Designed by Paul Stought
021107
There has been a name change. This system was previously named R Script, but there are several sites on the net with R Script in the name. I have an old system I named Foecsrite, but am no longer promoting it. It seems acceptable to use the name Folksrite for this system.
This is a work in progress. There should be few questions left that are not covered here. There is some repetition that seemed necessary. There are probably a few errors I have missed. There are several changes between this version and the previous version. Sorry I lost track of the specifics. There are bound to be plenty of errors left, but this document is usable as it is. (Update 060707: This version of Folksrite is considerably out of date but an updated version will not be available for some time. For the latest comments on Folksrite, go to http://360.yahoo.com/apprentice42.
The version of Folksrite shown here might be referred to as a "Publishers Standard". A more informal spelling might be acceptable that allows limited options, such as; buttun or butun; thicket or thicut; bubble or bubul, able or abel, etc; where the pronunciation is the same with either spelling; disregarding stress. Or, where unstressed i and u may be interchanged, because of differences in speaking accent, without loss of understanding. Atitude or atutude; lusid or lusud, valid or valud. It would be better, however, if we just had one spelling for each word, in order to make the text identical, whether written in Texas or India. So I suggest a single spelling accent would be preferable to a different spelling accent for each major region of the English speaking world.
For a long example of Folksrite text, see this transcription of the O Henry story "The Ransom of Red Chief".
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1 - Introduction 2 - Some terms and conventions 3 - The construction of the Folksrite spelling accent 5 - Stress 6 - Compound words - prefixes - suffixes 7 - Vowels 8 - Consonants |
10 - Vowel combinations 11 - Vowel exceptions 12 - Syllabic consonants 13 - e, ex 14 - Homophones and homographs 15 - Hyphenated words 16- Apostrophes, contractions, possessives 17 - More rules and explanations 18 - Amber supplement |
If national versions of Folksrite are chosen instead of just one spelling accent; British and American versions of Folksrite will be very much alike. They may be named Folksrite-Br and Folksrite-Am for convenience. Both British and American spellings can be used in the same text without confusion. If it is ever important, it will be a long time from now. Wus or was; uv or ov; bin or been; privesy or privusy. The spelling most like traditional spelling (TS) is used in "standard" Folksrite.
Using TS as a guide to spelling.
Since Folksrite is accepting much ambiguity in order to maintain a TS appearance, there is much memorization necessary. In writing about Folksrite, it is convenient to recommend using TS as a guide. This is not necessary. Convenient. All who are reading about Folksrite at present will already be familiar with TS. Besides these rules; refer to a standard British-American pronunciation dictionary for the likely sound-spelling that will be used in Folksrite, and spell accordingly, until a Folksrite dictionary is available.
See Amber supplement at the end of this document for a "shortcut" spelling accent.
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Traditional Spelling |
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Folksrite |
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Folksrite is a spelling system for English. It is a complete spelling system with rules; not a list of words to be respelled. Folksrite is not meant for everyone. At least not right now. Only a few will agree that we should promote a spelling system such as Folksrite; or any spelling system; preferring to leave traditional spelling (TS) alone, or just respell a few words that give us the most trouble. The appeal of Folksrite is to those who believe our present spelling system is in need of considerable repair, and there is no time like the present to get on with it. While the past is full of attempts to correct the errors within TS, there has been very little success. This does not mean that we are doomed forever with our crippled spelling system. Other languages have made corrections with their spelling systems. English has not always been spelled as we see it, and future text will undoubtedly look quite different from what we see today. If we fail to provide some intelligent direction; future generations will struggle with the learning of English and its spelling system, just as we are today. What a shame. What an embarrassment. Should we not be disappointed in the performance of our ancestors relative to our spelling system? Will the future be disappointed with us? Anyway; Folksrite is a sample of how we could make the learning of reading and spelling of English much easier. Spelling reformers come in all varieties. Some want very small changes, while others think we should go all the way to a fully alphabetic (pronunciation determines spelling) spelling system. Folksrite is somewhere in the middle, with the hope that a foothold can be obtained, whereby meaningful change can occur, that provides the necessary ingredients required to make learning to read and write English much easier. One of these ingredients is salability. It doesn't matter how "good" a spelling system is, if no-one will, or can use it. Folksrite accepts many TS features in order to "look" more like TS, thereby removing a major objection to large scale spelling reform. In so doing, much ambiguity is accepted, that a more fully alphabetic spelling system would not condone; making Folksrite harder to learn, but hopefully, more acceptable to the "buying public". For example: basic, music, sure cure, cube, tube. These words require some fancy footwork to decode (figure out). A previously acquired vocabulary will greatly aid in this effort. These words spelled in a more alphabetic spelling might look like; baisik, muezik, shuur, kyuur, cueb, toob. It's doubtful the public will ever agree to this. Folksrite requires the writer to match the spelling with the definition sometimes, or to choose between several possible spellings. Male or mail, inn or in, see or se, snow or sno, drown or droun, nose or noze, jas or jaz or jazz, nibble or nibul, marcut or market, etc. He/she has to learn whether a short vowel requires a double consonant. Ad or add, ebb or eb, iff or if, of or off, this or thiss, thus or thuss, mis or miss. Using the Folksrite rules and a British/American pronouncing dictionary, with alternate pronunciations, should provide all the information you need to spell Folksrite well enough. A hard part of this is finding the word in the dictionary. Few dictionaries have made it easy to find words by their pronunciation. A Folksrite dictionary may eventually be made available. The Folksrite spelling accent will lean toward British pronunciation, because it will generate spellings most like TS if the a's in |father| and in |cat| are merged in the spelling. Cat, father, hot, dog, |cough| cof, |caught| caut, |thought| thaut. Those already familiar with present spelling will have little trouble knowing which words need special attention. New learners will need to work harder to see where their speaking accent differs from the Folksrite spelling accent. Names are spelled as at present. Stress marking is found here and there, but is irregular in both TS and Folksrite. multiple symbols for the same sound - day, vain/vane/vein; me, see, athlete; sky, tie, bike, alibi; go, toe, goat, snow; auto, awful; out, now; coil, loyul; snow, go, toe, alone, until, label; cook, back, tubacco; new, booty, duty. multiple sounds for the same symbol - cat, father, idea; this, thin; pet, label, demand, sequense; yes, penny, sky; it, alibi; now, snow; cut, until, regular, accumulate, aluminum; fuel, influential. Following are more key words spelled in Folksrite. With some duplication. Craftsman, Munday, vineyard, handcurcheef; disputashes, singulur, regulur, acumulate, aluminum; bible, nibble, camul, locel; acre; sure, pure, cure, lure, cureus, insurense; basic, music, muchuul, robot, micro; cube, tube; booty, duty; care, fare, fair, terrer; cake, baby, hobby, hiking, focus, yellow, hello, coma, comma; drawn, awful; drown, owl; coil, loyul; day, they, rain, rein, maid, made; me, see; fly, alibi, high, tie; go, toe; few, argue, new, flu; care, fair, errer; heer, here, spirit; mayer, player; marry, starry; for, faur, in, inn; tu, too, twu; this, thin; reenter, react, diugram, oasis, influenshul, going; oftun, has, jazz; acshun, ancshus, caushun, ocazhen; extra, exist, extreme.
