diff --git a/modules/nlb/book-to-pef/src/main/resources/css/text-formatting.scss b/modules/nlb/book-to-pef/src/main/resources/css/text-formatting.scss
index f238a024ba..fc0f51c188 100644
--- a/modules/nlb/book-to-pef/src/main/resources/css/text-formatting.scss
+++ b/modules/nlb/book-to-pef/src/main/resources/css/text-formatting.scss
@@ -2,6 +2,49 @@
 /*                Text formatting                                             */
 /* -------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
 
+@text-transform strong {
+    system: -nlb-indicators;
+    open: "⠠⠄";
+    close: "⠠⠄";
+}
+
+@text-transform em {
+    system: -nlb-indicators;
+    open: "⠆";
+    close: "⠰";
+}
+
+@text-transform u {
+    system: -nlb-indicators;
+    open: "⠸";
+    close: "⠸";
+}
+
+@text-transform strike {
+    system: -nlb-indicators;
+    open: "⠐⠂";
+    close: "⠐⠂";
+}
+
+strong, b {
+    text-transform: strong;
+    :root:not(:has(em, i)) & {
+        text-transform: em;
+    }
+}
+
+em, i {
+    text-transform: em;
+}
+
+u {
+    text-transform: u;
+}
+
+strike, s {
+    text-transform: strike;
+}
+
 sub {
     // FIXME: use "-louis-sub" when supported
     text-transform: -louis-emph-4;
diff --git a/modules/nlb/book-to-pef/src/main/resources/xml/block-translate.xsl b/modules/nlb/book-to-pef/src/main/resources/xml/block-translate.xsl
index 83549c7ae4..6256584436 100644
--- a/modules/nlb/book-to-pef/src/main/resources/xml/block-translate.xsl
+++ b/modules/nlb/book-to-pef/src/main/resources/xml/block-translate.xsl
@@ -10,14 +10,37 @@
 	
 	<xsl:import href="http://www.daisy.org/pipeline/modules/braille/css-utils/transform/block-translator-template.xsl"/>
 	
-	<xsl:variable name="em-count" select="count(//html:em | //html:i | //dtb:em | //dtb:i)"/>
 	<xsl:variable name="main-locale" select="'no'"/>
 	
+	<xsl:variable name="text-transform-defs" as="element()*">
+		<!--
+		    Note: requires that the @text-transform rules are defined in the style attribute of the
+		    root element!
+		-->
+		<xsl:for-each select="css:parse-stylesheet(/*/@style)[matches(@selector,'^@text-transform')]">
+			<xsl:variable name="name" as="xs:string" select="replace(@selector,'^@text-transform\s+(.+)$','$1')"/>
+			<xsl:variable name="props" as="element()*" select="css:parse-declaration-list(@style)"/>
+			<xsl:if test="$props[@name='system' and @value='-nlb-indicators']">
+				<css:text-transform name="{$name}">
+					<xsl:if test="not($props[@name='open'])">
+						<xsl:message terminate="yes"
+						             select="concat('@text-transform &quot;',$name,'&quot; does not define &quot;open&quot;')"/>
+					</xsl:if>
+					<xsl:attribute name="open" select="css:parse-string($props[@name='open']/@value)/@value"/>
+					<xsl:if test="not($props[@name='open'])">
+						<xsl:message terminate="yes"
+						             select="concat('@text-transform &quot;',$name,'&quot; does not define &quot;close&quot;')"/>
+					</xsl:if>
+					<xsl:attribute name="close" select="css:parse-string($props[@name='close']/@value)/@value"/>
+				</css:text-transform>
+			</xsl:if>
+		</xsl:for-each>
+	</xsl:variable>
+	
 	<xsl:param name="text-transform" required="yes"/>
 	
