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English orthography 1
English orthographyEnglish orthography is the alphabetic
spelling system used by the English language. English orthography,
likeother alphabetic orthographies, exhibits a set of relationships
between speech sounds and the corresponding writtenwords. In most
other languages, these relationships are regular enough to be
called rules. In standard Englishspelling, however, nearly every
sound can be spelled in more than one way, and most spellings and
all letters can bepronounced in more than one way and often in many
different ways. This is largely due to the complex history of
theEnglish language,[1] together with the absence of systematic
spelling reforms implemented in English, in contrast tothe position
in a number of other languages.In general, English spelling does
not reflect the sound changes in the pronunciation of the language
that haveoccurred since the late fifteenth century.[2]
Function of the lettersNote: In the following discussion, only
one or two common pronunciations of American and British English
varietiesare used in this article for each word cited. Other
regional pronunciations may be possible for some words,
butindicating all possible regional variants in the article is
impractical.
Phonemic representationAs in most alphabetic languages, letters
in English orthography may represent a particular sound. For
example, theword cat /kt/ consists of three letters c, a, and t, in
which c represents the sound /k/, a the sound //,and t the sound
/t/.Multiple sequences of letters may perform this role as well as
single letters. Thus, in the word ship (pronounced/p/), the digraph
sh (two letters) represents the sound //. In the word ditch, the
three letters tch represent thesound /t/.Less commonly, a single
letter can represent multiple successive sounds. The most common
example is the letterx which normally represents the consonant
cluster /ks/ (for example, in the word six, pronounced /sks/).The
same letter (or sequence of letters) may be pronounced in different
ways when it occurs in different positionswithin a word. For
instance, the digraph gh represents the sound /f/ at the end of
some words, such as rough /rf/.At the beginning of syllables (i.e.
the syllable onset), the digraph gh is pronounced //, as in the
word ghost(pronounced /ost/). Conversely, the digraph gh is never
pronounced /f/ in syllable onsets and is almost neverpronounced //
in syllable codas (the proper name Pittsburgh is an exception).
Word originAnother type of spelling characteristic is related to
word origin. For example, when representing a vowel, the lettery
represents the sound // in some words borrowed from Greek
(reflecting an original upsilon), whereas the letterusually
representing this sound in non-Greek words is the letter i. Thus,
the word myth /m/ is of Greek origin,while pith /p/ is a Germanic
word. Other examples include ph pronounced /f/ (which is usually
spelt f), andch pronounced /k/ (which is usually spelt c or k) the
use of these spellings for these sounds often markwords that have
been borrowed from Greek.Some researchers such as Brengelman
(1970), have suggested that, in addition to this marking of word
origin, thesespellings indicate a more formal level of style or
register in a given text, although Rollins (2004) finds this point
tobe exaggerated as there would be many exceptions where a word
with one of these spellings, such as ph for /f/(like telephone),
could occur in an informal text.
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English orthography 2
Homophone differentiationSpelling may also be useful to
distinguish between homophones (words with the same pronunciation
but differentmeanings), although in most cases the reason for the
difference is historical and was not introduced for the purposeof
making a distinction. For example, the words heir and air are
pronounced identically in most dialects (as /r/).However, they are
distinguished from each other orthographically by the addition of
the letter h. Another exampleis the pair of homophones plain and
plane, where both are pronounced /plen/ but have two different
spellings of thevowel /e/.[3]
In written language, this may help to resolve potential
ambiguities that would arise otherwise (cf. He's breaking thecar
vs. He's braking the car). Nevertheless, many homophones that are
unresolved by spelling still exist (forexample, the word bay has at
least five fundamentally different meanings).Some
proponentsWikipedia:Avoid weasel words of spelling reform view
homophones as undesirable and wouldprefer that they were
eliminated. But this would create more spelling inconsistencies
(such as the break/brakeexample above) that would need to be
resolved via the linguistic context, as they are in the spoken
language.
Marking sound changes in other lettersAnother function of some
letters in English is to provide information about the
pronunciation of other letters in theword. Rollins (2004) uses the
term "markers" for letters with this function. Letters may mark
different types ofinformation. For instance the letter e in the
word cottage /ktd/ indicates that the preceding g is pronounced/d/,
rather than the more common value of g in word-final position as
the sound //, such as in tag /t/. Theletter e also often marks an
altered pronunciation of a preceding vowel. In the pair ban and
bane, the a of banhas the value //, whereas the a of bane is marked
by the e as having the value /e/. In this context, the e isnot
pronounced, and is referred to as "silent e". A single letter may
even fill multiple pronunciation-marking rolessimultaneously. For
example, in the word wage the e marks not only the change of the a
from // to /e/, butalso of the g from // to /d/.
Silent letters
Multiple functionalityA given letter or (letters) may have dual
functions. For example, the letter i in the word cinema has
asound-representing function (representing the sound //) and a
pronunciation-marking function (marking the c ashaving the value
/s/ opposed to the value /k/).
Underlying representationLike many other alphabetic
orthographies, English spelling does not represent non-contrastive
phonetic sounds (thatis, minor differences in pronunciation which
are not used to distinguish between different words). Although the
lettert is pronounced by some speakers with aspiration [t] at the
beginning of words, this is never indicated in thespelling, and,
indeed, this phonetic detail is probably not noticeable to the
average native speaker not trained inphonetics. However, unlike
some orthographies, English orthography often represents a very
abstract underlyingrepresentation (or morphophonemic form) of
English words.[4]
[T]he postulated underlying forms are systematically related to
the conventional orthography ... and are, as iswell known, related
to the underlying forms of a much earlier historical stage of the
language. There has, inother words, been little change in lexical
representation since Middle English, and, consequently, we
wouldexpect ... that lexical representation would differ very
little from dialect to dialect in Modern English ... [and]that
conventional orthography is probably fairly close to optimal for
all modern English dialects, as well as forthe attested dialects of
the past several hundred years.[5]
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English orthography 3
In these cases, a given morpheme (i.e. a component of a word)
has a fixed spelling even though it is pronounceddifferently in
different words. An example is the past tense suffix -ed, which may
be pronounced variously as /t/,/d/, or /d/ (for example, dip /dp/,
dipped /dpt/, boom /bum/, boomed /bumd/, loot /lut/, looted
/lutd/). As ithappens, these different pronunciations of -ed can be
predicted by a few phonological rules, but that is not thereason
why its spelling is fixed.Another example involves the vowel
differences (with accompanying stress pattern changes) in several
relatedwords. For instance, the word photographer is derived from
the word photograph by adding the derivational suffix-er. When this
suffix is added, the vowel pronunciations change largely owing to
the moveable stress:
Spelling Pronunciation
photograph /fotrf/ or /fotrf/
photographer /ftrfr/
photographical /fotrfkl/
Other examples of this type are the -ity suffix (as in agile vs
agility, acid vs acidity, divine vs divinity, sane vssanity). See
also: Trisyllabic laxing.Another such class of words includes sign
/san/ and bomb /bm/ with "silent" letters g and b,
respectively.However, in the related words signature and bombard
these letters are pronounced /sntr/ and /bmbrd/,respectively. Here
it could be argued that the underlying representation of sign and
bomb is |san| and |bmb|, inwhich the underlying || and |b| are only
pronounced in the surface forms when followed by certain
suffixes(-ature, -ard). Otherwise, the || and |b| are not realized
in the surface pronunciation (e.g. when standing alone,or when
followed by suffixes like -ing or -er). In these cases, the
orthography indicates the underlyingconsonants that are present in
certain words but are absent in other related words. Other examples
include the t infast /fst/ and fasten /fsn/, and the h in heir /r/
and inherit /nhrt/.Another example includes words like mean /min/
and meant /mnt/. Here the vowel spelling ea is
pronounceddifferently in the two related words. Thus, again the
orthography uses only a single spelling that corresponds to
thesingle morphemic form rather than to the surface phonological
form.English orthography does not always provide an underlying
representation; sometimes it provides an intermediaterepresentation
between the underlying form and the surface pronunciation. This is
the case with the spelling of theregular plural morpheme, which is
written as either -s (as in tick, ticks and mite, mites) or -es (as
in box, boxes).Here the spelling -s is pronounced either /s/ or /z/
(depending on the environment, e.g. ticks /tks/ and pigs/pz/) while
-es is usually pronounced /z/ (e.g. boxes /bksz/). Thus, there are
two different spellings thatcorrespond to the single underlying
representation |z| of the plural suffix and the three surface
forms. The spellingindicates the insertion of // before the /z/ in
the spelling -es, but does not indicate the devoiced /s/ distinctly
fromthe unaffected /z/ in the spelling -s.The abstract
representation of words as indicated by the orthography can be
considered advantageous since it makesetymological relationships
more apparent to English readers. This makes writing English more
complex, butarguably makes reading English more efficient.[6]
However, very abstract underlying representations, such as that
ofChomsky & Halle (1968) or of underspecification theories, are
sometimes considered too abstract to accuratelyreflect the
communicative competence of native speakers. Followers of these
arguments believe the less abstractsurface forms are more
"psychologically real" and thus more useful in terms of
pedagogy.[7]
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English orthography 4
DiacriticsEnglish has some words that can be written with accent
marks. These words have mostly been imported from otherlanguages,
usually French. As imported words become increasingly naturalised,
there is an increasing tendency toomit the accent marks, even in
formal writing. For example, words such as rle and htel were first
seen withaccents when they were borrowed into English, but now the
accent is almost never used. The words were originallyconsidered
foreign and some people considered that English alternatives were
preferable but today their foreignorigin is largely forgotten.
