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| Marking
the cheked vowels
instead of the free vowels index This "breakthru" notation is based on marking the checked vowelsinstead of marking extended (or free) vowels. TO sometimes marks the checked vowels with a double consonant (put, putt, bitter). CCS marks them with an after dot. (pu·t pu't, bi·tr) [note: central vowels are marked with a swapostrophe]. [for a true after-mid dot [·] go to Latin-1 code &midot;] All markers are somewhat annoying. Dots are less obtrusive than letters used as markers. Since they are not as prominant, they can be dropped when there is no need to indicate pronunciation. Extender marks (as in IPA) are easily confused with punctuation when the occur before a space (ie, at the end of a word).Extender letters (as in TO) are easily confused with letters used as sound signs.This never happens in Chekt Speling (CCS) because a marked checked vowel must befollowed by a consonant and silent letters are never used as markers. Marking
is required because English never augmented their inventory of vowel graphemes:There
are 12 pure vowels but only 5 vowel letters.English
orthography (TO) compounds the problem by using 3 of the same 5 lettersto
indicate diphthongs: a=ei, o=ou, i=ai. English (TO) does not
always use single letters to
indicate diphthongs but, according to Hanna (1966), single letters
are the most
Any phonemic notation can be fully defined in two grapheme-phoneme correspondence charts.A vowel chart, such as the one below, and a consonant chart. That is one of the virtues of a consistent orthography. The disadvantage is that one has to unlearn the inconsistenttraditional spelling of some words: eyes becomes aiz, 'yz, or Iz, depending on the notation. George Bernard Shaw used to say that his name contained only 2 sounds (or phonemes) but it took four letters to write it in the traditional English notation (TO). In Unigraf: Shaw = So In CKS, Shaw = 5o. Hav iu seen 5oz 5o' - m'y fer leidi? Hav U sEn Soz SO - mI fer lAdi? unigraf The chart below gives the
phoneme-grapheme correspondences for three notations: IPA,
ChktSpeling,
& Unigraf, along with words containing the vowel sound.
CKS and Uni are phonasciis
What is a checked (chekt) vowel? The vowels in the first column of the chart (above) are chekt.These vowels never occur at the end of a word or syllable. Chekt vowels are always followed by a consonant and are always short. [alt. chart] A vowel occurring at the end of a word such as the e in me (mi:) or the o in solo (soulou) must be long (free). The ambiguity arises when the free vowel is followed by a consonant: TO handles this in short words with a letter marker as in oat or pole. The marker has no phonetic value, it is silent. At one time in the history of the language, these markers were pronounced, usually as schwa. In multi-sylable words [totem polar], TO usually drops the marker creating some ambiguity. (CKS: to'tm po'lr). To
avoid having symbols are the end of the word, chekt spelling marks the
chekt vowels.
Do the chekt vowels always have to be marked or can the mid-dots be clipt? When the dot is removed in the word such as [tha·n] the pronunciation becomes [thahn or thaan]. This change would have no impact on intelligibility even when read aloud. Several European languages live with this long-short (chekt-free) ambiguity. The dot is only needed when there is some reason to believe that the person receiving the message would be confused (e.g., with language learners or in such phrases as "hi bit mi." Is this bit (bi·t) or beat (bit)?). The problem of consistent unambiguous referencing of the significant speech sounds (phonemes) can be solved several different ways. The problem has always been backward compatibility or how to make a univalent phonemic (consistent) orthography [such as CKS] similar to a polyvalent inconsistent one [TO]. Dictionaries often use a system of diacritics pioneered by Webster to indicate the sound being referenced by a particular letter or letter combination. Diacritics usually refers to modified characters rather than a separate symbol such as an apostrophe. [à] rather than [a']. To use [a'] no special font or special keyboard is required. It is as much an ASCII character as [ae] or any other digraph. Using letters as markers is always problematic because the shape has a previous interpretation. Symbols usually carry no excess baggage and are easier to redefine. Another
solution, found in the Unigraf and ANJeL,
notations is to use the upper case letters as
The Unigraf notation adopts
the TO practice of using single letters to represent diphthongs.
|
| Minimum number of vowel phonemes for a broad transcription of English | |
Unigraf A B C D a q I qr Ir e r A er i E Q ir q o O or c C U ur u u V Vr |
The first two
columns [A & B] display 12
pure vowels: six short (checked) vowels and six extended vowels. This would
be the minimum notation since all other sounds can be represented as combinations.
Unigraf reduces the pure vowels to 10 and Globish has even fewer sound
signs. The remaining columns [C & D] display
six diphthongs and seven shwa combinations.