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Folksrite is a spelling sistum for English. It is a complete spelling sistum with rules; not a list ov wurds tu be respelled. Folksrite is not ment for everywun. At leest not right now. Only a few will agree that we shood prumote a spelling sistum such as Folksrite; or any spelling sistum; prefurring tu leev trudishunul spelling (TS) alone, or just respell a few wurds that giv us the most trubble. The apeel ov Folksrite is tu those hu beleev our present spelling sistum is in need ov considuruble repair, and ther is no time like the presunt tu get on with it. While the past is full ov attempts tu curect the errers within TS, ther has been verry little suxess. This dus not meen that we are doomed forevur with our crippled spelling sistum. Uther langwijes hav made curecshuns with their spelling sistums. English has not always been spelled as we see it, and fucher text will undoutedly look quite differunt from what we see tuday. If we fail tu provide sum intelijunt direcshun; fucher jenurashens will struggle with the lurning ov English and its spelling sistum, just as we are tuday. What a shame. What an embarrusmunt. Shood we not be disappointed in the purformunse ov our ansesters relutiv tu our spelling sistum? Will the fucher be disappointed with us? Anyway; Folksrite is a sample ov how we cood make the lurning ov reeding and spelling ov English much eesier. Spelling reformers cum in all vuriuties. Sum want verry small chanjes, while uthers think we shood go all the way tu a fully alfubetic (pronunseashen deturmins spelling) spelling sistum. Folksrite is sumwher in the middle, with the hope that a foothold can be obtained, wherby meeningful chanje can ocur, that provides the nesusery ingredeunts required tu make lurning tu reed and rite English much eesier. Wun ov these ingredeunts is salebility. It dusn't matter how "good" a spelling sistum is, if nowun will, or can use it. Folksrite axepts menny TS feechers in order tu "look" mor like TS, therby remooving a majer objecshun tu larj scale spelling reform. In so duing, much ambiguity is axepted, that a mor fully alfubetic spelling sistum wood not condone; making Folksrite harder tu lurn, but hopefully, mor axeptuble tu the "bying public". For example: basic, music, sure cure, cube, tube. These wurds require sum fansy footwurk tu decode (figiur out). A preveusly aquired vocabulery will graitly aid in this effurt. These wurds spelled in a mor alfubetic spelling might look like; baisik, muezik, shuur, kyuur, cueb, toob. It's doutful the public will ever agree tu this. Folksrite requires the riter tu mach the spelling with the definishun sumtimes, or tu choose between sevurul possible spellings. Male or mail, inn or in, see or se, snow or sno, drown or droun, nose or noze, jas or jaz or jazz, nibble or nibul, marcut or market, etc. He/she has tu lurn whether a short vowul requires a dubble consununt. Ad or add, ebb or eb, iff or if, of or off, this or thiss, thus or thuss, mis or miss. Using the Folksrite rules and a British/American pronounsing dicshunery, with alturnut pronunseashens, shood provide all the infurmashen yu need tu spell Folksrite well enuf. A hard part ov this is finding the wurd in the dicshunery. Few dicshuneries hav made it eesy tu find wurds by their pronunseashen. A Folksrite dicshunery may evenchuully be made availuble. The Folksrite spelling axent will leen tuword British pronunseashen, because it will jenurate spellings most like TS if the a's in |father| and in |cat| are murjed in the spelling. Cat, fathur, hot, dog, |cough| cof, |caught| caut, |thought| thaut. Those alreddy fumiliur with presunt spelling will hav little trubble knowing which wurds need speshul atenshun. New lurners will need tu wurk harder tu see wher their speeking axent differs from the Folksrite spelling axent. Names are spelled as at presunt. Stress marking is found here and ther, but is irregulur in both TS and Folksrite. Multiple simbuls for the same sound - day, vain/vane/vein; me, see, athlete; sky, tie, bike, alibi; go, toe, goat, snow; auto, awful; out, now; coil, loyul; snow, go, toe, alone, until, label; cook, back, tubacco; new, booty, duty. Multiple sounds for the same simbul - cat, fathur, idea; this, thin; pet, label, demand, sequunse; yes, penny, sky; it, alibi; now, snow; cut, until, regulur, acumulate, aluminum; fuel, influenshul. Following are mor kee wurds spelled in Folksrite. With sum duplicashen. Craftsman, Munday, vineyard, handcurcheef; disputashes, singulur, regulur, acumulate, aluminum; bible, nibble, camul, locel; acre; sure, pure, cure, lure, cureus, insurense; basic, music, mutuul, robot, micro; cube, tube; booty, duty; care, fare, fair, terrer; cake, baby, hobby, hiking, focus, yellow, hello, coma, comma; drawn, awful; drown, owl; coil, loyul; day, they, rain, rein, maid, made; me, see; fly, alibi, high, tie; go, toe; few, argue, new, flu; care, fair, errer; heer, here, spirit; mayer, player; marry, starry; for, faur, in, inn; tu, too, twu; this, thin; reenter, react, diugram, oasis, influenshul, going; oftun, has, jazz; acshun, ancshus, caushun, ocazhen; extra, exist, extreme.