Words most likely to retain the accent are those atypical of
English morphology andtherefore still perceived as slightly
foreign. For example, caf and pt both have a pronounced final e,
which wouldotherwise be silent under the normal English
pronunciation rules. However caf is now sometimes
facetiouslypronounced "caff", while in pt, the acute accent is
helpful to distinguish it from pate.Further examples of words
sometimes retaining diacritics when used in English are: ngstrm
(partly because thescientific symbol for this unit of measurement
is ""), appliqu, attach, blas, bric--brac, Brtchen,[8] clich,crme,
crpe, faade, fianc(e), flamb, nave, navet, n(e), papier-mch, pass,
piata, protg, rsum, risqu,ber-, voil. Italics, with appropriate
accents, are generally applied to foreign terms that are uncommonly
used in orhave not been assimilated into English: for example,
adis, crme brle, pice de rsistance, raison d'tre, ber(bermensch),
vis--vis.
It was formerly common in American English to use a diaeresis
mark to indicate a hiatus: for example, coperate,das, relect. The
New Yorker and Technology Review magazines still use it for this
purpose, even though it isincreasingly rare in modern English.
Nowadays the diaeresis is normally left out (cooperate), or a
hyphen is used(co-operate). It is, however, still common in
loanwords such as nave and Nol.Written accents are also used
occasionally in poetry and scripts for dramatic performances to
indicate that a certainnormally unstressed syllable in a word
should be stressed for dramatic effect, or to keep with the metre
of the poetry.This use is frequently seen in archaic and
pseudoarchaic writings with the -ed suffix, to indicate that the e
should befully pronounced, as with cursd.
LigaturesIn certain older texts (typically British), the use of
the ligatures and is common in words such as archology,diarrha, and
encyclopdia. Such words have Latin or Greek origin. Nowadays, the
ligatures have been generallyreplaced in British English by the
separated digraph ae and oe (encyclopaedia, diarrhoea); but usually
economy,ecology, and in American English by e (encyclopedia,
diarrhea; but usually paean, amoeba, oedipal, Caesar). Insome
cases, usage may vary; for instance, both encyclopedia and
encyclopaedia are current in the UK.(See also: the section "ae and
oe" in the article "American and British English spelling
differences".)
Phonic irregularitiesEnglish spelling, compared to many other
languages, is quite irregular and complex. Although French, among
otherlanguages, presents a similar degree of difficulty when
encoding (writing), English is more difficult when
decoding(reading), as there are clearly many more possible
pronunciations of a group of letters. For example, in French the[u]
sound (as in "food"), can be spelled ou, ous, out, or oux (ou,
nous, tout, choux), but the pronunciation of each ofthose sequences
is always the same. In English, the /u/ sound can be spelled oo or
u, u-e, ui, ue, o, oe, o-e, o-b, ou,ough, or ew (food, truth, rude,
fruit, blue, to, shoe, move, tomb, group, through, flew), but 10 of
those 12 sequenceshave other pronunciations as well: flood, rub,
build, go, toe, drove, comb, out, rough, sew. In the case of the
oughsequence, many English speakers do not even know how to
pronounce certain unfamiliar words containing it,especially names
such as Gough, Hough, or Slough.English has never had any formal
regulating authority for spelling, such as the Spanish Real
Academia Espaola orthe French Acadmie franaise.
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English orthography 5
Spelling irregularitiesAttempts to regularize or reform the
language, including spelling reform, have usually met with failure.
The onlysignificant exceptions were the reforms of Noah Webster
which resulted in many of the differences between Britishand
American spelling, such as center/centre, and dialog/dialogue.
(Other differences, such as -ize/-ise inrealize/realise etc., came
about separately; see American and British English spelling
differences for details.)Besides the quirks the English spelling
system has inherited from its past, there are other idiosyncrasies
in spellingthat make it tricky to learn. English contains,
depending on dialect, 2427 separate consonant phonemes and
1420vowels. However, there are only 26 letters in the modern
English alphabet, so there cannot be a one-to-onecorrespondence
between letters and sounds. Many sounds are spelled using different
letters or multiple letters, andfor those words whose pronunciation
is predictable from the spelling, the sounds denoted by the letters
depend on thesurrounding letters. For example, the digraph th
represents two different sounds (the voiced interdental fricative
andthe voiceless interdental fricative) (see Pronunciation of
English th), and the voiceless alveolar grooved fricative canbe
represented by the letters s and c.It is, however, not the shortage
of letters which makes English spelling irregular. Its
irregularities are caused mainlyby the use of many different
spellings for some of its sounds, such as the sounds /u/, /i/ and
/o/ (too, true, shoe,flew, through; sleeve, leave, even, seize,
siege; stole, coal, bowl, roll, old, mould), and the use of
identical sequencesfor spelling different sounds (over, oven,
move).Furthermore, English no longer makes any attempt to anglicise
the spellings of loanwords, but preserves the foreignspellings,
even when they employ exotic conventions like the Polish cz in
Czech (rather than *Check) or theNorwegian fj in fjord (although
fiord was formerly the most common spelling). In early Middle
English, untilroughly 1400, most imports from French were respelt
according to English rules (e.g. bataille - battle, bouton -button,
but not double, trouble). Instead of loans being respelled to
conform to English spelling standards, sometimesthe pronunciation
changes as a result of pressure from the spelling. One example of
this is the word ski, which wasadopted from Norwegian in the
mid-18th century, although it did not become common until 1900. It
used to bepronounced /i/, which is similar to the Norwegian
pronunciation, but the increasing popularity of the sport after
themiddle of the 20th century helped the /ski/ pronunciation
replace it.[citation needed]
There was also a period when the spelling of a small number of
words was altered in what is now regarded as amisguided attempt to
make them conform to what were perceived to be the etymological
origins of the words. Forexample, the letter b was added to debt
(originally dette) in an attempt to link it to the Latin debitum,
and the letter sin island is a misplaced attempt to link it to
Latin insula instead of the Old English word land, which is the
trueorigin of the English word. The letter p in ptarmigan has no
etymological justification whatsoever, only seeking toinvoke Greek
despite being a Gaelic word.The spelling of English continues to
evolve. Many loanwords come from languages where the pronunciation
ofvowels corresponds to the way they were pronounced in Old
English, which is similar to the Italian or Spanishpronunciation of
the vowels, and is the value the vowel symbols [a], [e], [i], [o],
and [u] have in the InternationalPhonetic Alphabet. As a result,
there is a somewhat regular system of pronouncing "foreign" words
inEnglish,[citation needed] and some borrowed words have had their
spelling changed to conform to this system. Forexample, Hindu used
to be spelled Hindoo, and the name Maria used to be pronounced like
the name Mariah, butwas changed to conform to this
system.Commercial advertisers have also had an effect on English
spelling. They introduced new or simplified spellings likelite
instead of light, thru instead of through, smokey instead of smoky
(for "smokey bacon" flavour crisps), andrucsac instead of rucksack.
