Any consistent phonemic notation can be fully described with a phoneme-grapheme correspondence table.  This is one of the advantages of an alphabetic or phonemic orthography. To go from symbol to sound or from sound to symbol, all one needs is a simple look-up table similar to the ones shown here.

There is more than one way to build a correspondence table.  For the vowels, the most insightful table is a 4 column table with 6 checked vowels, 6 free vowels (extended), 6 combined vowels, and 6 combinations with r (or schwa). 

A consonant table should align the voiced (lenis) and unvoiced (fortis) consonant pairs.  Since there are 8 of these, the most useful array is an 8x3 table.  This becomes an 8x6 table when the vowels are included. 

Both the 4x6 vowel listing and the 6x8 phoneme table are displayed on this page. 

Each cell in the 4x6 table below corresponds to a phoneme in English speech. The first two columns list the 12 pure (or uncombined) phonemes. The white cells mark phonemes that are so nearly alike that they can be merged as in Unigraf.   The third and fourth columns list important diphthongs or blends of two or more pure phonemes.  The gray cells indicate phoneme combinations that neither Henry Sweet nor Daniel Jones considered to be important enough to list as separate phonemes.  Their rationale for not listing three sound combinations (triphthongs) can be found in the newsletter article on the minimum phoneme inventory.

 

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The first two columns in the chart list the 12 pure vowels (6 checked + 6 free or extended).  The next columns lists 6 diphthongs including one that IPA considers to be a conso-nant-vowel combination. Cells for phonemes that are not part of the IPA inventory are grayed. Three notations are listed starting  with IPA.  CKS modifies IPA by moving the marker from the extended vowel to the checked vowel. The shwa-apostropheis used to indicate a lax central vowel: thus u' & a' (and r in some dialects) are nearly the same sound.

*Gray cells are not considered distinct phonemes in IPA. They are used in transcriptions but not part of the minimum inventory.

CKS is probably similar to any notation that uses IPA as a starting point. Those familiar with Harry Lindgren's Fonetic A notation will see a similarity between it and CKS.  Lindgren used the apostrophe for an extender mark as well as schwa. Many people found this double use a little confusing. 

In CKS, the shwapostrofi always references a lax central vowel and is found in u' a' and o' [aw+uh]. In TO, both [i] and [y] can refer to /i:/ [ee].  /ai/ or [a'i] can therefore be written as ai or ay.  This in turn can be shortened to 'i or 'y or the combination 'iy. 

The only reason to alter the IPA sound sign [ai] is to achieve a closer approximation of TO. CKS looks more like English. Compared to /ou/ for the vowel in oat, [ai] has few conflicts.
 

TO Chekt Klipt IPA I  /ai/ 'i  'I I ai    'i ice /ais/ 'iys iys ais  'is icy 'iysi iysi aisi: easy izi izi i:si: eyes 'iyz iyz aiz aisle aiyl 'iyl iyl ail island 'iyla'nd iylnd ailnd ire 'iyr iyr air

TO Chekt Klipt my /mai/ m'y my sky sk'y sky flys fl'yz flyz flight fl'yt flyt night n'yt nyt gripe gr'yp gryp lie, lye l'y ly ear ir ir

/ ai / = 'iy or 'y  Since Y is retained for yes [yes], year [yir] and yeast [yist] [ies, iir and iist in Follick], there has to be a clear initial position form of this sound sign. iyr for 'ire' is better than 'yr which is too close yir. fear  [fir] ear [ir]. fair [fer or feir] fir [fr]

What is a checked (chekt) vowel? In CKS chekt vowels are written with an after-dot.  In English (TO), checked vowels are often marked with a double consonant.  setting, written, check, egg. Any vowel that cannot occur at the end of a word is referred to as a chekt vowel. Chekt vowels are always followed by a consonant. 

Do the chekt vowels always have to be marked or can the dots be clipt? In English they are often clipped and the same practice can be followed in CKS.  They are marked in ambiguous situations and these are rare among the most common words.  is and ease are written the same way in CKS. "Iz hi teiking it izi aftr hiz ilnes?" Most languages live with a long - short vowel ambiguity.

a phoneme is a difference that makes a difference
The Complete English Phoneme Inventory
Chart of 18 vowels, 8 R-combinations, and 24 consonants
The six checked vowel must be followed by a consonant.  All checked vowels are short.
Except for schwa, free vowels are long.  Free vowels can occur at the end of a word or syllable.
Entries for iu and hw are missing.  Thus *what = wat, wo.t or wot       6x8 chart

By ignoring the schwa and combining [o.] and [a:], the vowel list can be reduced to less than l8 and the total number of phonemes to 40. Many notational systems make these cuts. Checked Spelling endorses some phoneme mergers but only in context. English could be written with 9 vowels. This would not pose much of a problem for those who knew the language but it would limit the accuracy of the pronunciation guide. It would also take some getting used to.

It is important to remember that the purpose of an orthography is to simplify written communication among language speakers who may not necessarily be using the same dialect. The simpler the code the better. Simple codes will not be appreciated by those who have taken the time and effort to learn the complex code. It will be appreciated by those who are just starting out.

Thi.s iz ritn in a' si.mpl ca'nsi.st'nt ko'd but i.t wi.l no.t bi rekognyzd a.z su.ch.

Because of the importance of the R combinations, this chart lists 48 phonemes corresponding to 48 distinct graphemes. If one considers the R combinations to be self-evident, this list is quickly reduced to 41 phonemes.

Blends or diphthongs are usually represented as digraphs, J is the exception.The best digraphs are those that can be reduced to their component sounds.  [ai] is ah+ee.  [ch], however, cannot be reduced to c+h.  [ch]=[t + sh]. 

To represent 12 pure vowel phonemes, 12 vowel letters are required. By using two symbolic markers [' and .] it is possible to represent 12 vowels with 5 roman characters. Pronunciation dictionaries will often merge [o.] and [a] since they are not concerned about spelling pot as *pat. CKS retains the near redundancy to reduce the amount of visual disparity between CKS and TO.
who.t = what = wat,  o.r = ar,  awr = or,  wo.nt=want, o.x = ax, po.t = pat and so on.
The preferred CKS spelling is shown in red.

*The asterisk marks a word spelling e.g.,  *teardrop = *tirdrop in CKS.
  Brackets [aw] indicate an alternative phonogram -  o refers to the sound in *awe