This report is the summary to date of the work of the Contractions Committee, a working subcommittee of the Unified English Braille Committee. The decisions taken by this committee represent only recommendations to its parent committee, and should not be considered official rules of UEB unless and until those recommendations are approved by the UEB Committee and the ICEB.
The UEB Contractions Working Committee was formed in December 2004 and charged with determining the extent to which UEB would follow the current British and/or American rules for the use of contractions that the three systems have in common, while respecting the previously established contraction rules specific to UEB, notably those affecting shortforms. Since that time the committee has met continuously by email list, following "Robert's Rules" procedures to expedite decision-making.
Rather than analyze the quite differently presented American and British rule sets directly, the committee initiated its work from lists of words that are in fact contracted differently according to the two systems. The first such list comprised some 5,464 words (distinct spellings) that occur more than 800 times in the well-known British National Corpus (BNC) of about 100 million words. Of these, somewhat surprisingly, there appear to be only 34 words (0.62%) that are treated differently under the American and British conventions. These were divided into seven groups according to the basis for the difference, i.e. the applicable rules from the two systems that lead to the difference.
During the early work with these seven groups, it became clear that there were other differences between the American and British that would need to be considered, even if they affect only words that are not among the top 5,000 in terms of frequency. Accordingly, a much longer base list was obtained by extracting those words that occur at least 50 times in the BNC sample of approximately 90 million written words. That list amounted to approximately 37,000 distinct words, of which approximately 363 (.98%) are treated differently. Analysis of the reasons for the differences led to an expansion of the original 7 groups to 23 groups, including one group that could be (and eventually was) considered to be not distinct after all. These 23 groups were numbered and defined as detailed below. Note that the number of words given for each group (out of the 363 total for all groups) is, naturally, not intended to be definitive but is intended only as a means to estimate the relative importance of the various groups:
Group 1 -- Prefixes bridged or not (186 words): BANA rules [X.34b(2) and (3)] do not permit use of contractions that would bridge a prefix and root, such as the "en" in "denounce," while the BAUK rules [8.9.1] generally do permit such bridging.
Group 2 -- Use of the "here" contraction in "sphere" and its derivatives and compounds (9 words): BANA rules [X.34 and X.34b(5)] do not allow the use of contractions that would disturb the pronunciation of a digraph or trigraph, in particular "here" in "sphere," as in "atmosphere." BAUK rules [8.5.5] permit the use of that contraction whenever the letters are pronounced as one syllable.
Group 3 -- Preference for "ence" or "ed" in "enced" (9 words): BANA rules [X.35b] prefer "ence" before "d" and "r", as in the word "experienced". BAUK rules [8.8.5] prefer the simple groupsigns in these instances.
Group 4 -- Use of the "ever" contraction when not so pronounced (5 words): BANA rules [XIV] permit use of "ever" only when it is pronounced like the separate word, hence disallow its use in "fever". BAUK rules [8.5.4] allow it when the stress is on the first e and the letter group is not preceded by an "e" or an "i".
Group 5 -- Suffixes bridged or not (37 words): BANA rules [X.34b(2)] do not permit a contraction to bridge the boundary between a base word, so that for example "ed" would not be allowed in "freedom". BAUK rules [8.4.27, 8.9.3] allow base-suffix bridging in most instances.
Group 6 -- Use of "word" contraction when not so pronounced (3 words): BANA rules [XIV] permit initial-letter contractions within words only when they retain their original sound, hence disallowing "word" in "sword" and its derivatives and compounds. BAUK rules [8.5.1] generally allow the "word" contraction to be used wherever the letters occur.
Group 7 -- Use of "ea" after a prefix (6 words): BANA rules [X.34b(1)] do not permit contractions to be used that would alter the usual form of the base word, hence for example "ea" could not be used in "uneasy". BAUK rules [8.4.27-29, 8.9.2] permit use of the "ea" in such a circumstance.
Group 1A -- Use of "ong" and "st" when "cong" and "dist" follow a prefix (10 words): Words such as "congruous" and "distinct" are treated the same under both BANA and BAUK rules because both would prefer to contract "con" or "dis". However, when a prefix is added, e.g. "incongruous" and "indistinct", "con" and "dis" cannot be contracted and hence act as prefixes in themselves. By the same logic as for group 1, BAUK rules permit use of "ong" and "st," while BANA rules do not.
Group 8 -- Contractions involving ae or oe diphthongs or umlaut equivalents (35 words): BANA rules (V.25) generally require the letters constituting diphthongs or representing umlauts to be written separately, hence disallowing the "er" in "aerobic," the "ed" in "Oedipus," and the "en" in "Schoenberg". BAUK rules [8.9.6-7] generally permit contractions, except for the ea, to be used.
Group 9 -- "In" (and other lower signs) adjoining hyphen (20 hyphenated words): BANA rules [XIII.39] do not permit use of the six lower-sign word contractions when "in contact" with any punctuation sign, hence for example disallow contraction of "in" in "all-in-one", "break-in", and "in-laws". BAUK rules [8.4.1-3] permit use of lower contractions provided there is an upper sign somewhere within the entire string between blanks, and so allow the "in" contraction in all these instances.
