SoundSpel
SoundSpel is a regular and mostly phonemic English-language spelling reform proposal which uses the ISO basic Latin alphabet. Though SoundSpel was originally based on American English, it can represent dialectal pronunciation, including British English. With roots extending as far back as 1910 but largely complete by 1986, SoundSpel was developed "in response to the widely held conviction that English spelling is more complex than it needs to be." The American Literacy Council has endorsed the reform because anglophones can easily read it. Additionally, according to its proponents, " is fully compatible with traditional spelling and can be mixed with it in any proportion desired."
History
In 1910, philologist Alexander John Ellis played a major role in developing an English-language spelling system now known as "Classic New Spelling". Walter Ripman and William Archer wrote the system's first dictionary, New Spelling, which was republished in 1941 by the Simplified Spelling Society.In the early 1960s, Sir James Pitman developed the Initial Teaching Alphabet, which would become one of SoundSpel's predecessors.
In 1969, Godfrey Dewey improved upon Ripman's and Archer's work, producing World English Spelling. Dewey and Edward Rondthaler, a prominent typesetter and CEO of the International Typeface Corporation, corresponded from 1971.
In 1986, the American Language Academy published the Dictionary of Simplified American Spelling, a book written by Rondthaler and Edward Lias. It calls for the improvement of English spelling, with clearer rules and better grapheme/phoneme correspondence. Its guidelines are less strictly phonemic than Classic New Spelling. For example, the sounds and are represented by the grapheme in order to follow traditional spelling. Classic New Spelling opts instead for and, respectively.
The system was further reformed from 1987 on and became SoundSpel.
Description
Phonetics
Spellings here are matched to their sounds using the International Phonetic Alphabet. SoundSpel examples are accompanied by traditional spellings in italics if different. Note that writings in SoundSpel may not follow these tables exactly due to their time of writing or the author's personal preferences. These tables also do not account for proper nouns.| Spelling | Major values | Examples | Minor values | Examples |
| a | , | sat, stigma | , | ago, all |
| e | , ,, | novel, , event | ||
| i | , | did, hi, hie | ,, | , |
| o | , | dot, lo, | , | lemon, |
| u | stun | - | - |
| Spelling | IPA | Examples |
| ae | S/sundae | |
| ee | see | |
| ie | ie, hie | |
| oe | , doe | |
| ue | cue |
| Spelling | IPA | Examples |
| aa | , | |
| au, aw | maul, saw, | |
| ou, ow | our, tower | |
| oi, oy | toil, , toy | |
| oo | moon | |
| uu |
| Spelling | IPA | Examples |
| aer | ||
| ar | ark | |
| arr | marry | |
| eer | ||
| er | , | , biter |
| err | ||
| or | ||
| orr | sorry | |
| uer | ||
| ur | , , | |
| uur | , |
| Spelling | Major values | Examples | Minor values | Examples |
| b | - | - | ||
| c/k | cat, | - | - | |
| ch | - | - | ||
| d | - | - | ||
| f | - | - | ||
| g | - | - | ||
| h | Voiceless palatal fricative| | |||
| j | - | - | ||
| l | ,,, | , | - | - |
| m | ,, | , | - | - |
| n | ,, | , | ink, , | |
| ng | - | - | ||
| p | - | - | ||
| q | - | - | ||
| r | , Voiced alveolar and postalveolar approximants| | - | - | |
| s | , Occam's | |||
| sh | - | - | ||
| t | ,,, Voiced dental and alveolar taps and flaps|, Glottal stop| | , | - | - |
| th | thru | |||
| v | - | - | ||
| w | - | - | ||
| wh | - | - | ||
| x | , | box, exist | - | - |
| y | yes | , | , | |
| z | - | - | ||
| zh | - | - |
Rules
SoundSpel has changed slightly over time. Listed below are generally the most recent guidelines. Obsolete or optional rules are also listed. Furthermore, the system is not a fait accompli. The Dictionary of Simplified American Spelling reads: "urther fine tuning is appropriate. Recommendations are welcome from all—phoneticians, linguists, educators, publishers, those with a special interest in the subject, and, very importantly, the public at large.";False diphthongs:
If a pair of vowel letters do not match a SoundSpel digraph—such as ea—then the syllable ends with the first vowel, ', and '. With three or more vowel letters, the syllable ends with the first digraph. For example: ', ', and '.
;Hyphens and syllable breaks:
Hyphens separate adjacent letters that can be mistaken for digraphs. Examples include in ', in ', and in cow-hand. Where would be visually awkward, marks the end of the syllable, as in ' and '. Hyphens also indicate when is a consonant beginning a syllable rather than a vowel ending a syllable, as the latter is much more common. Where would be visually awkward, a double consonant marks the end of the syllable. Beyond these examples and those double consonants following , all double consonants surround a syllable break. Examples include ', ', and '. Additionally, double consonants often represent geminates.
Following a prefix, a hyphen indicates that a vowel is long. Any adjacent preceding vowel is also long. Compare ' and '.
;Schwa and schwi:
The spelling of in unstressed syllables remains unchanged unless traditional spelling would suggest a mispronunciation.
To represent schwi, there are three rules. First, is used in a word's first syllable. Second, is followed by a schwa in the combinations,, and . Third, is used terminally, or medially when not followed by schwa,, or . Using terminally in monosyllabic words such as bee and see and their derivatives is discouraged. The letter is also used to prevent ambiguity, such as in ' and ', in which would otherwise represent.
;Unstressed,, and :
SoundSpel retains the spellings of schwers. In other words, though and may reduce to in rapid speech, they keep their original spelling. This is for two reasons. First, the reform's "immediate goal... is to reflect a word's full pronunciation", and second, these words' derivatives often contain the syllable's stressed equivalent, so keeping the old spelling is useful for maintaining aesthetic relationships.
Exceptions
;Capitalization and proper nouns:The word I, like in traditional spelling, remains capitalized. The word U, a respelling of you, is also capitalized. As Edward Rondthaler wrote: "Since we accept the flattery of capital I for 'me', let us extend the courtesy of capital U for 'you'." In SoundSpel's 1978 form, however, neither I nor U were capitalized.
SoundSpel retains the spellings of proper nouns to the extent that these are the names of living people, functional institutions, government agencies, brand names, and so on. If both the visual recognition of a name and its correct pronunciation are important, the latter will be given in SoundSpel but in square brackets . Foreign words that are too awkward to be converted to SoundSpel are represented in italics. Otherwise, most well known proper nouns may be written in SoundSpel. Naturally, SoundSpel dictionaries may use SoundSpel to indicate an irregular proper noun's pronunciation, and months and days of the week may also be respelled.
;Pluralization:
Neither the plural suffix , the possessive suffix , nor the third-person present singular verb suffix are changed, even though in all these cases the may be pronounced at times. A doubled is used to distinguish words when necessary, as in ' versus '. This exception is a break from the Dictionary of Simplified American Spelling, in which plurals were spelled on a strictly phonetic basis. The letter does not form the plurals of words ending with a sound; for example, the plural of ' is not ', but . This follows traditional spelling.