English orthography
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English orthography (or spelling), has relatively complicated rules when compared to other orthographic systems written with alphabetic scripts and contains many inconsistencies between spelling and pronunciation, necessitating rote learning for most people learning to read or write English.
Contents |
[edit] Description
[edit] Function of symbols
Like most alphabetic systems, letters in English orthography may represent a particular sound. For example, the word cat (pronounced /k�æt/) consists of three letters c, a, and t, in which c represents the sound /k/, a the sound /æ/, and t the sound /t/.
Single letters or multiple sequences of letters may provide this function. Thus, the single letter c in the word cat represents the single sound /k/. In the word ship (pronounced /ʃɪp/), the digraph sh (two letters) represents the sound /ʃ/. Additionally, a single may may represent more than one sound, such as the x in the prefix ex- that represents the sounds /ks/ (for example, in the word ex-wife, pronounced /ɛkswaɪf/).
The same letter (or sequence of letters) may indicate different sounds when the letter occurs in different positions. For instance, the digraph gh represents the sound /f/ at the end of single-syllable, single-morpheme words, such as cough (pronounced /kɔf/ in many varieties of American English). At the beginning of syllables (i.e. the syllable onset), the digraph gh represents the sound /g/, such as in the word ghost (pronounced /gost/ or /gəʊst/). Furthermore, the sound value represented by a particular letter (or letters) is often restricted to its position within the word. Thus, the digraph gh never represents the sound /f/ in syllable onsets and never represents the sound /g/ in syllable codas.
Another function of English letters is to provide information about other aspects of pronunciation or the word itself. Rollins (2004) uses the term "markers" for letters with this function. Letters may mark different types of information. One common type of marking is that of a different pronunciation of another letter within the word. An example of this is the letter e in the word cottage (pronounced /kɒtɪdʒ/ or /kɑtɪdʒ/). Here e marks that the preceding g should represent the sound /dʒ/. This contrasts with the more common value of g in word-final position as the sound /g/, such as in tag (pronounced /tæɡ/). A particular letter may have more than one pronunciation-marking role. Besides the marking of word-final g as indicating /dʒ/, the letter e may also mark vowels for pronunciation. In the pair ban (pronounced /bæn/ and bane (pronounced /ben/), the a of ban has the value /æ/, whereas the a of bane is marked by the e as having the value /e/.
Other types of marking include indicating information about word origins. The letter y in non-word-final positions represents the sound /ɪ/ in many words borrowed from Greek, whereas the letter usually representing this sound in non-Greek words is the letter i.
Letters are also used to distinguish between what would be homonyms. The words hour and our are pronounced identically (as /aʊə/ or /aʊr/). However, they are able to distinguish from each other orthographically by the addition of the letter h. Another example of this is the homophones plain and plane where both are pronounced /plen/, but are marked with two different orthographic representations of the vowel /e/. In written language, this may help to resolve potential ambiguities that would arise otherwise (cf. He's breaking the car vs. He's braking the car).
A given letter or (letters) may have dual functions. For example, the letter i in the word cinema has a sound-representing function (representing the sound /ɪ/) and a pronunciation-marking function (marking the c as having the value /s/ opposed to the value /k/).
Other letters have no linguistic function. For example, there is a general constraint in English orthography that no word may end in the letter v. Thus, in order to satisfy this contraint, syllable-final v is followed by the letter e, such as in the word give. Thus, words like rev, revving are extremely rare.