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Analyzing
the classic story
"Rip Van Winkle" indicates:
Total
word count in text - 6,156
Total
characters in text - 26,417
Rip
Van Winkle words unchanged - 4,296 - 70%
Characters
- 16,784 - 64%
1,658
individual words.
10,174
characters.
978w unchanged 59%
680w
changed 41%
Many changes have been slight. Pliunt, surmun, wurth, husbund, verry, presise, beetun, colunist, sumtimes, vaper, chanje, ets.
TS = traditional spelling.
EPG = Epiphany Pronunciation Guide. EPG symbols are used to illustrate specific sounds. Refer to the EPG vowels in the chart. The reader can understand the meanings of the symbols as used here in context. There is no need to look anywhere else for the EPG.
The || symbols will sometimes mark a TS word being referenced.
EPG symbols will be enclosed in \\.
Syllabic divisions will be arbitrary when it is unclear (to me) where they should be placed.
Folksrite spelling will be in italics. |Father| fathur.
Base word - is a word without prefixes or suffixes. Base word; spell. Spelling, spelled.
Schwa is the: a in, alone, the e in silent, the o in bottom, the u in circus. In the Folksrite spelling accent, schwa is the same as the vowel in cut except for stress and length.
Schwa \u\ is spelled;
U is the default spelling of schwa.
A at word beginning, preceding a syllabic break--alone \u 'loen\, until \un 'til\.
A at word end--comma.
E in the magic-e position--label.
E after \k\. Trinket, chicken.
U after vowels; ereul, reul, diul, duul, cruul, royul; Eun, Iun, liun, Miun, ruffeun, museum, pireud, vacuum, bestowul, deniul, renewul.
\ul\ is frequently spelled le at word end; able, label, bubble, possible; camul, travul.
In two syllable words, schwa-a is magic at word end and will cause a preceding consonant to be doubled, if the consonant is preceded by a short stressed vowel. Coma, data, quota, puma, Reba, soda, sofa, toga, ova; comma, dramma, Alla, Ella, mamma, Anna, Donna, pappa, plazza. In three syllable words this feature is unreliable. Camura.
\ur\ is similar to \u\. It is
unstressed. \ur\ will be spelled er at
word end, unless it will cause a short vowel to appear long;
in which case
it will be spelled
This document will use the term long vowel in reference to; \ae\, \ee\, \ie\, \oe\, \ue\ and \oo\. Cake, feet, bike, vote, fuel, moon. Short vowel will refer to; \a\, \e\, \i\, \o\, \aa\, \v\, \uu\, \c\, and \ur\. Cat, pet, pig, fox Br, fox Am, pup, foot, urly, letter. There is more than one way to spell several of these vowels in Folksrite. The vowel in |goat| is pronounced a little differently in British and American accents but there is no confusion when they are spelled the same in Folksrite. Goat.
Br = British English. In Folksrite, it will be RP (Received Pronunciation), except Folksrite will not drop the r's.
Am = American English, as found in Merriam-Webster.
Nine vowel forms are referred to as "magic". Magic-e, magic-y, magic-ing, magic-le, magic-re, magic-us, magic-o, magic-ow, and magic schwa. These vowel forms mark some long vowels. Associated with these magic vowels are double consonants that "protect" stressed short vowels from appearing long, because of the influence of the magic vowels. Bible, nibble, later, latter. Cake, raven, bony, bonny, liking, licking, able, bubble, acre, focus, hello, ecco, tumato, halo, hollow, coma, comma. Unstressed short vowels are not protected. Possible.
In this document, compound word will refer to a double word. Not a word with a prefix or suffix added. Handyman.
Decode; means to figure out the pronunciation from clues in the spelling, vocabulary, and context.
The Folksrite spelling accent is a blend of the American and British accents; sometimes modified by traditional spelling. Folksrite puts a high priority on a traditional appearance, so rather than choose either a British or American spelling accent, Folksrite will consider the traditional spelling appearance as well, and sometimes choose a different accent that is in use. For instance; the British distribution of some vowels (\a\, \aa\, \o\, and \au\) will generally be followed because they produce more of a traditional appearance. Hot, dog, on, or, caut, cat, father. (\a\ and \aa\ are merged in the spelling.) Sometimes a different accent will produce more of a match. |Often| oftun, is a minority accent but closest to TS. For the time being, Folksrite suggests variable spellings of some words so that a majority accent may be spelled if a better TS-like match is not known. For instance: |lucid| in Am - lusud; in Br - lusid; |privacy| Am - privesy; Br - privusy; |occasion| acazhen or ocazhen. The preferred spelling of these words (for now) would be; lusid, privusy or privesy, ocazhen. In the future, the spelling accent should shift to conform to the majority speaking accent(s). The reason to spell to the TS favoring minority accent is to gain the support of those who resist accepting a new spelling system because the appearance is too different from TS. It's possible this tactic will gain little; in which case it should be dropped. At any rate; it should eventually be dropped.
No harm is done if you make a "wrong" guess. If Folksrite is accepted, it will be a long time before it is important, and by then most bugs will be worked out of the system, and it will be more clear which decision is best. This is still a work in progress. If you think you would like the system except for a few changes you would make; go ahead with your preferences and see how they work.
