designed by Paul Stought

060205

This is a work in progress. There are no doubt some errors in this file but for the most part it is ready to use.

Portal is a family of spelling systems. Portul-uu, Portul-oo, Portul-dh.

Sample words: good food brother.

Portul-oo - good food bruthur

Portul-uu - guud food bruthur

Portul-dh - guud food brudhur

Use this file for all three systems. You will be able to tell which system is being referred to.

Portul-oo and Portul-uu, will be referred to as just Portul in this file. Portul-uu uses uu insted of oo. <Good food> guud food. The only difference. The spelling, guud, has been criticized in the past because good is so familiar, but a sound based spelling system has a lot of differences like this relative to TS. Should this difference be more profound than the others? Besides; the vowel in <good> is not always spelled with oo in TS. <Should> and <put> come to mind.

There is another version I would suggest. Portul-dh. It is the same as Portul-uu with the addition of dh, in place of th, in words like <brother> brudhur. Dh has also been criticized in the past but it is more correct relative to actual pronunciation.

At this time, it is not necessary to choose one spelling system over the other. You can learn all of these at the same time without much effort. Try these and other spelling systems out. Hopefully, you will decide to support the cause of spelling reform.

If you want to see more examples of Portul in action, you can use the Wyrdplay converter to convert regular English text of your own choosing into Portul.

Notice: Portal, the pronunciation guide, is spelled with an 'a' but the spelling system is spelled with a 'u'. Portal/Portul.

Contents

1 - Some terms and conventions

TS = traditional spelling.

PPG = Portal Pronunciation Guide. PPG symbols are used to illustrate specific sounds. Refer to the PPG vowels in the chart.

The <> symbols will mark a TS word being referenced.

PPG symbols will be enclosed in //.

Portul spelling will be in italics. <Father> / 'faadh-ur/ fothur.

Base word - is a word without prefixes or suffixes. Base word, necessary; unnecessary, necessarily.

Schwa is the: a in, alone, the e in silent, the i in rabbit, the o in bottom, the u in circus. For all practical purposes; schwa is the same as the vowel in cut except for stress and length.

In Portul, schwa is spelled u except: schwa is spelled a at base word end. <Comma> coma, camuraman, camuraz.

It might be a good idea to take a quick overall look at this file before attempting to digest the information from the beginning.

2 -Introduction

It has been recognized for centuries that the written version of the English language is difficult to learn to read and spell. There has been a lot of effort directed towards spelling reform without significant success. Portul is one example of what English text might be like if we fixed the problems of English reading and writing. Maybe the development of the computer and the growing status of English around the world will be the catalysts that are needed to generate enough real interest in spelling reform for meaningful change.

Portul is based mainly on pronunciation with some exceptions for further simplicity in spelling. Traditional spelling (TS) is more visual, requiring much memorization.

Traditional spelling is very irregular, so any new spelling system that is relatively consistent and predictable and based on pronunciation, will necessarily look a lot different from TS.

Portul is spelled mostly in a General American dialect with variations to simplify rules and spelling. The user may spell in his own dialect until he learns the difference between his dialect and the standard. The working theory is that only one standard English dialect will be used and everyone will learn this standard and his own and know the difference between them. Another alternative is that every country promote its own standard which will be similar to this enough that reading any printed English dialect will be relatively easy, though learning the rules of spelling other dialects might be more trouble than it is worth for most people.

Portul-oo spells good and food with the same vowel, though the pronunciation is different. This is bowing to past complaints about changing such a familiar spelling. A definite departure from sound-spelling except for minority accents.

Any standard spelling will be a departure from sound-spelling in some respects because we can't represent all the dialects in one sound-based spelling system.

A major concern is that other dialects of English are not represented in the spelling. No matter what system you use; if you spell to a standard, the user will have to learn two dialects; his own and the standard. TS is now the standard for all English speakers. Its hard to believe people would rather stay with a standard that is so difficult. Spelling to General American is as good as spelling to any other dialect and infinitely better than TS.

Portul merges /aa/, /o/ and /au/. TS does this also in many words. Hot, dog, long, on, or. This aids greatly in maintaining a lot of a TS appearance and does not hurt word recognition.

Is this really in the American dialect?