 	<xsl:template mode="#default before after" match="css:block">
 		<xsl:param name="context" as="element()"/>
-		<xsl:param name="result-style" as="element()*" tunnel="yes"/>
 		<xsl:variable name="text" as="text()*" select="//text()"/>
 		<xsl:variable name="style" as="xs:string*">
 			<xsl:apply-templates mode="style"/>
@@ -58,32 +81,149 @@
 		</xsl:apply-templates>
 	</xsl:template>
 	
-	<xsl:template mode="style" match="text()" as="xs:string">
+	<xsl:template mode="emphasis" match="*" as="xs:string*" priority="1">
+		<xsl:param name="segments" as="xs:string*" required="yes"/>
 		<xsl:param name="source-style" as="element()*" tunnel="yes"/>
-		<xsl:sequence select="css:serialize-declaration-list($source-style[not(@name='word-spacing')
-		                                                                   and not(@value=css:initial-value(@name))])"/>
+		<xsl:variable name="source-style" as="element()*">
+			<xsl:call-template name="css:computed-properties">
+				<xsl:with-param name="properties" select="'text-transform'"/>
+				<xsl:with-param name="context" select="$dummy-element"/>
+				<xsl:with-param name="cascaded-properties" tunnel="yes"
+				                select="css:deep-parse-stylesheet(@style)[not(@selector)]/css:property"/>
+				<xsl:with-param name="parent-properties" tunnel="yes" select="$source-style"/>
+			</xsl:call-template>
+		</xsl:variable>
+		<xsl:next-match>
+			<xsl:with-param name="segments" select="$segments"/>
+			<xsl:with-param name="source-style" tunnel="yes" select="$source-style"/>
+		</xsl:next-match>
+	</xsl:template>
+	
+	<!--
+	    do not inherit text-transform values strong, em, u and strike, because these values are
+	    handled at the level of the element on which they are specified
+	-->
+	<xsl:template match="css:property[@name='text-transform']" mode="css:compute">
+		<xsl:param name="concretize-inherit" as="xs:boolean"/>
+		<xsl:param name="concretize-initial" as="xs:boolean"/>
+		<xsl:param name="validate" as="xs:boolean"/>
+		<xsl:param name="context" as="element()"/>
+		<xsl:choose>
+			<xsl:when test="@value='inherit'">
+				<xsl:sequence select="."/>
+			</xsl:when>
+			<xsl:when test="@value='none'">
+				<xsl:sequence select="."/>
+			</xsl:when>
+			<xsl:otherwise>
+				<xsl:variable name="parent-computed" as="element()">
+					<xsl:call-template name="css:parent-property">
+						<xsl:with-param name="property" select="@name"/>
+						<xsl:with-param name="compute" select="true()"/>
+						<xsl:with-param name="concretize-inherit" select="true()"/>
+						<xsl:with-param name="concretize-initial" select="$concretize-initial"/>
+						<xsl:with-param name="validate" select="$validate"/>
+						<xsl:with-param name="context" select="$context"/>
+					</xsl:call-template>
+				</xsl:variable>
+				<xsl:variable name="parent-computed-value" as="xs:string*"
+				              select="tokenize(normalize-space($parent-computed/@value),' ')[not(.=('strong','em','u','strike'))]"/>
+				<xsl:variable name="parent-computed" as="element()?">
+					<xsl:if test="exists($parent-computed-value)">
+						<xsl:sequence select="css:property(@name, string-join($parent-computed-value,' '))"/>
+					</xsl:if>
+				</xsl:variable>
+				<xsl:choose>
+					<xsl:when test="not(exists($parent-computed))">
+						<xsl:sequence select="."/>
+					</xsl:when>
+					<xsl:when test="@value=('initial','auto') and $parent-computed/@value='none'">
+						<xsl:sequence select="."/>
+					</xsl:when>
+					<xsl:when test="@value=('initial','auto')">
+						<xsl:sequence select="$parent-computed"/>
+					</xsl:when>
+					<xsl:when test="$parent-computed/@value=('auto','none','initial')">
+						<xsl:sequence select="."/>
+					</xsl:when>
+					<xsl:otherwise>
+						<xsl:sequence select="css:property(
+						                        @name,
+						                        string-join(
+						                          distinct-values((
+						                            tokenize(normalize-space(@value), ' '),
+						                            tokenize(normalize-space($parent-computed/@value), ' '))),
+						                          ' '))"/>
+					</xsl:otherwise>
+				</xsl:choose>
+			</xsl:otherwise>
+		</xsl:choose>
 	</xsl:template>
 	