The 25 vowel phonemes
are illustrated in Unigraf notation
on the left. By merging some sounds
[q u ], Unigraf reduces the character
set to 23:
The 25 speech sounds can be viewed in a compact format with word examples and have been captured as audio clips and can be played if your computer can interpret .wav files. A wave player is included with Windows. Simply click on the hot links on the Uni column on the Sounds page. |
A phoneme is a difference that makes a difference.
A phoneme is a small phonetic difference in speech that changes meaning of a word.
bin/pin [b] and [p] are phonemic in English since bin does not mean the same thing as pin.
[b] and [p] are not necessarily phonemic in other languages.
Although often defined as the minimal or smallest distinctive unit of speech
that can make a difference in meaning,
a phoneme is a range of sounds that are treated as equivalent by a speech
community.
Most acoustical differences between speakers are ignored which is what
makes it possible to
communicate across dialects and accents. A narrow phonetic transcription
of speech distinguishes differences in
regional speech patterns. A broad transcription, attempts to ignore these
differences.
In English, the p sound is a phoneme because it is the smallest
unit of sound that can make a difference of
meaning if, for example, it replaces the initial sound of bill, till, or
dill, making the word pill. The vowel sound of
pill is also a phoneme because its distinctness in sound makes pill, which
means one thing, sound different from
pal, which means another. Two different sounds, reflecting distinct articulatory
activities, may represent two
phonemes in one language but only a single phoneme in another [source]
Each language has its own inventory of phonetic differences that
it treats as phonemic-that is, as necessary to
distinguish meaning. For practical purposes, the total number of phonemes
for a language is the least number of
different symbols adequate to make an unambiguous graphic representation
of its speech that any native could
read if given a sound value for each symbol, and that any foreigner could
pronounce correctly if given additional
rules covering nondistinctive phonetic variations that the native makes
automatically. For convenience, each
phoneme of language may be given a symbol.
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
| checked
short |
extended
long |
r-comb.
in RP r=shwa |
voiced
lenis |
unvoiced
fortis |
syllabic | |
| a. *ax | a [aa] *alms | ar *are | b | p | l. .l *l.i.t.l | |
| e. *elbow | e [ei] *ace, egg | er *air | j *gym - jim | c [ch] | r. .r *r.o'r | |
| i. *it, in | i [ee] *eel | ir *ear | d | t | m. .m | |
| o. *ox, odd | o [aw] *awe | or *order | x [ð] *the | + [th] *thin | n. .n *n.m | |
| u. *up, hut | u [oo] iu | ur iur *your | v *visa - visa' | f *fife - fif | 3 [ng] *sing | |
| u' *hook | a' [shwa] | .r *her, *'rk | k *kit kat | g | h | |
| o' *owe Ø | au [.w]*out | aur *our | z | s | w & [hw] | |
| oi *oil | .y [ai] *ice | .yr *ire | 2 [zh] leisure li2ur | 5 [sh]ip | y. | |
| 24 Vowels - 21
essential
12 unmixed "pure" vowels |
24 Consonants
22 unmixed non-blends |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| There are 34unmixed
or "pure" phonemes that require 34 graphemes, preferably non-digraphs.
The total number of phonemes in a writing system depends on the number of blends or diphthongs that are included. Wijk and Jones both listed 21 vowels and 25 consonants for a total of 46 essential phonemes. This list is more symmetrical with 24 vowels and 24 phonemes for a total of 48. 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. CCS retains the
near redundancy to reduce the amount of visual disparity between CCS and
TO.
*The asterisk marks a word
spelling e.g., *teardrop = *tirdrop in CCS.
a
phoneme is a speech difference that makes a difference in meaning
or interpretation.
This
does not necessarily mean that two distinct graphemes such as ee
and i are always required.