[edit] Consonants
[edit] Vowels
In a generative approach to English spelling, Rollins (2004) identifies twenty main orthographic vowels of stressed syllables that are grouped into four main categories: "Lax", "Tense", "Heavy", "Tense-R". (As this classification is based on orthography, not all orthographic "lax" vowels are necessarily phonologically lax.)
| Letter | Lax | Tense | Heavy | Tense-R |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | /æ/ man | /e/ mane | /ɑr/ mar | /ɛr/ mare |
| e | /ɛ/ met | /i/ mete | /ər/ her | /ɪr/ here |
| i | /ɪ/ win | /aɪ/ wine | /ər/ fir | /aɪr/ fire |
| o | /ɑ/ mop | /o/ mope | /ɔr/ for, fore | |
| u | /ʌ/ hug | /ju/ huge | /ər/ cur | /jur/ cure |
| u | /ʊ/ push | /u/ rude | -- | /ʊr/ sure |
For instance, the letter a can represent the lax vowel /æ/, tense /e/, heavy /ɑ/, or tense-r /ɛ/. 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, the letter a in hat is lax /æ/, but when the letter e is added in the word hate the letter a is tense /e/. Similarly, heavy and tense-r vowels pattern together: the letter(s) a(r) in car is heavy /ɑ(r)/, the letter(s) a(r) followed by silent e in the word care is /ɛ(r)/. The letter u represents two different vowel patterns, one being /ʌ - ju - ər - jur/, the other /ʊ - u - ʊr/. There is no distinction between heavy and tense-r vowels with the letter o, and the letter u in the /ʊ-u-ʊr/ pattern does not have a heavy vowel member.
Besides silent e, another strategy for indicating tense and tense-r vowels, is the addition of another orthographic vowel 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 /æ/, but with the addition of i (as the digraph ai) in the word main the a is marked as tense and pronounced /e/. These two strategies produce words that are spelled differently but pronounced identically, as in mane (silent e strategy) and main (digraph strategy). The use of two different strategies relates to the function of distinguishing between words that would otherwise be homonyms.
Besides the 20 basic vowel spellings, Rollins (2004) has a reduced vowel category (representing the sounds /ə, ɪ/) and a miscellaneous category (representing the sounds /ɔɪ, aʊ, aɪr, aʊr/ and /y/+V, /w/+V, V+V).
[edit] Diacritics
Unlike most other Germanic languages, English has almost no diacritics, except in foreign loanwords. Hence the five vowel letters of the latin alphabet can represent a extremely wide variety of sounds depending on their environment and etymology.
[edit] Underlying representation
- to be written....
- English spelling often tries to preserve meaning in related word forms (the noun, adjective, verb, etc of the same root) first and foremost rather than merely representing how the word sounds. For example, while there is no phonological reason to include the -ig- combination in both "to sign" and "a signature", if written more phonetically, they would be "sain" and "signacher" or some such, with the subsequent visual loss of related meaning. Furthermore, given that both vowel sounds and consonant sounds change radically when a change in word form also involves a change in syllable stress (a common occurrence in English: "ná·tion" and "na·tion·ál·i·ty"), English spelling has generally developed a marked preference for preserving the common meaning underlying word forms.
[edit] Irregularities
The English spelling system, compared to the systems used in other languages, is quite irregular and complex. Although French presents a similar degree of difficulty when encoding (writing), English is more difficult when decoding (reading)[citation needed]. English has never had any formal regulating authority, like the Spanish Real Academia Española, Italian Accademia della Crusca or the French Académie française, so attempts to regularize or reform the language, including spelling reform, have usually met with failure.
The only significant exceptions were the reforms of Noah Webster which resulted in many of the differences between British and American spelling, such as center/centre, and dialog/dialogue. (Other differences, such as -ize/-ise in realize/realise etc, came about separately.)
Besides the quirks the English spelling system has inherited from its past, there are other idiosyncrasies in spelling that make it tricky to learn. English contains 24-27 (depending on dialect) separate consonant phonemes and, depending on dialect, anywhere from fourteen to twenty vowels. However, there are only 26 letters in the modern English alphabet, so there cannot be a one-to-one correspondence between letters and sounds. Many sounds are spelled using different letters or multiple letters, and for those words whose pronunciation is predictable from the spelling, the sounds denoted by the letters depend on the surrounding letters. For example, the digraph "th" represents two different sounds (the voiced interdental fricative and the voiceless interdental fricative) (see Pronunciation of English th), and the voiceless alveolar fricative can be represented by the letters "s" and "c".