+	<!--
+	    properties that should not be passed to the Java part of the translator
+	    1) word-spacing handled later in formatter
+	    2) text-transform=strong|em|u|strike handled in the XSLT part
+
+	-->
+	<xsl:template mode="style" match="text()" as="xs:string">
+		<xsl:param name="source-style" as="element()*" tunnel="yes"/> <!-- css:property* -->
+		<xsl:variable name="source-style" as="element()*"
+		              select="for $p in $source-style
+		                      return if ($p/@name='text-transform')
+		                             then css:property('text-transform',
+		                                               string-join(
+		                                                 tokenize(normalize-space($p/@value),' ')[not(.=('strong','em','u','strike'))],
+		                                                 ' '))
+		                                  [not(@value='')]
+		                             else $p"/>
+		<xsl:sequence select="css:serialize-declaration-list(
+		                        $source-style[not(@name='word-spacing')
+		                                      and not(@value=css:initial-value(@name))])"/>
+	</xsl:template>
+	
+	<!--
+	    properties handled by this translator
+	-->
 	<xsl:template mode="translate-style"
 	              match="css:property[@name=('letter-spacing',
 	                                         'font-style',
 	                                         'font-weight',
 	                                         'text-decoration',
+	                                         'text-transform',
 	                                         'color')]"/>
 	
 	<xsl:template mode="translate-style" match="css:property[@name='hyphens' and @value='auto']">
 		<css:property name="hyphens" value="manual"/>
 	</xsl:template>
 	
+	<xsl:template mode="translate-style" match="css:rule[matches(@selector,'^@text-transform')]"/>
+	
 	<xsl:template match="*" mode="emphasis" as="xs:string*">
 		<xsl:param name="segments" as="xs:string*" required="yes"/>
-		<xsl:variable name="text-node-count" select="count(.//text())"/>
-		<xsl:apply-templates select="child::node()[1]" mode="#current">
-			<xsl:with-param name="segments" select="$segments[position()&lt;=$text-node-count]"/>
-		</xsl:apply-templates>
-		<xsl:apply-templates select="following-sibling::node()[1]" mode="#current">
-			<xsl:with-param name="segments" select="$segments[position()&gt;$text-node-count]"/>
-		</xsl:apply-templates>
+		<xsl:param name="source-style" as="element()*" tunnel="yes"/> <!-- css:property* -->
+		<xsl:choose>
+			<xsl:when test="$source-style[@name='text-transform'
+			                              and tokenize(normalize-space(@value),' ')=$text-transform-defs/@name]">
+				<xsl:variable name="text-transform" as="xs:string" select="$source-style[@name='text-transform']/@value"/>
+				<xsl:variable name="text-transform-def" as="element()"
+				              select="$text-transform-defs[@name=tokenize(normalize-space($text-transform),' ')][1]"/>
+				<xsl:call-template name="mark-emphasis">
+					<xsl:with-param name="segments" select="$segments"/>
+					<xsl:with-param name="opening-mark" select="$text-transform-def/@open"/>
+					<xsl:with-param name="closing-mark" select="$text-transform-def/@close"/>
+				</xsl:call-template>
+			</xsl:when>
+			<xsl:otherwise>
+				<xsl:variable name="text-node-count" select="count(.//text())"/>
+				<xsl:apply-templates select="child::node()[1]" mode="#current">
+					<xsl:with-param name="segments" select="$segments[position()&lt;=$text-node-count]"/>
+				</xsl:apply-templates>
+				<xsl:apply-templates select="following-sibling::node()[1]" mode="#current">
+					<xsl:with-param name="segments" select="$segments[position()&gt;$text-node-count]"/>
+				</xsl:apply-templates>
+			</xsl:otherwise>
+		</xsl:choose>
 	</xsl:template>
 	
