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What sort of spelling could be user frendly for everyone - readers, writers, learners and internationaly?

Needs-driven improvements for English spelling

SEVEN PRINCIPLES TO IMPROVE ENGLISH SPELLING

SEVEN PRINSIPLS TO IMPRÙV ENGLISH SPELING

  • To represent the English language, not just its speech sounds.
  • To maximise the advantages of present spelling and cut itsdisadvantages
  • To recognise the language abilities of children, that they can use before they can consciously analyse and blend sounds easily.
  • To assist skilled readers in fast reading for meaning

7 principles for reading that keep present spelling readable.

Transitional principles 3 and 7 are not needed for writing.

Summary

1. Represent formal unslurred speech with broadband fonemes

2. Consistent phonemic spelling table for speech sounds, including for terminal vowels, and with name-vowels accented

3. 31 frequent irregularly spelled words remain as sight words, eg
of off one only once other pull wh- and endings -ion/-tion/-sion plus -zion

4. Consistent spellings for grammatical inflections eg -s, -d

5. Suffixes do not change the spelling of word-units, e.g. cowboy partys

6. If words sound the same they are spelld the same, unless that would really confuse.

7. Seven additional vowel spellings for reading only.

In more detail

A. The first two basic rules: -

1. Represent formal unslurred speech, conventionalìsed so that it is international

- for example 'banana' can have three 'a' sounds in it, but it is a very easy spelling to read and write.

2. A single table (see below) sets out consistent phonemic spelling for all consonants and vowels, including a consistent set of spellings for vowels at the ends of words, as in


When needed, discreet grav accents à è ì ò ù distinguish the long vowels (that are spoken like the names of the ABC letters) from the short vowels a e i o u. This tactic has tremendous linguistic advantages in representing the English language in print, as you will see. It solves the problems of 'magic e' and the way that the short and long sounds of the primary vowels often switch within word families
pity
play be hi-fi go tabu
banana for saw
cow boy

eg

national / nàtion
repetition / repèt
finish / fìnal
disposition/dispòz
production /prodùs


Note: When grav accents are used, they may not appear in their original form on some browsers. The option of grav accents is to distinguish 'name' vowels A E I O U from short vowels a e i o u, using a single character, without the disadvantages of the expedients of two-letr vowel spellings, intrusiv diacritics, dubld consonants or 'magic e' that stradls intervening consonants.

Then these two basic rules, lernt first, are modified by five more:

3. Keep the irregular spellings of around thirty very common words that constantly appear in text, so that a page of text will still look familiar. It is the dozens, hundreds and thousands that stop so many people becoming literat, but even children can learn 31sight words: -

All almost always among com som could should would half kno of off one only once other pull push put as was what want who why,
plus 'wh' and internationally-known word endings -ion/-tion/-sion plus -zion.

4. Show English grammar for faster reading for meaning, by consistent spelling of 's' or 'es' for plurals and verb endings, and 'd' or 'ed' for participle endings, with 'ss' when needed to clarify singular nouns.
The prinses and prinsesses
played tenis,
which is a gàm held to be
as òld as chess.

5. Show units of meaning (morfemes) without changing them when inflections are added

for example: - cowboy babys copyd

6. Spelling distinctions between words that sound the same (homofones) only for those very few words found to risk confusion - eg perhaps tu/too/tuw. Most words already speld the same cause no confusion when we read them in context. In this sentence alone are
distinction, sound, found, cause

7. A TEMPORARY SEVENTH RULE

For reading only, but not for writing, a seventh rule may be added at present, so that readers can recognise and accept dubld consonants and vowel spelling patterns ai, ea, ee, igh, oa, ew and ir, each to be read one way only. These need not be used by writers, and so require recognition only and not the harder task of recall.
ai, ea, ee, igh, oa, ew, ir

Exampl of Six-Rùl-Spelling
Exampl with Seven-Rùls

Had I the hevens embroiderd cloths

Enraut with gòld and silver lìt

The blu and the dim and the dark cloths

Of nìt and lìt and the half lìt

I would spred the cloths under ùr fèt.

But I, bèing poor, hav ònly mì drèms.

Tred softly, for u tred on mì drèms

(Yeats)

Had I the hevens embroiderd cloths

Enraut with gòld and silver light

The blu and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half light

I would spred the cloths under ùr feet.

But I, bèing poor, hav ònly mì dreams.

