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Spelling reform idea.
Travis,
spelling reform is never going to happen. The fact that teachers are resisting accepting ''thru'' and ''lite'' as valid spellings of ''through'' and ''light'' proves that.
Travis, So, if I'm right, this sentence in your system:
''I went to buy some acres of land to build my house by and then parked my car by the parking meter.'' Would become: ''Ai went tu bae sum eekyrz uv laend tu bild mae hauss bae aend dhen parkt mae kaar bai dha parking mieter.'' Assuming the lack of the meter-metre merger. Also, do you have any provisions for representing any of these distinctions in your spelling system?: The ''fern''-''fir''-''fur'' merger: /E`/ vs. /I`/ vs. /3`/ Merged everywhere except for Scotland and parts of Ireland. examples: fern - /fE`n/ herd / heard - /hE`d/ fir - /fI`/ bird - /bI`d/ burn - /b3`n/ fur - /f3`/ The ''vane''-''vain''-''vein'' merger: /e/ vs. /{I/ vs. /eI/ Merged everywhere except for parts of Northern England and Wales. Examples: vane - /ven/ Sundae - /sVnde/ cafe - /k{fe/ break - /brek/ vain - /v{In/ day - /d{I/ vein - /veIn/ they - /DeI/ The ''toe''-''tow'' merger: /o/ vs. /oU/ Merged everywhere except for parts of Northern England and Wales. toe - /to/ tow - /toU/ dough - /doU/ sole - /sol/ soul - /soUl/ groan - /gron/ grown - /groUn/ throne - /Tron/ thrown - /TroUn/ The ''meet''-''meat'' merger: /i/ vs. /I@/ Occurs everywhere except for parts of Northern England. see - /si/ meet - /mit/ reed - /rid/ sea - /sI@/ meat - /mI@t/ read - /rI@d/ The ''rode''-''road'' merger: /o/ vs /o@/ Distinct in parts of Scotland. rode - /rod/ road - /ro@d/ cole - /kol/ coal - /ko@l/ moat - /mo@t/ oat - /o@t/ boat - /bo@t/ The ''mews''-''muse'' merger: /Iu/ vs. /y/ Distinct in parts of Scotland. mews - /mIuz/ muse - /myz/ dew - /dIu/ due - /dy/ do - /du/ yew - /jIu/ you - /ju/ cue - /ky/ new - /nIu/ few - /fIu/ mute - /myt/ music - /myzIk/ The ''kitty''-''committee'' merger: final /I/ vs. /i/ Distinct in various parts of Britain. kitty - /kItI/ happy - /h{pI/ penny - /pEnI/ antennae - /{ntEni/ The ''brute''-''fruit'' merger: /y/ vs. /Y/ Distinct in parts of Scotland. brute - /brYt/ fruit - /frYt/ suit - /sYt/ cruise - /krYz/ rude - /ryd/ lute - /lyt/ juice - /dZys/ My provision for representing the kitty-committee distinction would be to use ''i'' for /I/ in final position and then to use ''ie'' for /i/ for final position, thus: happy - haepi penny - penni Mississippi - /mIsIsIpI/ - Mississippi (I think) antennae - aentennie I think that would be the best provision. And as for the word ''naive'', would that become ''naaiev'' or ''naiev''?
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<<The ''mews''-''muse'' merger: /Iu/ vs. /y/
Distinct in parts of Scotland. mews - /mIuz/ muse - /myz/ dew - /dIu/ due - /dy/ do - /du/ yew - /jIu/ you - /ju/ cue - /ky/ new - /nIu/ few - /fIu/ mute - /myt/ music - /myzIk/>> Some more examples: euphemism - /Iuf@mIz=m/ neutral - /nIutr@l/ pseudonym - /sIud@nIm/ feud - /fIud/ mew - /mIu/ tutor - /tyt@`/ Also, what about ''Bangkok'' (the name of a place), would that become ''Bangkok'', or ''Bankok''?