I expect the British will want to choose British-like spellings and the Americans will want American-like spellings and the Australians, Indians, etc., will have their preferences. I think this is a mistake. If we settled on just one spelling accent, text could be read with ease, anywhere in the world. The initial learning would be easier for some than for others. Choosing minority spelling accents for more of a TS look works better sometimes than others, and some choices will be arbitrary. There are bound to be some sticky parts to this manner of choosing the spelling accent. It may have to be changed, but for now, a preferred spelling of each word will be attempted that considers TS.
No matter what system you are considering; if it is largely pronunciation based; you will have to learn the difference between your accent, and the spelling accent. Though Folksrite has a few "sight words" almost all words can be spelled by using the rules, and learning the spelling accent. Those already familiar with TS should have little problem picking up the spelling accent. New learners will have to study harder; no matter which spelling accent they are learning. For a long time, the only people using Folksrite will already have mastered TS. If it ever becomes important, more detailed explanations and examples will be forthcoming.
The Americans will have to learn which words the British pronounce with \aa\, \o\, and \au\, so they will know when to spell a, o, and au, because Americans frequently pronounce \aa\ or \au\ where they see o in traditional text. |Spot, hot; dog, long, cross.| Many words are pronounced with both \aa\ and \au\. |Because, thought, caught, brought, cough, naught.| Because, thaut, caut, braut, cauf, naut. Those who are already literate in English can get clues from traditional spelling for which words need an a, o or au, spelling. |Adagio, avocado, blase, bravado, bravo, father, garage, massage, tamale, autobahn; dog, caught, thought.| In Folksrite-Am; adadjo, avucaddo, blasay, bruvaddo, bravvo, fathur, gurazh, musazh, tumally, autoban; dog, caut, thaut. In Folksrite-Br; the same as Am except for; garazh, masazh. In standard Folksrite, a single choice will be made, where sometimes a minority accent will be spelled. Garaj, massaj.
Computer, compare; conflict, control, consist, conclude.
The above words are usually pronounced with schwa \u\ in place of o, but a minority pronunciation is \o\, though it sounds quite out of place to me. The \o\ spelling accent will be used because it conforms to TS. The majority spelling accent is still permissible for now; so, conflict or cunflict; control or cuntrol, etc. The preferred spelling will generally be the one closest to TS, but not necessarily. Sum minority accents seem a little too far from the majority accents, and should probably not be spelled. |Actual| - should it be, acshuul or actuul? \'ak shoo l\ or \'akt joo l\? This decision has not been finalized yet for Folksrite. A Folksrite dictionary would narrow the choices but that's not a problem at this time. A British-American pronouncing dictionary can be consulted for the most likely spelling accent as modified by these rules. The above list would be spelled; compare, computer, conflict, control, consist, and conclude.
There are other rules and exceptions that affect the spelling. These will be covered later.
Names and capitalized words may be spelled in the old spelling. There will be some exceptions to this rule. Use your own judgment about the acceptability of using the new spelling for these words. It won't be important for a long time.
Considering the British RP and American pronunciations, plus minority pronunciations; the one that produces spellings closest to TS will generally be chosen.
Since Folksrite keeps the TS ambiguities relative to \s\ and \z\; they will cause many "misspellings", we should be tolerant of spelling z or s for the \z\ sound, such as; surprise or surprize, reulize or reulise. If a TS appearance was disregarded; z should be spelled for \z\, even for plurals and possessives. Haz, waz, fraze, noze, etc.
Folksrite relies on vocabulary to provide proper stress placement. There are some spellings that suggest relatively consistent reduced stress, such as y and ing at word end, but even this is compromised by y being spelled for both \y\ and \ie\ at word end. Penny, deny. A double consonant suggests the preceding short vowel is stressed in multi-syllable words. Letter, beginning. Schwa is unstressed but it is spelled a, e, and u. A, e, and u, represent other sounds also. Alone, until, regulur \ju\. Ee at word end is stressed. Agree, degree. Us at word end is unstressed. Focus. Ss at word end generally but not always marks stress. Discuss, emboss, amiss. Ess might or might not be stressed. Obsess, absess, prinsess.
Stress can be marked for teaching purposes. á é í ó ú óo Á É Í Ó Ú ái ée íe óe/ów úe óo áu/áw ói/óy óu/ów. |below| belów, |allow| alów. A default stress rule can be used that places stress on the first syllable if no stress marks are used in the word.
For general text, vocabulary will provide proper stress except for uncommon words. Look it up.
When a base word has a prefix or suffix added, or is part of a compound word, its spelling may or may not change; |craftsman| crafts-man,craftsman; breckfust. Not, crafsmun. |Monday| Mun-day, Munday. Not Mundy. |Gentleman| jentul-man, jentulman; jentul-men, jentulmen, cannot. |Tuesday| Tusday, Friday, forman, |handkerchief| handcurcheef, vineyard. Obviously 'vineyard' is not pronounced as 'vine-yard'. Should we spell vineyard or vinyard or vinyurd? Folksrite will go with vineyard as is in current treatment. The Folksrite dictionary will likely have some controversial spellings in this regard. \'fien jard\ vineyard, will represent the spelling accent though it is probably not in current use. |Breakfast| will be sound-spelled, breckfust, though the word can be separated into, break-fast. Braikfast, seems like too much of a stretch, even though it fits the meaning. We will press on, and leave the future to change this if they wish. Exceptions:
When word end vowel y \y\ is followed by a suffix, y will be changed to i. Happier, happiness, |beautiful| buetiful. But; handyman, candybar, pennywise. Where man, bar, and wise are full words, and not just suffixes. Handy-man.
\y\ - When a word with ee \ee\ becomes part of a compound word, and the stress of \ee\ is changed to \y\; ee will still be spelled. Chikweed.
When full
is a suffix or prefix, it is spelled ful. Careful,
buetiful. When al(l) is a prefix or
suffix, it is spelled all or al;
using TS as a guide. Almost, withal, over-all, dansehall.