The variations mentioned above technically alter the General American dialect design because merged vowels do not represent a single dialect unless they are also merged in the pronunciation. Or, looking at it another way: In a sense, Portul does not use /aa/ and /au/ except at word end or, in a few cases, in vowel combinations. <Naive> naaeev. You could say Portul does not use /uu/, in Portul-oo, since /uu/ and /oo/ share the same symbol. So good food is /good/ /food/ and hot dog on or is /hot/ /dog/ /on/ /or/. <Father> /'fodh.r/. The British may prefer to merge /aa/ and /a/; /o/ and /au/. So, cat fathur would be /kat/ /'fadh.r/ and hot <thought> thot would be /hot/ /thot/. So, I guess the spelling dialect is technically the Portul dialect with an American bias.

There is a question about the advisability of allowing variable spellings. The British and Americans spell some words differently now but generally not because of pronunciation differences. Can a standard spelling have variables? Portul does have a couple cases where more than one spelling is suggested. Famuly or famly, sevurul or sevrul, loosud or loosid.

It might be a better idea to have each country use a different set of variable spellings. In the sample text a British rhotic version is shown where the spelling is altered to match the British pronunciation of many words. Since different English speaking regions do not have the same vowel assignments to their words, it almost seems laughable that only one sound-spelling standard will ever be acceptable. But, for now, we will pretend everyone will learn the General American dialect.

There could be a British Portul, an Australian Portul, a Spanish Portul, etc. Just like there is British English, Australian English, etc. Different vowels might be merged in the spelling. For instance; British Portul would probably merge /a/ and /aa/; /o/ and /au/. Cat, cast /kaast/; lot, <thought> thot. It would seem more practical to have only one English standard spelling. Like TS only more closely based on someone's pronunciation.

Since k is spelled before i: k sometimes poses a problem relative to a following i. Kit. Some words are pronounced with a vowel that is difficult to tell whether it is an unstressed u or unstressed i. The British frequently pronounce i where Americans pronounce u. No doubt many Americans pronounce the i, making this a difficult spelling even for Americans. <Pumpkin> Br /'pump-kin/ GA /'pump-kun/; Portul pumpcun. Maybe a variable spelling should be allowed in these words. A British Portul would spell pumpkin.

Portul is readable almost immediately by those familiar with TS. To spell in Portul requires learning several rules. Some have complained the rules are too many. How many rules does it take to explain TS? If the reader takes one rule at a time, I believe Portul is easily mastered. Most spelling will be clear after just studying the vowel and consonant charts. When in doubt, you can consult the rules or a dictionary.

Portul has been designed to clearly identify most sounds but vowel combinations are compressed and with this action some ambiguity is created. Currently English text is very inconsistent and unpredictable in its reading and spelling, without a tremendous amount of memorization. However, it is obvious that a TS appearance is important to those using TS today. Portul uses some vowel and consonant symbols that seem out of place in TS and this feature will likely prove to be very unpopular. However, these features add clarity and simplify learning.

Portul uses the common letters of the alphabet. Some spellings rely on a working vocabulary and context and familiarity with the rules, to read and spell ‘correctly’. Many of these are concerned with vowel combinations. <Coed> coed, <road> roed, going, boing.

The hardest part about Portul is learning the difference between your dialect and the Portul spelling dialect. This is because a ‘standard’ is generally imposed on a spelling system so that there is ‘correct’ and ‘incorrect’ spelling. You can spell according to your own dialect at first until you learn the ‘correct’ spelling. Most words will be ‘correct’ right away. Actually, since there is very little chance a new spelling system will be accepted, you can likely spell Portul in your own dialect the rest of your life. So you might as well relax about this ‘hardest part’.

The sound-spelling of words in Portul is based on the pronunciation of the word in isolation. Not as found in running speech. In general the ‘standard’ sound-spelling should reflect the most common way a word is pronounced. Portul rules make some exceptions. A general dictionary will indicate the most common pronunciations. There are still some optional pronunciations that are not identified as most common.

See this page for information on a preliminary dictionary for Portul-oo.  The dictionary was developed for my Ipifuny-oo system, but can be used with some modifications for Portul-oo.

