[net.nlang] phonemic spelling system

landauer@drivax.UUCP (Doug Landauer) (04/03/85)

I invented a phonemic spelling system for English when I was
in high school (omigod, that's 15 years ago!), which I modestly
called "mlang" (my language).  I developed script letters for it, with
minimal changes to the slowest of English's letters.  I used it to take
notes all through college, and I still write faster in it than in English.
I'll describe it below, but first compare it with John Chambers'
system.  In any quotes below, I'll use braces ("{}") for John's letters,
brackets for mine ("[]"), and quotes ("") for English.

In <139@mit-athena.UUCP>, John Chambers [...!decvax!mit-athena!jc]
writes about a phonemic spelling system for English ...

> To start the ball rolling, I'll propose one that could be based
> on ASCII characters.  There is a problem, of course, in that we
> have only 26 letters, and roughly three dozen phonemes, depending
> on dialect.  So obviously we use digraphs.  It would be better if
> we could use superposed diacriticals, but what can you do?
What I did was to use digits.  That way, there're exactly enough
characters.  It's interesting that we both came up with the same
number of phonemes, but that they're a slightly different set.

> First, the consonants.  English consonants can be organized roughly
> as follows:
> 
>           lab dnt alv ret vel phr
> vd.stop    b   d           g
> vl.stop    p   t           k
> vd.affr        c       c~
> vl.affr                j~
> vd.spir    v   d~  z   z~
> vl.spir    f   t~  s   s~      h
> vd.nas     m   n           n~
We agree almost completely on the consonants.  The two exceptions are
- that I included [x] and did not include [ts] (your {c});
- that I call [w], [y], [l], and [r] vowels even when they're really
  used as consonants.

My representations of these consonants are the same as yours for
	b,d,g,p,t,k,v,f,m,n,h,s,z
the others translate as
	your {c} is my [ts], {c~} == [c], {j~} == [j], {d~} == [6],
	{z~} == [7], {t~} == [3], {s~} == [5], and {n~} == [9].
I have mnemonics for my choices for each of the digits, but I'll spare you.

> Now for the vowels.  They're a bit more confusing, because most
> English-speaking people can't even define "vowel", and think that
> many things are consonants when they're vowels.
It's also confusing because it is here that most of the differences
in dialects show up.

>            front mid  back
> st.high      i^        u^   ["Strong" high vowels]
> wk.high      i         u    ["Weak" high vowels]
> st.mid       e^        o^
> wk.mid       e    u~   o
> low          a^        a
My list is similar (though organized differently), but I included two
vowels not found in your list.  (The vowels in "hood" and "hoard".
I'd guess you would use the {o^} as in "coat" for the latter, but
to me they're different.)

> ... Thus, in my
> native dialect (West Coast North American), the 'o' and 'a' sounds
> are merged into one intermediate sound.
That's odd, mine is also WCNA (third generation), but these two sounds
(the vowels in "cot" and "caught") are quite distinct to me.

OK, here I'll put Mlang into its 6 x 6 "mlang box" that I usually use
to collect the different letter types together:

  |--------------|--------------|
  |  p   t   k   |   u   o   4  |
  |  b   d   g   |   q   2   w  |
  |              |--------------|
  |  f   3   5   |   a   e | r  |
  |  v   6   7   |   i   y | l  |
  |              |--------------|
  |  m   n   9   |   1   0   8  |
  |  h   s   z   |   c   j   x  |
  |--------------|--------------|

The left half are consonants, the upper 5 rows of the right half
are vowels, and the lower 2 rows (yes, they overlap) of the
right half are diphthongs.  Most of the consonants are obvious.
Those that aren't:
	3 is th as in "thin".
	5 is sh as in "shin".
	6 is often called dh; it's the sound "th" makes in "this".
	7 is often called zh; it's the sound "s" makes in "measure".
	9 is ng as in "sing".  I don't bother to make a distinction
		between the ng in "singer" vs the one in "finger".
	c is ch as in "church" (twice).
	j is j (or "dge") as in "judge".
	x is x as in "fix".