The spellings of personal names have also been a source of spelling
innovations:diminutive versions of women's names that sound the
same as men's names have been spelled differently: Nikki andNicky,
Toni and Tony, Jo and Joe.
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English orthography 6
As examples of the idiosyncratic nature of English spelling, the
combination ou can be pronounced in at least fourdifferent ways: //
in famous, /a/ in loud, // in should, /u/ in you; and the vowel
sound /i/ in me can be spelt in atleast nine different ways:
paediatric, me, seat, seem, ceiling, people, machine, siege,
phoenix. (These examplesassume a more-or-less standard non-regional
British English accent. Other accents will vary.)Sometimes everyday
speakers of English change a counterintuitive pronunciation simply
because it iscounterintuitive. Changes like this are not usually
seen as "standard", but can become standard if used enough.
Anexample is the word miniscule, which still competes with its
original spelling of minuscule, though this might also bebecause of
analogy with the word mini.[citation needed] A further example is
the modern pronunciation oftissue.Wikipedia:Citing sources
HistoryInconsistencies and irregularities in English
pronunciation and spelling have gradually increased in
numberthroughout the history of the English language. There are a
number of contributing factors. First, gradual changes
inpronunciation, such as the Great Vowel Shift, account for a
tremendous number of irregularities. Second, relativelyrecent loan
words from other languages generally carry their original
spellings, which are often not phonetic inEnglish. The Romanization
of languages (e.g., Chinese) using alphabets derived from the Latin
alphabet has furthercomplicated this problem, for example when
pronouncing Chinese proper names (of people or places).The regular
spelling system of Old English was swept away by the Norman
Conquest, and English itself wassupplanted in some spheres by
Norman French for three centuries, eventually emerging with its
spelling muchinfluenced by French. English had also borrowed large
numbers of words from French, which naturally kept theirFrench
spellings as there was no reason or mechanism to change them. The
spelling of Middle English, such as inthe writings of Geoffrey
Chaucer, is very irregular and inconsistent, with the same word
being spelled in differentways, sometimes even in the same
sentence. However, these were generally much better guides to the
thenpronunciation than modern English spelling is.For example, the
sound //, normally written u, is spelled with an o in son, love,
come, etc., due to Norman spellingconventions which prohibited
writing u before v, m, n due to the graphical confusion that would
result. (v, u, n wereidentically written with two minims in Norman
handwriting; w was written as two u letters; m was written with
threeminims, hence mm looked like vun, nvu, uvu, etc.) Similarly,
spelling conventions also prohibited final v. Hence theidentical
spellings of the three different vowel sounds in love, grove and
prove are due to ambiguity in the MiddleEnglish spelling system,
not sound change.There was also a series of linguistic sound
changes towards the end of this period, including the Great Vowel
Shift,which resulted in the i in mine, for example, changing from a
pure vowel to a diphthong. These changes for the mostpart did not
detract from the rule-governed nature of the spelling system; but
in some cases they introducedconfusing inconsistencies, like the
well-known example of the many pronunciations of ough (rough,
through,though, trough, plough, etc.). Most of these changes
happened before the arrival of printing in England. However,the
arrival of the printing press froze the current system, rather than
providing the impetus for a realignment ofspelling with
pronunciation. Furthermore, it introduced further inconsistencies,
partly because of the use oftypesetters trained abroad,
particularly in the Low Countries. For example, the h in ghost was
influenced by Dutch.[9]
The addition and deletion of a silent e at the ends of words was
also sometimes used to make the right-hand marginline up more
neatly.[9]
By the time dictionaries were introduced in the mid 17th
century, the spelling system of English had started tostabilise. By
the 19th century, most words had set spellings, though it took some
time before they diffusedthroughout the English-speaking world. In
The Mill on the Floss (1860), English novelist George Eliot
satirized theattitude of the English rural gentry of the 1820s
towards orthography:
Mr. Tulliver did not willingly write a letter, and found the
relation between spoken and written language, briefly known as
spelling, one of the most puzzling things in this puzzling world.
Nevertheless, like all fervid
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English orthography 7
writing, the task was done in less time than usual, and if the
spelling differed from Mrs. Glegg's,why, shebelonged, like himself,
to a generation with whom spelling was a matter of private
judgment.
The modern English spelling system, with its national variants,
spread together with the expansion of publiceducation later in the
19th century.
"Ough" wordsThe most notorious group of letters in the English
language, ough, is commonly pronounced at least ten differentways,
six of which are illustrated in the construct, Though the tough
cough and hiccough plough him through, whichis quoted by Robert A.
Heinlein in The Door into Summer to illustrate the difficulties
facing automated speechtranscription and reading. Ough is in fact a
word in its own right; it is an exclamation of disgust similar to
ugh. though: /o/ as in toe; (other examples: dough) tough: /f/ as
in cuff; (other examples: rough, enough, and the name (but not the
word) Hough) cough: /f/ as in off; (other examples: Gough (name,
some pronunciations)) hiccough (a now uncommon variant of hiccup):
/p/ as in up; (unique) plough: /a/ as in cow; (other examples:
sough, drought, bough, doughty, and the names Slough and Doughty)
through: /u/ as in blue; nought: // as in caught; (other examples:
ought, sought, thought, brought) lough: /x/ with a rough breathing
sound like the ch in lochFinally, there is the place name
Loughborough, where the first ough has the sound as in cuff and the
second rhymeswith thorough.
Spelling patterns
Spelling to sound correspondences
Vowels
In a generative approach to English spelling, Rollins (2004)
identifies twenty main orthographic vowels of stressedsyllables
that are grouped into four main categories: "Lax", "Tense",
"Heavy", "Tense-R". (As this classification isbased on orthography,
not all orthographic "lax" vowels are necessarily phonologically
lax.)
General American
Letter Lax Tense Heavy Tense-R
a //man
/e/mane
//mar
//mare
e //met
/i/mete
//her
//here
i //win
/a/wine
//fir
/a/fire
o //mop
/o/mope
//for
u //hug
/ju/huge
//cur
/j/cure
u //push
/u/rude
//sure
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English orthography 8
Received Pronunciation (British)
Letter Lax Tense Heavy Tense-R
a //man
/e/mane
//mar
//mare
e //met
/i/mete
//her
//here
i //win
/a/wine
//fir
/a/fire
o //mop
//mope
//for, fore
u //hug
/ju/huge
//cur
/j/cure
u //push
/u/rude
//sure
For instance, the letter a can represent the lax vowel //, tense
/e/, heavy //, or (often allophonically) [] before|r|. Heavy and
tense-r vowels are the respective lax and tense counterparts
followed by the letter r.Tense vowels are distinguished from lax
vowels with a "silent" e letter that is added at the end of words.
