuals amongst the 12 million Uyghurs living in northwestern Chinas Xinjiang area has actually never ever been divulged by the Chinese government, which has actually stymied the advancement of a Uyghur Braille script.
A Chinese variation of Braille was introduced in 1952 in China, which presently has more than 6.7 million blind individuals and another nine million who are aesthetically impaired, according to a report composed by researcher Anwar Ahmad in December 2021 that documents the Uyghur Braille script job.
However efforts to develop a Braille script for the Uyghur language were never ever finished, according to the report.
,” he said. “Creating a Braille script for a language is essential because not just does it empower the blind, however likewise it enhances the usage of their own language, even when minorities are in a really difficult scenario.”
The Braille alphabet. Credit Wikimedia Commons
In 2000, China banned using the Uyghur language in government interactions, which also obstructed the creation of Uyghur Braille in Xinjiang. Independent linguists from a number of universities still looked into the topic, stated Enver Ehmet, director of the Germany-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC) Research Center and a member of the Uyghur Braille script research group.
” Even though they made a great deal of positive ideas and research study findings, the pertinent education departments constantly overlooked them,” he informed RFA.
Beginning in 2015, the Uyghur language was banned from school curriculums in different regions of Xinjiang.
As Chinese Communist Party policies in Xinjiang threatened the presence of the Uyghur language, members of the Muslim community who are living abroad have actually stepped up efforts to safeguard it.
The new Uyghur Braille alphabet would be introduced to the visually impaired in Xinjiang just if conditions allowed, Enver said.
” If it is stated that our nation becomes independent or if the right conditions are in location, then this text will be introduced to our blind siblings and sisters in our nation,” he said. The Uyghurs call Xinjiang East Turkestan and desire acquire independence from China and develop their own country.
” The development of the Uyghur Braille script is a crucial step in our attempts to secure the Uyghur language,” said WUC president Dolkun Isa. “The Uyghur Braille script will also ensure that those in the Uyghur diaspora who are aesthetically impaired are able access this part of our cultural heritage, and transfer it to future generations.”
Equated by RFAs Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
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A U.S. college student and a group of Uyghur scientists have created a Uyghur version of the Braille alphabet, at a time when the Chinese federal government is working to eradicate the language in its western Xinjiang region.
Harris Mowbray, 22, an undergraduate international relations trainee at the American University in Washington, D.C., has developed dozens of Braille alphabets, which permit aesthetically impaired individuals to compose and read through touch, for endangered and minority languages throughout the world.
Several of the alphabets have been officially embraced by their respective countries, Mowbray states on his site.
The language lover and programmer has actually led the way for aesthetically impaired Uyghurs to read and write in the Uyghur language. Mowbray produced the Braille script of the Uyghur language with the help of Uyghur scholars and linguists from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the United States, Germany, and Turkey.
” I hope this Ugyhur Braille script is utilized widely,” Mowbray informed RFA on Jan. 25.
” Through this script, aesthetically impaired individuals will be able to read, write, study and even write e-mails.”
The Braille system was first invented in 1825 by French educator Louis Braille, who lost his sight in both eyes at an early age.
The new Braille script is based on the Uyghur Arabic alphabet– the official composing system utilized by Uyghurs living in Xinjiang– in which each noise is written independently, which is not the case with Arabic or other languages that use Arabic script.
Mowbray utilized the Uyghur Arabic alphabet at the tip of the Uyghurs he consulted, due to the fact that it is more commonly utilized than Latin- or Cyrillic-based variations primarily are used outside China.
However Mowbray stated a software application can automatically change text from the Arabic-based Uyghur alphabet to the Latin- or Cyrillic-based Uyghur alphabets.
” You can use this program to transform the Braille scripts from one to another,” he said.
Mowbray likewise has developed Braille alphabets for minority groups in Romania, Azerbaijan and Poland. He began dealing with a Braille alphabet for Uyghurs in January 2021.
,” he said. “Creating a Braille script for a language is essential due to the fact that not just does it empower the blind, however also it strengthens the usage of their own language, even when minorities are in a very hard circumstance.”
United States college student Harris Mowbray in an undated picture. Photo thanks to Harris Mobray
