Harris Mowbray

Harris Mowbray
Born	(1999-10-03)3 October 1999 New York City, U.S.
Alma mater	American University
Occupation	Computational linguist
Known for	Work on Braille for world languages

Harris Mowbray (/ˈhæ.ɹɪs ˈmoʊ.breɪ/; born 1999) is an amateur linguist and programmer from the United States. He is notable for creating several proposals to encode minority languages around the world in Braille.

Early life

Harris was born in New York City to Michele Madansky, a marketing research consultant who, at the time, served as an executive at Yahoo and Travis Mowbray, a clinical trials manager. He was raised in the Silicon Valley. His maternal grandfather was statistician Albert Madansky.^[1] He is of Ashkenazi Jewish descent.

Braille

Harris began by making Braille for the Gagauz language^[2] and the Sorbian language.^[3][4][5] He was widely featured in Polish press for his Kashubian Braille proposal.^[6][7][8][9] His Braille alphabets' proposals have been accepted for the Livonian language, Fulani language,^[10] and Lakota language. He also created a manual alphabet (sign language alphabet) for the Fulani language, based on the Adlam script.^[10] In March 2021, Harris Mowbray prepared a Braille proposal for two official languages of the US Northern Mariana Islands, Chamorro and Carolinian^[11][12] In mid-2021, the Udi community of Azerbaijan accepted his proposal for Braille in their language.^[13] Mowbray also helped digitize Georgian Braille. ^[14][15]

In late 2021, Harris developed Braille for the First Nations language Smalgyax spoken in northern British Columbia,^[16] the Elfdalian language,^[17] and the Rusyn language.^[18]

By early 2022, Harris had collaborated with the World Uyghur Congress to create braille for the Uyghur language with the support of other researchers.^[19] He also worked with the Khoekhoegowab speaking community of Namibia to develop Braille for their language's orthography.^[20]

Harris successfully worked with the Samogitian speaking community of Lithuania in order to create a braille standard for their language in late 2022.^[21] In 2023 he worked with Crimean Tatars in Ukraine to develop Braille for their Latin alphabet.^[22]

Personal life

Harris attended The American University in Washington, D.C.^[23]

References

1. "Albert Madansky Obituary (2022) - Chicago, IL - Chicago Tribune". Legacy.com.
2. "Студент из США бесплатно перевел гагаузский алфавит на шрифт Брайля. Рассказываем его историю". January 18, 2021.
3. "Nowostka za slepych: Serbske Braille pismo | MDR.DE". www.mdr.de.
4. "Serbski alfabet za slepych wuwił". www.serbske-nowiny.de.
5. "Powěsće: sobotu, 16.01.2021 | MDR.DE". www.mdr.de.
6. "Kaszubski dla niewidomych". Oficjalny serwis internetowy miasta Gdynia.
7. "Wyborcza.pl". trojmiasto.wyborcza.pl.
8. "Amerykanin chce pomóc niewidomym Kaszubom". trojmiasto.pl. March 10, 2021.
9. "Alfabet Braille'a dla Kaszubów - Wiadomości radio-plus-polska * radioplus.pl". www.radioplus.pl.
10. "𞤇𞤀𞤛𞤚𞤀𞤂 𞤉 𞤀𞤁𞤂𞤀𞤃". February 7, 2021.
11. "In brief: News from around the Pacific". RNZ. March 12, 2021.
12. "Student creates Chamorro-Carolinian Braille system". Saipan Tribune. March 10, 2021.
13. "Студент из США Harris Mowbray перевел на шрифт Брайля удинский алфавит. — АЛБАНО-УДИНСКАЯ ХРИСТИАНСКАЯ ОБЩИНА". Retrieved 24 December 2022.
14. ქართული ბრაილის შრიფტის ელექტრონული ვერსია შეიქმნა
15. საქართველოს განათლებისა და მეცნიერების სამინისტროს ინიციატივით ქართული ბრაილის შრიფტის ელექტრონული ვერსია შეიქმნა
16. "American linguist develops braille alphabet for traditional dialect of the Ts'msyen people".
17. "Siljan News". www.siljannews.se. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
18. "Announcing a Braille Alphabet". rusynsociety.com. Society for Rusyn Evolution. 23 August 2021. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
19. "US student invents braille system for visually impaired Uyghurs". Radio Free Asia. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
20. "American undergraduate student based in Washington DC develops braille in KhoeKhoegowab | nbc". nbcnews.na. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
21. "Amerikietis kuria Brailio raštą žemaičių kalbai". santarve.lt. 21 October 2022. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
22. "У Києві презентували перший шрифт Брайля для кримськотатарської мови". crimea.suspilne.media. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
23. "Amerykanin stworzył alfabet Braille'a dla Kaszubów - GazetaKaszubska.pl". 15 March 2021.