SoundSpel

Graphemes here are matched to their phonemic equivalents via the International Phonetic Alphabet. Examples in SoundSpel are accompanied by italicized traditional spellings.

SoundSpel's rules have changed considerably over time; listed below are generally the most recent guidelines. Notable former rules that have become obsolete or otherwise optional are also listed. The Dictionary of Simplified American Spelling notes that SoundSpel, at least in its 1986 form, was not a fait accompli. It reads: "We are now at the point where further fine tuning [of SoundSpel] is appropriate. Recommendations are welcome from all—phoneticians, linguists, educators, publishers, those with a special interest in the subject, and, very importantly, the public at large."[18]

False diphthongs

If a pair of two vowel letters—such as ea—do not match a SoundSpel digraph, then the syllable ends with the first vowel, as in react (read as re-act), jeenius (genius), and creaetiv (creative). In words with three or more vowels letters, the syllable ends with the first digraph. For example, flooid (fluid, read as floo-id rather than flo-oid) hieest (highest), inueendo (innuendo), paeabl (payable), and evalueaet (evaluate).[6]

Hyphens and syllable breaks

In SoundSpel, hyphens have many uses. They separate adjacent letters that might otherwise be mistaken for a digraph. Examples include: ⟨nk⟩ in man-kiend (mankind), ⟨rr⟩ in for-runer (forerunner) ⟨sh⟩ in dis-harten (dishearten), ⟨th⟩ in pent-hous (penthouse), and ⟨wh⟩ in cow-hand (cowhand). Where "n-g" would be visually awkward, two n's mark the close of the syllable, as in enngaej (engage), enngulf (engulf), and enngraev (engrave). In fact, enngaej accounts for more than half of the double-n's frequency. Hyphens are also used to indicate that the letter ⟨y⟩ is a consonant beginning a syllable (barn-yard, mid-yeer for mid-year) rather than a vowel ending a syllable (handyman, apreeshyaet for appreciate), as the latter occurs much more frequently. Where -y would be visually awkward (as in mil-yon for million and compan-yon for companion), two l's or two n's mark the end of the syllable, hence millyon and compannyon. Excepting the preceding rules and those regarding /ɔː/, all doubled consonants have a consonant break in between them, including meelles (mealless), unnumberd (unnumbered), buukkeeper (bookkeeper), and cattael (cattail). [16] These also often represent geminates.

When a hyphen follows a prefix, it indicates that the vowel is long (e.g., co-ed, re-arm, bi-lateral). An adjacent preceding vowel is also long (bio-, neo-). Compare jeo-sentrik (geocentric) and jeolojy (geology). In jeo-sentrik, the ⟨e⟩ is long because of the following long ⟨o⟩, and the ⟨o⟩ is long because of the hyphen. In jeolojy, only the ⟨e⟩ is long. When ⟨ar⟩ and ⟨or⟩ are followed by a stressed vowel (e.g. maroon, memorandum), the ⟨a⟩ and ⟨o⟩ are pronounced as /ʌ/, and the ⟨r⟩ begins a new syllable.

Schwa and schwi

There are no changes in the spelling of the schwa (/ə/) sound in the unstressed syllables of words like organ, novel, pencil, and lemon, unless traditional spelling would indicate a mispronunciation in SoundSpel (hence, the word mountain is spelled mounten).[6] To represent the schwi (half "ee") sound, which can be pronounced more than one way, SoundSpel has three rules: ⟨e⟩ should be used in a word's first syllable (e.g., event, eqip for equip), ⟨i⟩ should be followed by a schwa in the combinations ia, io, and iu (e.g., insomnia, joevial for jovial), and ⟨y⟩ should be used terminally, or medially when not followed by schwa a, o, and u (e.g., raedyo for radio, joevyality for joviality). Using ⟨y⟩ terminally in monosyllabic words (e.g., bee) and their derivatives (e.g., hunybee for honeybee, as opposed to hunyby) is discouraged.[8] The letter ⟨y⟩ should also be used to prevent ambiguity between graphemes, as in the words terryer (terrier) and audyens (audience), in which ⟨ie⟩ would otherwise be pronounced /aɪ/.[19] According to Rondthaler and Lias, this system "combines most of the logic of Ripman['s system] with most of the visual compatibility of Dewey['s]."[20]

Unstressed ⟨er⟩, ⟨ar⟩, and ⟨or⟩ ("schwer")