Of course, such a philosophy can be taken too far. For instance, there was also a period when the spellings of words was altered in what is now regarded as a misguided attempt to make them conform to what were perceived to be the etymological origins of the words. For example, the letter "b" was added to "debt" in an attempt to link it to the Latin debitum, and the letter "s" in "island" is a misplaced attempt to link it to Latin insula instead of the Norse word igland, which is the true origin of the English word. The letter "p" in "ptarmigan" has no etymological justification whatsoever.
Furthermore, in most recent loanwords, English makes no attempt to Anglicise the spellings of these words, and preserves the foreign spellings, even when they employ exotic conventions, like the Polish "cz" in "Czech" or the Old Norse "fj" in "fjord" (Although New Zealand English exclusively spells it "fiord"). In fact, instead of loans being respelled to conform to English spelling standards, sometimes the pronunciation changes as a result of pressure from the spelling. One example of this is the word "ski", which was adopted from Norwegian in the mid-18th century, although it didn't become common until 1900. It used to be pronounced "shee", which is similar to the Norwegian pronunciation, but the increasing popularity of the sport after the middle of the 20th century helped the "sk" pronunciation replace it.
The spelling of English continues to evolve. Many loanwords come from languages where the pronunciation of vowels corresponds to the way they were pronounced in Old English, which is similar to the Italian or Spanish pronunciation of the vowels, and is the value the vowel symbols [a], [e], [i], [o], and [u] have in the International Phonetic Alphabet. As a result, there is a somewhat regular system of pronouncing "foreign" words in English, and some borrowed words have had their spelling changed to conform to this system. For example, Hindu used to be spelled "Hindoo", and the name "Maria" used to be pronounced like the name "Mariah", but was changed to conform to this system. It has been argued that this influence probably started with the introduction of many Italian words into English during the Renaissance, in fields like music, from which come the words "andante", "viola", "forte", etc.
Commercial advertisers have also had an effect on English spelling. In attempts to differentiate their products from others, they introduce new or simplified spellings like "lite" instead of "light", "thru" instead of "through", "smokey" instead of "smoky" (for "smokey bacon" flavour crisps), and "rucsac" instead of "rucksack". The spellings of personal names have also been a source of spelling innovations: affectionate versions of women's names that sound the same as men's names have been spelled differently: Nikki and Nicky, Toni and Tony, Jo and Joe.
As examples of the idiosyncratic nature of English spelling, the combination "ou" can be pronounced in at least eleven different ways: "famous", "journey", "cough", "dough", "bought", "loud", "tough", "should", "you", "flour", "tour"; and the vowel sound in "me" can be spelt in at least eleven different ways: "paediatric", "me", "seat", "seem", "ceiling", "people", "chimney", "machine", "siege", "phoenix", "lazy". (These examples assume a more-or-less standard non-regional British English accent. Other accents will vary.)
Sometimes everyday speakers of English change a non-intuitive pronunciation simply because it's non-intuitive. Changes like this aren't usually seen as "standard", but can become standard if used enough. An example is the word "miniscule", which still competes with its original spelling of "minuscule", though this might also be because of analogy with the word "mini".
[edit] "ough" words
The most notorious group of letters in the English language, ough, is commonly pronounced at least ten different ways, six of which are illustrated in the construct, Though the tough cough and hiccough plough him through, which is quoted by Robert A. Heinlein in The Door into Summer to illustrate the difficulties facing automated speech transcription and reading. Ough is in fact a word in its own right; it is an exclamation of disgust similar to "ugh".
