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| Glossary
of Spelling Terms
Used in SSS Forum Discussions |
Devised by
Damian Bonsall
Formatted by Steve Bett Updated by Participants in the SSS forum To Join Register at spelreform or email sitemap-linguistics |A|B| C|D| E| F|G|H| I |J|K| L| M| N|O| P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z| |
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| ALC fonetik
allophone*
Roman alphabet
alphabetic
alphabetic order
alternation altscript anglic ASCII (Am Std. Code) |
A spelling scheme promoted by the American Literacy Council.
Fonetic is derived from WES and related to New Spelling. Electronic
text can be easily converted to fonetic using the BTRSPL converter which
is available on the web at
A variation in pronunciation that is still close enough to be interpreted as a particular phoneme. An insignificant variation. A difference in pronunciation such as the sound of L in "look" and "little" which is ignored by language users. Ordered set of symbols used as sound signs. The alphabet was invented only once and was spread by the Phoenician traders and others throughout the world. The Semites were inspired by the Egyptian writing system (esp. middle Egyptian, 1200 bc) which made limited use of sound signs (phonograms) for proper names. The 26 letters which form the basis of the alphabet used for most Western European languages A writing system is alphabetic when the graphemes (shapes or letters) refer to specific phonemes (sounds). The traditional English writing system, based on 1755 standardized spellings, is about 50% alphabetic, 10% morphemic, and 40% chaotic. See syllabary and logogram. A traditional order or arrangement of symbols (letters) once used as a numbering system by the Semites and Greeks. This conventional order has changed very little over the past 3,000 years. Substitution of one letter for another, e.g. i for y A spelling scheme using positional spelling [hyly] by John Reilly A variation of New Spelling published by Zachrissen (ca. 1950) The standard character set used in computer text files and email containing
26 lower case and 26 upper case letters without diacrtics.
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| BTRSPL
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A program that converts text from TO to reformed. The name-betrspl-
is an abbreviation of better spelling
An IPA based phonemic notational system that uses the roman character set plus a few special characters (such as the turned e, c, and a or digraphs) to represent 41 to 46 phonemes. Sweet's broad romic used traditional continental sound values. Such a transcription is not quite precise enough to fully distinguish dialects (see diaphonic) |
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| category
character
Checked Vowel
Checked Clipped Spelling
cognate
cut speling |
A range of instances treated as equivalent for some purpose.
A phoneme is a category - different sounds that are treated as equivalent
by a language community.
A letter or digit or symbol
A vowel that is always follwed by a consonant and is therefore short.
When a free vowel comes before a consonant, its duration is about as short
as a checked checked (short) vowel (eg, mad, made).
A space efficient IPA based spelling scheme by Steve Bett.
Having the same linguistic family or derivation
An unsystematic or non-phonemic spelling scheme by Chris
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| diacritic
diaphonic dictionary (lexicon) digraph
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A sign or accent indicating sound value of a letter
A broad (as opposed to a narrow) transcription of sounds An alphabetical list of words and meanings. TO dictionaries also include a pronunciation guide which is absent in dictionaries in most other languages Two letters written together to represent one sound, e.g. sh, ee A blend of two vowel phonemes. e.g. oi (see glide) Profound difficulty in acquisition of literacy A person with dyslexia |
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| elide
elision etymological etymology extended vowel Fanetik font free vowel |
The omission of a spoken vowel or syllable
Referring to the origin of words
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| grapheme | A category that may include several different shapes but referencing but one phoneme (e.g., G, g, g ) One of several shapes understood as being equivalent in terms of reference. (see phoneme) | ||
| heterograph
heterophone homograph homonym homophone |
Words with the same sound, spelt differently
Words that sound differently, but are spelt the same Words spelt the same, but different meaning or sound or both Words that sound or appear the same, but differ in meaning Words that sound the same, but differ in meaning or spelling |
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| illiteracy
inflection |
The inability to read and write functionally
The change in the ending of a word indicating grammar |
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| ITA:
Initial Teaching Alphabet International Phonetic
Interspel
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An augmented roman alphabet for use as an initial teaching medium.
A notational scheme developed in 1890's by Passy and Jones for use by
linguists as a standard means of graphically representing spoken languages.
IPA uses the roman alphabet as a starting point and augments it as needed
with rotated characters and special symbols. IPA can be used for
a broad or narrow transcription of a language.
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| JSSS | Journal of the Simplified Spelling Society | ||
| Latin 1
lexical
literacy
logogram
logographic |
An augmented character set that includes every letter used in the orthographies
of any European language. Available in HTML.
