Unit 15 Lower Groupsigns (be, con, dis, ea, bb, cc, ff, gg, in, en) [UEB ยงยง 10.6, 10.6.1, 10.6.5, 10.6.8]
Lower Groupsigns
When the lower wordsigns (in), (enough), and (be) appear within other words, they are no longer considered wordsigns because they do not follow the stand-alone rule. The contractions become lower groupsigns and represent the letters (in), (en), and (be) respectively.
These two lower groupsigns are used anywhere their letters appear in a word.
| in | en |
| ⠔ | ⠢ |
It was raining so they went to England instead.
⠠⠭⠀⠴⠀⠗⠁⠔⠬⠀⠎⠀⠮⠽⠀⠺⠢⠞⠀⠞⠕⠀⠠⠢⠛⠇⠯⠀⠔⠌⠂⠙⠲
Preference: These signs do not have preference over strong groupsigns. Exception: (ing) may not appear at the beginning of a word. Use (in)g instead.
Examples:
Ingrid grows green ginger.
⠠⠔⠛⠗⠊⠙⠀⠛⠗⠪⠎⠀⠛⠗⠑⠢⠀⠛⠬⠻⠲
Notice that the (in) contraction is used in Ingrid instead of the (ing) because the (ing) cannot be used at the beginning of a word.
Notice that the (ing) in ginger takes preference over the (in) contraction.
Beginning Signs
These three lower groupsigns may ONLY be used at the BEGINNING of a word.
| be | con | dis |
| ⠆ | ⠒ | ⠲ |
Note: If (dis) were used at the end, it would look like a period and (con) would look like a colon.
Examples:
I believe we will discuss the contest.
⠠⠊⠀⠆⠇⠊⠑⠧⠑⠀⠺⠑⠀⠺⠀⠲⠉⠥⠎⠎⠀⠮⠀⠒⠞⠑⠌⠲
That is quite disconcerting.
⠠⠞⠀⠊⠎⠀⠟⠀⠲⠉⠕⠝⠉⠻⠞⠬⠲
Notice that the groupsign (con) in disconcerting could not be used because it was no longer at the beginning of the word. It would have looked like a colon.
Preference: These signs HAVE preference over strong groupsigns and may be used as the first syllable after a hyphen or dash.
distort (⠲⠞⠕⠗⠞) and distrust (⠲⠞⠗⠥⠌), but not dish (⠙⠊⠩) because it would interfere with pronunciation.
Middle Signs
These five lower groupsigns may ONLY be used in the MIDDLE of a word. When they appear at the beginning, or end of word or as stand-alone contractions, they have a different meaning.
| ea | bb | cc | ff | gg |
| ⠂ | ⠆ | ⠒ | ⠖ | ⠶ |
Examples:
Use clean bubbles to wash the ruffles.
⠠⠥⠎⠑⠀⠉⠇⠂⠝⠀⠃⠥⠆⠇⠑⠎⠀⠞⠕⠀⠺⠁⠩⠀⠮⠀⠗⠥⠖⠇⠑⠎⠲
Eat your eggs and souffle.
⠠⠑⠁⠞⠀⠽⠗⠀⠑⠶⠎⠀⠯⠀⠎⠳⠖⠇⠑⠲
Notice that the groupsign (ea) could not be used in the word Eat because the groupsign was not in the middle of the word.
I read that everyone has an accent.
⠠⠊⠀⠗⠂⠙⠀⠞⠀⠐⠑⠽⠐⠕⠀⠓⠁⠎⠀⠁⠝⠀⠁⠒⠢⠞⠲
Preference: These signs do NOT have preference over strong groupsigns. They may not be used before or after a hyphen or apostrophe.
The ship appears ready for take-off.
⠠⠮⠀⠩⠊⠏⠀⠁⠏⠏⠑⠜⠎⠀⠗⠂⠙⠽⠀⠿⠀⠞⠁⠅⠑⠤⠷⠋⠲
Coffee warms my heart.
⠠⠉⠷⠋⠑⠑⠀⠺⠜⠍⠎⠀⠍⠽⠀⠓⠑⠜⠞⠲
Notice that the lower groupsigns (ff) and (ea) could not be used because the preferred strong signs (of) and (ar) were used instead.
Other word examples:
| taffy | staffing | eggs | piggy | read |
| ⠞⠁⠖⠽ | ⠌⠁⠖⠬ | ⠑⠶⠎ | ⠏⠊⠶⠽ | ⠗⠂⠙ |
| steady | accent | cubby | hobby | yucca |
| ⠌⠂⠙⠽ | ⠁⠒⠢⠞ | ⠉⠥⠆⠽ | ⠓⠕⠆⠽ | ⠽⠥⠒⠁ |
| coin | winter | went | enter | behave |
| ⠉⠕⠔ | ⠺⠔⠞⠻ | ⠺⠢⠞ | ⠢⠞⠻ | ⠆⠓⠁⠧⠑ |
| belief | discuss | disobey | convict | connect |
| ⠆⠇⠊⠑⠋ | ⠲⠉⠥⠎⠎ | ⠲⠕⠃⠑⠽ | ⠒⠧⠊⠉⠞ | ⠒⠝⠑⠉⠞ |