Rondthaler and Lias are less decisive when it comes to spelling schwers (a portmanteau of schwa and the digraph ⟨er⟩), where a stressed rhotic vowel (i.e., /ɑːr/ and /ɔːr/) becomes unstressed (i.e., /ər/) in rapid speech. According to them, "[it was suggested that] certain unstressed syllables be abbreviated according to prescribed rules: that schwers be reduced to ⟨r⟩ (numbr, doctrd, considret, murdrr), that -tion be abbreviated to -tn or -shn [reflecting SoundSpel's -shun], etc." However, SoundSpel favors traditional spelling in these cases because, first, the reform's "immediate goal ... is to reflect a word's full pronunciation". Second, words' derivatives often contain a stressed rhotic vowel (e.g., victor, unstressed, to victorious, stressed). Keeping traditional spelling can be useful in retaining these aesthetic relationships.[21]

Common words and proper nouns

The following extremely common words remain irregularly spelled: as, be, do, has, he, his, she, me, we, is, of, th (the), thru (through), to, U (you), and was.[22][23] These words would otherwise be spelled az, bee, doo, haz, hee, hiz, shee, mee, wee, iz, uv/ov, thee, throo, too, ue, and wuz, respectively. Words derived from these (such as being, together, and thruout) do not alter their root, and the suffix -ful also remains unchanged. The word I, like in traditional spelling, remains capitalized. The word U, a respelling of you, does the same. As Edward Rondthaler wrote: "Since we accept the flattery of capital I for 'me', let us extend the courtesy of capital U for 'you'."[23][19] In SoundSpel's 1978 form, however, neither I nor U were capitalized.[10]

As for proper nouns, "little can be gained and much lost by pressing for reform [of proper nouns]," and so SoundSpel tends to retain their spellings (including those of personal names). However, dictionaries could still use SoundSpel to indicate an irregular proper noun's pronunciation,[24] and months and days of the week may also be respelled.[23]

Pluralization

There is no change in the plural suffix -s (as in jobs), the possessive suffix -'s (as in man's), and in the third person present singular verb suffix -s (as in he runs), even though in all these cases the s is sometimes pronounced /z/.[6] A double s can be used to distinguish these words, as in caes (cays, /keɪz/) vs. caess (case, /keɪs/). This is a break from the Dictionary of Simplified American Spelling in which plurals would be spelled purely phonetically (e.g., clooz for clues).[25] The letter ⟨x⟩ does not form the plurals of words ending with a /k/ sound. For example, the plural of dok (dock) is not dox, but doks. This follows (formal) traditional spelling.

It was on th ferst dae of th nue yeer th anounsment was maed, allmoest siemultaeniusly frum three obzervatorys, that th moeshun of th planet Neptune, th outermoest of all planets that wheel about th Sun, had becum verry erratic. A retardaeshun in its velosity had bin suspected in Desember. Then, a faent, remoet spek of liet was discuverd in th reejon of th perterbd planet. At ferst, this did not cauz eny verry graet exsietment. Sieentific peepl, however, found th intelijens remarkabl enuf, eeven befor it becaem noen that th nue body was rapidly groeing larjer and brieter, and that its moeshun was qiet different frum th orderly progres of th planets. [657 characters]

(It was on the first day of the new year the announcement was made, almost simultaneously from three observatories, that the motion of the planet Neptune, the outermost of all planets that wheel around the sun, had become very erratic. A retardation in its velocity had been suspected in December. Then a faint, remote speck of light was discovered in the region of the perturbed planet. At first this did not cause any very great excitement. Scientific people, however, found the intelligence remarkable enough, even before it became known that the new body was rapidly growing larger and brighter, and that its motion was quiet different from the orderly progress of the planets.) [680 characters]

We mae nowadaes be chairy about uezing th werd 'jeenius', but we stil hav a guud iedeea wut is ment bi it. For exampl, thair ar graet numbers of verry gifted muezishans hoo ar admierd but not calld jeeniuses. But thair ar uthers, manifestly prodijus, performing offen at extraordinerrily erly aejes, a varieety of feets so complex that th muezical laeman cuud hardly imajin, eeven with th moest desperet laebor, acomplishing eny of them, wiel eeven muezishans ar astonisht and we then reech for th guud, handy, vaeg Enlietenment werd and call them jeeniuses. Th list incloods Mozart and Mendelssohn; and, despiet all th limiting jujments, it incloods Benjamin Britten. [668 characters]

(We may nowadays he chary about using the word ‘genius’, but we still have a good idea what is meant by it. For example, there are great numbers of very gifted musicians who are admired but not called geniuses. But there are others manifestly prodigious, performing, often at extraordinarily early ages, a variety of feats so complex that the musical layman could hardly imagine, even with the most desperate labour, accomplishing any one of them, while even musicians are astonished: and we then reach for the good, handy, vague Enlightenment word and call them geniuses. The list includes Mozart and Mendelssohn; and, despite all the limiting judgments, it includes Benjamin Britten.)[29] [684 characters]