None of the vowels are obvious except the ones that you probably
call consonants anyway.   Here they are:
    "Mid/back vowel series:"
	u "short u" as in "bud"
	o "short o" as in "body"
	4 "aw" as in "lawn", or "a" in "park" (Same sound to me).
	q "o" as in "ford".
	2 "oo" as in "book".
	w "long u" as in "rule", or "w" as in "wet" (see [wyrl] comment below).

    "Front vowel series:"
	w "long u" as in "rule", or "w" as in "wet" (see [wyrl] comment below).
	a "short a" as in "bad"
	e "short e" as in "bed"
	i "short i" as in "bid"
	y "long e" as in "bead" or "y" as in "yes" (see [wyrl])

    "Fake vowel series:"
	r both r sounds in "reader" ("rydr")
	l both l sounds in "little" ("litl")

    "Diphthong vowel series:"
	1 is "long i" [oy] as in "fight" == [f1t]
	0 is "long o" [qw] as in "boat" == [b0t]
	8 is "long a" [ey] as in "bait" == [b8t]

[wyrl] comment:  Each of these four sounds are normally considered to
be consonants, but the same sound (usually lengthened and sometimes
very slightly shifted in position) can also be used as a vowel.
("m" and "n" can be used this way, too, but I arbitrarily called them
consonants).  Occasionally the consonant sound and the vowel sound
occur together; this is one of the rare instances where one uses a
doubled letter in mlang.  (The other is where one has omitted a schwa
sound between a pair of the same consonant, as in "consonant" [konsnnt]
or "indescribable" [indskr1bbl].)   Here are some spellings of some sample
words that should show how [w, y, r and l] are used:
     "weiry" == [wiry]
     "woozy" == [wwzy]
     "use" == [ywz]
     "fooey" == [fwy]
     "tweezer" == [twyzr]
     "yearly" == [yirly]
     "yield" == [yyld]
     "coral" == [kqrl]
     "corall" == [kral]
     
Finally, I occasionally omit completely unaccented vowels.
F1nly, 1 uk87nly 0mit kmplytly unaxentd vawlz.

> Some samples using this spelling system:
> Su~m sa^mpl^z yu^zin~ d~is spelin~ sistm^:
  Sum samplz ywzi9 6is speli9 sistm:
> 
> 
> 	Old		Nu^		Mla9
> 	---		---		----
> 	cat		ka^t		kat
> 	cot		kat		kot
> 	caught		kot		k4t
> 	coat		ko^t		k0t
> 	curt		kr^t		krt
> 	coot		ku^t		kwt
> 	word		wr^d		wrd
> 	weird		wird		wird
> 	ward		ward		wqrd
> 	warred		ward [Du~z eni^wu~n pronawns d^i^z difrentli^?]
No, but I sure don't use the same vowel in "ward" as I do in "cot".
	
> 	they		d~e^ [or d~ey]	68
> 	them		d~em		6em
> 	this		d~is		6is
> 	these		d~i^z		6yz
> 	think		t~in~k [or t~ink]	3i9k
> 	button		bu~tn^		butn
> 	bottom		batm^		botm
> 	throttle	t~ratl^		3rotl
> 	thirsty		t~r^sti^	3rsty
> 	prince		princ		prins
> 	prints		prints [print + s]	prints
> 	grep		grep		grep
> 
> Isn't this fun?  See how easy it is?  Come on, let's hear some more
> ideas from other linguists (amateurs or pros) on the network.
Izn't 6is fun?  Sy haw muc mqr wrdz yw kn fit intu 6 s8m numbr v letrz,
and stil hav it by ferly yzly rydbl?  (At lyst fr 60z v us hw hav fiftyn
yirz ixpiryns wi3 it.)

If there is sufficient demand, I'll post another note someday where
I'll try to describe the shapes of the symbols I really use for each
of the extra letters (the ones that are represented by digits herein).

     - Hav fun wi3 it -
     - Dug Landawr ----