SoundSpel is a
regular
The term regular can mean normal or in accordance with rules. It may refer to:
People
* Moses Regular (born 1971), America football player
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* "Regular" (Badfinger song)
* Regular tunings of stringed instrum ...
and mostly
phonemic English-language spelling reform
For centuries, there have been movements to reform the spelling of the English language. It seeks to change English orthography so that it is more consistent, matches pronunciation better, and follows the alphabetic principle. Common motives for ...
proposal. It uses a
26-letter alphabet that is fully compatible with
QWERTY keyboards. Though SoundSpel was originally based on
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...
, 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
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the " United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, ...
has endorsed the reform because
anglophones can easily read it. Additionally, according to its proponents, "
oundSpelis fully compatible with traditional spelling and can be mixed with it in any proportion desired."
History

In 1910,
philologist Alexander John Ellis
Alexander John Ellis, (14 June 1814 – 28 October 1890), was an English mathematician, philologist and early phonetician who also influenced the field of musicology. He changed his name from his father's name, Sharpe, to his mother's maiden na ...
played a major role in developing an English-language
spelling system now known as "Classic New Spelling".
Walter Ripman
Walter may refer to:
People
* Walter (name), both a surname and a given name
* Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968)
* Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...
and
William Archer William or Bill Archer may refer to:
* William Archer (British politician) (1677–1739), British politician
* William S. Archer (1789–1855), U.S. Senator and Representative from Virginia
* William Beatty Archer (1793–1870), Illinois politicia ...
wrote the system's first dictionary, ''New Spelling'' (NuSpelling), which was republished in 1941 by the
Simplified Spelling Society The English Spelling Society is an international organisation, based in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1908 as the Simplified Spelling Society. It primarily aims to raise awareness of problems caused by English spelling's irregularity and t ...
.
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
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
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 /θ/ and /ð/ are represented by the grapheme ⟨th⟩ in order to follow traditional spelling. Classic New Spelling opts instead for ⟨th⟩ and ⟨dh⟩, 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
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic transcription, phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standa ...
(IPA). 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 (which are discussed under "Exceptions").
Rules
SoundSpel has changed slightly over time. Listed below are generally the most recent guidelines.
Obsolete
Obsolescence is the state of being which occurs when an object, service, or practice is no longer maintained or required even though it may still be in good working order. It usually happens when something that is more efficient or less risky r ...
or optional rules are also listed. Furthermore, the system is not a
fait accompli
Many words in the English vocabulary are of French origin, most coming from the Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest, before the language settled into what became Modern Engli ...
. The ''Dictionary of Simplified American Spelling'' reads: "
rther fine tuning
f SoundSpelis
owappropriate. Recommendations are welcome from all—
phoneticians,
linguists
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
,
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 (as in ''react'', read as "re-act"), ''jeenius'' ("genius"), and ''creaetiv'' ("creative"). With three or more vowel letters, the syllable ends with the first digraph. For example: ''flooid'' ("fluid", read as "floo-id"), ''hieest'' ("highest"), and ''inueendo'' ("innuendo").
;Hyphens and syllable breaks:
Hyphens separate adjacent letters that can be mistaken for digraphs. Examples include ⟨nk⟩ in ''man-kiend'' ("mankind"), ⟨th⟩ in ''pent-hous'' ("penthouse"), and ⟨wh⟩ in ''cow-hand'' ("cowhand"). Where ⟨n-g⟩ would be visually awkward, ⟨nn⟩ marks the end of the syllable, as in ''enngaej'' ("engage") and ''enngraev'' ("engrave"). Hyphens also indicate when ⟨y⟩ is a consonant beginning a syllable (such as in ''barn-yard'') rather than a vowel ending a syllable (as in ''handyman'' or ''apreeshyaet'', "appreciate"), as the latter is much more common. Where ⟨-y⟩ would be visually awkward, a double consonant marks the end of the syllable (as in ''millyon'' for "million" and ''compannyon'' for "companion"). Beyond these examples and those double consonants following /ɔː/ (like in ''fall'' and ''cross''), all double consonants surround a syllable break. Examples include ''meelles'' ("mealless"), ''buukkeeper'' ("bookkeeper"), and ''cattael'' ("cattail"). Additionally, double consonants often represent
geminates.
Following a prefix, a hyphen indicates that a vowel is long (''co-ed'', ''re-arm'', ''bi-lateral''). Any adjacent preceding vowel is also long (''bio-'', ''neo-''). Compare ''jeo-sentrik'' ("geocentric") and ''jeolojy'' ("geology").
;Schwa and schwi:
The spelling of (
schwa
In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa (, rarely or ; sometimes spelled shwa) is a vowel sound denoted by the IPA symbol , placed in the central position of the vowel chart. In English and some other languages, it rep ...
) in
unstressed syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological "bu ...
s remains unchanged (as in ''organ'', ''novel'', and ''lemon'') unless traditional spelling would suggest a mispronunciation (hence "mountain" is spelled ''mounten'').
