Spanish Diphthongs
note that CKS spelling usually does not differ much from Spanish
In Spanish: a=ah, o=aw or oh  (in CKS it is often shown as owe /ou/ [o']) but it could be left as awe

Unigraf has strange unigrafs for the digrafs in TO and CKS.  /ai/ = Y [Yz=eyes], /ei/=A [vAn=vein]

The spanish o can be /aw/ or /oh/ or something in between.  Usually /aw/ when followed by a consonant.
The spanish a /ah/ is often the same as the English short o

Menu-spell is a widely used system of phoentic spelling which is supposed to be self evident to English readers.
The origins of this orthography are unknown.  I have given it the name of menu spell because it is most frequently
found on menus and in cookbooks where foreign words are phonetically transcribed for English speakers.
 
Span
Menu
Spanish
Portuguese
English 
English Menu-Spel
CKS
 Unigraf
ae ah-eh aeropuerto aeroporto airport ah-ero-pwehr-toh aeropwerto qeropwerto
ai ah-ee aire aire . ire-reh aire Yre
au ah-oo autor autor author ah-oo-tawhr autor qutor
ei eh-ee seis seis six seh-ees says(not sez) seis sAs
eu eh-oo Europa Europa Europe eh-oo-raw-pah europa eVropq
oi oh-ee oigo oigo . aw-ee-goh oigo Qgo
ia ee-ah seria seria . seh-ree-ah seria serEq
ua wah lengua lingua language len-gwah la.ngwij (E) lengwq
ie ee-eh siesta siesta rest see-ehs-tah  [uh] siesta' sEestq
ue weh cuenta conta bill/A/R kwen-tah  quen-tah kwenta' kwentq
io ee-oh avion avion airplane ah-vee-awn  [oan] avion qvEon
uo oo-oh continuo continuo . kawn-tin-yoo-oh kontiniuo' kontinUo
iu ee-oo ciudad cidade city see-oo-dahd ahzheh si.da2e (P) sEdqje
ui wee cuidado cuidado [be] careful kwee-dah-daw oh kwidado' kwidqdo
(c)1999 BETA
Spanglish would be almost the same as CKS.  Differences: a. = ae, o.=a,  a' = `a or @.  positional spelling on /ou/
source page

sitemap-l.html  sitemap or table of contents for the applied linguistics page
 

EXERCISE I
 

     Task:  Spell these free vowels using Spanish orthography

Spanish is easy because it spells each sound one and only one way.
English is difficult because it spells each vowel an average of 20 different ways.
 
 
Orthography
Traditional Orthography ace ease eyes ice owes use wooes good food would upto
Spanish                      
Spanish eis iz aiz ais oz juz -uz gud * fud wud * aptu *
Spanglish eis iz aiz ais oaz yuz wuz g`ud fuud w`ud `aptu
Checked Spelling eis iz aiz ais o'z iuz wuz gu.d fud wu.d a'ptu
Unigraf  As Ez  Yz  Ys  Oz  Uz  wUz  gJd  fVd   wJd uptV 
New Spelling aes eez iez ies oez iuz wooz guud food wuud uptoo

Checked Spelling (Chekt Speling) and Spanglish are both attempts to write English in a consistent Spanish orthography.
To do this, the 5 spanish vowels a (ah), e (eh), i (ee), o (oh/aw), u (oo) must be increased to 12 as shown in the chart below.

English has 6 checked vowels, vowels that must be followed by a consonant.  Spanish has no checked vowels.
These 6 vowels are represented in CKS as a. e. i. o. u. and u' The middot following the letter marks the vowel as checked.
The unchecked or free vowels using the same letters are associated with a different sound.  The sounds are nearly
identical to Spanish.  a (ah), i (ee), o (aw), u (oo), a' (unstressed uh), and 'r(the vowel in HER).
 
 

25 vowels.gif chart
 
 

EXERCISE I

Try to write the 11 English word sounds in Spanish.
 
Orthography
Traditional Orthography boy bowie ball drawl caught cot coat brought on lawn bother
Spanish                      
Spanish boi boi bol drol cot cot cout brot on lon bo'dar*
Checked Spelling boi bo'i bol drol kot ko't ko't brot on lon bo.xr
Unigraf bQ bOE bol drol kot kqt kOt brot on lon bqxR
New Spelling