- Moon type
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Moon Type Alphabet Languages English Creator William Moon Time period 1845 to present Parent systems Latin alphabet- Moon
ISO 15924 Moon, 218 Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols. The Moon System of Embossed Reading (commonly known as the Moon writing, Moon alphabet, Moon type, or Moon code) is a writing system for the blind, using embossed symbols mostly derived from the Roman alphabet (but simplified). It is claimed by its supporters to be easier to understand than Braille, though it is mainly used by people who have lost their sight as adults, and thus already have knowledge of the shapes of letters.
Contents
History
Dr Moon's Alphabet for the Blind, from his Light for the Blind, published in 1877
Moon type was developed by Dr. William Moon (1818–1894), a blind Englishman living in Brighton, East Sussex. After a bout of scarlet fever, Moon lost his sight at age twenty-one and became a teacher of blind children. He discovered that his pupils had great difficulty learning to read the existing styles of embossed reading codes, and devised his own system that would be "open and clear to the touch."[1]
Moon first formulated his ideas in 1843 and published the scheme in 1845. Moon is not as well known as Braille, but it is a valuable alternative touch reading scheme for blind or partially sighted people of any age.
Rather than the dots of braille type, Moon type is made up of raised curves, angles, and lines. As the characters are quite large and over half the letters bear a strong resemblance to the print equivalent, Moon has been found particularly suitable for those who lose their sight later in life or for people who may have a less keen sense of touch. It has also proved successful as a mode of literacy for children with additional physical and/or learning difficulties.
Moon books for fluent readers can be borrowed from the RNIB National Library Service and books for children from Clearvision Project.
Foreign languages
Moon type was used by English Christian missionaries in Qing dynasty China, in Ningbo, to teach blind Chinese how to read in the Ningbo dialect. In 1889, The Chinese times, Volume 3 had an article about the romanization of the Ningbo dialect. Missionaries who spoke Ningbo dialect ran a "Home for Indigent Old People", Most of the inmates in the facility were blind, and they were taught to recite prayers. An English missionary in 1874 taught a young blind man in a short time to read the colloquial of Ningpo written with the letters of Moon's system for the blind. At that time Ningpo had the Gospel of Luke in two large columes of the Moon's system embossed. A Swiss missionary there used to give out notices by placards over the city that at such a time he would give a feast and money to the blind people who came. He used a point system. Moon's system was like the recently brought out Mark in Moon's raised letter Romanized Mandarin without tone marks. Mr. Hudson Taylor, who had to do with getting the embossed Luke in Ningpo fifteen years ago, and the embossed Mark in Mandarin does not think that tone marks are necessary. The well known and long used Ningpo Romanized vernacular has not now nor ever has had any tone marks. Aspirates, however, are distinguished. When people sing hymns it is not likely that they pay attention to tones in their enunciation. They read the Romanized books, however, correctly, because of the well understood connection of tense. Tone marks were not used in the tangible point system used at Hankow.[2]
Letters
Numbers
Specimens of Dr Moon's Type for the Blind as applied to foreign languages, from his Light for the Blind, published in 1877Start 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
References
- ^ Farrell, p. 102.
- ^ J. Crossett (April 6, 1889). The Chinese Times. III. Tientsin: Tientsin Printing Co.. p. 213. http://books.google.com/books?id=HiE-AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA213&dq=mosque+ningpo#v=onepage&q=mosque%20ningpo&f=false. Retrieved 17th of July, 2011.
Bibliography
This article incorporates text from The Chinese Times, a publication from 1889 now in the public domain in the United States.- Farrell, Gabriel (1956). The Story of Blindness. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. OCLC 263655.
External links
Media related to Moon alphabet at Wikimedia Commons- "Moon Alphabet"
- "William Moon"
- National Library for the Blind
- The Moon System of Embossed Reading
- Omniglot: Moon alphabet
- Online Moon Type Generator
- Learning Moon
Categories:- Moon type
- Blindness
- Tactile alphabets
- Latin-alphabet representations
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