Thus, theletter a in hat is lax //, but when the letter e is added
in the word hate the letter a is tense /e/. Similarly, heavy
andtense-r vowels pattern together: the letters ar in car are heavy
/r/, the letters ar followed by silent e in the word careare /r/.
The letter u represents two different vowel patterns, one being //,
/ju/, //, /j/, the other //, /u/, //.There is no distinction
between heavy and tense-r vowels with the letter o, and the letter
u in the /-u-/ patterndoes not have a heavy vowel member.Besides
silent e, another strategy for indicating tense and tense-r vowels,
is the addition of another orthographicvowel forming a digraph. In
this case, the first vowel is usually the main vowel while the
second vowel is the"marking" vowel. For example, the word man has a
lax a pronounced //, but with the addition of i (as the digraphai)
in the word main the a is marked as tense and pronounced /e/. These
two strategies produce words that arespelled differently but
pronounced identically, as in mane (silent e strategy), main
(digraph strategy) and Maine (bothstrategies). The use of two
different strategies relates to the function of distinguishing
between words that wouldotherwise be homonyms.Besides the 20 basic
vowel spellings, Rollins (2004) has a reduced vowel category
(representing the sounds /, /)and a miscellaneous category
(representing the sounds /, a, a, a/ and /j/+V, /w/+V, V+V).
Combinations of vowel letters
To reduce dialectal difficulties, the sound values given here
correspond to the conventions at Wikipedia:IPA forEnglish. This
table includes H, W and Y when they represent vowel sounds. If no
information is given, it is assumedthat the vowel is in a stressed
syllable.Deriving the pronunciation of an English word from its
spelling requires not only a careful knowledge of the rulesgiven
below (many of which are not explicitly known even by native
speakers: speakers merely learn the spelling ofa word along with
its pronunciation) and their many exceptions, but also: a knowledge
of which syllables are stressed and which are unstressed (not
derivable from the spelling: compare
hallow and allow) which combinations of vowels represent
monosyllables and which represent disyllables (ditto: compare
please
and create)
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English orthography 9
Spelling Majorvalue(IPA)
Examples of majorvalue
Minorvalues(IPA)
Examples of minorvalue
ExceptionsWikipedia:Pleaseclarify
a before multipleconsonants
final vowel in word followed by 2 or more
unstressed syllables next syllable contains //
// hatchet, banner, marryacrobat, catnational,
camera,realityarid, granite, palace
/e/ ache, bass, chambernationhood
/i/ karaoke// father// yacht
before -nge, -ste before single consonant before cons + (-le
or
r+vowel) before heterosyllabic
vowel
/e/ arrange, wastegrace, famous, violatetable, hatred,
Aprilchaos, aorta
//////
many, anymanor, havechocolate, orange
// gala, sonata
before final r or r + cons.(and in derived terms)
// bar, cartbarred, marring
// scarce
before r + vowel // uncaring, wary,various, glare
// Paris // are
word-final // lemma, banana /i/ bologna
in word-final -ary // ordinary, necessary
after /w/ except before /k/,//, //
// watch, warrior, quantity // quango
after /w/ before final r or r +cons.
// warning, dwarf, war
unstressed // another, about, woman artistically
unstressed, in -age // damage, bondage
aa, ah // bazaar, blah /e/ quaalude
ae usually /i/ encyclopaedia,paediatrician
// aesthetic /e/ reggae/a/ maestro
before r // aerial, aeroplane
ai, ay stressed /e/ bait, cocaine, day ///a/
said, again, sayssamurai, kayak, aye
// plaid/i/ quay
before r // cairn, millionaire, dairy
unstressed // bargain, mountain // Britain
ao /e/ gaol /a/ Taoism
au, aw // taut, author, lawn, ////
sausage, because,laurelaunt, draught, laugh
/e/ gauge/o/ mauve
-
English orthography 10
e before single consonant before cons + (-le or
r+vowel) final, only vowel in
word final, Greek loans before heterosyllabic
vowel
/i/ receding, detail, genemetre, secretbe, shesimile,
catastropheneon
/e///
ukulele, cafe, crepemetal, lemon, heronlivelihood, fateful
before multipleconsonants
final vowel in word followed by 2 or more
unstressed syllables next syllable contains //
// better, fetch, merryget, watershedlegacy, elegant,
delicatecrevice, perish, epicness
/i/ lethalaxes (plural of axis)legallyevil
// pretty
before final r or r + cons.(and in derived terms)
// herd, kerb, referral // clerk, sergeant
before r + vowel // serious, series, here ////
therefore, werewolfvery
// were
word-final mate, discipline, starveplague
/i/ recipe
unstressed // hatchet, target, poet // taken, decency,moment
usd, before heterosyllabicvowel
/i/ create, area, atheist,hideous
ea usually /i/ beach, eating, please // bread,
healthy,cleanse
/e/ break, great, steak
before r + cons. // earth, learn, early // hearty, hearth //
beard
before final r or r + vowel(and in derived terms)
// clear, hearing, yearly // bear, pear, swear
eau /o/ bureau, plateau,tableau
/ju/ beauty // bureaucracy
ee usually /i/ bee, feed /e/ matinee, fiancee
before r // cheering, beer, eerie
ei, ey usually /e/ veil, reign, obey /i//a/
seize, key, geyserheight, heist, gneiss
// heifer, leisure/a/ eye
after c /i/ deceive, ceiling, conceit
before r // heir, their // weird, weir, eyrie
unstressed // foreign, counterfeit
unstressed, word-final /i/ monkey, curtsey, jersey
eo // leopard, jeopardy /i/ people /o/ yeoman// leotard
eu(e),ew(e),ieu,iew
usually /ju/ feudal, queue, dew,ewe, lieu, view
/o/ sew
after /r/, //, //, /j/, cons. +/l/
/u/ rheumatism, jewel,blew
before r /j/ amateur, neural, Newry
both of the above // Jewry, pleurisy
-
English orthography 11
i before single consonant before cons + (-le or
r+vowel) before -nd, -ld, -gh, -gn word-final before
heterosyllabic
vowel
/a/ shine, cited, guidetitle, idle, vibrantwild, kind,
sighed,ensignalumni, alibi, radiivial, quiet, prior, pious
// pivot, give, enginewind (one meaning)
/i/ machine, ski
before multipleconsonants
final vowel in word followed by 2 or more
unstressed syllables next syllable contains // before cons. +
e/i +
vowel
// hitch, fiddle, mirrorbitcinema, liberty, militaryfinish,
spirit, minutehideous, position, Sirius
/a/ pint, ninthsilentlywhitish
// meringue/i/ ski(ing)
before final r or r + cons.(and in derived terms)
// bird, fir, stirrer // menhir
before r + vowel /a/ hire, firing, enquiry
unstressed // livid, typical // pencil, cousin business
usd, before heterosyllabicvowel
/i/ familiar, alien, radii,idiot
ie finally /a/ die, tie
medially /i/ field, series, siege /a/ flies, tries // sieve//
friend
before r // pier, fierce, bulkier
o before multipleconsonants
final vowel in word followed by 2 or more
unstressed syllables next syllable contains //
// or // dot, doctor, torrentopera, colonise,cooperatetopic,
