ç Phonetics Index

Spelwel: A Simplified Spelling Scheme

© by G. P. Jelliss

Introduction

The earliest form of this article appeared in The Games and Puzzles Journal 1997 (vol. 2, issue 15, pages 256-7) under the heading of "Professor Cranium's Simplified Spelling", and that issue is now available as a PDF download. The account that follows, revised May 2012, is the latest of several modifications attempted over the years.

The original article came about in part from my reading of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language by David Crystal (Cambridge University Press 1987) and The Oxford Companion to the English Language (abridged edition) by Tom McArthur (Oxford University Press 1996), which include descriptions, somewhat incomplete, of various schemes that have been proposed for spelling reform of English, such as the Shaw Alphabet, designed by Kingsley Read in the 1950s, which uses 40 letters of special design, resembling short-hand or some Indian scripts. Subsequent study, particularly with the help of the internet, has revealed to me many other alternative schemes, as shown in the extended list of Links at the end of this page.

Everyone who writes English will be aware that the same sounds can often be written in quite different ways that reflect the history of the word rather than its pronunciation. Since there are reckoned to be 44 component sounds (phonemes) in English, consisting of 20 vowels and 24 consonants, and we only have 26 letters in our alphabet it is clear that we must either introduce some new letters, or use combinations of letters, or allow letters multiple values. Some ambiguity must be accepted in any system that uses only a limited number of letters, unlike the International Phonetic Alphabet, where the most minor distinctions may be made.

The aim of my approach has always been to devise a reasonably phonetic scheme that uses only the existing 26 letters of the alphabet, or fewer, although the sounds assigned to them may be different from present, and also to retain existing phonetic spellings where possible, and to spell words as briefly as possible, which means avoiding doubled letters and combinations like dzh for j. In a previous approach, 2008, I tried to decide what are the elementary sounds that make up the language and to assign letters to them. My new approach, since 2011, and going back to the original article, is the other way round. I begin with the existing alphabet and try to find an optimal assignment of the letters. For publicity purposes I'm now calling the system Spelwel.

The Consonants

We have 26 letters available on standard keyboards. Among these there are 15 letters whose assignment to a particular consonantal sound is largely consistent. These are b, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, s, t, v, z. So their assignments do not need to be altered. I classify r, w, y among the vowels.

The letters c, q and x in our present spelling are not needed, since their work can be taken over by other letters. This allows us to reassign them to other duties. It is proposed that c be used for the ch sounds in 'church' analogous to the j sounds in 'judge', and that x and q be used for the two sounds of the digraph th, x for the unvoiced sound as in 'thin' and q for the voiced sound as in 'then'. As a mnemonic note that x has a cross-piece and is unvoiced like t, while q resembles the voiced consonant d.

The aspirate h besides occurring before a vowel, as in 'horse', or 'abhor' also occurs after s in the combination sh (as in dish) which I propose to retain. The similar sound in 'sure' or 'assume' may also be shown as sh, so long as there is a definite aspiration. By analogy we also allow the combination zh (for ge as in rouge or z in azure). In the last revision I toyed with similarly using dh for the j sound as in ridge and th for the tch sound in match, but decided this is too confusing with the current values given to 'th'.

The sound of n in the combination ng is represented by a new letter in the Shaw alphabet and the IPA, but in my view this sound is not a separate elementary consonant but just an allophone of n that occurs naturally when followed by g or k, and that the degree to which the g is sounded is a matter of choice or dialect. If it is wished to emphasise that the hard g is sounded this can be done by doubling the g, for example 'fingger'.

Table of Consonants (18)

The Vowels

We are left with just 8 letters to assign to the 20 vowel sounds. Namely a, e, i, o, u, r, w, y.

The sound represented by r in traditional spellings varies according to the dialect of the speaker. For "rhotic" speakers it is a semi-consonantal r with a clear roll, for "nonrhotic" speakers it reduces to something like the indefinite vowel. (This is so in my own speech, which is a form of "Londonish", somewhere between Received Pronunciation and Estuary English.)

The indefinite vowel sound is the most common in English yet we have no one letter for it. The letter a is the one most often used, as in such words as 'abed', 'rota', 'mania', but all the vowels provide examples, as in 'the', 'random', 'helium', or just a juxtaposition as in 'chasm'. The r when following another vowel at the end of a word often takes this value, as in fair, four, fur, fear, hour. One advantage of having a separate letter for the indefinite vowel is that it enables distinctions to be made between words like 'caw'/'core', 'caught'/'court', 'faught'/'fort'.