3 - Sample text

A portion of a story

By Hans Christian Andersen transcribed in Portul-oo

Meny yirz ugo, ther wuz an Empurur, hu wuz so exesivly fond uv nu cloez, that he spent ol hiz muny in dres. He did not trubul himself in the leest ubout hiz soeljurz; nor did he ker tu go eethur tu the theutur or the chaes, exept for the opurtoonutyz then ufordud him for displaying hiz nu cloez. He had a difurunt soot for eech our uv the day; and az uv eny uthur king or empurur, wun iz ucustumd tu say, "he iz siting in counsul," it wuz olwaez sed uv him, "The Empurur iz siting in hiz wordroeb." Tiem past meruly in the larj toun wich wuz hiz caputul; straenjurz urievd evry day at the cort. Wun day, tu roegz, coling themselvz weevurz, maed ther upiruns. Thay gaev out that thay nu how tu weev stufs uv the moest buetuful culurz and ilaburut paturnz, the cloez manyufacshurd frum wich shood hav the wundurful propurty uf rimaening invizubul tu evrywun hu wuz unfit for the ofus he held, or hu wuz extrorduneruly simpul in carructur. "Theez must, indeed, be splendud cloez!" thot the Empurur. "Had I such a soot, I miet at wuns fiend out wot men in my relmz ar unfit for ther ofus, and olso be aebul tu distingwish the wiez frum the foolish! This stuf must be woevun for me imeedeutly." And he cozd larj sumz uv muny tu be givun tu boeth the weevurz in ordur that thay miet bigin ther wurk durectly. So the tu pritendud weevurz set up tu loomz, and ufectud tu wurk very bizuly, tho in realuty thay did nuthing at ol. Thay askt for the moest delicut silk and the pyoorust goeld thred; poot boeth intu ther oen napsaks; and then cuntinued ther pritendud wurk at the empty loomz until laet at niet.

By Hans Christian Andersen transcribed in Portul-uu

Meny yirz ugo, ther wuz an Empurur, hu wuz so exesivly fond uv nu cloez, that he spent ol hiz muny in dres. He did not trubul himself in the leest ubout hiz soeljurz; nor did he ker tu go eethur tu the theutur or the chaes, exept for the opurtoonutyz then ufordud him for displaying hiz nu cloez. He had a difurunt soot for eech our uv the day; and az uv eny uthur king or empurur, wun iz ucustumd tu say, "he iz siting in counsul," it wuz olwaez sed uv him, "The Empurur iz siting in hiz wordroeb." Tiem past meruly in the larj toun wich wuz hiz caputul; straenjurz urievd evry day at the cort. Wun day, tu roegz, coling themselvz weevurz, maed ther upiruns. Thay gaev out that thay nu how tu weev stufs uv the moest buetuful culurz and ilaburut paturnz, the cloez manyufacshurd frum wich shuud hav the wundurful propurty uf rimaening invizubul tu evrywun hu wuz unfit for the ofus he held, or hu wuz extrorduneruly simpul in carructur. "Theez must, indeed, be splendud cloez!" thot the Empurur. "Had I such a soot, I miet at wuns fiend out wot men in my relmz ar unfit for ther ofus, and olso be aebul tu distingwish the wiez frum the foolish! This stuf must be woevun for me imeedeutly." And he cozd larj sumz uv muny tu be givun tu boeth the weevurz in ordur that thay miet bigin ther wurk durectly. So the tu pritendud weevurz set up tu loomz, and ufectud tu wurk very bizuly, tho in realuty thay did nuthing at ol. Thay askt for the moest delicut silk and the pyuurust goeld thred; puut boeth intu ther oen napsaks; and then cuntinued ther pritendud wurk at the empty loomz until laet at niet.

Below is a sample of Portul showing how spellings could change when spelled in a British rhotic dialect without changing the vowels that are merged in Portul. Spellings changed for a British rhotic dialect are in italics. Merging different vowels would make the text more user friendly for the British. For instance; merge /a/ and /aa; /o/ and /au/. Cat, <father> fathur; hot, or.

The jury is still out relative to allowing variable spellings of this nature or have just one dialect represented for all words. Kind of like TS in this regard. I expect the user to prefer variable spellings but it can get out of hand and totally corrupt the spelling system. A word comes to mind that I heard pronounced in a unique [to me] way; <special> /'spae-shee-ul/. I think the speaker was a Brazilian. He would probably think the word should be spelled spaesheul in Brazilian Portul, rather than speshul. Somehow it doesn't seem right to me. TS has mostly one spelling for each word. There are exceptions. A new spelling system should be able to do the same.