Group 10 -- "In" (and other lower signs) adjoining capital indicators (1 word): The same BANA and BAUK rules apply as for group 9, but the effect is the opposite -- e.g. BANA allows the contraction in the capitalized word "In" because capitalization indicators are not considered in applying the lower-sign rules, whereas BAUK would regard the dot 6 as significant for that purpose and therefore disallow the contraction.
Group 11 -- "Be" vs. "ea" in certain "Bea..." words (2 words): BANA rules [X.34a(2), XIII] prefer use of a one-cell contraction such as the "be" contraction over the "ea" in most cases, for example in "Beatrice". BAUK rules [8.4.16] require the "be" to be an unstressed syllable in that case, hence prefer the "ea".
Group 12 -- Other "be..." words (3 words): BANA rules [XIII] permit the "be" contraction at the beginning of a word as long as it is a syllable; as noted above the BAUK rules [8.4.16] permit its use only if it is unstressed. Thus BANA rules would permit the contraction, for example, in "Beowulf", "beret" and "beta," while the BAUK rules would not.
Group 13 -- Use of the "ought" contractions vs. "ou" and "gh" (3 words): BANA rules [XIV] do not allow "ought" and other initial-letter contractions to be used as parts of words unless they retain their original sound (with certain "easily read" exceptions), hence would disallow "ought" in "Broughton", for example. BAUK rules [8.5.3] generally allow "ought" to be used wherever the letters occur.
Group 14 -- Use and non-use of "ea" (7 words): BANA rules [X.34a(2)] allow use of the "ea" contraction when they overlap a "minor" or "incidental" syllable boundary, hence would allow the "ea" in "Seattle" and "pancreas", for examples. BAUK rules [8.4.29] disallow the "ea" contraction when the letters are in "distinct" syllables, except when the "a" begins a suffix.
Group 15 -- Use of "some" contraction when not so pronounced (2 words): BANA rules [XIV.45d] permit use of the "some" contraction only when the letters form a syllable pronounced like the word, hence would disallow the contraction in, for example, "chromosome". BAUK rules [8.5.9] permit its use as long as the letters form a definite syllable, regardless of pronunciation, and hence would allow the contraction in that word.
Group 16 -- Use and non-use of "con" contraction (2 words): BANA rules [XIII] and BAUK rules [8.4.16] seem to agree that "con" can be used at the beginning of a word provided it constitutes a syllable, but in applying the rule BANA disallows "con" in "conifer" and "conundrum" while BAUK allows the contraction in those words. (Dictionaries vary in showing the syllable break for "conifer," some placing it after the "o" and some after the "n". As for "conundrum," dictionaries seem to agree that the syllable break occurs after the "o" but, based upon the fact that the "con" sound is nevertheless apparent when the word is pronounced normally, BAUK lists the word as using the "con" contraction.)
Group 17 -- Use and non-use of "one" contraction (6 words): BANA rules [XIV.45a] state that "one" may be used when and only when both "o" and "n" are in the same syllable. BAUK rules [8.5.7] allow the contraction in words ending in "oney" and all other cases where all three letters are in the same syllable. This means that in most cases, e.g. "Leone", "Mahoney" and "phoney", BAUK allows the contraction while BANA doesn't. But in "Donegal", the rules have the opposite effect.
Group 18 -- Use and non-use of "ing" contraction (5 words): BANA rules [X.34b(6)] do not allow use of a contraction where two adjoining consonants are pronounced separately, hence would disallow use of "ing" in, for example, "dinghy" and "meningitis". BAUK rules [8.3.5-6] generally allow "ing" wherever the letters occur in the middle or end of a word, hence would allow the contraction in those words.
Group 19 -- Use and non-use of "th" and "gh" (4 words): BANA rules [XII] allow "gh" and "th" when they are pronounced as one sound, and hence would disallow their use in, for example, "Chatham" and "Higham". BAUK rules [8.3.1, 8.9.5] generally allow the contractions where the letters occur, except when the h is aspirated at the beginning of a "clearly marked" syllable, and allow the contractions in those words.
Group 20 -- Use and non-use of "had" (1 word): BANA rules [XIV.45] permit use of the "had" contraction when it retains its sound, hence disallow use in "jihad", for example. BAUK rules [8.5.2, 8.8.5] allow the contraction in most cases where the "a" is short, hence allow the contraction in that word.
Group 21 -- Use and non-use of "part" in "partake" and its derivates (3 words): BANA rules [XIV] specifically disallow use of the "part" contraction in "partake", "partook", etc. BAUK rules [8.5.8] generally allow that contraction whenever the letters occur, except where the "t" is part of a "th" digraph.
