Unifon Practice  YnifOn Praktis-YnifOn praktis

  Note:  You must download the Unifont to view the new alphabet. To show how this changes 
   the display, the third cell down in the table has been converted to the Unifon font

From the book , Singer in the Shadows : The strange story of Patience Worth, by Irving Litvag.  Copywrite 1972 by Irving Litvag.  Transcribed by Paul Stought  pol stqt /July 27, 2001
 

 In referring to the strange language style being produced with the use of a Oiga Board - Irving Litvag writes; "I would strongly suggest that you do not give up on it too quickly.  Do not cop out by just skimming over those verbal stumbling blocks in an efffort to pass on to something meatier.  For in time, if you persevere, you will perceive a pattern, a consistency of rhythm and phrasing; you will understand at a glance the meanings of unusual words which at first only puzzled and irritated you."

 I read much material by Patience Worth and I can attest to the truth of the above statement - at least for me.   I believe that the same experience will be had by those who are lucky enough to be provided sufficient access to quality reading material - produced , using one or more of the alternative alphabets.

While I do not believe in communication with the dead, I count the material produced by Patience Worth, as some of my favorite reading.  I think Unifon or some other similar system has the potential to open up new worlds to many who wouldn't otherwise bother with libraries and books, but would busy themselves with other activities.  That may be well - as we  need (almost)  all  kinds of people - but I'm glad I'm not one of them.
 
 

Links

Error Analysis UNIFON Alphabet Download the Unifont Key to the Keyboard Sound-spelling Malone

M-Webster Dictionary Search M-W Pronunciation Guide Table of Contents Phonemic Transcription Dyslexia  Dyslexia II CulkinRationale for Unifon

frum Du bOk, siNcr in Du SadOz: Du strANj stOrE uv pASunts WurT, bI irviN litvag.  kopErIt 1972 bI irviN litvag.  in rEfcriN tu Du stANj laNwej stIul bEiN prOdUst wiT Du Ys uv a wEjE bOcrd - irviN litvag rIts;	From the book , Singer in the Shadows : The strange story of Patience Worth,  by Irving Litvag.  Copywrite 1972 by Irving Litvag. In referring to the strange language style being produced with the use of a Oiga Board - Irving Litvag writes;
"I wud stroNlE sugjest Dat Y dU not giv up on it tU kwiklE.  dU not kop qt bI just skimiN Ovcr DOz verbul stumbliN bloks in an efcrt tU pas On tU sumTiN mEtEcr.  fOr in tIm, if Y pcrsevicr, Y wil pcrsEv A patcrn, A konsistunsE uv riDm and frAziN, Y wil undcrstand at u glans Du mEniNz uv unUZYul wcrdz witK at furst OnlE puzld and irutAtud Y."	with the Unifont installed the ASCII notation will be changed to the one below left. "I would strongly suggest that you do not give up on it too quickly.  Do not cop out by just skimming over those verbal stumbling blocks in an efffort to pass on to something meatier.
	For in time, if you persevere, you will perceive a pattern, a consistency of rhythm and phrasing; you will understand at a glance the meanings of unusual words which at first only puzzled and irritated you."
I red muK muticrEul bI pASunts wurT and I kan ctest tU Du trUT ov DE cbuv stAtmcnt - at lEst fOr mE.  I bElEv Dat Tu sAm ekspicrEuns wil bE had bI DOz hU or lukE Enuf tu bE provIdud sufiSunt akses tU kwolutE rEdiN muticrEul - prOdUsd, YziN wun Or mOr uv Du oltcrnutiv alfubets.	I read much material by Patience Worth and I can attest to the truth of the above statement - at least for me.   I believe that the same experience will be had by those who are lucky enough to be provided sufficient access to quality reading material - produced , using one or more of the alternative alphabets.
wIul I dU not bElEv in kumYnukatiN wiT Du ded, I kqnt Du muticrEul prOdUsd bI pAsuns wurT, az sum uv mI fAverit rEtiN.  I TiNk YnifOn or sum uDcr simulcr sistum haz Du pOtenSul tU Opun up nU wcrldz tU menE hU wudunt uDcrwIz boDcr wiT lIbreirEz and bCks, but wud bizE Demselvz wiT uDcr aktivitEz.  Dat mA bE wel - az wE nEd ol (olmOst) kIndz uv pEpl - but Im glad Im not wun of Dem.	While I do not believe in communication with the dead, I count the material produced by Patience Worth, as some of my favorite reading.  I think Unifon or some other similar system has the potential to open up new worlds to many who wouldn't otherwise bother with libraries and books, but would busy themselves with other activities.  That may be well - as we need all (allmost) kinds of people -but I'm glad I'm not one of them.