 	<xsl:template match="text()" mode="emphasis" as="xs:string*">
@@ -142,48 +282,4 @@
 		</xsl:apply-templates>
 	</xsl:template>
 	
-	<!-- treat italic in html and dtbook -->
-	
-	<xsl:template match="html:em | html:i | dtb:em | dtb:i" mode="emphasis" as="xs:string*">
-		<xsl:param name="segments" as="xs:string*" required="yes"/>
-		<xsl:call-template name="mark-emphasis">
-			<xsl:with-param name="segments" select="$segments"/>
-			<xsl:with-param name="opening-mark" select="'⠆'"/>
-			<xsl:with-param name="closing-mark" select="'⠰'"/>
-		</xsl:call-template>
-	</xsl:template>
-	
-	<!-- treat underline in html and dtbook -->
-	
-	<xsl:template match="html:u | dtb:u" mode="emphasis" as="xs:string*">
-		<xsl:param name="segments" as="xs:string*" required="yes"/>
-		<xsl:call-template name="mark-emphasis">
-			<xsl:with-param name="segments" select="$segments"/>
-			<xsl:with-param name="opening-mark" select="'⠸'"/>
-			<xsl:with-param name="closing-mark" select="'⠸'"/>
-		</xsl:call-template>
-	</xsl:template>
-	
-	<!-- treat strikeline in html and dtbook -->
-	
-	<xsl:template match="html:strike | html:s | dtb:strike | dtb:s" mode="emphasis" as="xs:string*">
-		<xsl:param name="segments" as="xs:string*" required="yes"/>
-		<xsl:call-template name="mark-emphasis">
-			<xsl:with-param name="segments" select="$segments"/>
-			<xsl:with-param name="opening-mark" select="'⠐⠂'"/>
-			<xsl:with-param name="closing-mark" select="'⠐⠂'"/>
-		</xsl:call-template>
-	</xsl:template>
-	
-	<!-- treat bold/strong in html and dtbook -->
-	
-	<xsl:template match="html:strong | html:b | dtb:strong | dtb:b" mode="emphasis" as="xs:string*">
-		<xsl:param name="segments" as="xs:string*" required="yes"/>
-		<xsl:call-template name="mark-emphasis">
-			<xsl:with-param name="segments" select="$segments"/>
-			<xsl:with-param name="opening-mark" select="if ($em-count=0) then '⠆' else '⠠⠄'"/>
-			<xsl:with-param name="closing-mark" select="if ($em-count=0) then '⠰' else '⠠⠄'"/>
-		</xsl:call-template>
-	</xsl:template>
-	
 </xsl:stylesheet>
diff --git a/modules/nlb/book-to-pef/src/test/xprocspec/test_translator.xprocspec b/modules/nlb/book-to-pef/src/test/xprocspec/test_translator.xprocspec
index 9bc3679a73..e8ad1d543e 100644
--- a/modules/nlb/book-to-pef/src/test/xprocspec/test_translator.xprocspec
+++ b/modules/nlb/book-to-pef/src/test/xprocspec/test_translator.xprocspec
@@ -141,38 +141,50 @@
     <x:call step="pxi:transform">
       <x:input port="source">
         <x:document type="inline">
-          <div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="no">
+          <div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="no"
+               style="@text-transform strong {
+                        system: -nlb-indicators;
+                        open: &quot;⠠⠄&quot;;
+                        close: &quot;⠠⠄&quot;; }
+                      @text-transform em {
+                        system: -nlb-indicators;
+                        open: &quot;⠆&quot;;
+                        close: &quot;⠰&quot;; }
+                      @text-transform u {
+                        system: -nlb-indicators;
+                        open: &quot;⠸&quot;;
+                        close: &quot;⠸&quot;; }">
             <!--
                 Always use dots 23 (⠆) in front of bold and dots 56 (⠰) after bold.
             -->
-            <p> hund hund<strong>en</strong> hund<strong>er</strong> hund<strong>ene</strong>
+            <p> hund hund<strong style="text-transform: strong">en</strong> hund<strong style="text-transform: strong">er</strong> hund<strong style="text-transform: strong">ene</strong>