I took a dip in the dip. I bit the bit. He bit (beat/bit) me. (Hi bit mi. or Hi bi.t mi.)? When there is confusion as in the last example, a graphic distinction would have to be added. Chekt & Clipt Spelling, CC-Spel, CCS With
12 elementary vowels and 21+ essential RP phonemes some ingenuity is required
to
The breakthru notation [CCS] is based on marking the checked vowelsinstead of marking extended vowels. Extender marks are easilyconfused with punctuation when the occur before a space. Thisnever happens in CCS because a marked checked vowel must be followedby a consonant. The musical scale: "do re mi fa so la ti do" does not have to be altered for correct pronunciation. bi.t,
be.t, ba.t, bu,t, bo.tl - the short checked vowels are marked. (e does
not have to be marked unless e: is used - as in Ian's SaundSpel)
In
most situations the marks would be clipt: X men la.ndd on x bich
in Norma'ndi
The Jones-IPA 21 vowel matrix for RP (let c = turned e (schwa)) 6 checked, 6 unchecked, 5 difthongs (*iu not included), 4 shwa combinations (*ac & *auc not included) Jones - Broad Romic World Orthography ae a: ai *ac *aic car (cah-uh), ire (ah-ee-uh) area eria (ehr-ee-uh) e c: ei ec air (eh-uh) i i: oi ic ear (ih-uh), mirror (mic:), mere (mic) o o: ou o:c oar (aw-uh), floor (flo:), slower (slouc) u u: *iu uc your (yoo-uh), flurry, tour, cure ^ c au *auc power(paw-w-uh), flower, our, shower, sour CKS: Identical phoneme categories + 4 more, slightly different notation. a. a y ar yr ar, ir e r ei er er Unless e = ei, no rizun tu chek the E i. i oi ir ir, mir'r (mira'), mir some add a yod, m\ira' o. o o' or or, flor, slo'r u' u iu ur iur, fluri, tur, kiur (year/iir (yir) u. a' au aur paur, flaur, aur, 5aur, saur
*not included in Jones's short list of 21 vowels. The notation for iu is ju. TO/CC
comparisons
The sc spelling appears to be Latin based. Sciacca = sheeahkah CKS (Chekt KliptSpeling) solves one problem, namely the need to cut the punctuation for open vowels. Ha (-ha:) hi (=hi: not high or hih). Since the punctuation is always for the checked vowel, it is always followed by a consonant and thus unlikely to be confused with the end of a sentence or phrase. Unchecked vowels are normally long and do not have any markers in CC Spel. Solutions invariably create some new problems. There is a slight dissonance created by the fact that the longest notation references the shortest vowels. The
great vowel shift moved said - sah-id becomes sed. Day
becomes dei. Not everywhere, however. Day is still pronounced
dah-ee
in some parts of Australia.
Voiced Unvoiced Description B
p bilabial plosive
Che.kt Speli3 24 Vaul Meitri.ks Checked Clipped
Spelling (CKS) makes some minor changes in the IPA notation
to make the script more pleasing to the eye (primarily by
eliminating end of word markers such as in blu:),
more compact, and less disruptive for the person raised on a standard diet
of TO (Traditional English Orthography). CKS
and IanSpel are about the easiest ASCII notation to map to IPA
*The schwa (a') is not extended
vowel but it is a free vowel - it can end a syllable or word as in sofa'
Sample
transcriptions: CCS
vs.IPAand
ALC
Fonetik
The prinses laft doutingly becauz she wuud not acsept thees werds. Insted, she uezd her imajinaeshun, moovd into the fotografy biznes, and tuuk pikchers of the loonar serfis in culor. "I perseev moest sertenly that it allways apears hoely whiet," she thaut. She allso found that she cuud maek enuf muny in aet munths so that she cuud bi herself too enormus huej nue jooels too. To convert strings
of text into ALC Fonetic, Truespel, or Cut Speling, go to the
Substitutions:
In hand writing the eth symbol [ ð ] would be used instead of the x by adding a loop. The eth is not an ASCII character so it cannot be used in an ASCII - IPA or PhonASCII notation such as CCS. Perhaps the only way to avoid
"positional spelling" is to require that the schwapostrophe [ ' ]
be used with all syllabic consonants.
Glossary
Comments Hy Ron, Thanks for your participation in the alternative notation game. (NF) Ju'stli, th sneik felt shi:pish in th zu: with th zi:bra'. (CKS) ju'stli, x sneik felt shipish in x zu wi.th x zibra' (OGD) justly, the snayk felt sheepish in the zu with the zebra. (NS) Justli, the snaek felt sheepish in the zoo widh the zebra. (SB)
Ron, What is [the], a logogram? What about the terminal on zebruh,
Ron,
objecting to [zu], says that
<zugswang> is a German weurd dhat kan bee spelt the saem in TO andNue Speling (Steve)
It would be spelled the same in NF as well.
When
the vowel is checked with a consonant, then there are three
We
could make up arbitrary digraphs and assign them to one of the
Az
Ian sez, ther ar o'nli 12 ela'menta'ri vaulz.
The Jones-IPA vowel matrix (let 3 = turned e (schwa)) 7 Short, 5 Extended, 6 Difs, 8 R-combinations, TO a
a: ai a3 ai3
car, ire Jones: ca:
Nu
Folik ascii substitutions.
a
a: y ar yr are, ire
New Spelling ascii substitutions a
aa ae ar ier are (aar),
ire (ier)
A few TO spelling patterns bad
balm by bar pyre
NF (nu folik) Spelling patterns bad
ba:m by bar pyr
ba:r
Problem areas for TO readers bi: = bee, lo:= law do
re mi fa so la ti do (NF)
redundancy:
a'rj, 'rj, u.rj and u'rj are all pronounced
Steve |
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