Group 22 -- Miscellaneous differences (4 words): Both the BANA rules [X.34] and the BAUK rules [8.8.6] contain catch-all prohibitions against using contractions that would "obscure" (BANA's term) or "upset" (BAUK's term) the pronunciation of a word. The application of such rules naturally depends both on fine points of pronunciation and on judgment as to what constitutes "obscuring" or "upsetting". In three of the four words that apparently came under this category, BAUK practice allows contractions not allowed by BANA practice, specifically the "and" in "grandad" (so spelled), the "of" in "Schofield", and the "ence" in "Wenceslaus". In the fourth word, "Beethoven", BANA practice permits the "th" while BAUK practice does not, even though there is substantial agreement as to how the word is broken into syllables and pronounced (approximately, "BAY-toh-vun").
In the initial phase of the committee's work, which involved a close look at just the first seven of the above groups, it became clear that the committee members were inclined toward more liberal use of contractions so as to keep braille words short, even if that led to the bridging of word divisions that are in some sense "minor," such as between a prefix and a root. This approach is more characteristic of the British Rules, whereas in most (though not all) cases the American rules are more inclined to preserve the boundaries between the basic elements and syllables within a word. Consequently, the committee chose in six of the seven groups to prefer the British rules. The exception was Group 3, where the length of the resulting braille word is the same whether "ence" or "ed" is used; in that case, the committee preferred the American practice of using the "ence" contraction as a way of preserving the base word integrity.
Moving on to the larger set of differences represented by all 23 groups (or 22, if not counting Group 1a as separate from Group 1), the same general preference for more liberal use of contractions as in the BAUK approach was apparent, though with some exceptions. In the end the committee decided to recommend the adoption of the rules of "British Braille" (2004), with changes as necessary to accommodate prior decisions with respect to UEB contractions and with the following additional exceptions, all of which are according to current BANA practice:
1. (see Group 3) "ence" is to be preferred to "ed" or "er" in the letter-groups "enced" and "encer".
2. (see Group 10) Capitalization indicators are to be ignored in application of the lower-sign rules.
3. (see Group 14) The "ea" contraction is to be allowed to bridge minor syllable boundaries.
The first of the above exceptions was already mentioned; the second and third lead to greater use of contractions and hence space-saving with no loss of readability, in the committee's judgment. (A fourth exception was added later; see below.)
The committee also initially decided to allow the "ing" contraction to be used in word-initial position, even though neither the BANA nor the BAUK rules currently permit such usage. However, after considering just how to reconcile that rule with the more general ones against upsetting pronunciation and in particular the rule against bridging boundaries in unhyphenated compound words (such as "ingroup"), the committee unanimously decided to rescind that decision and stay with the rule that "ing" should not be contracted at the beginning of a word.
After these major decisions, the committee turned to several other matters affecting contractions that had arisen in the course of discussion or had been referred by other interested parties. These were discussed and decided by consensus, no disagreement having been expressed.
The first of these was the question of whether or not to permit the use of wordsigns when hyphens are introduced into a word in order to show spelling, hesitation, syllabification, emphasis, etc. (as in "but-ton"). It was agreed that wordsigns should not be used in such cases, and that UEB grade 1 word (or if appropriate, passage) indicators should be used to assure that words written with embedded hyphens for such purposes were readable and could not be understood as including wordsigns or shortforms. It was also understood that such cases should not be confused with genuine hyphenated compound words, such as "merry-go-round", where UEB rules should permit contraction of "go", as do the current BANA and BAUK rules.
The next topic was the question of whether contractions should be allowed immediately following accent indicators. Both BANA and BAUK rules generally do not allow accented letters to be part of contractions, but the British rules that the committee had adopted as a general basis (with exceptions as already mentioned) contains a special provision [5.1.2] for cases where an accent is used to show stress or separation, e.g. when a grave accent is placed on the final "e" in "blessèd". The committee agreed that it was simpler not to make an exception for such rare cases, and that consequently UEB should not use contractions after accent indicators in any case. (This then adds a fourth recommended exception to the general adoption of British rules.)
The third and final follow-on topic was the question of whether the "con" contraction should be used in certain names such as "O'Connor". American rules [XIII] permit its use in such cases while BAUK rules [8.10.5] do not, but actual instances do not occur frequently enough to have shown up in the 37,000-word sample that the committee had used as its starting-point and so the committee had not previously considered the question. The committee noted that it would be consistent within UEB to require that contractions such as "con," which are restricted to the beginning of a word, should be used only when the punctuation to the left obeys the "standing alone" rule on that side, and letters or contractions follow on the right. The net effect would be that "con" should not be used in words beginning "O'Con..." since the O-apostrophe fails to meet the definition of what can appear to the left of a word standing alone. The committee consequently agreed that the "con" contraction should not be used in this instance, which is consistent with the basic decision to follow British rules, with the implied and listed exceptions previously detailed.
Respectfully submitted,
The UEB Contractions Working Committee:
The committee thanks the observers who joined in its work, contributing in some cases extensive background information from the perspective of linguistics as well as personal experience.