By Hans Christian Andersen

British Rhotic dialect

Meny yirz ugo, ther woz an Empurur, hu woz so exsesivly fond of nue cloez, that he spent ol hiz muny in dres. He did not trubul himself in the leest ubout hiz soeljurz; nor did he ker tu go eethur tu the thiutur or the chaes, exsept for the opurtuenutyz then ufordud him for displaying hiz nue cloez. He had a difurunt soot for eech our ov the day; and az ov eny uthur king or empurur, wun iz ucustumd tu say, "he iz siting in counsul," it woz olwayz sed ov him, "The Empurur iz siting in hiz wordroeb." Tiem past meruly in the larj toun wich woz hiz capitul; straenjurz urievd evry day at the cort. Wun day, tu roegz, coling themselvz weevurz, maed ther upiruns. Thay gaev out that thay nue how tu weev stufs ov the moest buetuful culurz and ilaburut paturnz, the cloez manyufacshurd frum wich shuud hav the wundurful propurty ov rimaening invizubul tu evrywun hu woz unfit for the ofis he held, or hu woz exstrorduneruly simpul in carructur. "Theez must, indeed, be splendud cloez!" thot the Empurur. "Had I such a soot, I miet at wuns fiend out wot men in my relmz ar unfit for ther ofis, and olso be aebul tu distingwish the wiez frum the foolish! This stuf must be woevun for me imeedeutly." And he cozd larj sumz ov muny tu be givun tu boeth the weevurz in ordur that thay miet bigin ther wurk dierectly. So the tu pritendud weevurz set up tu loomz, and ufectud tu wurk very bizuly, tho in realuty thay did nuthing at ol. Thay askt for the moest delicut silk and the pyuurist goeld thred; puut boeth intu ther oen napsaks; and then cuntinued ther pritendud wurk at the empty loomz until laet at niet.

4 - Optional spellings

Portul is not intended to have optional spellings, except; names and capilalized words may be spelled in the old spelling. There will be some exceptions to this rule explained later. However, it simplifies spelling considerably to spell in what you think is the most common dialect, so that may be best until you learn the difference between your dialect and the Portul dialect. At any rate, it is not likely to become important in your lifetime.

For now; proper names and such will be spelled as in TS. America, England, William. But the days of the week and months of the year will be spelled in Portul. This is an area that needs more work. Use your own judgement about the acceptablility of using the new spelling. You could use both spellings when the pronunciation of the old spelling would be clarified.

5 - Stress

a - /ee/ - Ee is stressed except in single syllable words; where stress is not relevant. <Really> reely, feet.

b - /y/ - Y is always unstressed. <Really> reely.

c - /u/ - A at word end is schwa (unstressed) <Camera> camura.

d - The -ing suffix at word end is unstressed. Singing.

e - Stress can be marked for teaching purposes. When marking stress with a diacritic, the diacritic will be placed above the first letter of a vowel digraph. á é í ó ú úu Á É Í Ó Ú áe ée íe óe úe óo áu/áw/ ói/óy óu/ów. <Alow> ulów. A default stress rule can be used that places stress on the first syllable if no stress marks are used in the word. About 75% of words in Portul have clear stress without using a diacritic.

f - For general text, vocabulary will provide proper stress except for uncommon words. Look it up.

6 - The Portal pronunciation guide

With Portul vowels.

Column 1 - SAMPA

Column 2 - Portal pronunciation guide

Column 3 - Portul symbol

Column 4 - TS word

Column 5 - Portul word

The optional spellings of the vowels will be explained later.

1 - /arr/, /ar/ and /or/ are optional Portal symbols. Purists would prefer to use /ar/, aar/ and /aur/. Marry, car, fork. /marry/, /kar/, /fork/ or /mary/, /kaar/, /faurk/.

2 - /aa/, /o/ and /au/ are merged in the spelling except, aa and aw are used at word end and aa is spelled as the first vowel of a vowel combination. Hot dog. <Spa> spaa, <draw> draw, drawing, <naive> naaeev.

2a - When spelling dialog, it would be best not to merge vowels in the spelling, so; hot, dog, on, because, good, food, could be spelled; hot or haat, dog or daug, aan or on, fork, bicoz or bicauz or bycauz, good or guud, food or fuud, cut or cuut, etc.

3 - This unstressed sound is often spelled e in TS; especially in the first syllable. <Deny> dini, <remove> rimoov, <December> Disembur. This fact alone is responsible for many Portul words looking different from TS. Some dialects pronounce /y/ here. Dyni, rymoov, Dysembur.

7 - Vowel overlaps

This chart shows vowel spelling overlaps. These overlaps permit a more TS appearance and do not hurt word recognition significantly.

See Vowel combinations for more examples of vowel overlapping.

8 - Modified r combinations

9 - Word end vowels

10 - Word end vowels with a suffix

camuraman, camuraz, dayliet, playur, playd, ugreed, ugreubul, beez, being, carreur, bereul, berying, beryd, hapy, enyway, penyz, flypaepur, flying, flyur, pried, rilied, riliubul, goez, going, <mower> moeur, argued, argueing, fueur, rinuing, <newer> nuur, rinood, sawhors, sawing, sawd, boyz, boyhuud, unoying, unoyd, distroyur, cowboy.