Sometimes \y\ midword is unclear whether it is part of a compound word; in which case \y\ will be spelled i. Handicapped, happily, buetiful. Compare with, comprehend, independunt.
When a word is unclear as to the nature of its various elements; an element that forms an identifiable word (using pronunciation) will generally remain unchanged from its original Folksrite spelling. Always. Disapointed, disability, probability; marketuble, possible. Not; disupointed, disubility, probubility; marketable.
Some compound words may be
spelled with a hyphen for clarification. No-wun or nowun,
go-cart or gocart, bi-plane or biplane.
Standard Folksrite will likely leave the hyphen out.
Some words may still be
unclear, and it would be best to check a dictionary to see the
preferred treatment. Until. See above for reference
to ful and al.
Whether to spell l or ll is
irregular in TS and Folksrite will spell these as TS spells them.
The prefix \antie-\ or \anty-\ will be spelled anti-. Antibiotic.
When a prefix or suffix or
word, is added to a word, it may cause a double consonant, whether it
is pronounced or not. Irregulur, unnesusery,
reully, cannot.
\ur\ will be spelled er at word end. Murderer, newer. Except:
Sometimes syllabic-r is compressed, as in; flower/flour, fire.
\y_r\ will be spelled ier at word end when a word end y, is changed to i. Carrier, barrier. \y_r\ will be spelled eur, otherwise. Nucleur.
\jur\ will be spelled iur at word end. Fumiliur, failiur, figiur. Exception; lawyer, sawyer.
\ur\ will be spelled re at word end in words that are spelled with re in TS. Acre, ocre, ogre.
\ur\ will be spelled ur, if er would cause a short vowel to appear long. Regulur, manur, tenur.
The following suffixes are used for their ability to assist in approaching a TS appearance. Es, ed, en, er, est, less, ness, le, re. Kisses, shapes; aided, waved, padded, grabbed; safer, letter; latest, tallest, able, apple, acre; timeless, closeness.
The \ust\ suffix will be
spelled est when referring to such as; fastest,
biggest, tallest, hottest.
The \ust\ or \ist\ suffix
will be spelled ist when referring to such as;
dentist, pharmacist, cyclist, chemist. Dentist, farmisist,
siclist, cemist.
\d\ and \ud\ - spelled ed
when an inflection. The e will be "magic", and
cause a preceding consonant to be doubled to mark a stressed
short vowel. Added, ragged, matted. Exception; when
ed follows a base word ending with, ch, sh, th. Mach,
mached.
When \ud\ is not an inflection, it will be spelled ud. Salud.
Past tense is not always pronounced \d\ or \ud\. Kept, slept.
Past tense \d\ - spelled ed after consonants following short vowels. Laffed, edjed, backed, willed, jammed, fanned, mapped, barred, passed, lived, fussed.
Past tense \d\ - spelled ed after word end vowels. Played, lied, tried, eccoed, glued. Except; word end vowels ee and ue will be followed by d. Agreed, freed, argued.
Plural will be spelled s
and es for \s\, \z\, \iz\ and \uz\.
\s\ - with short vowels; laffs, backs, ships, pets, books.
\z\ - with short vowels; beds, bags, wells, jams, fins, bars, gluvs.
\s\ - with long vowels; roofs, lakes,weeks, kites, boats, shapes.
\z\ - with long vowels; rides, roads, piles, times, tunes, fires, nives, loavs, glues, cues.
\uz\ - badjes, passes, peeses, busses, ajes, fases, uses.
Plural following word end
vowels;
Days, trees, flys/flies, tumatoes, eccoes, news, glues
The \s\ or \z\ sound at word end will be spelled, se or ze, if an s spelling might suggest an unwanted plural. Horse, sinse, false, copse, corse; raise, pleese, freeze, loose, cause, noise, house. Geese, spelled gees would imply a plural of gee. Similarly with these/thees. |Series| seems to be in a class by itself. It seems wrong to spell sireese; yet sirees seems to imply the plural of siree, by the previous logic. We will keep sirees, and hope to find a better rule. Maybe the rule should apply only to single syllable words.
Non-plural/non-possessive \s\ at word end.
Following unstressed short vowel; except \e\.
promise - promis
precipice - presipis
office - offis
haggis - haggis
osmosis - osmosis
abacus - abucus
embarrass - embarrus
\es\ - ess
stressed and unstressed.
princess - prinsess
abscess - absess
assess - asess
address - address, adress
Following a stressed short vowel.
amiss - amiss
amass - amass
emboss - emboss
discuss - discuss
abyss - abiss
Following a consonant.
influence - influunse
attendance - atendunse
else - else
glimpse - glimpse
horse - horse
fierce - feerse
hearse - hurse
fence - fense
dance - danse
copse - copse
corpse - corpse
waltz - waltse
Exception: The possessive |its| will still be spelled its; not itse.
Following, \au\, \oi\,
\ou\.
cause - cause
noise - noise
house - house
\us\ at word end is a
magic vowel form, and spelled us.
focus - focus
famous - famus
Uranus - Uranus \juur 'ae nus\
opus - opus
fetus - fetus
abacus - abacus - an unstressed vowel form is not protected by double consonants, so the middle a is ambiguous.
heiress - errus
Magic-e vowel forms at word end, with s as the consonant.
vase, vise, close, nose, dose, wise, these, those, use, fuse.
Se and ze after long vowels.
Vase, eese, these, wise, nise, nose, use.
fleece - fleese
geese - geese
grease - greese
goose - goose
loose - loose
lose - loose or looze?
freeze, ooze
Ss after short vowels in single syllable words.
Mass, mess, miss, moss, muss.
Vowels will use TS as a guide for which words get which spellings. Go, toe, whoa, road, rode, etc. The following rules will help predict most spellings without reference to TS.
\a\ - a - cat
\e\ - e - pet
\i\ - i - pig
\aa\ - a - fathur
\o\ - o - pot, bothur - British pronunciation.