To represent
schwi (variably described as or ), there are three rules. First, ⟨e⟩ is used in a word's first syllable (''event''; ''eqip'' for "equip"). Second, ⟨i⟩ is followed by a schwa in the combinations ⟨ia⟩, ⟨io⟩, and ⟨iu⟩ (''insomnia''; ''joevial'' for "jovial"). Third, ⟨y⟩ is used terminally, or medially when not followed by schwa ⟨a⟩, ⟨o⟩, or ⟨u⟩ (''raedyo'' for "radio", ''joevyality'' for "joviality"). Using ⟨y⟩ terminally in monosyllabic words such as ''bee'' and ''see'' (instead of ⟨ee⟩) and their derivatives is discouraged. The letter ⟨y⟩ is also used to prevent ambiguity, such as in ''terryer'' ("terrier") and ''audyens'' ("audience"), in which ⟨ie⟩ would otherwise represent .
;Unstressed ⟨er⟩, ⟨ar⟩, and ⟨or⟩ ("schwer"):
SoundSpel retains the spellings of schwers (a
portmanteau of
schwa
In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa (, rarely or ; sometimes spelled shwa) is a vowel sound denoted by the IPA symbol , placed in the central position of the vowel chart. In English and some other languages, it rep ...
and ⟨er⟩). In other words, though (⟨ar⟩) and (⟨or⟩) may
reduce to (⟨er⟩) 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 (as in ''
victor'' and ''vic
torious''), 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
Capitalization (American English) or capitalisation (British English) is writing a word with its first letter as a capital letter (uppercase letter) and the remaining letters in lower case, in writing systems with a case distinction. The term a ...
. 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 it's 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
A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. In everyday life, the word "day" often refers to a solar day, which is the length between two so ...
may also be respelled.
;Pluralization:
Neither the
plural suffix ⟨-s⟩ (as in ''jobs''), the possessive suffix ⟨-'s⟩ (as in ''man's''), nor the third-person present singular verb suffix ⟨-s⟩ (as in ''he runs'') are changed, even though in all these cases the ⟨s⟩ may be pronounced at times. A doubled ⟨ss⟩ is used to distinguish words when necessary, as in ''caes'' ("cays", /keɪz/) versus ''caess'' ("case", /keɪs/). This exception is a break from the ''Dictionary of Simplified American Spelling'', in which plurals were spelled on a strictly phonetic basis (''caez'' and ''caes'' respectively). The letter ⟨x⟩ does not form the plurals of words ending with a sound; for example, the plural of ''dok'' ("dock") is not ''dox'', but ''doks''. This follows (formal) traditional spelling.
Features
*Does not introduce any symbols foreign to English like
diacritic
A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacriti ...
s or
ligatures. Relies upon common, familiar
digraphs except for ⟨aa⟩, ⟨uu⟩, and ⟨zh⟩, though these are in fact seen in some words (see:
aardvark,
squush,
zhoosh).
*Does not dramatically change the appearance of existing words (i.e., through the use of non-
Latin letters), and generally decreases text length by about 4%. SoundSpel also promotes more precise pronunciation in speech.
*Removes many doubled letters made redundant under the reform, and has virtually no
silent letters.
*Generally not intended to differentiate
homophone
A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same (to varying extent) as another word but differs in meaning. A ''homophone'' may also differ in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (p ...
s, as "context takes care of everything
n speech, and therefore writing">speech.html" ;"title="n speech">n speech, and therefore writing" However, as writing is matched with speech, many homographs differentiate, such as "read", which becomes ''reed'' (present tense) and ''red'' (past tense).
*Improves consistency of writing, thereby reducing learning curve, learning time and reading
difficulties compared to traditional English spelling. However, compromises and rule exceptions make SoundSpel more difficult than it would be if it were a purely
phonemic system.
Text examples
Note that any given example may not exactly follow this article's guidelines due to its time of writing, the author's personal preferences, or the author's (
eye
Eyes are organs of the visual system. They provide living organisms with vision, the ability to receive and process visual detail, as well as enabling several photo response functions that are independent of vision. Eyes detect light and conv ...
) dialect.
''Th
Star
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...
'' by
H. G. Wells
It was on th ferst dae of th nue
yeer th anounsment was maed, allmoest siemultaeniusly frum three
obzervatorys, that th moeshun of th planet
Neptune
Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the farthest known planet in the Solar System. It is the fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 times ...
, th outermoest of all
planets
A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a young ...
that wheel about th
Sun, had becum verry erratic. A retardaeshun in its
velosity had bin suspected in
Desember. Then, a faent, remoet spek of
liet was discuverd in th reejon of th perterbd planet. At ferst, this did not cauz eny verry graet exsietment.
Sieentific peepl, however, found th intelijens remarkabl enuf, eeven befor it becaem noen that th nue body was rapidly groeing larjer and
brieter, and that its moeshun was qiet different frum th orderly progres of th planets.
57 characters 57 may refer to:
* 57 (number)
* one of the years 57 BC, AD 57, 1957, 2057
* "57" (song), a song by Biffy Clyro
* "Fifty Seven", a song by Karma to Burn from the album '' Arch Stanton'', 2014
* "57" (album), a studio album by Klaus Major Heuser B ...