11 - Word end vowel rules

Some rules for word end vowels are not shown here because they are covered elsewhere.

a - Y, is only /ie/ at word end of single syllable words or in compound words at the end of a single syllable word. By, my, shy, flypaepur, playur.

b - When single vowel letters, e, i, o, u or y /ie/, are at base word end and a suffix beginning with a consonant is added, the word end vowels will revert to their digraph forms. ee, ie, oe, oo, ie. <Knees> ne-z, neez; <allied> ali-d, alied; <snowed> sno-d, snoed; <glued> glu-d, glood; <fry> fry, fried, <fries> friez. The same action is required in double words. <Snowman> sno-man, snoeman.

c - Y /y/ at base word end will convert to e when a suffix beginning with a vowel (this includes syllabic consonants) is added. <Carrier> carreur, <burial> bereul. <Happiest> hapeust, <hurried> huryd, <worries> wuryz, married> marryd.

d - Word end vowels preceeding /.l/, /ul/; /.r/ or /ur/, will be spelled with ul or ur following the word end vowel. <Betrayal> bitrayul, <player> playur, <carrier> carreur, <Denial> deniul, <flyer> flyur, <newer> nuur, <renewal> rinuul, <drawer> drawur, <destroyer> distroyur. Exception: word end vowel o will convert to oe; <Mower> moeur, <bestowal> bistoeul.

12 - Single vowel words

<ah> /aa/ aa, <uh> /u/ uh, <eh> /ae/ ae, <I> /ie/ I, <eye> /ie/ ie, <aye> /ie/ ie, <oh/owe> /oe/ oe, <ewe> ue. "I hav sumthing in my ie." The indefinite article is spelled, a; /ae/ and /u/. "Hav a cup uv cofy." <You> will be spelled yu to preserve some TS appearance.

13 - Vowel combinations

a - Vowel combinations that begin with /ae, ee, ie, oe/ will drop the e. <Chaos> caos, <create> creaet; <agreeable> agreubul; <reliable> riliubul; <oasis> oaesus, <gaiety> gauty, <poet> pout. Exception; /oe/ at base word end followed by ul or ur. <Mower> moeur. Also; /oe_y/ will be spelled, oey. <Showy> shoey.

b - /y/ will be spelled e at the beginning of a vowel combination except when it preceeds ing. <Piano> peano, <hurrying> hurying. <Carrier> carreur, <merriest> mereust.

c - /ee/ will be spelled e at the beginning of a vowel combination <realize> reuliez. Even when ee is a word end vowel: <agreeable> ugreubul, <seeing> seing.

d - Some vowel combinations begin with a ‘word end vowel’ such as, ay, y /ie/, y /y/, aw and ow. These will not be converted to, a, i, ou, etc. <Layaway> layuway, <flyover> flyoevur, flying, <however> howevur, drawing, <annoying> unoying.

e - Sometimes /ju/ and /y-u/ are interchangeable, depending on diulect. <Ceremonial> serumoeneul or serumoenyul, <colonial> culoeneul or culoenyul, <champion> champyun or champeun. The ‘standard’ will select a preferred spelling. In this case, serumoeneul, culoeneul and champyun. For the time being, spell what seems comfortable to you.

f - Vowel combinations beginning with /oo/ will spell u; gluing, <gooey> guy.

g - Vowel combinations beginning with /ue/ wil spell ue; <vacuum> vacueum.

A - Reference number

1 - PPG symbol

2 - Traditional keyword

3 - PPG word

4 - Portul - American dialect

5 - Portul vowel combinations

These are not all the vowel combinations but the pattern can be seen.

14 - Ambiguous vowel combinations

Some ambiguity is permitted in Portul because it simplifies spelling without significantly harming word recognition. Its an either/or situation. It is eether /oo/ or /oe_aa/. Also it reduces the length of the vowel combination from oe-o to oo or from ooe to ue. TS has lots of this type vowel overlap and we can deal with the few that are in Portul.

The above vowel combinations can generally only be pronounced two ways. Only one of which will provide word recognition when context and vocabulary are considered.