\v\ - u - cut, humdrum \'hum ,drum\. Spelled uh at word end. Huh, uh-uh.
\u\ - schwa - a, e, and u - alone, label, until.
\c\ - u - \'cr ly\ urly, further - \cr\ is stressed \ur\.
\ur\ - unstressed \cr\. After, fathur.
\uu\ - book. Spelled u, midword as if it was \ue\ or \u_e\;. \uu\ will be spelled u in some multisyllable words; using TS as a guide. |Chutzpah| hutspa, during, goody; suger, cure.
\uul\ and \ul\ will be merged in the spelling, but \uul\ may be spelled ool or ull; using TS as a guide. Wool, pull.
\uul\, \ul\, \vl\, are
merged in the spelling, but \uul\ may be spelled ul(l)
or ool; using TS as a guide. Ultra,
dull, awful, pull, wool.
U is
spelled for several sounds.
\v\ - cut, humdrum \'hvm ,drvm\.
\u\ - schwa - until, \hidden\ hiddun |'hid n|.
\ue\ - music - single letter long \u_e\.
\ue\ - |peculiar| peculiur \pi 'kuel jur\ - midword. |Beauty| buty - u_y (magic-y).
\oo\ - tubing - u_ing. Stupidity. Flu - word end.
\ju\ - |regular| regulur \'reg ju lur\- midword.
\uu\ - during, |chutzpah| hutspa.
The "long" vowels can be spelled with, a single letter, a digraph, or a "magic" vowel form.
TS will be used as a guide as to which vowel forms are spelled. Other rules apply.
A single letter will be spelled for a long vowel where TS spells it, and a digraph will be spelled where TS spells a digraph. Basic, sequunse, micro, robot, music; peeple, eegle, beetle, reesun, seesun, beecun, creecher, even, resent, Eden, pie; noodle, stupid, booty, duty, maintain, find, wind, bind, grind, gost, post, host, most. See; Magic vowels below; for more long vowel forms. Also; |beautiful| buetiful; |lieutenant| lootenunt.
\ae\ - ai, a_e, a_y, a_ing, a, ay, ei, ey.
Maintain, cake, baby, baking, basic, caos, day; always, layer, vein, they.
\ee\ - ee, e_e,
ee_y, ee_ing, e.
Feet, athlete, leefy, seeking, sequunse, reulise, me, agree; tree, see.
\ie\ - ie, igh, ign, i_e, i_y, i_ing, i, y.
Tie, high, right, sign, rite, ivy, find, hiking, micro, alibi, diugram, fly.
\oe\ - oa, o_e, o_y, o_ing, o, ow, oe.
Loaf, vote, bony, choking, robot, going, go; snow, toe.
Ow is spelled for both \oe\ and \ou\. Snow, know, now.
\ue\ - ue, u_e,
u_y, u_ing, u, ew.
Fuel, refuse, buty, using, peculiur, argue; few. U_e will be spelled for both \ue\ and \oo\ at word end when a magic-e vowel form is spelled. Refuse, intrude. U is spelled for both \ue\ and \oo\ midword. Acumulate, aluminum.
\oo\ - oo, u_e,
u_y, u_ing, u, ew.
Moon, intrude, goofy, duty, shooting, stupidity, graduul, flu, new, too. U_e will be spelled for both \ue\ and \oo\ at word end when a magic-e vowel is spelled. Refuse, intrude. U is spelled for both \ue\ and \oo\ midword. Acumulate, aluminum.
There are nine magic vowel forms in Folksrite. Magic-e, y, ing, us, le, re, o, shwa-a, ow. All but magic-e are only magic at word end.
Magic vowel forms mark long vowels and influence the placement of double consonants.
In two syllable words, magic vowel forms cause a preceding consonant to be doubled if the consonant follows a short stressed vowel. Winning, hobby, boddy, planned. In words with more than two syllables, the magic function is unreliable. Reliuble. Ow does not mark a long vowel, but does force doubling of a consonant following a short stressed vowel. Yellow, hello. Magic-e may be active midword, by spelling e for \u\ when \u\ is in the magic position. Raven, label. \ur\ is similar; faverit.
Magic-e has the following pattern: long vowel/consonant/e. Cake, label, raven, smile, attitude. Where the e indicates the vowel to the left of the single consonant is long, with some exceptions.
Sometimes a vowel looks like a magic-e vowel but is not. Curect, agen.This infrequent ambiguity will be accepted.
Two consonants may be left of e in the last syllable, for more of a TS look. |Change| chanje, taste, waste. This causes a limited amount of ambiguity when the ing suffix is added. Taste, tasting; fast, fasting.
When a word ending with magic-e has a suffix added; the e will remain. Lively, pavemunt. Compound words; homemade, hereinafter.
When a word ending with magic-e has a suffix beginning with \u\, added; e will be spelled in the place of \u\. |Debatable| debateble, |salable| saleble, |shakable| shakeble, |usable| useble, |writable| riteble.
When a vowel combination begins with e; the e will not be magic. Video, stereo.
In TS, magic-e long vowels are irregularly spelled at word end.
When \u\ or \ur\ is in the
"magic" position, e will be spelled instead of u;
marking a preceding vowel as long. Label, naked, broken,
even, locel, poker, oder. Exception: \us\ at word
end will be spelled us, even if \u\ is in
the magic position. \us\ is "magic" and will cause a preceding
consonant to be doubled to mark a short stressed
vowel. Focus, ruckus.
When a long vowel is followed
by
two consonants and \u\; the \u\ will be spelled e. Sacred. This
has not been fully tested.
The inflections; ed,
er, es, est, are magic, because of the e
in the spelling, and they mark a vowel as long if it is followed by a
single consonant. Saved, safer, fases, latest. They
also cause a preceding consonant to be doubled if the consonant follows
a short stressed vowel. Padded, biggest. However; ch,
sh, th, and zh, will not be doubled. Wached,
wishes.