             </p>
             <!--
                 Opening/closing marks are never placed immediately before/after a white space character.
             -->
-            <p> hund hund<strong>en </strong>hund<strong>er </strong>hund<strong>ene</strong>
+            <p> hund hund<strong style="text-transform: strong">en </strong>hund<strong style="text-transform: strong">er </strong>hund<strong style="text-transform: strong">ene</strong>
             </p>
-            <p> Det var bare det at hun også <strong>mis</strong>unte ham det </p>
-            <p> Jeg verken <strong>vil </strong>eller <strong>kan </strong>gjøre dette for deg! </p>
-            <p> Karin Fossum slo gjennom som krimforfatter med romanen <strong>Evas øye</strong>,
+            <p> Det var bare det at hun også <strong style="text-transform: strong">mis</strong>unte ham det </p>
+            <p> Jeg verken <strong style="text-transform: strong">vil </strong>eller <strong style="text-transform: strong">kan </strong>gjøre dette for deg! </p>
+            <p> Karin Fossum slo gjennom som krimforfatter med romanen <strong style="text-transform: strong">Evas øye</strong>,
               som kom ut i 1995. </p>
             <!--
                 Always use dots 456 (⠸) in front of and after underline.
             -->
-            <p> "Hør her: <strong>du <u>må </u>gjøre det</strong>!" </p>
+            <p> "Hør her: <strong style="text-transform: strong">du <u style="text-transform: u">må </u>gjøre det</strong>!" </p>
             <!--
                 Always use dots 6-3 (⠆⠠) in front of and after italics.
             -->
-            <p> Romanen <strong>Tusen strålende soler </strong>av den afghansk-amerikanske
+            <p> Romanen <strong style="text-transform: strong">Tusen strålende soler </strong>av den afghansk-amerikanske
               forfatteren Khaled Hosseini tyder på å bli en like stor suksess som den forrige
-              romanen, <strong>Drageløperen</strong>. I bokanmeldelsen fra <strong>Dagbladet
-              </strong>06.06.07 forklares dette med: <em>Ikke fordi Hosseini er en spesielt god
+              romanen, <strong style="text-transform: strong">Drageløperen</strong>. I bokanmeldelsen fra <strong style="text-transform: strong">Dagbladet
+              </strong>06.06.07 forklares dette med: <em style="text-transform: em">Ikke fordi Hosseini er en spesielt god
                 forfatter. Men fordi tematikken til den USA-bosatte Hosseini, har en spesiell
                 dragning på et vestlig publikum.</em>
             </p>
-            <p> Vinje, Finn-Erik. 2004. <em>Skriveregler</em>. 8. utg. Oslo </p>
-            <p> Hellevik, Alf. 1970. <em>God nynorsk</em>. Oslo </p>
-            <p> Ny afghansk bestselger. Bokanmeldelse <em>Dagbladet </em>06.06.07 </p>
+            <p> Vinje, Finn-Erik. 2004. <em style="text-transform: em">Skriveregler</em>. 8. utg. Oslo </p>
+            <p> Hellevik, Alf. 1970. <em style="text-transform: em">God nynorsk</em>. Oslo </p>
+            <p> Ny afghansk bestselger. Bokanmeldelse <em style="text-transform: em">Dagbladet </em>06.06.07 </p>
           </div>
         </x:document>
       </x:input>
@@ -270,16 +282,32 @@
     <x:call step="pxi:transform">
       <x:input port="source">
         <x:document type="inline">
-          <div xml:lang="no" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+          <div xml:lang="no" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
+               style="@text-transform strong {
