English if it were spelled phonetically

[WidreMann]

Everybody hates English spelling. Why is a simple word like "though" spelled with four extra letters? And what about the silent letters in "knight" and "bought"? The answer is actually simple. The words were at one time pronounced that way (with "gh" being the same as "ch" in German - e.g. "ich" and "Bach"), but a number of phonetic simplifications occured in the late Middle English period - right during the time of the development of a common Enlish language and the printing press. Spelling became fixed just before the sounds started to change. When they had changed, nobody bothered to update the spelling. A similar thing happened in French, which explains why half the letters in French words aren't pronounced (I'm exaggerating, but you get the point).

So, I thought it would be interesting to see what English would look like if it were spelled phonetically. And no, I don't mean what you think I mean. I'm not going to use IPA (Internation Phonetic Alphabet) for three reasons: 1) there are a lot of symbols nobody has ever seen before, 2) it would mean that English would be spelled with precision that doesn't exist in the real world due to dialects and 3) because of allophonic variation which would create a large number of different sounds that aren't distinguished by speakers. What do I mean by #3? Sounds in words are affected by adjacent sounds. In the word "bat", the 'a' is short, but in the word "bad", it is long because it is followed by a voiced sound which means that the vowel doesn't have to be cut off as quickly. As far as the language is concerned, this isn't a meaningful difference, but in terms of absolute sound produced, it is. If we dealt with all such differences, spelling would be horrible and we run into the same problem as in #2: some dialects don't have such variations.

I decided instead to use the general rules in use during the Middle English period. That way, the spelling would look familiar to modern speakers. The familiar "ee" and "ea" and "th" digraphs are all present (though the first two have somewhat different values than in Modern English). So, here are the new spellings and their associated values:

Consonants

p - same
t - same, but always "hard" as in "tick" and never as in "nation"
k - same
b - same
d - same
g - always hard as in "get" and not as in "gem"
f - same
th - always unvoiced as in "thin" and not as in "then"
sh - same
v - same
dh - voiced as in "then" and not as in "thin"
zh - voiced 'sh' as in "equation"
s - always unvoiced as in "seal" and not as "rise"
z - always voiced as in "zeal"
tsh - pronounced like 'ch' in "chop" and not as in "chaos"
dzh - pronounced like the 'g' in "gym"
ts/dz - self-explanatory
m - same
n - same
ng - single sound as in "singer" and not as in "finger" (use "ngg" for that)
l - same
r - same (ignoring dialects which drop the 'r' in the final position)
w same (ignoring dialects that pronounced 'wh' as a sort of breathy unvoiced 'w')
y - same, but always a consonant
h - same, but always pronounced

Vowels

a - like the 'a' in "cat". Also used for the 'a' in "man".
e - always a schwa (as in the final 'a' in "Canada") or marker for syllabic nasals and liquids. Thus, "er" is pronounced like in Modern English (so as to avoid writing just 'r' as in "plumr")
ea - like the 'e' in "bed" and not like the 'ea' in "stead".
ee - like the 'a' in "name" and not like the 'ee' in "seed".
i - like the 'i' in "bid" and never long as in "right".
ie - like the 'ee' in "reed".
o - like the 'o' in "nod".
oa - like the 'oa' in "broad".
oo - like the 'o' in "node" and never like the 'oo' in "food".
u - like the 'u' in "bud".
uh - like the 'oo' in "book".
ou - like the 'oo' in "food".
ai - like the 'i' in "write".
au - like the 'ou' in "about".
oi - like the 'oi' in "oil".

Given all that, we can now write in phonetic English. To give you an idea what it would look like, I have "translated" the first two sentences of this post:

Old: Everybody hates English spelling. Why is a simple word like "though" spelled with four extra letters? And what about the silent letters in "knight" and "bought"? The answer is actually simple.

New: Eavriebodie heets Inglish spealing. Wai iz e simpel werd laik "though" speald with foar eaxtre leaterz? And wut ebaut dhe sailint leaterz in "knight" and "bought"? Dhe anser iz aktshouelie simpel.

I know it looks a bit weird, but nobody would ever have trouble with spelling again. Well, even if nobody likes it, I thought it was a neat thought experiment.

[Guest]

wow wildreman - your post looks like my daughter's homework. All the sounds and etc she's been learning this year. Very interesting post.

Patricia

BTW she's only in first grade and has covered most of what's in your post. I know I help her do her homework every nite.

[hurricanedude]

HUH?
LOL
MIKE

[breeze]

Ask a NON-speaking English person, man.....

[streetsoldier]

Its weerd, the id-ee-oh-sink-ra-sees that inglish has frum awl the bar-road werds and frazez, iz-unt it?

[Miss Mary]

This makes my head spin. You see in our school district they adopted and practiced a Whole Language Theory that included Inventive Spelling for almost 20 years. For example, Kindergartners were permitted to spell a word just as it sounded. Kat for cat, and so forth. The important thing was to get the students writing, not sitting there stuck with nothing on their paper. Well, it worked well for some students (my oldest, one niece) and didn't for others (my youngest with ADD). For my girls' schooling, by 3rd Grade they were expected to learn correct spelling and demonstate it via their work. My 15 year old turned it around wonderfully, devouring books and her writing is strong. My 12 year old should never have been permitted to spell words as they sounded. To this day, she is paying for that theory. Ugh. I curse the day she was allowed to do this. When I learned spelling/reading it was thru Phonics and a very strict teacher, rapping that blackboard. Let me tell you, I learned to spell words right away! Always say my 12 year old would have benefitted from that type of teaching, although she does have ADD.

Now the district has found this Inventive Spelling idea wasn't working well - duh. As far as I know it's not enforced or even encouraged. Wonderful news for young students.

My point, and I do have one, is that IMHO phonics is the foundation for spelling and reading.

[Amanzi]

I know English is very odd. I have had to learn to re-spell words since moving here too. (not that I could spell in the first place!) I spell color-colour, there is a host of others as well. It is not easy for me, I am teaching my son to read at the mo, and my accent confuses him, like to phonectically match the word vase, I couldnt find the match because I pronounce the a sound of the 'a' differently to an american. The poor kid must think I am a total idiot. (Ticka I may just be needing your help in the future to help my son with his homework!)

[Guest]

I'm here if you ever need help Bronwyn. Trust me I have a true texas accent - you know - ya'll LOL. So I pronounce things differently and my stepdaughter says WHAT? Gonna love kids.

I have a question for you - how did you get the nickname of Amanzi in here?

Patricia

[Amanzi]

Well Ticka, the board name I just used to sign into Storm2k with. I thought it was different. It is a zulu word meaning water. Water is one of my big loves in life, I could not live away from it. Also, water in Africa is more precious than gold, it is a vital part of life there.

Thanks, I may just be asking for your help!

[JQ Public]

Its weerd, the id-ee-oh-sink-ra-sees that inglish has frum awl the bar-road werds and frazez, iz-unt it?

lol ahhhh!

[WidreMann]

The point of this was to show that English possesses (or possessed) the resources in its spelling system to spell itself correctly. Only two new digraphs were invented - dh and zh - though the former might be unnecessary (given that the distinction between 'dh' and 'th' is probably not phonemic). No new vowel digraphs were invented, nor were any new letters brought in. Almost everything is based on Middle English conventions, which was the last period in English when everything was spelled phonetically. Had the spelling been updated after the change from Middle to Early Modern English, it probably would have looked like what I showed above.