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A Test of Creative Orthographies (suggested by Ian Ascott)  alternota    vowel snds
According to most phoneticians, RP (the southern educated british dialect)
English contains 34 pure phonemes and 12 essential diphthongs (46 total).
 
As early as 1793, people such as William Thornton were writing,
 
English aut too kontaen a singul distinct mark oer kaeractur, az dhu representativ ov eech simpl sound hwich iz posibl for dhu human vois and breth too utter. Noe mark shuud represent too oer three distinct soundz, noer shuud eni simpl sound bee represented bie too or three different kaeracturz. Inglish ot tu ka'ntein a' singl di.stinct mark or kera'ktr, az th' repra'senta'tiv ov ich simpl saund `wi.ch i.z posibl for x humn vois a.n breth tu, u'tr. No' mark shu.d repra'sent tu or thri di.stinct saunds, nor shu.d eni si.mpl saund bi repr'sent'd b'y tu or thri di.f'ra'nt kera'ktrz. The first paragraph above, written in WES (World English Spelling), is an example of a highly phonemic script which preserves many of the spelling patterns of TO. "A chair" would be written "Ae chaer" in WES. WES does not disrupt old sight reading habits as much as the Follick spelling and CKS. Anglic, a variation of WES, comes even closer to TO by accepting 40 common irregularly spelled words such as *of and *the. 
There is more than one way to achieve this goal as shown by the alternative notations below.  .
 
 
There is more than one way to consistently represent the 34 uncombined sounds of English.  
The sentences repeated below contain all of the vowels. The list is divided into  Long  Short  Blend 
The long vowels are the most problematic and are listed first. This arrangement allows the reader to compare competing solutions to the problem of how best to regularize English spelling. Some are shorter, some are easier to read without a key, some are easier to memorize, learn, and retain. The following list was compiled from the contributions of various orthographers on the Simple Spelling mailing list. 
 
 
6 LONG Vowels:   3:  i:  a:  u:  e:  o:   [cc  ii  aa  uu  ee  oo] order of appearance
  • The early green grass grew fairly tall. 
  • Th erly green grass grew fairly tal. 
  • The erly green grass gru fairly tall.
  • Th' u'rli, gri:n gra:s gru: ferli: to:l. 
  • Th 'rli gri:n gras gru ferli tol.
  • X u'rli grin gras gru ferli tol.
  • Th u'rli grien graas gruu fea'rli tôl
  • Dx Rli grjn graas gruu feeli tool.
  • Dha ccli griin graas gruu feeli tool
  • hu 'RLE GREN GRaS GRX FeRLE ToL. 

  • T-th, u=up R-'r, E-ee /I:/, c-aw, C-ao 
  • Th RLE grEn gras grU ferlE tcl.
  • The eurli green graas groo fairli taul. 
  • Dhu erlee green gras grue fairlee taul.
  • sampa
  • Th#u erli gre#n graas gru# fa#rli taul.
TO- traditional orthography 
CS - cut spelling C. Upward 
OGD - positional  J. Reilly 
New Follick  M. Follick, S. Bett 
Nu Folik - cut redundancy 
CKS- Checked Klipt Spelling 
CKS-with long vowels marked 
IanSpel (SoundSpell) consistent doubling of extended vowels 
ANJeL - Bruce Beach map ANJeL 
Monofon - askEbet - Steve Bett 
Variations of New Spelling below 
SES - Ron Footer 
True Spel- USA 
SAMPA 
DonSpel
  •     The heading indicates the order of appearance for the vowel sounds beginning with the sound in *her followed by the sound in *eel. The 6th & 7th lines above isolate the graphemes (shown in boldface). 
  •     The orthographies that are closest to TO are listed first. Cut Spelling cuts redundant letters which makes it more phonemic than TO. However, CS is not a phonemic orthography. IanSpel is the most consistent with IPA. Checked Spelling appears to be the most economical (space efficient) here.
  • /e:/ does not appear in Jones' minimal list of phonemes for RP English. In some dialects of English (e.g., Scottish) /e:/ replaces /ei/ (sample word: fiancé) The sound is similar to the vowel in [air] when the [r] is not pronounced.
 
The issue seems to be which are the primary vowels. One answer is to follow the lPA lead on this. Such systems are called IPA Eurospels. The defining characteristic of this style of notation is representing the long A as ei and using /a:/ as the long A as in alms. Three are illustrated above: Ianspel and two versions of New Follick. New Follick uses the following substitutions: u: (uu) =ooze /u:/, iu=you /ju/, q=/o:/, [aw], a:=alms, o=ox. 'y=eye /ai/
 
