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Re: Artlang-driven English spelling reform

From:Carlos Thompson <chlewey@...>
Date:Friday, May 12, 2000, 20:16
On Second Air of Tenderness, Nik replied to my posting:

> Carlos Thompson wrote: > > <ng> into eng, when pronounced /N/, left <ng>
when /Ng/.
> > Make /Ng/ into eng-g. /ng/ can exist in at least some
dialects
> in words like "engulf" (/IngVlf/ in my idiolect)
It was something I was thinking about... mainly if we compare words like _language_ and _conlang_ which in my foraign accent are /Ng/ and /N/ respectively, then ell-A- eng-"guage" could become ell-A-eng in compounds, with no <ng> -> eng conversion. But. My point was not in getting a fonetik spelling of English, but reather in just replacing diagraphs with extended/accented Latin letters (no IPA). Then I decided not to change all /N/-sounding <n>s into eng (most of the cases predictable), but just the <ng> diagraph. Well, I could write test texts of both approaches.
> > <gh> into yoth, when mude or /f/, <g> when /g/. > > The spelling's _yogh_. And why use it, when dropping or
<f>
> would work?
Maybe because I wanted to use yogh for a _weak_ g. Still I don't know about using yogh only when <gh> is mude or in both positions...
> > Now is time for vowels... volunteers? > > *evil grin*, Semetic-style - vowels are unmarked! ;-)
Hmmgmgmmm...! Let's see how English vowels are used: Stressed Ortho- Usual Usual graphy Short Long a & eI e E i: i I aI o A ow @w oo U u: u V ju: ai eI ea E i: ee i: eu ew ju: ie I aI oi oI ou ow @w ow Aw My proposal: 1) <y> will only be used as a vowel in word final. All other cases will be repalced by <i>. (This rules applies also for <y> in diagraphs: <ay>, <oy>). 2) when monograph vowels are in usual* stressed position, length is predicted, and use the above values, then are written as above. * we have to define the usual stressed position (or predicted stress position). See bellow. 3) when stress nor lenght cannot be predicted, a grave <`> will mark the short stressed sound and a circumflex <^> will mark the long one. 4) unstressed monogrpahs predictively rendered as /@/, /I/ or droped, according to dialect, will use the usual orthography. Now the problems are: what to do with diagrpahs? I suggest leaving diagraphs for diphthonges and long vowels, and replace for one symbol when monophtonges. what to do with vowels using other values? I propose changing them. what to do with vocalic consonants like /n=/, /r=/ or /@:/, /l=/, etc.? I will see if I find some interesting extended/accented Latin letter, or leave all them as <en>, <er>, <el>. If <e> is strong before <n>, <r> or <l>, then e grave <è> or e circumflex <ê> will be used. Length: when unmarked by grave or circumflex. . Open syllables in stress positions use long vowel. . Yogh will make previous vowel long. . Vowels followed by a geminated consonant are short. . Words ending in VCe, if V is stressed is long. Stress: when unmarked: . monosyllabes (including those ending in mude "e") are stressed. . If there is a geminated consonant, previous vowel is stressed (and short). . usual unstressed endings like -ing, are unstressed unless marked. Alternatives: circumflex could be repalced by macron. -- Carlos Th