The sounds of 'ar' in 'path', 'er' in 'fairy', 'or' in 'haul' are arguably not diphthongs but extended vowels, so an alternative spelling for these that may be preferred is to double the vowel: 'aa', 'ee', 'oo'.

Since we need to economise on symbols it is proposed that u be used for the indefinite vowel sound as well as the short vowel sounds in 'hut' or 'good'. There is already a great deal of variation in the pronunciation of these sounds throughout English dialects.

Further economies are made by taking r, w and y to represent the strong vowel sounds in 'fur', 'too' and 'bee'. When another vowel follows any of the r, w, y vowels they transform into or induce the semiconsonantal value, giving such spellings as strring (stirring), dwwing (doing), byying (being), inflwwens (influence) swwet (suet), swet (sweat).

The e is the most common letter in current spelling of English, but this is because it is used as a modifier of the sound of other vowels, and is itself silent, as in 'made', 'site', 'role', 'cute'. Its longer sound as in 'be', 'see', 'mete', is really a lengthened i sound, which we are writing as y. Its short sound as in 'set' is not shown in any other way, so must obviously be retained.

Table of Vowels (8)

The other vowel sounds (according to the phoneme list linked to above) consist of combinations, i.e. diphthongs, of a, e, o, with the semiconsonants y, w, r as second component.

Table of Combined Vowels

The choice of ay for the 'eye' sound suffers from the fact that in current spelling ai or ay tends to be pronounced as in 'tail' or 'bay'. In my original article I used 'uy'.

Some dictionaries maintain that the vowel in 'low' is more like 'ew' than 'ow', but personally I find this an oddly mannered pronunciation, but no doubt others may find my London accent odd.

Test Pieces

I give here the simplified spelling version of some test passages, all of which, apart from the first, have been used as examples by other spelling reformers. Links are provided to sites where other versions of these passages can be seen for comparison. Other examples appear in the Anthology of Well-Known Verse.

Conan Doyle

Here is the first part of the opening paragraph to "The Adventure of the Final Problem" by Arthur Conan Doyle, from "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes".

Original Text:
"It is with a heavy heart that I take up my pen to write these the last words in which I shall ever record the singular gifts by which my friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes was distinguished. In an incoherent, and, as I deeply feel, an entirely adequate fashion, I have endeavoured to give some account of my strange experiences in his company from the chance which first brought us together at the period of the "Study in Scarlet," up to the time of his interference in the matter of the "Naval Treaty"--an interference which had the unquestionable effect of preventing a serious international complication. It was my intention to have stopped there, and to have said nothing of that event which has created a void in my life which the lapse of two years has done little to fill."

Spelwel:
"It iz wiq u hevy hart qat ay teyk up may pen tw rayt qyz qu laast wrdz in wic ay shal evr rykord qu singywlar gifts bay wic may frend Mr. Shrlok Howmz woz distingwishd. In an inkowhyrent, and, az ay dyply fyl, an entayrly inadekwut fashun, ay hav endevud tw giv sum rkawnt ov may streynj ekspyryensez in hiz kumpany from qy tyaans wic frst broot uz twgeqr at qu pyryod ov qu "Study in Skarlet" up tw qu taym ov hiz intrfyrens in qu matr ov qu "Neyvul Tryty" - an intrfyrens wic had qy unkwestyonubul efekt ov preventing u syryus intrnashonul komplikeyshun. It woz may intenshun tw hav stopt qer, and tw hav sed nuxing ov qat event wic haz kryeyted u voyd in may layf wic qu laps ov tw yyrz haz dun litul tw fil."

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

This is a favourite test-piece for showing and comparing spelling reforms. A number of other examples are available at these links: C. G. Boeree, Various, Bob Boden, Apostro'spel.