\ur\ is spelled er at word end unless its magic feature will cause a short vowel to appear long. Tenur, |manor| manur, fathur, lathur, opurate; letter, rubber, differ, differunt, archer, archery, armer, armery.
But, when er is an inflection, it will still be spelled er, even after, ch, sh, th, zh. Cacher (cach-er), fisherman.
Magic-y
is at word end as in; baby, leeky, ivy, pony, puny, duty,
booty; Magic-y will cause a preceding consonant to be doubled
to mark a short stressed vowel; even if TS does not double a consonant
in the word. Boddy, studdy, tumally.
\ee\ is not reduced to a single letter vowel relative to magic-y. The word |deny| does not have \ee\ in it. Deny \dy 'nie\.
\oo\ may be spelled oo or u relative to magic-y; using TS as a guide as to which spelling goes with which word. Ruby, duty, Judy; booby, goofy, kooky, booty, groovy.
\ue\ is also spelled u relative to magic-y. |Beauty| buty, puny.
\ar\ will be spelled arr relative to "magic" y. The ambiguity between \ar\ and \arr\ will be accepted here. Starry, marry.
When a base word ending with magic-e has the y suffix added, the e will not be dropped. Stone - stoney, slimey, cajey, shakey, smiley, shiney; scarey.
Magic-ing is at word end as in; taking, seeking, hiking, smoking, using, gluing, shooting. \ee\ is not reduced to a single letter vowel relative to magic-ing, but \oo\ may or may not; using TS as a guide as to which words are spelled with which vowel form. Ing at word end will force a preceding consonant to be doubled to mark a stressed short vowel. Sunning. Two consonants may be left of ing for more of a TS look. This causes a limited amount of ambiguity. Taste, tasting; fast, fasting. Since are is sometimes spelled for \er\ at word end; and it is treated as a "magic-e" vowel; the addition of ing at word end will be spelled as in; caring, daring.
Magic-le
is at word end as in; able, bible, noble. Le
at word end will force a preceding consonant to be doubled to mark a
stressed short vowel. Bubble, puddle. When an ing
suffix is added, the e is dropped. Enabling,
idling, ogling, bugling.
Magic-re is at word end as in; acre, |ochre| ocre, ogre, |euchre| ucre.
Magic-us is at word end as in; focus, bogus, hocus-pocus, onus, opus, hiatus, fetus. Magic-us will force a preceding consonant to be doubled to mark a short stressed vowel. |Heiress| errus, |jealous| jellus.
\us\ at word end is spelled us if es may be mistaken for plural, when e is spelled to mark a long vowel. Focus, |famous| famus.
Magic-o is at word end as in; halo, silo, ego, loco, Fido, hello.
Magic-o will cause a preceding consonant to be doubled to mark a short stressed vowel; even if TS does not double a consonant in the word. Tumato/tumatto, bravvo, ecco, adadjo, avucaddo, bravvo, tubacco, hippo, lasso.
The ambiguous a in ago is not marked with double consonants because it is not a short stressed vowel.
Magic-ow is at word end as in; shaddow, widdow, meddow, yellow, hollow, pillow, minnow, narrow, sorrow, burrow. In this case; magic-ow does not mark a long vowel. Magic-ow will cause a preceding consonant to be doubled to mark a short stressed vowel; even if TS does not double a consonant in the word. Magic-ow will not follow a syllable with a long vowel. Compare; avow, alow. The a is not a short stressed vowel.
Magic-schwa-a is at word end as in; coma, Cuba, tuba.
Magic-schwa-a will cause a preceding consonant to be doubled to mark a short stressed vowel; vunilla, bunanna. comma, Donna, \era\erra (minority pronunciation).
\au\ - au and aw; haul, auto, saw, awful, drawing. See \al\ below.
\oi\ - oi and oy; coin, boy, oil, |loyal| loyul, oyster.
\ou\ - ou and ow; out, cow, ow; |towel| towul, drown. Note, ow is spelled for both \oe\ and \ou\. Snow, now.
\oe\ - o, oe, o_e and ow; go, toe, home, snow, gallows. Note, ow is spelled for both \oe\ and \ou\. Snow, now.
\al\ is spelled al. |Calendar| calunder. But;
\aul\ will be spelled; aul, all, and al; using TS as a guide. All, hall, haul, talk, almost, withal, overhaul, etc. This requires matching spelling to pronunciation, as is done with long vowel digraphs and magic-e vowel forms, at word end. Conflicts; Al, alubaster, salury, calunder.
\y\ - unstressed \ee\ - spelled y at word end. Penny, ennyway. Except:
when word end vowel y \y\ is followed by a suffix, y will be changed to i. Happier, happiness. But; handyman, candybar, pennywise. Compound words. Spelled e elsewhere, when the pronunciation could be \y\, even if the most common pronunciation is unstressed \i\. Begin, demand, prevent, relate; |comprehend| comprehend. Present spelling can be used as a guide to show the words in Folksrite that will be spelled with e, in case the pronunciation is not too clear, such as; descry, describe.
Where \ee\ is reduced to \y\ in compound words like |chickweed| \'chik wyd\; the original spelling of the word element will be kept. Chickweed.
\i\ - This unstressed sound is often spelled e in TS; especially in the first syllable. |Deny| \di 'nie\, |remove| \ri 'moof\, |December| \di 'sem bur\. Most of these words are also pronounced with \y\. \dy 'nie\, \ry 'moof\, \dy 'sem bur\. When \y\ is a possible pronunciation, e will be spelled; except at word end. Generally TS can be used as a guide as to which words fit this condition.
\vl\, \ul\, and \uul\, are merged in the spelling, but \uul\ may be spelled ull or ool; using TS as a guide. Ultra, dull, awful, pull, wool.