Referring to words
The ability to read and write functionally. The ability to read and comprehend a newspaper is considered the threshold of literacy. A word mark or word sign. Can be comprehended without a particular phongraphic rendering. 4 is a logogram. 4-SALE would be read as "quatro sahleh" in Spanish. Chinese is often referred to as a logographic writing system |
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| Lojicon -logical
consonants
Lojikon long vowel |
A spelling scheme based on consistent use of consonants
Logical Icons - A pictographic script The long vowel sound, e.g. ee, ay, oe |
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| magic e
morpheme
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The letter e, or other vowel, after a consonant, or consonants,
which lengthens a preceding vowel marker. A diacritic or other device,
or extra letter, to indicate a letter's exact sound
A meaningful unit of a language that cannot be further divided Referring to a morpheme |
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| NES
New Spelling notation Nu Folik
Nue Speling
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New English Spelling
A simple consistent close-to-TO spelling scheme (see below) The representation of sounds by symbols. A means of transcribing spoken language into visual symbols. A variation on the spelling scheme developed by Mont Follick, MP. What English would look like if written in Spanish or Portuguese orthography. The spelling scheme, suggested by Ellis, that is the foundation for most phonemic spelling notations based on the principle of least disturbance (of traditional English spelling conventions) Extended vowels are written AE[ei] EE[i:] IE [ai] OE[ou] UE[ju] (NS[ipa]) |
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| orthographic
orthography From The Devil's Dictionary
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Literally "right writing" Referring to orthography
The study or practice of correct spelling or writing. Can include the study of various rules and regularities and some grammar. The orthography is distinct from spoken language. English can be written in the orthography designed for Spanish. The problem with hitchhiking orthographies is mostly a problem of having sounds without associated symbols. Spanish has no symbol for the checked or short [i] or the initial sound in [the]. Orthography, n. The science of spelling by the eye instead of by the ear. Advocated with more heat than light by the outmates of every asylum for the insane... |
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| phoneme
phonemicity
phonetic
plural
positional spelling
pronunciation guide
PV - Personal View |
A range of sounds that language users interpret as an instance of a
discrete sound segment. Unit of sound that distinguishes one word (meaning)
from another
The extent to which spelling is a guide to pronunciation. TO has a low level of phonemicity compared to the Spanish orthographic system When the spelling of a word corresponds to its
pronunciation
The form of a word denoting more than one in number
When the sound value of letters varies according to
A guide often given in English dictionaries to show the sound of words. Most spelling reformers want to use a consistent spelling guide as for the writing system instead of TO. An SSS publication relating to a notational scheme or spelling reform
proposal. The scheme is not necessarily endorsed by the society. It
represents an individual's views.
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| RP - received pronunciation
redundant reformed spelling regularity r-ending Roman Alphabet |
Standard English accent of Southern Britain
A letter that does not contribute to the sound of a word Any spelling scheme that is more regular than TO The extent to which a sound is always represented by a spelling The use of r at the end of a word to indicate a vowel sound The 26 letters commonly used in Western Europe |
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| Saund Spell
schwa schwapostrophe script Shaw Alphabet short vowel silent silent e simplified spelling sound-symbol correspondence |
A strictly phonetic spelling scheme by Ian Ascott
The indistinct unstressed vowel sound common in English An apostrophe used to represent a schwa A word with the same or similar meaning Another word for alphabet A novel alphabet designed for phonetic English writing The vowel sounds as in pat pet pit pot putt A letter used in the spelling of a word which is not pronounced American name for magic e Any spelling scheme that streamlines and simplifies TO The match, or lack of it, between sounds and letters in a word |
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| Semite, Semitic
spellchecker
symbol-sound
synonym |
A linguistic, not a racial, classification. The languages spoken
in the Middle East since ancient times. Ancient Egyptian was a blend
of west african (Hamitic) and semitic.
A computer program that checks spelling
The match, or lack of it, between letters and sounds in a
Two or more words with the same meaning or reference
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| thesaurus
TO -Traditional Orthography trigraph
turned c
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Book that lists words in groups of synonyms
The spelling system standardized about 1755 for English A combination of three letters denoting one sound, e.g. sch
The IPA symbol for the sound in pot
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| vowel
vowel diagram
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A speech sound produced without any obstruction
A quadrilateral or trapazoid representing jaw, mouth, and tongue positions involved in the production of vowel sounds. Devised by Jones. |
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| WES World English Spelling
whole word method word sign (logogram) |
A spelling scheme
A way of teaching reading without reference to letter sounds An irregular spelling such as the, me, to, of which is retained in a reformed spelling scheme. A symbol without a consistent sound association. In TO, the, of, and a are considered word signs due to their irregularity. They are often retained in otherwise phonemic and consistent notational systems. |
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| Phonics | Phonics does more than teach reading by the `sound of a word': it is
a method of teaching reading and spelling by teaching all sound-symbol
correspondences, from simple to complex, systematically and directly.
It is important to insist that phonics relates sounds to written symbols - it needs to be distinguished from the current bandwagon of training in `phonemic awareness' BEFORE teaching letters. |
To add, comment on, or critique an entry
to this glossary, contact Steve Bett
I think allophone - An alternative, similar sound for the same
spelling pattern - is wrong: it's nothing to do with spelling
so not: "allophone An alternative, similar sound for the same spelling
pattern" it's nearer to "a variation in the way in which a particular sound
is pronounced, which carries no function in terms of distinguishing it
from other sounds; for example 'l' in 'look' and 'little'". The Chambers
dictionary definition is not really suitable for general discussion ("one
of two or more forms of the same phoneme")
...............
I'm not sure that a "free vowel" is always the same as a "long vowel";
it's more to do with syllable boundaries than length. In some languages
it could well be the same thing, but I don't think it's automatic.
...............
"inflection" need not be at the end of a word. Welsh for example changes
the sound at the beginning of a word.
...............
"ligature" I'd add "... to make a single character"
..............
"logogram" could include as a more immediate example the ampersand
"&" and all the numerals.
..............
"Roman alphabet" - a possibly dodgy definition, since only English
uses this set of 26! A more roundabout definition (ie one less vulnerable
to pedants) might be "The 26 letters which form the basis of the alphabet
used for Western European languages"?
.............
perhaps you could add:
"glide" - a sound that appears between two others as a side effect
of
the pronunciation, for example "lawR and order"
(This is an important phenomenon that figures prominently in Taam's
spellings, so could be worth including)