6 Short Vowels    J (hook)  ' (schwa-unstressed uh)   a (ax)   u (up)   i (ih)   o (ah, ox)   e (eh)
  • /u/  /c/  /ae/  /^/  /a/  /e/
  • I put the cat up in a copper kettle.
  • I pwt the cat up in a' coper ketl.
  • I put th cat up in a copr ketl. 
  • 'I pu.t x ka.t u'p in a' ko.pr ke.tl.
  • aI pu.t th' kat up in a' kop'r ket'l. 
  • `I pu't th kat up in a kopr ketl.
  • I pJt D' kat up in u kopR ketL
  • Ai put dx kat ap in a kopc ketl. 
  • I PxT hu KaT uP iN a KoP'R KeTL.
  • I put xu kat up in u kopr ketl
  • Ie puut the kat up in a kopr ketl. 
  • ie poot thu kat up in u kaaper ketool.
IPA 
TO- traditional orthography 
OGD - positional spelling - J. Reilly 
CS - cut spelling - C.Upward 
CKS - Chekt Clipt Speling - S. Bett 
New Follick  
New Follick - cut redundancy 
Monofon - ASCIIbet - Steve Bett 
IanSpel (SaundSpel) - Ian Ascott 
ANJeL - Bruce Beech 
Unigraf - Steve Bett 
NS - Ron Footer 
True Spel-USA
When short vowels are featured, cut spelling and the askEbet are the most space efficient. Nu Folik uses a wide W to represent the sound in hook|hwk [good food|gwd fud]. Notations differ in terms of where the use the free characters: c, q, x, (shaeth-NF, uhngzh-SS) 
 
Candidates: x = uh, th, ae, ch     q = ae, ng,       c = uh, ah, sh, ch,     ' = uh, glottal stop
 
6 Diphthongs:      order: ( ai  ei  iu  oi  ou  au )
  • I say, new boy, go out! 
  • I say, niu boy, go out!
  • I say, new boy, go out! [No chanj!]
  • Ai sei, niu boi, gou aut!
  • Ai sei, niu boi, gou aut!
  • aI sei, nu: boi, go' aut!
  • Y se:, nu boi, go' aut! 
  • 'I sei nu boi go' aut!
  • I sA, nU bQ, gO Mt
  • I sA nU bQ, gX mt

  • - 
  • Ie sae, nue boi, goe out! 
  • Ie sae, nue boi, goe out! (USA)
TO- traditional orthography 
OGD - positional spelling 
CS - cut spelling C. Upward 
IanSpel (SoundSpell) 
Follick 
New Follick  
Nu Folik - cut redundancy 
CKS-Chekt Klipt Spelling-SB 
Unigraf - askEbet - Steve Bett 
ANJeL - Bruce Beech - 1/99 ver. 
     Variations of New Spelling below 
SES - Ron Footer 
True Spel-USA
 
  • Some of the older contributions:
Notation
  • My father's cat caught the ball on the cot. 
  • MI FqhRZ KaT KxT hu BxL xN hu KxT. 
  • MI FqxrZ KaT KoT x BoL oN x KqT.
  • mI fqxrz kat kot x bol on x kqt..
  • Ma'i fath'rz kat ko:t th'' bo:l on th'' kot. (kaht).
  • My fathrz kat kqt th bql on th kot.
  • My faadhrs kat kaut dh baul on dh kot. 
  • Mai faadxcsx kat koot tx bool on dx kot. 
  • Mie faatherz kat kaut thu baul aan thu kaat. 
  • Mie faathrz kat kaut the baul on the kot. 
  • My fathrs cat caut th bal on th cot.
  • Mye fathers cat caut the ball on the cot.
  • M'y fathrz kat kot x bol on x ko.t.
  • TO 
    ANJeL 
    UNiGRaF 
    Unigraf 
    Nu Folik 
    Nu FolikC 
    Nik 
    SSpel 
    TrueSpel 
    SES 
    CS 
    OGD 
    CKS
  • Are you the cop that caught the crook in the car? 
  • oR U hu KoP haT KoT hu KRxK IN hu KoR? 
  • qR U xu kop xat kot xu krck in xu kar?
  • Ar iu, th' kop th'at ko,t th' kru'k in th' ka,r?
  • Ar yu th kop that kqt th krjk in th kar?
  • Ar u dh kop dhat kaut dh krwk in dh kaar? 
  • Aa yuu dx kop dxat koot dx kruk in dx kaa? 
  • Aar yue thu kaap that kaut thu krook in thu kaar?
  • Aar yoo the kop that kaut the kruuk in the kaar? 
  • Ar u th cop that caut th crook in th car? 
  • Ar yu the cop that caut the crwk in the car?
  • Ar u x co.p xat cot x cru.k in x car?
  • TO 
    ANJeL 
    Unigraf 
    Nu Folik 
    Nu FolikC 
    Nik 
    SSpel 
    TrueSpel 
    SES 
    CS 
    OGD 
    CKS
     
     
     
    Poem in  
    Bruce Rosenberg's version of Troospel: 
    FUZZEE-OEPAEK  
    ORTHOGRAFIKUL VIZHYNS
    Poem in Steve Bett's Chekt Speling 
    FU'ZI-O'PEIK ORTHOGRAFIKL VI5NZ
    Dhair wuz u por boi hoo kuudnt spel, 
    Haaf thu werdz in aur langwej too wel, 
    Hiz teechrz thaut "Braen-sik!" 
    Mum n Dad hoept "Disleksik!" 
    Yet dhu chield rashlee jiird, "Wut dhu hel!" 
    Xer woz a' pur boi hu cu.dnt spel, 
    Haf x w'rdz in aur langwij tu wel 
    Hiz tiichrz thot "Brein-sik!" 
    Mu'm 'n Da.d ho'pt "Disleksik!" 
    Yet x chyld ra.shli jiird, "Wa't x hel?"
    Thair wa's a' poor boy hu cwdnt spel, 
    Haf the werds in our langwej tu wel, 
    His teechrz thawt "Brayn-sik" 
    Mum 'n Dad hoaped "Dislexic" 
    Yet the chyld rashly jeered, Wot the hel!"
    .
     

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