| Pron. | IPA | Example | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| "UFF" | [ʌf] | tough, enough | Compare "wuff" |
| "OFF" | [ɔf] or [ɒf] | cough, trough | Trough is pronounced like 'troth' by some speakers of American English |
| "OW" | [aʊ] | bough, plough | |
| "OH" | [əʊ] | though, dough | |
| "AW" | [ɔː] | thought | |
| "OO" | [uː] | through, slough | Slough is pronounced as 'slew' or to rhyme with "bough" or to rhyme with "tough" in American English, in British English it rhymes with "bough" (esp. the town) or "tough" |
| "UH" | [ə] | thorough, borough | Both pronounced as 'OH' in American English |
| "UP" | [ʌp] | hiccough | Variant spelling of "hiccup", though the latter form is recommended in both British and US |
| "UKH" | [ux] | sough | In some words in Scots; otherwise pronounced 'UFF' or 'OW' |
| "OHKH" | [əʊx] | jough, turlough | Manx and Irish respectively |
| "OCK" | [ɔk] | hough | More commonly spelled "hock" from the 20th Century onwards |
| "OKH" | [ɒx] | lough | A lake; Irish analogue of Scots "loch" |
Other pronunciations can be found in proper nouns. For example the surname Coughlin is sometimes pronounced [kɔglin].
The original pronunciation in all cases was the one of lough. However the kh sound has disappeared from most modern English dialects. As it faded, different speakers replaced it by different near equivalents in different words. Thus the present confusion resulted.
The two "ough"s in the English place name Loughborough are pronounced differently, resulting in Luffburruh.
Tough, though, through, and thorough are formed by adding an additional letter each time, yet none of them rhymes with another.
[edit] History of the English spelling system
Throughout the history of the English language, these inconsistencies have gradually increased in number. There are a number of contributing factors. First, gradual changes in pronunciation, such as the Great Vowel Shift, account for a tremendous amount of irregularities. Second, relatively recent loan words from other languages generally carry their original spellings, which are often not phonetic in English. The Romanization of languages (e.g., Chinese) using alphabets derived from the Latin alphabet has further complicated this problem, for example when pronouncing Chinese place names. Third, some prescriptivists have had partial success in their attempts to normalize the English language, forcing a change in spelling but not in pronunciation.
The regular spelling system of Old English was swept away by the Norman Conquest, and English itself was eclipsed by French for three centuries, eventually emerging with its spelling much influenced by French. English had also borrowed large numbers of words from French, which for reasons of prestige and familiarity kept their French spellings. The spelling of Middle English, such as in the writings of Geoffrey Chaucer, is very irregular and inconsistent, with the same word being spelled differently, sometimes even in the same sentence. However, these were generally much better guides to pronunciation than modern English spelling can honestly claim.
The pronunciation /ʌ/ (normally spelled u) of written o in son, love, come, etc. is due to Norman spelling conventions prohibiting writing of u before v, m, n due to the graphical confusion that would result. (v, u, n were identically written with two minims in Norman handwriting; w was written as two u letters; m was written with three minims, hence mm looked like vun, nvu, uvu, etc.) Similarly, spelling conventions also prohibited final v. Hence the identical spellings of the three different vowel sounds in love, grove and prove are due to ambiguity in the Middle English 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 "i" in "mine" changing from a pure vowel to a diphthong. These changes for the most part did not detract from the rule-governed nature of the spelling system; but in some cases they introduced confusing 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 merely froze the current system, rather than providing the impetus for a realignment of spelling with pronunciation. Furthermore, it introduced further inconsistencies, partly because of the use of typesetters trained abroad, particularly in the Low Countries.
By the time dictionaries were introduced in the mid 1600s, the spelling system of English started to stabilize, and by the 1800s, most words had set spellings.
[edit] The state of English spelling
It has been shown that regular alphabetic spelling systems make languages easier to learn. Indeed, the concept of learning "spelling" seems very strange to literate speakers of languages such as Finnish or Spanish, as those languages' spelling systems are extremely regular. This is also the case with several abugida alphabets, such as Devanagari, used to write many languages of India. Vietnamese used to be written exclusively using Chinese characters, so that becoming literate in Vietnamese required years of study, and as a result, very few people were literate. However, after the introduction of a modified form of the Latin alphabet for writing Vietnamese, the writing system could be mastered by a native speaker with only a few hours or days of study, and literacy in Vietnamese is much more widespread now. English, it seems, is somewhere in between: its spelling system is irregular, but it is regular to some degree and mastery only requires knowledge of the 26 letters of the alphabet, whereas mastering written Chinese or Japanese is much more difficult, requiring the memorization of thousands of different characters.