>>Travis, So, if I'm right, this sentence in your system:
''I went to buy some acres of land to build my house by and then parked my car by the parking meter.'' Would become: ''Ai went tu bae sum eekyrz uv laend tu bild mae hauss bae aend dhen parkt mae kaar bai dha parking mieter.'' << Actually, it'd be: "Ai went tu bai sum ekyrs uv laend tu bild mai hauss bai aend dhen paarkt mai kaar bai dha paarking miter." unless you have a dialect in which both "buy" and "by" are actually pronounced /b{/ rather than /baI/ and "my" is actually pronounced /m{/ rather than /maI/, where then, yes, they would be spelled "bae", "bae", and "mae" respectively. >>Also, do you have any provisions for representing any of these distinctions in your spelling system?: The ''fern''-''fir''-''fur'' merger: /E`/ vs. /I`/ vs. /3`/ Merged everywhere except for Scotland and parts of Ireland.<< No, I don't have any provisions for such in it at all, as I am primarily trying to represent dialects within North America, mostly because I don't have enough knowledge about dialects outside of such to actually be able to create an orthography for them. Even though I do know of the "fern"-"fir"-"fur" merger, I don't really know how to apply it to individual words orthographically myself. The use of "parkt" and "parking" would be the case in my own dialect, due to a sound shift in certain NAE dialects such as my own dialect <<The ''mews''-''muse'' merger: /Iu/ vs. /y/ Distinct in parts of Scotland.>> No, I don't have any facilities for representing that myself either. Again, I am not designing any orthography that is meant to represent every possible distinction in any possible English dialect one can think of. I in particular am unsure about including various features of Scottish, Irish, and Welsh English, because I do not want to include substratal features from Scots, Irish, and Welsh that have been incorporated into Scottish English, Irish English, and Welsh English respectively, just like how I would not incorporate "yah" and optional word-final devoicing of /d/, both of which are features of my own dialect, into any kind of "standard" which I would involved in the creation of. >>Also, what about ''Bangkok'' (the name of a place), would that become ''Bangkok'', or ''Bankok''?<< Well, things like foreign placenames are likely not to be transcribed into my orthography, but rather kept as is in a transliteration or transcription that based represents the native phonemes and phonology of the source language in question. If anything, I would almost favor replacing English-specific versions of foreign placenames with the native versions from the languages native to the locations which said places are in; for example, I would favor replacing "Munich" with "München", "Vienna" with "Wien", "Copenhagen" with "København", "Moscow" with "Moskva", and so on.
<<No, I don't have any provisions for such in it at all, as I am primarily trying to represent dialects within North America, mostly because I don't have enough knowledge about dialects outside of such to actually be able to create an orthography for them.>>
So I assume that you're system has no provisions for representing any of these distinctions, right? The ''fern''-''fir''-''fur'' merger: /E`/ vs. /I`/ vs. /3`/ Merged everywhere except for Scotland and parts of Ireland. examples: fern - /fE`n/ herd / heard - /hE`d/ fir - /fI`/ bird - /bI`d/ burn - /b3`n/ fur - /f3`/ ---------------------------------------------------- The ''vane''-''vain''-''vein'' merger: /e/ vs. /{I/ vs. /eI/ Merged everywhere except for parts of Northern England and Wales. Examples: vane - /ven/ Sundae - /sVnde/ cafe - /k{fe/ break - /brek/ vain - /v{In/ day - /d{I/ vein - /veIn/ they - /DeI/ ---------------------------------------------- The ''toe''-''tow'' merger: /o/ vs. /oU/ Merged everywhere except for parts of Northern England and Wales. toe - /to/ tow - /toU/ dough - /doU/ sole - /sol/ soul - /soUl/ groan - /gron/ grown - /groUn/ throne - /Tron/ thrown - /TroUn/ ------------------------------------------ The ''meet''-''meat'' merger: /i/ vs. /I@/ Occurs everywhere except for parts of Northern England. see - /si/ meet - /mit/ reed - /rid/ sea - /sI@/ meat - /mI@t/ read - /rI@d/ -------------------------------------- The ''rode''-''road'' merger: /o/ vs /o@/ Merged everywhere except for parts of Scotland rode - /rod/ road - /ro@d/ cole - /kol/ coal - /ko@l/ moat - /mo@t/ oat - /o@t/ boat - /bo@t/ ----------------------------------------- The ''mews''-''muse'' merger: /Iu/ vs. /y/ Merged everywhere except for parts of Scotland mews - /mIuz/ muse - /myz/ dew - /dIu/ due - /dy/ do - /du/ yew - /jIu/ you - /ju/ cue - /ky/ new - /nIu/ few - /fIu/ mute - /myt/ music - /myzIk/ ------------------------------ The ''rider''-''spider'' split: /aI/ vs. /@I/ rider - /raId@`/ spider - /sp@Id@`/ ---------------------------- The ''brute''-''fruit'' merger: /y/ vs. /Y/ Merged everywhere except for parts of Scotland. brute - /brYt/ fruit - /frYt/ suit - /sYt/ cruise - /krYz/ rude - /ryd/ lute - /lyt/ juice - /dZys/ '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' The ''wine''-''whine'' merger wine - /waIn/ whine - /WaIn/
>>Also, what about ''Bangkok'' (the name of a place), would that become ''Bangkok'', or ''Bankok''?<<
<<Well, things like foreign placenames are likely not to be transcribed into my orthography, but rather kept as is in a transliteration or transcription that based represents the native phonemes and phonology of the source language in question. If anything, I would almost favor replacing English-specific versions of foreign placenames with the native versions from the languages native to the locations which said places are in; for example, I would favor replacing "Munich" with "München", "Vienna" with "Wien", "Copenhagen" with "København", "Moscow" with "Moskva", and so on.>> Don't most English speakers pronounce it as /b{NkAk/ or /b{NkQk/ though? I know you're not respelling foreign placenames, but if you were, would you spell it as ''Baengkok'' or ''Baenkok''?