Tred softly, for u tred on mì drèams

(Yeats)

See mor exampls at the botom of this pàj

Indicating Stress

It may also be found to be worth-while in texts for lerners of English vocabulary, to clarify uncertain placement of stress by dubld consonants. e.g COMITTY is not the same as COMITY, and beginners may need spellings like MELLancoly. There are alredy intercontinental distinctions in many words however, such as REserch and ReSERCH, LABoratry and LaBORatry,so that it might not matter where a newcomer placed the stress.

Rule 2. Spelings for speech sounds
(grafèms to represent fonèms)

Tàbl 1. Consonants

All consistent, as in

BAD DAD FAD GAG HAG JAG

KEG LEG MEG NAG PEG QUIK

RAG SAG TAG VAN WAG AX

YEN ZEN THIS/ THIN WHICH

CHIN SHIN SINK SING

Tàbl 2. Vowels

The 19 vowel sounds have one spelling each, varying only for final position

Vowel sound
Spelling
spelling in final position

a
e
i
o
u

bat
bet
bit
dot
but
-
-
pity
-
-
A
E
I
O
U
bàt
bèt
bìt
dòt
mùt
bay
be
hi-fi
go
tabu
ar
er
air
or/aw
ow
oy
oo as in book
00 as in boot
cart
perturb
hair
stork/faun
round
boil
moon
bwk?
banana
her
hair
for/saw
cow
boy
too
-

The unclear vowel in normal speech is the 20th English vowel sound, and is spelled according to its pronunciation in very formal public speaking.
* The word PERTURB shows spellings for both stressd & unstressd sylabls.

Tàbl 3. Spelling sequences of vowels

Spellings that represent singl sounds as in the table above are in brackets.
In most adult text, grav acsents wil not be needed à è ì ò ù.

Vowel sequences
- a
-e
-i
- o
-u

a. aa ae ai ao au

e. ea ee ei eo eu

i. ia ie ii io iu

o. oa oe oi oo ou

u. ua ue ui uo uu

bazaar (stresd)

ìdea creàt clear

dìal spesial

bòa oàsis

dùal ùzual

pàella

(bee)

dìet

pòet

sùet

dàis

bèing

flìing

gòing (boil)

flùid

càos

èon/creòl

ì ota milion

(boot)

dùo

taut)

hideus

pìus impius

(bout)

inocùus

That is, there are no clumsy three-letr sequences for sequences of vowel sounds.

Dictionaries can use these principles for consistent pronunciasion keys. These keys will almost always be identicl with standard Faster Spelling, while still closely resembling present spelling. The exepsions are for long vowels with mor than one posibl spelling, and a few 'exeption words'.

Learners could start with the first two rules for what American educator Kate Gladstone calls a 'Quick Start Written English' - analogous to the 'quick start' introductory pages at the beginning of computer manuals: enough to get you started as a user, so that you can do some important things, and then you can go on to learn the remainder of the material as your needs demand'. The sequence of six rules than makes what Gladstone would call a 'firm, orderly 'bridge' for sure progress.


There is now incontrovertible published evidence that at present English spelling is a great handicap for literacy compared with spelling systems that have been improved in other languages within the past 150 years. The problem is that at present English spelling has hundreds of rules, and most rules have exceptions. Spelling has to be learnt word by word.

Mor exampls: -

Everyone sudenly burst out singing

And I was fild with such delìght

As prisond birds must fìnd in freedom

Winging wìldly acros the whìt

Orcherds and dark green fèlds,

on - on - and out of sight.

(Sassoon)
SemiHàku

I awòk this morning

ther wer no sounds

no cars

no birds

only mi clok tiking
In Zanadu did Kùbla Khan

a stàtly plesur dòm decree,

where Alph the sàcred river ran

thru caverns mesùrless to man

doun to a sunless sea.

(Coleridge)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pòetry is

unintelijabl pròz in

bròken lìns

sò thay say

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

Pity the poor rèders.

If ther wer a speling that was

predictabl

would u stop it?

If it left u say

30

very comon iregùlerly speld

werds?

- for tlernrs can manaj that.

It is the present

1000s

of unpredictabl spelings that ar the

briars

to kèp them out, that ar the

thej

to protect u from ùniversal literasy, the

enchanter's spel of

speling

An Initial Learning Spelling that turns into Real Spelling

First lern Two Rules and then add four more.

Dr Steve Bett describes this stratejy as 'starting with phonetic English and deconstructing it by the addition of exception rules.' Then by the aplication of the exception rules, a person can read and write something close to traditional English, but without its great difficulties and burden on the memory.

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