15 - Vowel exceptions

a - /ae/u/ - a - The indefinite article, a will be used for both the stressed and unstressed forms as in traditional spelling. "Hav a cup uv wotur."

b - /aa/, /o/ and /au/ are merged in the spelling except, aa and aw are used at word end and aa is spelled as the first vowel of a vowel combination. Hot dog. <Spa> spaa, <draw> draw, drawing, <naive> naaeev.

c - /arr/ - Arr is spelled in Portul for this sound to avoid conflict with ar (car) and to look more like traditional spelling. Marry.

d - /oel/ - /oel/, is not pronounced as /oe+l/ though it will be so spelled in EPG. The sound is as in: gold, soldier, boulder, solstice, doldrums. In Portul, gold is <galled>, bold is <bald>. <Gold> goeld, soeljur, boeldur, soelstus, doeldrumz.

e - /ul/, /.l/, vl/. /u-l/ - Merged in the spelling and will be spelled ul. <Dull > dul; <ultra> /’ultru/ ultra; <paddle> /pad.l/ padul; <pull> /puul/, pul; <bull> /buul/, bul; <alone> uloen.

f - O’ - prefix in family names. Pronounced, /oe/ and sometimes, /u/. <O’Malley> O’Maly. /oe’mal-y/ /u’mal-y/

g - /-id/ and /-ud/ at word end. When either -id or -ud could be pronounced at word end; spell -ud. <Afforded> ufordud, <affected> ufectud <lucid> loosud. The British would be expected to prefer -id if a British Portul dialect was used.

h - /-ust/ and /-ist/ at word end will be spelled, -ist. Dentist, kemist, fizusist, pyoorist. It is sometimes hard to tell whether the pronuniation should be /-ist/ or /-ust/, so choosing one for all instances seems the thing to do.

16 - Syllabic consonants

a - .l, .m, .n and .r, are syllabic consonants in PPG. <Feel> /'fee.l/; <button> /but.n/; <fire> /'fie.r/.

b - A syllabic consonant is an unstressed, l m n or r, that can represent a syllable without any other vowel representation. <Bottle> /bot-l/, <several> /sef-r-l/, <button> /but-n/, <fire> /'fie-r/.

c - Portul spells the syllabic consonant with u when it follows a consonant. <Awful> /auf.l/ oful.

c1 - Exception a: /r.l/. may be spelled out or not. <Girl> gurl or gurul, <world> wurld or wuruld; <quarrel> quorl or quorul. The standard will likely choose spellings to match present TS. Gurl, wurld, quorul. I believe there are two vowels in, girl and world, but I have been assured that I am wrong. Anyway, it looks like /.l/ to me.

c2 - Exception b: Contractions such as, couldn’t, will be compressed. Cuudnt.

c3 - There is a spelling sequence that may optionally be pronounced two ways: Vcsl/rv. V = stressed vowel; c = consonant; s = schwa; l/r = l or r; v = vowel. <Family> famuly or famly; <several> sevurul or sevrul. Standard Portul will generally spell the longer form. Since this doesn't always work well, words with this form may be spelled either way. Famuly, famly, <struggle> strugul, <struggling>, strugling, <tickle> ticul, <tickling>, ticling. Generally, one of these will look right to you.

d - /y/ - Y is a vowel before consonants and at word end. (Even when the word is part of a compound word or a word with a suffix added.) <Any> eny, <anytime> enytiem, story, marrying. Y is a consonant before vowels. <Million> milyun, yes.

e - /.l/, /ul/, /.r/ and /ur/ will be spelled, l and r, following stressed vowels. <fire> /'fie.r/ fier, <feel> /'fee.l/ / 'fee_ul/ feel, oil, <royal> /'roi_ul/ roil, <royally> /'roi_ul-y/ roily. Word end vowels modify this rule. <Carrier> carreur, <burial> bereul.

Exception - See Word end vowel rules for syllabic consonants following word end vowels. <Flyer> /'flie.r/ flyur.

17 - Consonants

a - Both c and k are being used in Portul for the /k/ sound. See Consonant exceptions.

b - /kw/ is always spelled qu.

c - See: X, ex, cs, ecs, egz, ics, gz, igz, below.

d - See Consonant exceptions (b), below.

18 - Consonant exceptions

a - /k/ - K will be spelled at the end of base words for this sound and before /e/, /ee/, /y/, /i/ and /ie/. Except: K will not follow i at word end of multisyllable words. Picnic, <stick> stik. <Cook> cook, keg, keep, <monkey> munky, kit, <kite> kiet, sky. <Backtrack> baktrak. <Attack> utak. If it is not clear whether a base word is indicated, spell: c. <Stickler> sticlur.

b - The /.d/ sound used in this discussion, refers to the t and d sound in <petal> and <peddle> and at word end following unvoiced consonants in words like, packed, passed, scuffed.

b1 - /.d/ is spelled t at word end following unvoiced consonants. <Shaped> shaept, <backed> bact, <watched> wocht, <stuffed> stuft, <toothed> tootht, <washed> wosht. <Capped> capt, <topped> topt, <steeped> steept and <hooked> hooct. <Guest> gest, <guessed> gest, <past> past, <passed> past. ‘D’ looks more like traditional spelling but, ‘t’ is the sound we pronounce, according to the experts. I think the sound is /.d/. Neither /t/ or /d/.