If I were to respell "Bangkok", it would become "Baenkok". Remember that in my orthographic scheme, <nk> always marks /Nk/, not /nk/, which would be realized as [Nk] anyways, so there is no need for <ngk> in it as such, even though that also would specify /Nk/ as well.
<<No, I don't have any provisions for such in it at all, as I am primarily trying to represent dialects within North America, mostly because I don't have enough knowledge about dialects outside of such to actually be able to create an orthography for them.>>
Travis, So I assume that you're system has no provisions for representing any of these distinctions, right? Is that true? The ''fern''-''fir''-''fur'' merger: /E`/ vs. /I`/ vs. /3`/ Merged everywhere except for Scotland and parts of Ireland. examples: fern - /fE`n/ herd / heard - /hE`d/ fir - /fI`/ first - /fI`st/ bird - /bI`d/ burn - /b3`n/ fur - /f3`/ ---------------------------------------------------- The ''vane''-''vain''-''vein'' merger: /e/ vs. /{I/ vs. /eI/ Merged everywhere except for parts of Northern England and Wales. Examples: vane - /ven/ Sundae - /sVnde/ cafe - /k{fe/ break - /brek/ vain - /v{In/ day - /d{I/ vein - /veIn/ they - /DeI/ ---------------------------------------------- The ''toe''-''tow'' merger: /o/ vs. /oU/ Merged everywhere except for parts of Northern England and Wales. toe - /to/ tow - /toU/ dough - /doU/ sole - /sol/ soul - /soUl/ groan - /gron/ grown - /groUn/ throne - /Tron/ thrown - /TroUn/ ------------------------------------------ The ''meet''-''meat'' merger: /i/ vs. /I@/ Occurs everywhere except for parts of Northern England. see - /si/ meet - /mit/ reed - /rid/ sea - /sI@/ meat - /mI@t/ read - /rI@d/ -------------------------------------- The ''rode''-''road'' merger: /o/ vs /o@/ Merged everywhere except for parts of Scotland rode - /rod/ road - /ro@d/ cole - /kol/ coal - /ko@l/ moat - /mo@t/ oat - /o@t/ boat - /bo@t/ ----------------------------------------- The ''mews''-''muse'' merger: /Iu/ vs. /y/ Merged everywhere except for parts of Scotland mews - /mIuz/ muse - /myz/ dew - /dIu/ due - /dy/ do - /du/ yew - /jIu/ you - /ju/ cue - /ky/ new - /nIu/ few - /fIu/ mute - /myt/ music - /myzIk/ ------------------------------ The ''brute''-''fruit'' merger: /y/ vs. /Y/ Merged everywhere except for parts of Scotland. brute - /brYt/ fruit - /frYt/ suit - /sYt/ cruise - /krYz/ rude - /ryd/ lute - /lyt/ juice - /dZys/ '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' The ''wine''-''whine'' merger wine - /waIn/ whine - /WaIn/
Of all the distinctions you mention above, the only one that I have included in such is that between /w/ and /W/, which does exist in various North American English dialects, especially amongst older portions of the population.
In traditional orthography, too, we had better to distinguish "w" and "wh". If we were to drop "h" from "wh", that would not be a good solution. But how about "rh"(as in "rhythm")?
The "rh" in "rhythm" is most likely just a throwback to some Greek word from which it was probably derived, and has no relevance at all to modern English pronunciation. Hence, I would probably just spell "rhythm" <ridhym>.
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