On other pages News 1 part 1, part 2, part 4.

Newsletter Winter 1982 part 3.

218 VOWEL SPELLING PATTERNS.

Ways to spell 18 vowel sounds.
Read DOWN to see how vowel sounds can be spelt, and ACROSS for how vowels spellings can be pronounced. [These three tables were alined across a double page.]

a e i o u a can any stomach was   e   bed pretty i meringue   big o women dog mother u bury busy   fun a-e have palate message e-e fence breeches i-e give o-e gone come u-e guess uncle ar er peril air or forest ow knowlege oy 00 blood ai plait said au laurel ea head ei foreign ie friend sieve y, ey city ou young ough cough tough   thorough ua guarantee language ui build ugh ugh eigh extra Consonants phlegm rhythm honour   debt victuals John   salmon Wednesday yacht extra Vowels cheque bicycle tongue   leopard carriage tortoise   harangue conscious other patterns because station   matt repp ill boss butt

a-e e-e i-e o-e u-e ar er a baby fast sugar e ballet me i piano find girl o go work u music fur a-e gate garage e-e fete scene eye ewe were i-e police bite circle o-e bone u-e bouquet use nurse ar car er sergeant her air or ow show oy 00 brooch ai aisle au chauffeur aunt ea break sea heart early ei veil receipt either ie chief view y, ey they key sky ou bouquet shoulder you journey ough though ua guard ui guide suit ugh Hugh laugh eigh eight height cologne extra Consonants dahlia sign folk khaki myrrh   reign debris island ghost impugn half colonel   straight light depot answer extra Vowels raise league dye rogue fugue bourgeois   people mauve juice bazaar amateur   please beau beauty other patterns gaol cheese diamond boat lieu   play receive buy deuce   melée bee   piece choir feud   paediatric

air or ow oy 00 oo a parent ball e i o do wolf u truth put a-e scare awe e-e there i-e o-e horse shoe u-e blue ar warm er air air or for worsted ow cow oy boy 00 poor boot book ai au autumn sauerkraut ea bear ei their ie y, ey ou four out soup could ough bought bough through ua ui fruit ugh taught eigh extra Consonants hour rheumatism   mayor talk   sword two extra Vowels cause mouse quoit bruise   George buoy route   course noise choose other patterns aeroplane board gargoyle manoeuvre   broad boil pleurisy

A Fonemic Solution to the Vowel Spelling Chart above.

The major spelling reform proposals that emphasise 'spelling as you speak' and stick to the present alfabet are very similar in essential vowel spellings - e.g. the S.S.S. New Spelling and its versions, and Dewey's World English Spelling.

This is the basic plan, tho details can vary:-

bat	bet	bit	not	but
maet	meet	miet	moet	muet
bar, paam	bur	baer	bor, baut
bout	boil	boot	buuk

You can see for yourself the theoretical advantages and disadvantages - but only by experiment can you tell what really works or doesn't work.

A morfo-fonemic solution to the Vowel Spelling Chart above.

This solution 'tidies up' present spelling by applying a few rules consistently. For vowel spellings these rules include place in a word, length of word, and similarity of related words; homophones can be distinguished if they are found to be confused.

bat	bet	bit, pity	not	but
mate	mete	mite	mote	mute
may	me	hi-fi	no	emu
rail	reel		roan
making	impeding	riding	going	ruing
bar	her	hair	for
ask	ocur		taut
kraal			saw
banana			also
about	boil	boot	book
cow	boy	tabu	put
		flute

This is a 44-pattern solution rather than simply 18-20.

Again, it has advantages and disadvantages, one aspect being that it can cross English dialects more easily. Spelling is seen more as a conventional representation - like a sketch, - than as a 'fotograf' of speech.

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On other pages News 1 part 1, part 2, part 4.