[SB]  Error Analysis: transcriptions compared to the M-W transcription

[bEkocz] A phonemic transcription system makes it possible to spell as you speak. Even slight mistakes are usually no impediment to understanding.  I liked your version of bEkocz. bckcxz mIt bE betcr.  bikxz is what the dictionary recommends:  Both show stress on the second syllable. Unifon does not have a schwi, an unstressed short [ee].  The o is already a short aa.  It can be extended with a schwa [c], but it is not necessary. To avoid multiple possible spellings, the simplest representation of sound is the first choice.  In Unifon II, the spelling would be bikoz - exactly the same as the Merriam-Webster pronunciation guide..

[qcr] There is nothing wrong with this transcription but it is not the shortest possible one.  Just as [qt] is sufficient for 'out', [qr] is sufficient for 'our'.

[rElijcn] This Using E instead of [i] obscures the stress pattern.  The dictionary recommends rilij&n.

[cl] is one way to represent the syllabic l as in litcl.  In most writing systems, the syllabic L and other  L sounds are merged.  A phoneme is a category, different things that are responded to the same way.  Thus there are several different L sounds that are included in the phoneme [L].  LMNR are semi-vowels as indicated by their names which do not start with their inital sounds:  [el em not le me].   [wecl] can be reduced to [wel]. [skUcl] school can be reduced to [skUl].  [Decr] can be reduced to [Der] there.

[ocr] is certainly a logical way to distinguish the short and long [aa] which is represented with an [o] in Unifon 1 and a [q] in Unifon 2.  Most pronunciation guides will merge the two sounds.   M-W assignes [awe] to o and aa to a:.  [pot] is spelled [pa:t] in M-W.

[disbElEf] If the stress is on the first and last syllables it would be disbclEf or disbilEf.  The dictionary prefers the latter.  [i] is used for schwi or unstressed E.
[KInumcn] If one wanted to show secondary stress it would be KIncmun. The dictionary says KIncmcn. ...

LEARN UNIFON TODAY! ITS EASY! 
Check your sound spelling or phonemic transcription against the M-W Dictionary. 
The notation is almost the same except for & being used instead of [c] for the schwa.

Miriam Webster Dictionary . with pronunciation guides in a new ASCII notation [&= schwa] [see below]
   www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/mweb  |  www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary. will correct non-standard spellings
 

Foreignword Multiple Dictionaries - multiple languages Pron-Guides & converters
  Foreignword.com is building an IPA converter based on the SIL IPA font.  SAMPA is working on
  a similar project. Usually, words are not spelled phonetically but sample sentences provided.

SPELLING PRONUNCIATION and PRONUNCIATION SPELLING

English words are often spelled as they were once pronounced not as they are pronounced today.  Traditional spellings thus contain an abundance of silent letters.

SPELLING PRONUNCIATION: A pronunciation that is based on the spelling of a word rather than current pronunciation.  It involves articulating silent letters which have become silent over the ages such as the B in the spelling [debt].  Unifon ignors traditional spelling and simply spells the word as it is pronounced today [det].