Studies have shown that dyslexia occurs more often (or at least is more noticeable) among speakers of languages such as English whose orthography differs heavily from the phonology than speakers of languages where the letter-sound correspondence is more regular.[citation needed]
[edit] Spelling patterns
[edit] Sound to spelling correspondences
The following table shows for each sound, the various spelling patterns used to denote it. The symbol "…" stands for an intervening consonant. The letter sequences are in order of frequency with the most common first. Some of these patterns are very rare or unique, such as au for the æ sound in laugh.
| Consonants | ||
|---|---|---|
| IPA | spelling | example |
| /p/ | p, pp, ph, pe, gh | pill, happy, Phuket, tape, hiccough |
| /b/ | b, bb, bh, be, p (in some dialects) | bit, rabbit, Bhutan, tribe, thespian |
| /t/ | t, tt, ed, pt, th, ct, te | ten, bitter, topped, ptomaine, thyme, ctenoid, hate |
| /d/ | d, dd, ed, dh, de, th (in some dialects) | dive, ladder, failed, dharma, made, them |
| /g/ | g, gg, gue, gh | go, stagger, catalogue, ghost |
| /k/ | c, k, ck, ch, cc, qu, q, cq, cu, que, kk, kh, ke | cat, key, tack, chord, account, liquor, Iraq, acquaint, biscuit, mosque, trekker, khan, make |
| /m/ | m, mm, mb, mn, mh, me, gm, chm | mine, hammer, climb, hymn, mho, lame, diaphragm, drachm |
| /n/ | n, nn, kn, gn, pn, nh, cn, ne, mn, ng (in some dialects) | nice, funny, knee, gnome, pneumonia, piranha, cnidarian, vane, mnemonic, fighting |
| /ŋ/ | ng, n, ngue, ngh | sing, link, tongue, Singh |
| /r/ | r, rr, wr, rh, rrh, re | ray, parrot, wrong, rhyme, diarrhea, more |
| /f/ | f, ph, ff, gh, pph, u, th (in some dialects) | fine, physical, off, laugh, sapphire, BR lieutenant, thin |
| /v/ | v, vv, f, ve | vine, savvy, of, have |
| /θ/ | th, chth, phth, tth | thin, chthonic, phthisis, Matthew |
| /ð/ | th, the | them, breathe |
| /s/ | s, c, ss, sc, st, ps, sch, cc, se, ce, z (in some 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 |
| /ʃ/ | sh, ti, ci, ssi, si, ss, ch, s, sci, ce, sch, sc | shin, nation, special, mission, expansion, tissue, machine, sugar, conscience, ocean, schist, crescendo |
| /ʒ/ | si, s, g, z, j, zh, ti, sh (in some dialects) | division, leisure, genre, seizure, jeté, Zhytomyr, equation, Pershing |
| /tʃ/ | ch, t, tch, ti, c, cz, tsch | chin, nature, batch, mention, cello, Czech, Deutschmark |
| /dʒ/ | g, j, dg, d, di, gi, ge, dj, gg | magic, jump, ledger, graduate, soldier, Belgian, dungeon, Djibouti, suggest |
| /h/ | h, wh, j, ch | he, whom, fajita, chutzpah |
| /j/ | y, i, j, ll | yes, onion, hallelujah, tortilla |
| /l/ | l, ll, lh, le | line, hall, Lhasa, rule |
| /w/ | w, u, o, ou, wh (in most dialects) | we, queen, choir, Ouija board, what |
| /ʍ/ | wh (in some dialects) | wheel |
| Vowels | ||
| IPA | spelling | example |