solid, promise
///o//u/
won, monkey, frontgross, comb,brokenlytomb, womb
// wolf
before single consonant before cons + (-le or
r+vowel) word-final before heterosyllabic
vowel(inc. unstressed)
/o/ omen, grove, totalnoble, cobrabanjo, goboa, poet,
stoiccooperate
///u/////
moral, proper, shoneto, who, move, losecome, love, donepurpose,
Europe
// woman// women
before r // ford, boring, more // for, morning
after w, before r // word, work, worst // worn
unstressed // eloquent, wanton,author
oa usually /o/ boat, coal, load // broad
before r // boar, coarse
oe usually /i/ amoeba, coelacanth,phoenix
finally /o/ toe, foe /u/ shoe, canoe // does
unstressed // oedema
oeu /u/ manoeuvre
-
English orthography 12
oi, oy usually // coin, boy
before r /w/ reservoir, memoir,repertoire
// loir /wa/ choir
oo usually /u/ hoop, booze // wool, foot, soot /o/ brooch
before k,d // look, wood /u/ food, brood, spook // blood,
flood
before r // door, mooring // poor
ou stressed /a/ out, aloud, bough /u////o/
soup, you, throughtouch, trouble,countrysoul, dough, boulder
// courier, should// cough
before r // tourist, contour, pour /a///
hour, our, devourjourney, courteous,scourge
// courier// courage
unstressed // camouflage, labour,nervous
ow stressed /a/ cow, sow, allow /o/ know, show //
acknowledge
before r /a/ dowry
unstressed /o/ yellow, rainbow,narrow
u before multipleconsonants
final vowel in word
// butter, dump, current // put, full, pudding
before single consonant before cons + (-le or
r+vowel) before heterosyllabic
vowel(inc. unstressed)
word-final
/ju/ luminous, mute, tubabugle, rubricduel, fatuous,
druid,January
// sugar // busy
above after /r/, //, //, /j/,cons. + /l/
/u/ rule, chute, June, flutruant, fluent,menstruate
before final r or r + cons.(and in derived terms)
// curdle, burr, furry
before r + vowel /j/ lure, purity, curing /j/ failure //
bury
above after /r/, //, //, /j/,cons. + /l/
// rural, jury, plural
after g, before e, i guess, disguise, tongue /ju//w/
argue, aguelinguistics, segue
unstressed // supply // minute, lettuce
ue, ui usually /ju/ cue, hue, nuisance /we/ suede /wi/ suite//
build, biscuit
above after /r/, //, //, /j/,cons. + /l/
/u/ blue, tissue, fruit, juice
uy /a/ buy, guyed
-
English orthography 13
y before multipleconsonants
followed by 2 or moreunstressed syllables
next syllable contains //
// myth, crypticcylinder, typical,pyramidcynic
/a/ hyphen, psychecyclically
before single consonant before cons + (-le or
r+vowel) word-final, stressed
/a/ typing, style, paralyzecycle, cypresssky, supply, bye
before final r or r + cons.(and in derived terms)
// myrtle, myrrh
before r + vowel /a/ lyre, tyrant, gyrate
unstressed // sibyl, martyr
unstressed, word-final /i/ city, happy
Consonants
Notes: In the tables, the hyphen has two different meanings. A
hyphen after the letter indicates that it must be at the
beginning of a syllable, e.g. j- in jumper and ajar. A hyphen
before the letter indicates that it cannot be at thebeginning of a
word, e.g. -ck in sick and ticket.
More specific rules take precedence over more general ones, e.g.
"c- before e, i or y" takes precedence over "c". Where the letter
combination is described as "word-final", inflectional suffixes may
be added without changing
the pronunciation, e.g. catalogues. The dialect used is RP.
Isolated foreign borrowings are excluded.
Spelling Major value (IPA) Examples of major value
Othervalues
Examples of other values
b, bb usually /b/ bit, rabbit, obtain bdellium, debtor,
subtle
finally after m(and in derived terms)
climb, comb, numbing
c before e, i, y, ae, or oe /s/ cellar, city, cyst,face, prince,
nicercaesium, coelacanth
/t////k/
cello, vermicellispecial, liquoriceCelts, chicer
initially before n, t cnidarian, ctenoid
elsewhere /k/ cat, cross victual, indict
cc before e, i or y /ks/ accept, eccentric, occidental
/k//t//s/
soccer, recce, siccingbocce, breccia, cappuccinoflaccid
elsewhere /k/ account, accrue, occur,yucca
ch usually /t/ chase, chin, attached, chore /k//h/
achedchutzpahyacht
Greek-derived words /k/ chasm, chimera, chord
French-derived words // chaise, machine, cached,parachute
-
English orthography 14
ck /k/ tack, ticket
d, dd, dh /d/ dive, ladder, jodhpurs /d/
graduate, gradual (both also/dj/ in RP)Wednesday, handsome
-dg- before e, i, or y /d/ lodger, pidgin, edgy
f, -ff /f/ fine, off /v/ of
g before e, i, y, ae, or oe /d/ gentle, magic, gyrate,page,
algae (GA)
////
get, eager, algae (RP)collage, gigue
in -gm, gn- or -gn diaphragm, gnome, signing,reign
// signify, repugnant
elsewhere // go, great, guest /d/ margarine
gg // stagger, flagging /d/ suggest, exaggerate
gh initially // ghost, ghastly
elsewhere dough, high, right,daughter
/f//x/ or /k///, /k/, or/x//p/
laugh, enoughloughugh!hiccough
h usually /h/ he, alcohol vehicle, honest, hono(u)r,piranha
after ex exhibit, exhaust /h/ exhale
j- /d/ jump, ajar /j////h/
HallelujahJeanjalapeno, fajitaMarijuana
k, -kk,kh
usually /k/ key, bake, trekking, sheikh
initially before n knee, knock
l, ll /l/ line, valve, valley /j/
halve, balk, salmontortilla
m, mm usually /m/ mine, hammer
initially before n mnemonic
n, nn usually /n/ nice, funny
before /k/ or // // link, bangle, anchor
finally after m(and in derived terms)
hymn, autumn
ng finally and in termsderived from ng-finalwords
// long, kingly, singer, clingy
medially otherwise ///nd/
anger, fingerdanger, ginger, dingy
p, pp usually /p/ pill, happy, soup, corpse,script
coup, receipt
initially before n, s, t pneumonia, psyche,ptomaine
/p/ psst
ph, pph /f/ photograph, sapphire /v/ Stephen
q (not before u) /k/ Iraq, Iqaluit
-
English orthography 15
r, rr, rh,rrh
usually /r/ ray, parrot, rhyme,diarrhoea
iron
before consonant finally before final e
in non-rhoticdialects such as RP
cart, burr, fir, care,walker, tear, hurt
See below for combinations of vowel letters and the letter r
s, ss usually /s/ song, ask, message, misled /z/////
scissors, dessert, dissolve,Islamsugar, tissue,
aggressionvisionislet, aisle, debris
-s- between vowelsounds(see also "se" below)
/z/ rose, prison /s/ basis
word-final -smorphemeafter a voiceless sound
/s/ pets, shops
word-final -smorphemeafter a lenis sound
/z/ beds, magazines
sc- before e, i or y /s/ scene, scepter, scissors,scythe
/sk///
sceptic, scirrhusfascism
sch- /sk/ school, scheme, schizo ///s/
schedule (in RP, otherwise:/sk/), schistschism (in RP,
otherwise:/sk/)
sh // shin, fashion
t, -tt usually /t/ ten, bitter,cation,chaste, wallet
///t//d/
ratio, Martianquestion, bastionkindergartencastle, chasten,
ballet
in unstressed -sten,-stle, -ften
listen, rustle, soften /t/ tungsten, existent
-tch /t/ batch, kitchen
th ////
thin, both,the, bothers
/t//t//th/
thymeeighthouthouse, potherbasthma
v, -vv /v/ vine, savvy
w /w/ sward, swerve, wale /u/
two, sword, answer, gunwalecwm
wh- usually /w/ or /hw/ in Hiberno-Eng. andSouthern Am. Eng.