Spelwel:
Forskor and seven yyrz ugow awr faaqrz broot forx on qis kontinent u niw neyshun, konsyvd in librty, and dedikeyted tw qy propozishun jat ool men ar kryeyted ykwul. Naw wy ar engeyjd in u greyt sivil wor, testing weqr qat neyshun, or eny neyshun sow konsyvd and sow dedikeyted, kan long endywr. Wy ar met on u greyt batulfyld ov qat wor. Wy hav kum tw dedikeyt u porshun ov qat fyld az u faynul resting-pleys for qowz hw hyr geyv qer layvz qat qat neyshun mayt liv. It iz ooltwgeqr fiting and propr qat wy shud dw qis. But in u larjr sens, wy kanot dedikeyt, wy kanot konsekreyt, wy kanot halow qis grawnd. Qy breyv men, living and ded, hw struguld hyr hav konsekreyted it far ubuv awr pwr pawr tw ad or dytrakt. Qy wrld wil litul nowt nor long rymembr wot wy sey hyr, but it kan nevr forget wot qey did hyr. It iz for uz qy living raaqr tw by hyr dedikeyted tw qy unfinisht wrk wic qey hw foot hyr hav qus far sow nowbly advaanst. It iz raaqr for uz tw by hyr dedikeyted tw qy greyt taask rymeyning byfor uz -- qat from qyz onrd ded wy teyk inkryst dyvowshun -- qat wy hyr hayly ryzolv qat qyz ded shal not hav dayd in veyn, qat qis neishun undr God shal hav u niw brx ov frydom, and qat guvrnment ov qu pypul, bay qu pypul, for qu pypul shal not perish from qy rx.

Ambrose Bierce

This amusing poem, said to be taken from recollections of the entry under 'Weather' in Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary is used by John Reilly on his Altscript site where he gives versions in Truespel, Fonetic, and Cut Spelng.

Spelwel:
Wuns ay lukt intw qu fywcr, far az enywun kud sy,
And ay soo qu cyf forkaastr, ded az enywun kud by.
Ded and damd and shut in Heydyz az u layr from hiz brx
Wiq u rekord ov unryzon seldom paraleld on rx.
Az ay woct, hy reyzd him solemly, qat inkandesent ywx
From qu kowlz qat hy prefrd tw q'advantijez ov trwx.
Qen hy kaast hiz ayz ubawt him, qen ubcv him, and hy rowt,
On u slab ov xin asbestos, wot ay vencr hyr tw kwowt.
For ay red it in qu rowz-layt ov qat evrlaasting glow:
"Klawdy, verryubul windz, shawrz, kwlr, snow."

The Beautiful Princess Story

This is a widely used spelling test piece. Here are Other examples.

Spelwel:
Wuns upon u taym, qy bywtiful dootr ov u greyt majishun wonted mor prlz tw put umung hr trezhrz. "Luk xrw qu sentr ov qu mwn wen it iz blw," sed hr muqr in aansr tw hr kwescun. "Yw mayt faynd yor hart's dyzayr." Qu prinses laaft, bykoz shy dawted qyz wrds. Insted, shy ywzd hr imajineyshun, and mwvd intw qu fowtografy biznes, and tuk pikcrz ov qu mwn in kulr. "Ay prsyv mowst srtenly qat it iz oolmowst howlly wayt," shy xoot. Shy oolsow fawnd qat shy kud meyk ynuf muny in eyt munxs tw bay hrself tw luvly hywj niw jwelz tw.

Benjamin Franklin

I learnt in 2008 that Benjamin Franklin published a spelling reform proposal 240 years before, in 1768. He removed the letters c, j, q, w, x, y and introduced six new letters for th, dh, ng, sh, short u, and short o. But why not just re-use the old letters for the new sounds? The following is a transliteration of the passage shown on the Omniglot site doing just this; j=sh/zh, x=th, q=dh, y=u (as in hut), w=ng, c=o (as in hot).

Franklin Alphabet
Mytj az qi imperfekjyn cv qer alfabet uil admit cv; qer prezent bad speliw iz only bad bikcz kontreri to qi prezent bad ruls: yndyr qi nu ruls it uuld bi gud -- qi difikylti cv lyrniw to spel uel in qi old ue iz so gret, qat fiu atein it; xcuzands and xcuzands ryitiw cn to old edj, uiqcut ever biiw ebil to akuyir it. 'Tiz, bisyidz e difikylti kcntinuali inkriisiw; az qi scynd graduali veriz mor and mor from qi speliw: and to fcrenyrs ....

Spelwel:
Muc az qy imprfekshun ov qy alfabet wil admit ov, qu prezent bad speling iz ownly bad bykoz kontrary tw qu prezent bad rwlz: undr qu niw rwlz it wud by gud -- qy difikulty ov lrning tw spel wel in qy owld wey iz sow greyt, qat fiw ateyn it; xauzundz and xauzundz rayting on tw owld eyj, wiqawt evr byying eybul tw akwayr it. 'Tiz bysaydz u difikulty kontinywuly inkrysing; az qy sawnd grajwuly verriz mor and mor from qy speling and tw forenrz ...