+                        system: -nlb-indicators;
+                        open: &quot;⠠⠄&quot;;
+                        close: &quot;⠠⠄&quot;; }
+                      @text-transform em {
+                        system: -nlb-indicators;
+                        open: &quot;⠆&quot;;
+                        close: &quot;⠰&quot;; }
+                      @text-transform u {
+                        system: -nlb-indicators;
+                        open: &quot;⠸&quot;;
+                        close: &quot;⠸&quot;; }
+                      @text-transform strike {
+                        system: -nlb-indicators;
+                        open: &quot;⠐⠂&quot;;
+                        close: &quot;⠐⠂&quot;; }">
             <level1>
               <h1>aa ll bb cc</h1>
-              <p>aa <em>bb</em> cc </p>
-              <p>aa <i>bb</i> cc </p>
-              <p>aa <u>bb</u> cc </p>
-              <p>aa <strike>bb</strike> cc </p>
-              <p>aa <s>bb</s> cc </p>
-              <p>aa <strong>bb</strong> cc </p>
-              <p>aa <b>bb</b> cc </p>
+              <p>aa <em style="text-transform: em">bb</em> cc </p>
+              <p>aa <i style="text-transform: em">bb</i> cc </p>
+              <p>aa <u style="text-transform: u">bb</u> cc </p>
+              <p>aa <strike style="text-transform: strike">bb</strike> cc </p>
+              <p>aa <s style="text-transform: strike">bb</s> cc </p>
+              <p>aa <strong style="text-transform: strong">bb</strong> cc </p>
+              <p>aa <b style="text-transform: strong">bb</b> cc </p>
             </level1>
           </div>
         </x:document>
@@ -317,16 +345,32 @@
     <x:call step="pxi:transform">
       <x:input port="source">
         <x:document type="inline">
-          <div xml:lang="no" xmlns="http://www.daisy.org/z3986/2005/dtbook/">
+          <div xml:lang="no" xmlns="http://www.daisy.org/z3986/2005/dtbook/"
+               style="@text-transform strong {
+                        system: -nlb-indicators;
+                        open: &quot;⠠⠄&quot;;
+                        close: &quot;⠠⠄&quot;; }
+                      @text-transform em {
+                        system: -nlb-indicators;
+                        open: &quot;⠆&quot;;
+                        close: &quot;⠰&quot;; }
+                      @text-transform u {
+                        system: -nlb-indicators;
+                        open: &quot;⠸&quot;;
+                        close: &quot;⠸&quot;; }
+                      @text-transform strike {
+                        system: -nlb-indicators;
+                        open: &quot;⠐⠂&quot;;
+                        close: &quot;⠐⠂&quot;; }">
             <level1>
               <h1>aa ll bb cc</h1>
-              <p>aa <em>bb</em> cc </p>
-              <p>aa <i>bb</i> cc </p>
-              <p>aa <u>bb</u> cc </p>
-              <p>aa <strike>bb</strike> cc </p>
-              <p>aa <s>bb</s> cc </p>
-              <p>aa <strong>bb</strong> cc </p>
-              <p>aa <b>bb</b> cc </p>
+              <p>aa <em style="text-transform: em">bb</em> cc </p>
+              <p>aa <i style="text-transform: em">bb</i> cc </p>
+              <p>aa <u style="text-transform: u">bb</u> cc </p>
+              <p>aa <strike style="text-transform: strike">bb</strike> cc </p>
+              <p>aa <s style="text-transform: strike">bb</s> cc </p>
+              <p>aa <strong style="text-transform: strong">bb</strong> cc </p>
+              <p>aa <b style="text-transform: strong">bb</b> cc </p>
             </level1>
           </div>
         </x:document>