Unit 15 Lower Groupsigns (be, con, dis, ea, bb, cc, ff, gg, in, en)
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 |
| ⠆⠇⠊⠑⠋ | ⠲⠉⠥⠎⠎ | ⠲⠕⠃⠑⠽ | ⠒⠧⠊⠉⠞ | ⠒⠝⠑⠉⠞ |