wheel
before o /h/ or /hw/ in Hiberno-Eng. andSouthern Am. Eng.
who, whole /w/ whopping, whorl
wr- /r/ or /wr/ in Scottish Eng. wrong, wrist
-
English orthography 16
x initially /z/ xylophone
elsewhere /ks/ extent, excuse, axe /z////k/
exit (in some pronunciations)luxury (in
somepronunciations)anxiousfaux-pas
-xc before e or i /ks/ excellent, excited
y- /j/ yes, young
z, -zz /z/ zoo, pizzazz /ts/
schizophrenic, pizzarendezvous
Spelling Majorvalue(IPA)
Examples of major value Minorvalues(IPA)
Examples of minor value Exceptions
ayer, ayor /(r)/ layer, mayor
ower /ar/ dowry, tower, flowery
Combinations of other consonant and vowel letters
Spelling Major value(IPA)
Examples of major value Minorvalues(IPA)
Examples of minor value Exceptions
ah // blah
al /l/ pal, talcum, algae, alp /l/ bald, falcon
alf /f/ (RP)/f/ (GA)
calf, half /l/ alfalfa, malfeasance /lf/ palfrey
alk /k/ walk, chalking, talkative /lk/ alkaline, grimalkin /lk/
balkanise
all /l//l/
call, fallout, smallershall, callus, fallow
/l//()l/
wallet, swallowallow, dialled
/l/ (GA)marshmallow,pall-mall
alm /m/ (all threeexamples have alt.pronunc.)
calm (also: /lm/), almond(also: /lm/), palmistry (also:/lm/)
/lm//lm/
dalmatian, salmonellaalmanac (also: /lm/), almost
/m/ salmon/()lm/ signalman
alt /lt/ (RP)/lt/ (GA)
alter, malt, salty, basalt /lt//lt/
alto, shalt, saltationaltar, asphalt
/lt/ gestalt (GA)/()lt/ royalty,penalty
aoh, oh /o/ pharaoh, oh
unstressed ci- beforea vowel
// special, gracious /si/ species
-cqu /kw/ acquaint, acquire /k/ lacquer, racquet
word-final -edmorphemeafter /t/ or /d/*
/d/ waited
word-final -edmorphemeafter a voicelesssound*
/t/ topped, surfed /d/ biped, unfed
-
English orthography 17
word-final -edmorphemeafter a lenis sound*
/d/ climbed, failed, ordered /d/ imbed, misled, infrared
eh /e/ eh
word-final -esmorpheme**
/z/ washes, boxes
unstressed ex- beforea vowel or h
/z/ exist, examine, exhaust /ks/ exhale
gu- before a /w/ bilingual, guano, language // guard,
guarantee
word-final -le after aconsonant
/l/ little, table
-(a)isle /al/ aisle, isle, enisle, lisle
word-final -ngue // tongue, harangue, meringue(dessert)
/e/ dengue (also /i/), distingu,merengue (music/dance)
old /old/ blindfold, older, bold /ld/ scaffold, kobold (also
/ld/
olk /ok/ yolk, folk
oll /l/ doll, follow, colletc., holler /ol/ roll, stroller,
polling, tollway
olm /lm/ olm, dolmen /olm/ enrolment, holmium /om/ holm
(oak)
ong // (RP)// (GA)
wrong, strong, song // Congress, congregation
qu- /kw/ queen, quick /k/ liquor, mosquito
quar- beforeconsonant
/kw(r)/ quarter, quart
word-final -que /k/ mosque, bisque /ke/ risqu /kju/ barbeque
word-final -re after aconsonant
/r/ ogre
ro /r/ rod /ro/ roll /(r)/ iron
unstressed sci-before a vowel
/t/ conscience (// in RP) /si/ omniscient (RP only)
sci- (stressed) /sa/ science
-scle /sl/ corpuscle, muscle
-se (noun) /s/ house, mouse
-se (verb) /z/ house, raise /s/ chase
unstressed -si beforea vowel
// expansion // division, illusion /zi/ physiology,busier,
caesiumflimsiest/si/ tarsier
unstressed -ssibefore a vowel
// mission /si/ potassium, dossier
unstressed -sure /r/ leisure, treasure
unstressed -ti beforea vowel
// nation, ambitious // equation /ti/ patio, /ta/ cation
unstressed -ture /tr/ nature, picture
unstressed -zure /r/ seizure, azure
-
English orthography 18
* There is no way to tell if it is the morpheme or an integral
part of the word. Compare snaked and naked.** Same as above;
compare the two pronunciations of axes.Small text indicates rare
words. Loans words: SP for Spanish, FR for French.
Sound to spelling correspondencesThe following table shows for
each sound, the various spelling patterns used to denote it. The
symbol "" stands foran intervening consonant. The letter sequences
are in order of frequency with the most common first. Some of
thesepatterns are very rare or unique, such as au for the [] sound
in laugh (some accents). In some cases, the spellingsshown are
found in only one known English word (such as "mh" for /m/, or
"yrrh" for /r/).
Consonants
IPA Spelling Examples
/p/ p, pp, gh pill, happy, hiccough
/b/ b, bb bit, rabbit
/t/ t, tt, ed, pt, th, ct ten, hitter, topped, pterodactyl,
thyme, ctenoid
/d/ d, dd, ed, dh, t (in some dialects), tt (in some dialects)
dive, ladder, failed, dharma, waiter, flatter
// g, gg, gue, gh go, stagger, catalogue, ghost
/k/ c, k, ck, ch, cc, qu, cqu, cu, que, kk, kh, q cat, key,
tack, chord, account, liquor, acquis, biscuit, mosque, trekker,
khan,burqa
/m/ m, mm, mb, mn, mh, gm, chm mine, hammer, climb, hymn, mho,
diaphragm, drachm
/n/ n, nn, kn, gn, pn, nh, cn, mn nice, funny, knee, gnome,
pneumonia, piranha, cnidarian, mnemonic
// ng, n, ngue sing, link, tongue
/r/ r, rr, wr, rh, rrh ray, parrot, wrong, rhyme,
diarrh(o)ea
/f/ f, ph, ff, gh, pph, u fine, physical, off, laugh, sapphire,
lieutenant(Br)
/v/ v, vv, f, ph, w vine, savvy, of, Stephen, weltanschauung
// th, chth, phth, tth, fth (in some dialects) thin, chthonic,
phthisis, Matthew, twelfth
// th them, breathe
/s/ s, c, ss, sc, st, ps, sch (in some dialects), cc, se, ce, z
(insome dialects)
song, city, mess, scene, listen, psychology, schism, flaccid,
horse, juice, citizen
/z/ s, z, x, zz, ss, ze, c (in some dialects) has, zoo,
xylophone, fuzz, scissors, breeze, electricity
// sh, ti, ci, ssi, si, ss, ch, s, sci, ce, sch, sc shin,
nation, special, mission, expansion, tissue, machine, sugar,
conscience, ocean,schmooze, crescendo
// si, s, g, z, j, ti, sh (in some dialects) division, leisure,
genre, seizure, jet, equation, Pershing
/t/ ch, t, tch, ti, c, cc, tsch, cz chin, nature, batch, bastion
(some accents), cello, bocce, putsch, Czech
/d/ g, j, dg, dge, d, di, gi, ge, gg magic, jump, judgment,
bridge, graduate, soldier, Belgian, dungeon, exaggerate
/h/ h, wh, j, ch he, who, fajita, chutzpah
/j/ y, i, j, ll, e yes, onion, hallelujah, tortilla,
eoarchean
/l/ l, ll, lh line, hallo, Lhasa
/w/ w, u, o, ou, wh (in most dialects) we, persuade, choir,
Ouija board, what
/hw/ wh (in Hiberno-Eng. and Southern Am. Eng.) wheel
/wr/ wr (in Scottish Eng.) wren
-
English orthography 19
Vowels
IPA Spelling Examples
/i/ e, ea, ee, ee, ae, ei, ie, ie, eo, oe,ie...e, ay, ey, i, y,
oi, ue, ey, a
be, beach, bee, cede, Caesar, deceit, machine, field, people,
amoeba (variant of ameba), hygiene,quay (RP only; /e/ in GA), key,
ski, city, chamois, Portuguese, geyser (RP only; /a/ in
GA),karaoke
// i, y, ui, e, ee, ie, o, u, a, ei, ee, ia, ea,i...e, ai, ii,
oe
bit, myth, build, pretty, been (some accents), sieve, women,
busy, damage, counterfeit, carriage,mileage, medicine, bargain,
shiitake, oedema
/u/ oo, u, o, ue, ou, ew, ue, oe, ui,eu, oeu, oe, ough, wo,
ioux, ieu, oup,w, u
tool, luminous, who, flute, soup, jewel, true, lose, fruit,
maneuver, manoeuvre (Br. variant of prec.),canoe, through (form.