| /i/ | e, ea, ee, e…e, ae, ei, i…e, ie, eo, oe, ie...e, ay, ey, i, y, oi | be, beach, bee, cede, Caesar, deceit, machine, field, people, amoeba, hygiene, quay, key, ski, city, chamois |
| /ɪ/ | i, y, ui, e, ee, ie, o, u, a, ei, ee, ia, ea, i...e, ai | bit, myth, build, pretty, been, sieve, women, busy, damage, counterfeit, sovereign, carriage, mileage, medicine, bargain |
| /u/ | oo, u, o, u…e, ou, ew, ue, o…e, ui, eu, oe, ough, wo, ioux, ieu, ault, oup, w | tool, luminous, who, flute, soup, jewel, true, lose, fruit, maneuver, canoe, through, two, Sioux, US lieutenant, Sault Sainte Marie, coup, cwm |
| /ʊ/ | oo, u, o, oo...e, or, ou, oul | look, full, wolf, gooseberry, worsted, courier, should |
| /e/ | a, a…e, ay, ai, ai...e, aig, aigh, ao, au, e (é), e...e, ea, ei, ei...e, eig, eigh, ee (ée), eh, et, ey, ez, er, ie, eg | paper, rate, pay, rain, cocaine, arraign, straight, BR gaol, gauge, ukulele (café), crepe, steak, veil, beige, reign, eight, matinee (soirée), eh, ballet, obey, chez, dossier, US lingerie, thegn |
| /ə/ | a, e, o, u, ai, ou, eig, y, ah, ough, gh | another, anthem, awesome, atrium, mountain, callous, foreign, beryl, Messiah, BR borough, Edinburgh |
| /o/ | o, o…e, oa, ow, ou, oe, oo, eau, oh, ew, au, aoh, ough | so, bone, boat, know, soul, foe, brooch, beau, oh, sew, mauve, pharaoh, furlough |
| /ɛ/ | e, ea, a, ae, ai, ay, ea…e, ei, eo, ie, ieu, u, ue | met, weather, many, aesthetic, said, says, cleanse, heifer, jeopardy, friend, BR lieutenant, bury, guess |
| /æ/ | a, ai, al, au, i | hand, plaid, salmon, laugh, meringue |
| /ʌ/ | u, o, o…e, oe, ou, oo, wo | sun, son, come, does, touch, flood, twopennce |
| /ɔ/ | a, au, aw, ough, augh, oa, al, uo | fall, author, jaw, bought, caught, broad, walk, BR fluorine |
| /ɑ/ | o, a, eau, ach | lock, watch, bureaucracy, yacht |
| /aɪ/ | i…e, i, y, igh, ie, ei, eigh, uy, ai, ey, ye, eye, y…e, ae, ais, is, ig, ic, ay | fine, Christ, try, high, tie, eidos, height, buy, ailurophobia, geyser, dye, eye, type, maestro, aisle, isle, sign, indict, tayra |
| /ɑr/ | ar, er, ear, a…e, aa | car, sergeant, heart, are, bazaar |
| /ɛr/ | er, ar, ere, are, aire, eir, air, aa | stationery, stationary, where, ware, millionaire, heir, hair, Aaron |
| /ɔɪ/ | oi, oy, aw, uoy oy…e | foil, toy, lawyer, buoy, gargoyle |
| /aʊ/ | ou, ow, ough, au | out, now, bough, tau |
| /ər/ | er, or, ur, ir, yr, our, ear, err, eur, yrrh, ar, oeu, olo | fern, worst, turn, thirst, myrtle, courage, earth, err, amateur, myrrh, grammar, hors d'oeuvre, colonel |
| /ju/ | u, u…e, eu, ue, iew, eau, ieu, ueue, ui, ewe, ew | music*, use, feud, cue, view, beautiful*, adieu*, queue, nuisance*, ewe, few, * in some dialects, see Yod dropping |
[edit] Spelling to sound correspondences
Notes:
- The dash has 2 different meanings. A dash after the letter indicates that it must be at the beginning of a syllable, eg j- in jumper and ajar. A dash before the letter indicates that it cannot be at the beginning of a word, eg -ck in sick and ticket.
