From Element to Meaning: A Step-by-Step Approach to Efficient Communication Using Bliss

Blissymbolics is a pictographic, translingual communication system currently used in Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), particularly among nonspeaking individuals with autism. Existing mobile AAC applications either provide static symbol boards or rely on natural-language lookup, limiting flexibility and often requiring prior linguistic competence. This paper presents a mobile-first Android application that introduces a radical-based input method enabling users to construct Bliss symbols from semantic primitives. A gamified learning module is used to scaffold the acquisition of Bliss composition rules. Unlike static communication boards, the proposed approach supports dynamic symbol construction and aims to increase expressive flexibility. The system is evaluated using a controlled comparative study measuring time-to-completion against an existing open-source Bliss keyboard. The results provide empirical evidence regarding speed, efficiency, learnability, and perceived communicative adequacy of radical-based mobile input. Although there is still room for improvement. To our knowledge, this is the first mob5ile implementation that integrates hinted radical-based input with an embedded compositional learning mechanism specifically tailored to Blissymbolics.