b2 - /.d/ will be spelled t in words like <petal> but d in words like <pedal>. The sound of the word is the same, so the only way to know which spelling will be used is to consult a dictionary. The spelling dialect will be /'pet.l/ and /ped.l/ respectively even though actual pronunciation is /'pe.d.l/ for both. Sound-spelling should spell pedul for both but this action would be expected to generate a lot of unpopularity. <Latter> /'la.d.r/, /'lat.r/; <ladder> /'la.d.r/, /'lad.r/. Latur, ladur.

b3 - Another area of difficulty is when a base word pronunciation changes a /t/ sound to a /.d/ sound. <Heat> /heet/, <heating> /'hee.d-ing/. The spelling will remain t in these words.

c - - W is spelled for the w in <water> wotur and the wh in <what> wot. Spelling is simplified by just spelling w. Pronunciation is according to the readers accent.

d - Ng - sing, <ingrate> ingraet - /’in-graet/.

d1 - The ngg sound will be spelled ng; <anger> angur - /’ang-gur/

d2 - The ngc sound will be spelled as in, <think> think, not thingk. Compare with; <income> incum - /’in-kum/.

e - The n(t)s sound in; dance, sense, rinse, since, once; is spelled ns. Dans, sens, rins, sins, wun.

e1 - The n(t)s sound will be spelled nts when it represents a plural ending. <Cent> sent, sents; <scent> sent, sents, <paint> paent, paents.

e2 - With the n(t)sh sound, it is difficult to determine whether nsh or nch should be pronounced in some words. The standard choices may seem arbitrary to some. For the time being, spell whichever seems most comfortable. <Influential> /in(t)-floo_’en(t)sh.l/ influenshul or influenchul, <picture> /'pik(t)shur/ picshur or picchur. This last word is not shown with (t) in my three dictionaries. The pronunciation is given as /'pik-ch.r/ but I pronounce the word /'pik-sh.r/.

f - /kw/ will always be spelled qu. Quit.

g - /th/ and /dh/ will be spelled th in Portul-oo and Portul-uu, but th and dh in Portul-dh. Thin, then/dhen.

h - /tranz-/ and /trans-/ will be spelled, trans-. Transport. . It is sometimes hard to tell whether the pronuniation should be /s/ or /z/, so choosing one for all instances seems the thing to do.

i - X, ex, cs, ecs, egz, ics, gz, igz - See below.

19 - x, ex, cs, ecs, egz, ics, gz, igz

six, extra, exhaltation, exceed, exactly

/siks/ /ek-stru/ /egz-aal-tae-shun/ /ek-seed/ /ig-zactly/

Six, extra, exoltaeshun, exeed, exactly.

a - Spell x for /ks, gz. Except: b, c.

<six> fix /siks/

<auxiliary> oxilyury

b - Do not spell x for possessives or plurals. Socks/soks, not sox. Box, six, figz, pigz, <Rick's> Rik's, <wrecks> reks.

c - When a double word or compound word forms a /k-s/ or /g-z/ sound when joined; x will not be spelled. Zigzag /zig-zag/; <rucksack> /ruk-sac/ ruksak; <irksome> /'urk-sum/, urksum.

d - Some words, when pronounced out of context, are unclear as to whether they are plural or not. When this is the case with cs sounds at word end; x will not be spelled. Cosmetics, ethics, italics, optics, <pediatrics> pedeatrics, <physics> fizics, <mathematics> mathumatics, <mechanics> mucanics, tactics.

e - When a compound word is unclear about plural affecting the x or ks spelling; ks will be spelled. <Spokesman> spokes-man, spoeksmun; <trickster> trick-stur, trikster.

f - At word beginning, ex will be spelled for the, ics, igz, ecs and egz sounds;. <Exhaltation> exultashun, <excite> exiet, <example> exampul. The addition of a prefix will not change the ex spelling. Inexact.

g - At word beginning; ex is pronounced /eks/, when it has the meaning expressed in, 'ex-president'.

h - At word beginning; ex is pronounced /eks/ when it is before an unstressed syllable beginning with a consonant. Extra.

j - At word beginning; ex is pronounced /egz/ when it is before an unstressed syllable beginning with a vowel. <Exhaltation> exultashun.

k - At word beginning; ex is pronounced /iks/ when it preceeds a stressed syllable beginning with a consonant. <Exceed> exeed.

m - At word beginning; ex is pronounced /igz/ when it preceeds a stressed syllable beginning with a vowel. Exactly.