(''It was on the first day of the new year the announcement was made, almost simultaneously from three observatories, that the motion of the planet Neptune, the outermost of all planets that wheel around the sun, had become very erratic. A retardation in its velocity had been suspected in December. Then a faint, remote speck of light was discovered in the region of the perturbed planet. At first this did not cause any very great excitement. Scientific people, however, found the intelligence remarkable enough, even before it became known that the new body was rapidly growing larger and brighter, and that its motion was quiet different from the orderly progress of the planets.'')
80 characters
In typography and computing, characters per line (CPL) or terminal width refers to the maximal number of monospaced characters that may appear on a single line. It is similar to line length in typesetting.
History
The limit of the line le ...
''Britten wen yung'' by Frank Kermode
We mae nowadaes be chairy about uezing th werd '
jeenius', but we stil hav a guud iedeea wut is ment bi it. For exampl, thair ar graet numbers of verry gifted
muezishans hoo ar admierd but not calld jeeniuses. But thair ar uthers, manifestly prodijus, performing offen at extraordinerrily erly aejes, a varieety of feets so complex that th muezical
laeman cuud hardly imajin, eeven with th moest desperet laebor, acomplishing eny of them, wiel eeven muezishans ar astonisht and we then reech for th guud, handy, vaeg
Enlietenment werd and call them jeeniuses. Th list incloods
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
and
Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositi ...
; and, despiet all th limiting jujments, it incloods Benjamin Britten.
68 characters 68 may refer to:
* 68 (number)
* one of the years 68 BC, AD 68, 1968, 2068
* 68 Publishers, a Czech-Canadian publishing firm
* '68 (band), an American rock band
* '68 (comic book) a comic book series from Image Comics
See also
*List of highways nu ...
(''We may nowadays be chary about using the word ‘genius’, but we still have a good idea what is meant by it. For example, there are great numbers of very gifted musicians who are admired but not called geniuses. But there are others manifestly prodigious, performing, often at extraordinarily early ages, a variety of feats so complex that the musical layman could hardly imagine, even with the most desperate labour, accomplishing any one of them, while even musicians are astonished: and we then reach for the good, handy, vague Enlightenment word and call them geniuses. The list includes Mozart and Mendelssohn; and, despite all the limiting judgments, it includes Benjamin Britten.'')
84 characters 84 may refer to:
* 84 (number)
* one of the years 84 BC, AD 84, 1984, AD 2084
* Eighty Four, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated census-designated place in Washington County, Pennsylvania, United States
* Seksendört, a Turkish pop group whose name mea ...
'' Oed to a Nietingael'' by
John Keats
John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...
Mi hart aeks, and a drouzy numnes paens
Mi sens, as tho of hemlok I had drunk,
Or empteed sum dul oepiaet to th draens
Wun minit past, and Lethe-wards had sunk;
'Tis not thru envy of thi hapy lot,
But being too hapy in thien hapynes,—
That thow, liet-winged Dryad of th trees,
In sum meloedius plot
Of beechen green, and shadoes numberles
Singest of sumer in fuul-throeted eez. 68 characters 68 may refer to:
* 68 (number)
* one of the years 68 BC, AD 68, 1968, 2068
* 68 Publishers, a Czech-Canadian publishing firm
* '68 (band), an American rock band
* '68 (comic book) a comic book series from Image Comics
See also
*List of highways nu ...
(''My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains''
''My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,''
''Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains''
''One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:''
Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,''
''But being too happy in thine happiness,—''
''That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees''
''In some melodious plot''
''Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,''
''Singest of summer in full-throated ease.'')
Ode to a Nightingale 93 characters 93 may refer to:
* 93 (number)
* one of the years 93 BC, AD 93, 1993, 2093, etc.
* 93 Seine-Saint-Denis, French department, Paris, Île-de-France
* Atomic number 93: neptunium
* ''Ninety-Three'', English title of ''Quatrevingt-treize'' (same meanin ...
See also
*
List of reforms of the English language
*
Reforms of French orthography
*
German orthography reform of 1996
*
English orthography
*
English spelling-to-sound correspondences
*
Orthography
*
Spelling reform
*
Defective script
*
"The Chaos" (poem demonstrating irregular English spelling)
*
Ghoti
*
English IPA help
*
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic transcription, phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standa ...
*
Linguistic conservatism
*
Linguistic prescription
Linguistic prescription, or prescriptive grammar, is the establishment of rules defining preferred usage of language. These rules may address such linguistic aspects as spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, and semantics. Sometimes infor ...
*
Traditional Spelling Revised
Traditional Spelling Revised (TSR) is an English-language spelling reform
alternative to the semi-regular conventional English orthography (EO). TSR is a relatively conservative scheme. It seeks to identify the underlying rules of EO but to apply t ...
Notes
References
{{cite web , last=Rondthaler , first=Edward , author-link=Edward Rondthaler , date=1999 , title=SoundSpel
M, url=http://spellingsociety.org/uploaded_views/pv8rondthaler-personal-view.pdf , location= , publisher=English Spelling Society
External links
"Simplified Spelling," translator extensionEnglish Spelling Society websiteAmerican Literacy Council website
English spelling reform