variant of "thru"), two, Sioux, lieutenant(GA), coup, cwm, thru
(inf.)
// oo, u, o, oo...e, or, ou, oul look, full, wolf, gooseberry,
worsted, courier, should
/e/ a, ae, aa, ae, ai, ai...e, aig, aigh, al,ao, au, ay, e (),
e...e, ea, eg, ei, ei...e,eig, eigh, ee (e), eh, er, es, et, ey,
ez,ie, oeh, ue, uet
bass, rate, quaalude, reggae, rain, cocaine, arraign, straight,
Ralph(dated Br.), gaol(Australian var.of "jail"), gauge (var. of
gage), pay, ukulele (caf), crepe, steak, thegn, veil, beige, reign,
eight,matinee (soire), eh, dossier, demesne, ballet, obey, chez,
lingerie(US), boehmite (also: /o/),dengue (usually: /i/), sobriquet
(also: /t/; var. of "soubriquet")
// a, e, o, u, ai, ou, eig, y, ah, ough, ae,oi
another, anthem, awesome, atrium, mountain, callous, foreign,
beryl, Messiah, borough(Br),Michael, porpoise
/o/ o, oe, oa, ow, ou, oe, oo, eau, oh,ew, au, aoh, ough, eo
so, bone, boat, know, soul, foe, brooch, beau, oh, sew, mauve,
pharaoh, furlough, yeoman
// e, ea, a, ae, ai, ay, eae, ei, eo, ie,ieu, u, ue, oe
met, weather, many, aesthetic, said, says, cleanse, heifer,
jeopardy, friend, lieutenant(Br), bury,guess, foetid
// a, ai, al, au, i hand, plaid, salmon, laugh (some accents),
meringue
// u, o, oe, oe, ou, oo, wo sun, son, come, does, touch, flood,
twopence
// a, au, aw, ough, augh, o, oa, oo, al,uo, u, ao
fall, author, jaw, bought, caught, cord, broad, door, walk,
fluorine(Br), sure(some accents),extraordinary
// o, a, eau, ach, au, ou lock, watch, bureaucracy, yacht,
sausage, cough
// a, ah, aa, i father, blah, baa, lingerie(US)
/a/ ae, ai, aie, aille, ais, ay, aye, ei, eigh,ey, eye, i, ie,
ia, ie, ic, ig, igh, is, oi,ui, uy, uye, y, y...e, ye
maestro, krait, shanghaied, canaille (RP), aisle, kayak, aye,
heist, height, geyser (US), eye, mic,fine, diaper, tie, indict,
sign, high, isle, choir, guide, buy, guyed, tryst, type, bye
// oi, oy, awy, uoy oye, eu foil, toy, lawyer, buoy, gargoyle,
Freudian
/a/ ou, ow, ough, au, ao out, now, bough, tau, Taoism
/r/ aar, ar, are, arre, ear, er, our, uar, arrh bazaar, car,
are, bizarre, heart, sergeant, our(some accents), guard,
catarrh
/r/ aar, aer, air, aire, ar, are, ayer, ayor,ear, eir, er, ere,
err, erre, ey're, e'er
Aaron, aerial, hair, millionaire, ware, vary, prayer, mayor,
bear, heir, stationery (some accents),where, err (variant),
parterre, they're, e'er
/r/ ear, eer, eir, eor, ere, ers, e're, ier, iere,ir
ear, beer, weir, theory(US), here, revers, we're, pier,
premiere, menhir
/r/ er, or, ur, ir, yr, our, ear, err, eur, yrrh,ar, oeu,
olo
fern, worst, turn, thirst, myrtle, journey, earth, err, amateur,
myrrh, grammar, hors d'oeuvre,colonel
/ju/ u, ue, eu, ue, iew, eau, ieu, ueue, ui,ewe, ew
music*, use, feud, cue, view, beautiful*, adieu*, queue,
nuisance*, ewe, few, * in some dialects, seeyod-dropping
-
English orthography 20
References[1] A short history of English spelling (http:/ /
englishspellingproblems. co. uk/ html/ history. html)[2] English
language. (2010). In Encyclopdia Britannica. Retrieved November 23,
2010, from Encyclopdia Britannica Online: (http:/ / www.
britannica. com/ EBchecked/ topic/ 188048/ English-language)[3]
Often this is because of the historical pronunciation of each word
where, over time, two separate sounds become the same but the
different
spellings remain: plane used to be pronounced , but the sound
merged with the sound in plain, making plain and plane homonyms.[4]
Rollins 2004: 16-19; Chomsky & Halle 1968; Chomsky 1970[5]
Chomsky & Halle 1968:54[6][6] Chomsky 1970:294; Rollins
2004:17[7] Rollins 2004:1719[8] Included in Webster's Third New
International Dictionary,1981[9] Righting the Mother Tongue: From
Olde English to Email, the Twisted Story of English Spelling, by
David Wolman. Collins, ISBN
978-0-06-136925-4. (http:/ / www. rightingthemothertongue. com/
)
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Aronoff, Mark. (1978). An English spelling convention.
Linguistic Inquiry, 9, 299303. Bell, Masha (2004), Understanding
English Spelling, Cambridge, Pegasus. Bell, Masha (2007), Learning
to Read, Cambridge, Pegasus. Bell, Masha (2009), Rules and
Exceptions of English Spelling, Cambridge, Pegasus. Brengelman,
Fred H. (1970). Sounds and letters in American English. In The
English language: An introduction for teachers (pp.7798).
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Brengelman, Fred H. (1970). Generative phonology and the
teaching of spelling. English Journal, 59, 11131118. Brengelman,
Fred H. (1971). English spelling as a marker of register and style.
English Studies, 52, 201209. Brengelman, Fred H. (1980).
Orthoepists, printers, and the rationalization of English spelling.
Journal of English and German Philology, 79,
332354. Carney, Edward. (1994). A survey of English spelling.
London: Routledge. Chomsky, Carol. (1970). Reading, writing and
phonology. Harvard Educational Review, 40 (2), 287309. Chomsky,
Noam; & Halle, Morris. (1968). The sound pattern of English.
New York: Harper and Row. (Particularly pp.46, 4849, 69, 80n,
131n, 148, 174n, 221).
Cummings, D. W. (1988). American English spelling: An informal
description. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
ISBN0801879566
Derwing, Bruce; Priestly, Tom; Rochet, Bernard. (1987). The
description of spelling-to-sound relationships in English, French
and Russian:Progress, problems and prospects. In P. Luelsdorff
(Ed.), Orthography and phonology. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Dixon, Robert. (1977). Morphographic spelling program. Eugene,
OR: Engelman-Becker Press. Emerson, Ralph. (1997). English spelling
and its relation to sound. American Speech, 72 (3), 260288. Hanna,
Paul; Hanna, Jean; Hodges, Richard; & Rudorf, Edwin. (1966).
