VOWEL SPELLING PATTERNS OF ENGLISH
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Retain reliable patterns.
Overlook acceptable patterns.
Shoot unphonetic words.
Exoticism --- "i"(machine, ski, unique)
SR targets --- ae(aegis), oe(coelacanth), ey(key, medley), ei(receipt), ie(shield, cookie)
《Minimum Spelling Reform》
alley === allee
key === kee
ceiling === ceeling
deceit === deceet
deceive === deceeve
receipt === receet
receive === receeve
seize === seeze
seizure === seezure
transceiver === transceever
Retain them --- i/yCe, iCle, -i/-y, -ie/-ye, -igh.
Overlook them --- -uy(buy), -iCC(child, mind, pint), ei(feisty), eye.
Exoticism --- "ai"(aikido, haiku)
《Minimum Spelling Reform》
aisle === yle
height === hight, hite
sleight === slyte
island, isle, islet --- They hav a silent "s".
Retain them --- oCe, oCle, oa, oe, oh
Overlook them --- ow(show), oCC(cold, gold, host, most, post), eau(bureau, plateau), au(au pair, chauffeur, gauche, haute), bouquet, brooch
《Minimum Spelling Reform》
comb === coam
sew /soU/ === soe
sewing === soeing
control === controle
controller === controler
roll === role
scroll === scrole
stroll === strole
troll === trole
soul === soal
shoulder === sholder
poultry === poltry
mould === mold
bowl === boal
own === oan
owner === oaner
ow to oe
belloe(bellow), beloe(below), bloe(blow), floe(flow), knoe(know), knoen(known), sloe(slow), throe(throw), windoe(window) ; sho(show)
cocoa === cocoe
whoa === whoe(?)
Retain them --- uCe, uCle, -ue, eu, ew
Overlook them --- -ugh(Hugh, Hughes, Hughie), Houston, impugn ; (coupon)
SR targets --- oe(shoes), ui(fruit, juice, suit), "iew"(view, overview, review)
《Minimum Spelling Reform》
beautiful === beutiful, butiful
beautify === beutify, butify
beauty === beuty, buty (cf. duty)
bruise === bruse
cruise === cruse
decruit === decrute
fruit === frute
juice === juce
juicy === jucy
nuisance === nusance
recruit === recrute
sluice === sluce
suit === sute
suitable === sutable
(We still hav "bruit" and "puisne".)
view === vew
viewer === vewer
viewpoint === vewpoint
overview === overvew
preview === prevew
review === revew
shoes === shues
Retain them --- "oo" --- boom, boost, room, taboo
Overlook them --- "u"(rule), "ew"(crew), etc.
Tolerate them --- "ou"(acoustic, group, soup) ; (coupon)
《Minimum Spelling Reform》
canoe === canoo
"-ove"
aproove(approve), moove(move), improove(improve), proove(prove), remoove(remove), etc.
"oo" --- book, foot, hood, look, rookie, shook, stood, took, wood
"u" --- bull, bush, cushion, full, pull, push, put, sugar
《Minimum Spelling Reform》
could === cood
should === shood
would === wood, wud
ou --- about, out, loud, round, south
ow --- brown, cow, now, plow, vowel
exoticism --- gaucho, gauss
"oi"--- broil, coil, oil, soil, toilet
"oy"--- boy, oyster, soy, toy
"au"--- cause, faucet, pause, sauce
"aw"--- awful, crawl, law, straw
Overlook them --- "al"(chalk, talk, walk)
《Minimum Spelling Reform》
abroad === abraud
broad === braud
broadcast === braudcast
water === wauter
"a" --- father, spa
Occasionally, with "aa" and "ah".
Others --- calm, palm, psalm, and aunt(BrE)
er --- certain, concern, her, nerd
ir --- birth, circle, fir, stir
ur --- curtain, fur, hurdle, turn
SR targets --- "ear"(learn, research), "our"(journal, sojourn)
"ar"--- bar, card, dark, martial
SR targets --- "ear"(hearken, heart, hearth)
Overlook it --- "sergeant"
"air"--- fair, pair, stair
"-are"---bare, care, snare
Overlook them --- -eir(heir, their), -ere(there, where)
《Minimum Spelling Reform》
--- "ear"(bear, swear, wear)
bear --- bair
pear --- (peir)
tear --- tair(verb)
swear --- swair
wear --- wair
forbear --- forbair
forswear --- forswair
outwear --- outwair
aerial === airial
canary === canairy
scarce === scairce
"-ere"--- here, mere, sphere
"ear" --- dear, hear, smear
"eer" --- beer, deer, steer, pioneer
SR targets --- weird, weirdo, fierce, pierce, frontier
"ire"--- fire, hire, ire, mire, sire, tire, wire
-yre --- gyre, lyre, pyre, tyre
Overlook them --- buyer, liar ; (choir)
《Minimum Spelling Reform》
fiery === firey
"or"--- nor, or, pork, torch
"oar"--- boar, hoarse, roar, soar
"ore"--- bore, core, more, sore
Occasionally, with "-aur"(dinosaur).
SR targets --- (four), pour, course, source ; door, floor
"-ure"--- cure, pure
"eur"--- euro
"ewer"--- fewer, skewer
"-oor"--- boor, poor
Overlook them --- tour, tourist
"our"--- flour, hour, our, sour
"-ower"--- flower, power, shower, tower
Split digraphs : a_e, e_e, i_e, o_e, u_e.
Why split? Why not put them together?
Why not ae, ee, ie, oe, ue? They wood merge with "polite vowels".
(However, "nice" cannot be "niec". Wood be "nyce".)
Avoid "split digraphs". (Derivatives are affected.)
◎a-e⇒ae (make→maek)
◎e-e⇒ee (extreme→extreem)
◎i-e⇒-y-e (nice→nyce)
◎o-e⇒oe (home→hoem)
◎u-e⇒ue (cute→cuet)
Retain the dubbled consonant letters in words when followed by endings such as -e, -ed, -en, -er, -est, -et, -ing, -a, -o, -y. For example: steppe, missed, sudden, supper, biggest, bonnet, cutting, gonna, hippo, happy, etc.
Retain the dubbled consonant letters at word end. For example: add, butt, err, inn, jazz, miss, off, purr, sell, etc.
cough == coff
enough == enuff
laugh == laff
rough == ruff
tough == tuff
trough == troff
archive == arkive
chameleon == cameleon
chaos == caos
chaotic == caotic
character == caracter
Optionally, use "f" for the "ph" when it has the /f/ sound.
apostrophe == apostrofy
catastrophe == catastrofy
cenotaph == cenotaf
elephant == elefant
epitaph == epitaf
phantom == fantom
photograph == fotograf
sophisticate == sofisticate
telephone == telefoen
(However, we retain "phat" and "phishing", for example)
Remoove surplus letters. Not every silent letter will be cut. Retain initial letters. Retain ck, tch, and wh.
alignment == (alinement)
asthma == asma
beauty == beuty
bureaucracy == burocracy
chaos == caos
comb == coam ("Cut one, add one.")
feather == fether
juice == juice (to avoid a split digraph "u_e")
juicy == juicy (to avoid a split digraph "u_e")
knight == knight (Retain an initial silent letter.)
night == night (Retain a mixed trigraph "-igh".)
pleasure == plesure
ready == reddy ("Cut one, add one.")
realm == relm
steady == steddy ("Cut one, add one.")
tomb == toom ("Cut one, add one.")
womb == woom ("Cut one, add one.")