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Aynu Maytak Question

Despite all of the proposed writing formes me & my editor have seen for the Ainu tongue, neither of us have ever seen any for the maytak (braille) forme. As such, would anyone who’s familiar with the language like to help with this glaring gap?

Now wouldn’t that be a neat addition, or a keyboard cover with corresponding braille patterns as a starting point?

If keyboards had braille signs on them, we would all unconsciously learn it over time.

Ahun-iyepa-hi ari obitta-kur wa aynuitak maytak katu kunip newa.

(Accessibility for everyone and Ainu language needs a braille form too.) These would illustrate how & why it’s important for native minority tongues (even outside of the Commonwealth countries) to have an access point for the blind & purblind, just as it’s important to have an access point for the crippled to get into buildings (even if said access points end up being other people carrying them over to the place they want). This would allow them to express themselves more freely & independently even if they’re sensory-deprived (like blind, purblind, deaf, mute, etc). Frankly, if such people have no way to express themselves one way or another, then what do they really have to do for themselves?

Maytak wa tekitak henne anay itak okay.

(Braille & sign languages aren’t the same as languages.) Because of these differences, it’s easier to connect with braille than with print, but sign language is the opposite case in relation to print. As such, it’s much harder to record signed speech than with spoken tongues & would be at least part of why signed languages are much more likely to truly go extinct from the difficulty or even inability to revive them instead of reconstructing & revitalising dormant spoken tongues.

PSA: Braille and Sign Language aren’t languages.

Braille is a writing system which uses other verbal languages e.g. English or Korean. If someone who only understood French tried to read German Braille, the writing system would be almost exactly the same (with slight differences due to German’s extra letters) but the words would be foreign.

Sign is a language family or type of language. There are over 130 sign languages in the world because they all developed over time in completely separate places and they are all as different as verbal languages. Someone who uses ASL (American Sign Language) is much more likely to understand LSF (French Sign Language) than BSL (British Sign Language) even though the verbal language of America and Britain are the same.

So uhhhh stop saying that you “want to learn sign language” or that “braille is an underrated language” because neither of those are languages. Instead say “I want to learn [insert your chosen sign language likely based on your location or culture]” or “braille is an underrated writing system”

thanks!