[often]  This word is a classic example of modern spelling pronunciation.  If this word is pronounced as it is spelled, the T would be pronounced.  For centuries this word has been pronounced off-un [ofcn] so pronouncing the silent letter amounts to a hypercorrection.

Looking at it another way, though, you can argue that the modern spelling pronunciation merely represents a reversal of the historical process whereby the [t] had become silent. Another letter that has gone silent is the [k] in knife, knave, and knight.  Spelling pronunciation would dictate that the [k] be pronounced because that is the way it is spelled.

Other words with commonly heard spelling pronunciations that are alms [qms], boatswain [bOscn], comptroller [comtrOlcr], and forecastle. These words all contain silent letters.  The correct pronounciation  can be checked using the M-W lookup utility above.

PRONUNCIATION SPELLING

A pronunciation spelling is a spelling that more closely reflects the pronunciation of a given word than the word’s traditional spelling does. Over time the new spelling may become as acceptable as the original spelling, as is the case with the pronunciation spelling [bosun] for boatswain and [thru] for through. Many writers use pronunciation spellings, as wanna for want to or talkin´ for talking, to convey the elisions in everyday speech. 

Unifon was developed in the 1950's and entered in the Shaw alphabet competition.  Other than some changes in the letter shapes, there have been no improvements in the basic system.  If a new Unifon were to be developed today, what features would or could be added?

Downsized  Font

Malone was neither a linguist nor a typographer so he should not be faulted for missing a few subtleties of orthographic and typographic design.  Downsized print is easier to read and therefore preferred by newspapers even for headlines.  Thus the new unifonic font will not look like Malone's upper case unifon.  The characters will be downsized.  They will resemble lower case characters.  A=macron or overbar a for /ei/, E=overbar e for /i:/.

Keyboard  Changes

There will be changes in the keyboard version as well:  There a number of options to be explored.  The general goals are:

1.  Close the gap between M-W and Unifon.  o=awe,   x=up,  q =aa,  Q = british short o.
     
2. No change needed in AEIO.  u= u:,  v=hook, U=hoop or yuu
     add Y for unstressed i:  very   keY or kI
     Add syllabics  R, L, M, N     ng=q, Q=? tQt = taut.  kraut=kraut

The inventory of 36 pure vowels in U2 Notation [Linear chart]
 

Unifon II Vowels

A	a  at  at   as   az	q  are  qr	A ace  As	Ar/er  air | kcr  car
E	e  el  edge ej	Xr murder mXdx	E eel  El  eat  Et	Er  ear
I	i   it it   itch itC	oi boy boi  boil	I icy eyes Isy Iz	Ir  ire
O	q  otter  qtxr pqt	o taught tot	O oat Ot tote tOt	Or  ore or or
U	v  hook  hvk	u  ooze uz	U use Uz	Ur your or yur
U	x  up xp	c ago  cgO	au out aut	aur our

18 vowels  
 

 
 
 

keyword	Unifon II	Unifon	Spanglish	Truespel
schwa    ago	c	c	a	u, i, e, oo
schwer   herder	hRdcr or hxrdcr	hurdcr	urr er	er  er
schwi     vary	y	E	y      IPA  I	ee
mid stressed  up	x	u	u.+ dbl cons.	u
*surfer suffer	sRrfcr, sxfcr	surfcr sufcr	surrfer suffer	serfer sufer
ultra pudding	vltrc pvdiN	ultrc pCdiN	ulltra puding  pwd	ultru pooding
wear where were	wer Wer wcr	wer hwer wcr	wear weir wer	wair wair wer
air fare fire	er fer fIr	er fer fIr	eir feir fair	air fair fier
anybody	eny bQdy bqdy	enE bxdE	enny boddy	enee baadee
very wary warrior	very wery worycr	verE werE worior	verry werry woryr	verE werE woryer
our cares are many	aur kerz qr meny	qr kerz or menE	our keirz aar menny	our kairz aar menee
wierd wired world	wird wIrd wRrld	wErd wIrd wurld	wird waird werld	weerd wierd werld
all weigh always	ol wE olwEz	xl wE xlwEz	ol wey olweyz	aul wae aulwaez
almost believe	olmOst bilEv bclEv	xlmOst bilEv	olmoast believ	aulmoest billeev