\cr\ and \ur\, are merged in the spelling except at word end, where \ur\ is frequently spelled er. |Early| urly, surpass, after, manur, authur. Exceptions; |familiar| fumiliur, |barrier| barreur.
|
EPG |
Folksrite |
TS |
Folksrite |
SAMPA |
|
arr er ir ar ar orr cr ur jur uur juur shuur syuur aer eer ier oer uer oor or our |
arr er/air/are ir/eer/ere ar arr orr ur ur/er iur oor/ure/u ure/ur sure sure ayer/eir eer yer/ier/ire/ir ower ewer ewer or our/ower |
marry terror/hair/hare spirit/hear/here car starry sorrel burn cooperation/letter failure/familiar tour/lure/luring pure/Uranus sure sure player/layer/their seer (see-er) flyer/flier/fire/firing lower fewer newer corn flour/flower |
marry terrer/hair/hare spirit/heer/here car starry sorrul burn coopurashen/letter failiur/fumiliur toor/lure/luring pure/Uranus sure sure player/layer/their seer flyer/flier/fire/firing lower/lowering fewer newer corn flour/flower |
{r E@`/Er I@`/Ir Ar Ar /Qr/ 3` @` j@` U@` jU@` SUr sjUr e@` i:@` aI@` o@` ju:@` u:@` Or aU@` |
\aer\ = \ae r\; \eer\ = \ee r\; \ier\ = \ie r\; \oer\ = \oe r\; \uer\ = \ue r\; \oor\ = \oo r\; \ou r\ = \our\. Player, seer, fire, lower,fewer, newer, flower/flour.
Note that ower
is pronounced \oer\ and \our\; ewer is pronounced
\uer\ and \oor\. Lower, flower; fewer, newer. The
homophones, flower and flour
can have different spellings.
EPG spells \a r\ as \arr\.
Likewise \e r\ as \er\; \i r\ as \ir\; \aa r\ as \ar\; \au r\
as \or\. Marry, merry, deer, car, corn.
When the r colored vowels
have more than one way to be spelled; they will be spelled as in TS. Care,
fair, ther; heer, here, spirit; toor, cure; fire, flyer, flier; flower,
flour.
The ambiguity of, Marry; starry, and scarred, will be accepted.
\er\ - er/air/are - terrer, ther, hair, hare, fairy, ferry. Are will be treated the same as a magic-e vowel. This means also that, at word end, two consonants are permitted between the a and e. |Scarce| scarse, scarsely, harem. As with |change| chanje; a magic-e will be allowed following two consonants at word end. Chanje, scarse, scarsely, scare/scarey.
\eur\ will be spelled the same as \er\ or \e.r\. Air, |bear| bair, bare, bared, |terror| terrer, |area| erea. |Aeroplane| airuplane. |Airplane| airplane.
\ir\ - ir/eer/ere - spirit, heer, here.
\ir\ is never spelled ir in the last syllable. |Mirror| mirrer, irrigate, spirit, |cereal-serial| sireul, |mysterious| mistireus. Deer, here, heer, sinsere; |eerie/eery| eery. \eer\ is not the same as \ir\, but \ir\ is sometimes spelled eer. |Hear| heer, |fear| feer. Ere will be treated the same as a magic-e vowel. As with magic-e long vowels, e will sometimes be spelled for \u\ in words like, adherent and pursuverense.
\uur\ - Oor/ure/u - toor/lure/luring
\uur\ will sometimes be spelled as if it was \uer\, in the magic-e vowel form. Sure, pure, cure. As with magic-e long vowels, e will sometimes be spelled for \u\ in words like, insurense. \uur\ will sometimes be spelled with a single vowel letter. Luring, during, Uranus.
\aer\ - Layer, player, mayer; their.
The spelling accent of |their| in Folksrite will be \dhaer\. Their house is white. \dhaer\ is a minority pronunciation.
\oer\ and \our\ share a simbol. Flower, lower. Now, snow.
\a\ - ah
\aa\ - spa, ma
\v\ - huh, uh-uh
\u\ - comma, idea
\ae\ - day, they, |weigh| wei
\ee\ - me, see
\y\ - penny
\ie\ - fly, tie, high, hi, alibi
\oe\ - go, whoa, toe, snow
\oo\ - flu, too, new
\ue\ - few, argue
\au\ - saw
\oi\ - boy
\ou\ - cow, thou
As can be seen above; some word end vowels can be spelled more than one way. These spellings are the same as in TS, but fewer. If you are familiar with TS, you will know when to spell these vowels. If you are not familiar with TS, you will have to match the spelling with the definition. Notice; a, y, ow, and ew, are spelled for more than one sound. Spa, comma; story, fly; now, snow; new, few.
\ae\ - played, |weighed| wei, weid; |neigh| nei, neid; pay, paid; obeyed, days, gayest, player, playing, gayly, playubul, betrayul.
\ee\ - agreed, trees (tree-s), freest (free-est), freer, freely, seeing, agreeuble.
\y\ - married, stories, urliest, urlier, studdying, ameuble, happiness, happily.
\ie\ - fried, fries, highest, higher, highly, trying, flyuble, deniul.
\oe\ - showed, toes, lowest, lower, slowly, going, knowuble, |bestowal| bestowul.
\ue\ - argued, cues, fewest, fewer, arguing, arguubul.
\oo\ - glued, glues, bluest, newer, sewer, newly, gluing, duuble, renewul.
\au\ - sawed, saws, rawest, drawer, lawyer, sawing.
\oi\ - toyed, toys, coyly, enjoyuble.
\ou\ - alowed, cows.
When word end vowel y \y\ is followed by a suffix, y will be changed to i. Happier, happiness. But; handyman, candybar, pennywise. Where man, bar and wise are full words, and not just suffixes.
\ie\ - At word end is spelled i when the ed or es suffix is added. Fried, flies, tries.
1 - SAMPA
2 - EPG
3 - Folksrite
4 - TS
5 - Folksrite
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day |
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fat |
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get |
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h |
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judge |
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c/k ck cc |
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cook back accurate |
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cook back accurut |
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little |
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man |
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pen |
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