20 - Homophones and homographs

Words that, sound/are-spelled, the same but have different meanings are considered a problem but context and vocabulary can usually be counted on to remove confusion. There are a lot of homophones in English and attempting to clarify all of them in the spelling would require a lot of unnecessary memorization. If the word is in your vocabulary, you will have no problem. If it isn’t. Look it up.

21 - Hyphenated words

a - There is no dependable rule about when to hyphenate words so the judgement of the writer will be good enough.

b - The elements of hyphenated words are spelled as if they were individual words except for syllabic consonants that are representing words, such as in: Poos-n-boots, hit-r-mis.

Dog’z-body, <half-breed> haf-breed, <hand-me-down> hand-me-doun, <hellbent> hel-bent, <ill-advised> il-udviezd.

c - The apostrophe may be used as shown below in place of some sounds. [See vowel rules about, O’.] See Contractions below.

<o’clock> u’clok (uv clok).

<back-to-back> bak-tu-bak or bak-t’-bak

<cat-o’-nine-tails> cat-u’-nien-taelz.

<cul-de-sac> cul-da-sak or cul-d’-sak.

<Hop-o’-my-thumb> (Hop on my thumb)> Hop-u’-my-thum - spelled as pronounced.

22 - Contractions

The apostrophe (‘) will be used in contractions and possessives except for contractions ending in /nt/. Arnt, books'r/buuks’r, cant, coodnt/cuudnt, didnt, doent, duznt, hadnt, haznt, he’d, he’l, he’z, hu’z, I’d, I’l, I’m, it’l, it’s, I’v, iznt, Jack'd, Jane’d, John’z, Mary’z, Peter’l, she’d, she’l, she’z, shoodnt/shuudnt, shoodnt'v/shuudnt’v, stoodunts’v, that's, thay’d, thay’d’v, thay’l, thay’r, thay’v, we’d, we’l, we’r, we’v, wurnt, wot’d, wot’l, wot’m, wot’r, wot’s, wer’d, wer’l, wer’v, woodnt/wuudnt, woent, yu’d, yu’l, yu’r, yu’v.

23 - More Rules and explanations

a - 'Sight words'. The definite article, THE, will be spelled in its traditional form. The apple. The door. - The apul. The dor. Not, tha dor. The indefinite article is spelled, a; /ae/ and /u/. "Hav a cup uv cofy." In general homographs (words spelled the same with different difinitions) are not avoided. However; the words <I> and <eye> and <aye> will be spelled, I and ie and ie, respectively. <You> will be spelled yu to preserve some TS appearance.

b - Names and most regularly capitalized words, will be spelled with the traditional spelling. But the days of the week and months of the year will be spelled in Portul. This is an area that needs some work. For now, use your own judgement about when the old spelling will be most appropriate.

c - When a suffix is added to a proper name that retains the old spelling, the suffix is spelled with the new spelling. Charles, <Charles’> Charles’z. Not, Charles’ or Charleses. <Jane’s> Jane’z.

d - Capitalization will remain as it is in traditional spelling.

The word, I, will still be capitalized, as well as its contracted forms. <I’ll> I’l, I’m. "I hav sumthing in my ie, but I’m stil aebul tu se."

e - When a word is formed of two or more elements the spelling will represent the pronunciation of the compound word, not its seperate elements. <Grand-dad> grandad; <grand-ma> granma; <can-not> canot; <un-necessary> unnesusery; <ir-responsible> iresponsubul. <Craftsman> crafsmun. You may need to consult a dictionary to see the most common pronunciation. Sometimes an optional pronunciation is shown and no preference given. The standard will choose one. You may spell either until it is important that you learn the 'correct' one. Probably forever.

e1 - Exception: When word end pronunciation is either -l-ly or -ly, spell -ly. <Agilely> /’ajj-ul-ly/ ajuly.

<heroically> hiroicly, <hostilely> hostuly, <ideally> iedeely, <loyally> loily, <materially> mutireuly, <really> reely, <wholly> hoely, <woolly> wuly, <belly> bely, <folly> foly, <fully> fuly, <dully> duly, <foully> fouly.

f - Letters representing sounds (not regular words) will be spelled as the writer percieves the sound. Brr, shh, thwac.

g - /mak/, /muk/, /mik/ - Mc - Prefix in names. It will always be spelled Mc in Portul. <McDonald> McDonuld, <McAfee> McUfy. Pronounced /mak/ before unstressed syllables and /muk/ or /mik/ before stressed syllables.

Paul Stought

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