- More specific rules take precedence over more general ones, eg '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, eg catalogues.
- The dialect used is RP.
- Isolated foreign borrowings are excluded.
[edit] Combinations of consonant and vowel letters
| Spelling | Major value (IPA) | Examples of major value | Minor value (IPA) | Examples of minor value | Exceptions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| qu- | /kw/ | queen, quick | /k/ | liquor, mosquito | |
| -cqu | /kw/ | acquaint, acquire | |||
| gu- before e or i | /g/ | guest, guide, disguise | |||
| alf | /ɑːf/ | calf, half | |||
| alm | /ɑːm/ | calm, almond | /æm/ salmon | ||
| olm | /əʊm/ | holm (oak) | |||
| alk | /ɔːk/ | walk, chalk | |||
| olk | /əʊk/ | yolk, folk | |||
| al, all | /ɔːl/ | bald, call, falcon | /æl/ shall | ||
| ol, oll | /əʊl/ | old, roll | |||
| unstressed ex- before a vowel or h | /ɪgz/ | exist, examine, exhaust | |||
| unstressed ci- before a vowel | /ʃ/ | special, gracious | |||
| unstressed sci- before a vowel | /ʃ/ | conscience | |||
| unstressed -si before a vowel | /ʃ/ | expansion | /ʒ/ | division, illusion | |
| unstressed -ssi before a vowel | /ʃ/ | mission | |||
| unstressed -ti before a vowel | /ʃ/ | nation, ambitious | /ʒ/ | equation | /ti/ patio, /taɪ/ cation |
| unstressed -ture | /tʃə/ | nature, picture | |||
| unstressed -sure | /ʒə/ | leisure, treasure | |||
| unstressed -zure | /ʒə/ | seizure | |||
| unstressed -ften | /fən/ | soften, often | |||
| unstressed -sten | /sən/ | listen, fasten | |||
| unstressed -stle | /səl/ | whistle, rustle | |||
| word-final -le after a consonant | /əl/ | little, table | |||
| word-final -re after a consonant | /ə/ | metre, fibre | |||
| word-final -ngue | /ŋ/ | tongue | |||
| word-final -gue | /g/ | catalogue, plague, colleague | |||
| word-final -que | /k/ | mosque, bisque | |||
| word-final -ed morpheme after /t/ or /d/ | /ɪd/ | waited | |||
| word-final -ed morpheme after a voiceless sound | /t/ | topped | |||
| word-final -ed morpheme after a voiced sound | /d/ | failed, ordered | |||
| word-final -es morpheme | /ɪz/ | washes, boxes |
[edit] Consonants
| Spelling | Major value (IPA) | Examples of major value | Minor value (IPA) | Examples of minor value | Exceptions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| b, -bb | /b/ | bit, rabbit | |||
| c before e, i or y | /s/ | centre, city, cyst, face, prince | /tʃ/ cello | ||
| c | /k/ | cat, cross | |||
| -cc before e or i | /ks/ | accept | |||
| -cc | /k/ | account | |||
| ch | /tʃ/ | chin | /k/ /ʃ/ | chord, archaic machine, parachute, chef | |
| -ck | /k/ | tack, ticket | |||
| ct- | /t/ | ctenoid | |||
| d, -dd | /d/ | dive, ladder | /dʒ/ graduate, gradual | ||
| -dg | /dʒ/ | ledger | |||
| f, -ff | /f/ | fine, off | /v/ of | ||
| g before e, i or y | /dʒ/ | gentle, magic, gyrate, page, college | /g/ get, give, girl, begin | ||
| g, -gg | /g/ | go, great, stagger | |||
| gh- | /g/ | ghost, ghastly | |||
| -gh | ∅ | dough, high | /f/ | laugh, enough | |
| -ght | /t/ | right, daughter, bought | |||
| gn- | /n/ | gnome, gnaw | |||