Phonemegrapheme correspondences as cues to spelling
improvement. Washington, D.C.: US Department of Health,
Education and Welfare.
Jespersen, Otto. (1909). A modern English grammar on historical
principles: Sounds and spellings (Part 1). Heidelberg: C. Winter.
Luelsdorff, Philip A. (1994). Developmental morphographemics II. In
W. C. Watt (Ed.), Writing systems and cognition (pp.141182).
Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
McCawley, James D. (1994). Some graphotactic constraints. In W.
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Mencken, H. L. (1936). The American language: An inquiry into
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Rollings, Andrew G. (1998). Marking devices in the spelling of
English. Atlantis, 20 (1), 129143. Rollings, Andrew G. (1999).
Markers in English and other orthographies. In L. Iglesias Rbade
& P. Nuez Pertejo (Eds.), Estudios de
lingstica contrastiva (pp.441449). Universidad de Santiago.
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English orthography 21
Rollings, Andrew G. (2003). System and chaos in English
spelling: The case of the voiceless palato-alveolar fricative.
English Language andLinguistics, 7 (2), 211233.
Rollings, Andrew G. (2004). The spelling patterns of English.
LINCOM studies in English linguistics (04). Muenchen: LINCOM
EUROPA. Sampson, Geoffrey. (1985). Writing systems: A linguistic
introduction. London: Hutchinson. Seymour, P. H. K.; Aro, M.; &
Erskine, J. M. (2003). Foundation literacy acquisition in European
orthographies. British Journal of
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C. (Eds.). (1989). Oxford English dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon
Press. Steinberg, Danny. (1973). Phonology, reading and Chomsky and
Halle's optimal orthography. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research,
2 (3),
239258. Stubbs, Michael. (1980). Language and literacy: The
sociolinguistics of reading and writing. London: Routledge &
Kegan Paul. Venezky, Richard L. (1967). English orthography: Its
graphical structure and its relation to sound. Reading Research
Quarterly, 2, 75105. Venezky, Richard L. (1970). The structure of
English orthography. The Hague: Mouton. Venezky, Richard L. (1976).
Notes on the history of English spelling. Visible Language, 10,
351365. Venezky, Richard L. (1999). The American way of spelling.
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External links Transcription Writer (http:/ / www. forcemem.
com/ Download Transcription Writer. htm) freeware program is
designed to write English words with the help of phonetic
symbols Rules for English Spelling: Adding Suffixes (http:/ / www.
kwiznet. com/ p/ takeQuiz. php?ChapterID=10015&
CurriculumID=26), QU Rule (http:/ / www. kwiznet. com/ p/
takeQuiz. php?ChapterID=10016&CurriculumID=26), i before e
(http:/ / www. kwiznet. com/ p/ takeQuiz.
php?ChapterID=10017&CurriculumID=26), Silent e (http:/ / www.
kwiznet. com/ p/ takeQuiz.
php?ChapterID=10018&CurriculumID=26), 'er' vs. 'or' (http:/ /
www. kwiznet. com/ p/ takeQuiz.
php?ChapterID=10021&CurriculumID=26)
White Paper (http:/ / www. espindle. org/ whitepaper. pdf)
Research based Tutoring of English Spelling Hou tu pranownse
Inglish (http:/ / zompist. com/ spell. html) describes rules which
predict a word's pronunciation
from its spelling with 85% accuracy Free spelling information
(http:/ / www. thephonicspage. org/ On Spelling/ onspellinglinks.
html) and Free
spelling lessons in QuickTime movie format (http:/ / www.
thephonicspage. org/ On Spelling/ spellinglessonsl.html) at The
Phonics Page (http:/ / www. thephonicspage. org/ ).
-
Article Sources and Contributors 22
Article Sources and ContributorsEnglish orthography Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=550081641 Contributors:
12cool725, 131.152.29.xxx, 23sports, 28bytes, 2WR1, 4pq1injbok, A.
Bahn, AdamRetchless,Aeusoes1, AfanforXX, Afasmit, Allens,
Altenmann, Amieni, Andycjp, Angr, Anonymous26, Apcbg, Asafoetida,
Asarla, AxelBoldt, B4hand, BD2412, Balloonguy, Bamyers99,
Barticus88,Bearnfder, Beetstra, Beland, Benc, Benjaburns, Benwbrum,
Benwing, BioTube, Bkell, Blahma, Bluemoose, Bob A, Branddobbe,
Brian the Editor, Brion VIBBER, Bryan Derksen, Bspringbett,Cameron
Nedland, Cassowary, Catdude, ChrisGualtieri, Chriswaterguy,
ColBatGuano, Comet Tuttle, Cometstyles, Conversion script,
Crazynas, Cultural Freedom, Damian Yerrick, Davidleeroth,Dbfirs,
Deflective, Demize, Djwebb1969, Don4of4, DopefishJustin, Doric
Loon, Draicone, Duoduoduo, Eaefremov, EamonnPKeane, EdC, EdwinHJ,
Ehrenkater, EncycloPetey, ErrantX, Espoo,FilipeS, Florian Blaschke,
Foobaz, Freelance Intellectual, Furrykef, Futhark, Fte, Gailtb,
Geoking66, Georgia guy, Goododa, Graham Asher, Graham87,
Grammatical error, Grover cleveland,Guy Peters, Hagrid grrrl, Hairy
Dude, Hannes Hirzel, Hlnodovic, Hmains, IAmTheCoinMan, Icairns,
Ihcoyc, Iridescent, Iron CurtaiNYC, Ish ishwar, Itai, JHJ, JKW,
JRStutler, JackLumber,Jackessler, Jacob Newton, Jarble,
JasonAQuest, Jasper Chua, Jeeny, Jeff G., Jfnelson61, Jim10701,
Jivan82, Jnestorius, JoDonHo, JoeenNc, John of Reading, JonMoore,
Joseph Solis in Australia,Jrdioko, Jrouquie, Kablammo, Kearnsdm,
Kiewbra, Kirbytime, Kjkolb, Kocio, Kric Cbith, Krsont, Kurykh,
Kvn8907, Kwamikagami, Kwertii, LDHan, LGF1992UK,
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Logiphile, Louche, MRippel, Macrakis, Majora4, Manishearth, Mark J,
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Mike Rosoft, Mikebrand, Minesweeper, Mozzerati, Mr Gronk, Muhandes,
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RekishiEJ,RetiredUser2, Reywas92, Rich Farmbrough, Rmhermen,
Rosiewrose, Rosmoran, Ruhrjung, SC979, SFGiants, SameerKhan,
Sburke, Scotty Zebulon, SergF, Shorne, Siroxo, Sj122390,
Sljaxon,Sminthopsis84, Smyth, Spacetweek, Spellmender, Squids and
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Creator, Svick, T A Francis, TAKASUGI Shinji, Tarquin,Tedder,
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YoshiroShin, ZanderSchubert, pple, , 347 anonymous edits
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
Unported//creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
English orthographyFunction of the lettersPhonemic
representationWord originHomophone differentiationMarking sound
changes in other letters
Silent lettersMultiple functionalityUnderlying
representation
DiacriticsLigaturesPhonic irregularities Spelling irregularities
History"Ough" words
Spelling patternsSpelling to sound
correspondencesVowelsCombinations of vowel
lettersConsonantsCombinations of other consonant and vowel
letters
Sound to spelling correspondences
ReferencesBibliographyExternal links
License