*Some Brits would pronunce surfer and suffer the same: s3f&

The first rule of English spelling is that 50% of the spellings do not match current pronunciation.  Many spellings, however, match how words were spoken 600 years ago.  This is why English spelling is referred to as historical or archaic spelling.  Words that used to rhyme in Shakespeare's day [1550] no longer rhyme. There were even more words that rhymed in Chaucer's day [1400]

There was as much variablity in English speech when word spelling was standardized around 1755 as there is today.  Johnson did not think he could standardize speech but he could standardize the spelling of words and morphemes. 

In 1000 A.D., there was a match between spelling and speech.  This connection between sound and sound sign was compromised by the Norman scribes.  English still contains many archaic French spellings that are no longer used by the French.  English spelling lost what connection it had to speech around 1450, just at the time that the nacent printing industry became interested in standardizing spelling.  ear bear tear/tear rhymed in the distant past.  They are still eye rhymes but the sounds and pronunciations have changed.

Getting Closer to Merriam Webster
One of the objectives of the Unifon II rewrite would be to move closer to M-W

/3:/ - X   hXrdR herder  mXrdxr  mXdx [british]
hE tot Dx tct hau tu siq. *hE pVt Da riq on hxr fiqgxr.  hR brXDR wxs very tol.
For M-Webster:  x = &, D=th,  S=sh, C=ch c=a:

New Shapes
The new shapes would be all lower case instead of all upper case as in Unifon I.
see the chart above

The goal would be for the new font to look as good in print as Goody's SSA font that was used
as the phonemic script in Dewey's books.

New Transcription

"I would strongly suggest that you do not give up on it too quickly.  Do not cop out by just skimming over those verbal stumbling blocks in an efffort to pass on to something meatier.  For in time, if you persevere, you will perceive a pattern, a consistency of rhythm and phrasing; you will understand at a glance the meanings of unusual words which at first only puzzled and irritated you."

REASSIGNED LETTER KEY  q-ng, V-hook,  c-aa/o,  x-up/ago [Xpxr],  U-yu.

*I wVd stronqly sxgjest that U du nct giv xp on it tu kwikly. *du nct kcp aut bI jxst skimiq OvR thOz vxrbL stxmbliq blcks in an efort tu pas on tu sxmTiq mEtyxr.  *for in tIm, if U pxrsevIr, U wil pxrsEv x patxrn, a consistensy xv riTxm and frAziq; U wil xndxrstand at a glans Dx mEniqz xv xnUzuxl wxrdz WiC at fxrst Only pxzLd and iritAtxd U.

UNIFON TRANSCRIPTION: 
I wCd strxGlE sugjest that Y dU not giv up xn it tU kwiklE.  dU not kop qt bI just 
skimiN Ovcr thOz vcrbcl stumbliN bloks in an efOrt tU pas xn tU sumTiN mEtIcr.  fOr in tIm, if U pcrsevIr, Y wil pursEv c patcrn, a consistensE uv riTcm and frAziN; U wil undcrstand at a glans Dc mEniNz uv unUzYcl wurdz wiC at furst OnlE puzcld and iritAtcd Y.

The proposed [prxpOzd] UNIFON II is better here:
U is more intuitive than Y for yuu.
kwikly is better than kwiklE. 

2.  Replace consonant digraphs keep S for sh, T for thin, D for /dh/ or the, Z for zh, 
3.  Do not use a new letter for 
      a.   an extended sound,  zuu for zoo, ccr for aar not or, oot for ought not xt.
      b.   a true diphthong.  q for au, Q for oi

x-englic table