| h- after ex | ∅ | exhibit, exhaust | /h/ exhale | ||
| h- | /h/ | he, alcohol | ∅ vehicle | ||
| j- | /dʒ/ | jump, ajar | |||
| k | /k/ | key, bake | |||
| kn- | /n/ | knee, knock | |||
| l, -ll | /l/ | line, hall | |||
| m, -mm | /m/ | mine, hammer | |||
| -mb | /m/ | climb, plumber | |||
| mn- | /n/ | mnemonic | |||
| -mn | /m/ | hymn, autumn | |||
| -n before k | /ŋ/ | link, plonk | |||
| n, -nn | /n/ | nice, funny | |||
| -ng | /ŋ/ | long, singing | /ŋg/ /ndʒ/ | England, finger, stronger danger, passenger | |
| p, -pp | /p/ | pill, happy | |||
| ph | /f/ | physical, photograph | |||
| pn- | /n/ | pneumonia, pneumatic | |||
| ps- | /s/ | psychology, psychic | |||
| pt- | /t/ | ptomaine | |||
| q | /k/ | Iraq | |||
| r, -rr | /ɹ/ | ray, parrot | ∅ iron | ||
| rh, -rrh | /ɹ/ | rhyme, diarrhoea | |||
| -s- between vowels | /z/ | rose, prison | /s/ | house, base | |
| word-final -s morpheme after a voiceless sound | /s/ | pets, shops | |||
| word-final -s morpheme after a voiced sound | /z/ | beds, magazines | |||
| s, -ss | /s/ | song, ask, message | /z/ | scissors, dessert, dissolve | /ʃ/ sugar, tissue |
| sc- before e, i or y | /s/ | scene, scissors, scythe | /sk/ sceptic | ||
| sch- | /sk/ | school | /ʃ/ | schist, schedule | /s/ schism |
| sh | /ʃ/ | shin | |||
| t, -tt | /t/ | ten, bitter | |||
| -tch | /tʃ/ | batch, kitchen | |||
| th | /θ/ or /ð/ | thin, them | /t/ | thyme, Thames | |
| v, -vv | /v/ | vine, bovver | |||
| w- | /w/ | we | |||
| wh- before o | /h/ | who, whole | |||
| wh- | /w/ (/ʍ/ in dialects where this phoneme exists) | wheel | |||
| wr- | /ɹ/ | wrong | |||
| x- | /z/ | xylophone | |||
| -xc before e or i | /ks/ | excellent, excited | |||
| -xc | /ksk/ | excuse | |||
| -x | /ks/ | box | |||
| y- | /j/ | yes | |||
| z, -zz | /z/ | zoo, fuzz |
[edit] See also
- English language
- Spelling reform
- English plural
- English verbs
- Misspelling
- Alternative political spellings
- Classical compound
- List of unusual English words
- Longest word in English
- Shavian alphabet
- Ghoti
- Three letter rule
- List of names in English with non-intuitive pronunciations
- List of common misspellings
- I before e
- Silent E
- Transliteration of Greek into English
- List of English words containing a Q not followed by a U
- Sensational spelling
[edit] External links
- Teaching Spelling - Information on teaching English spelling
- Rules for English Spelling: Adding Suffixes, QU Rule, i before e, Silent e, 'er' vs. 'or'
- White Paper Research based Tutoring of English Spelling
- Hou tu pranownse Inglish describes rules which predict a word's pronunciation from its spelling with 85% accuracy
- Basic Roman Spelling of English
- Free spelling information and Free spelling lessons in QuickTime movie format at The Phonics Page.
[edit] Bibliography
- Carney, Edward. (1994). A survey of English spelling. London: Routledge.
- Rollins, Andrew G. The spelling patterns of English. LINCOM studies in English linguistics (04). Muenchen: LINCOM EUROPA.
- Sapmpson, Geoffrey. (1985). Writing systems: A linguistic introduction. London: Hutchinson.
