britic

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The spelling system of britic (or nwspel) is a method of english spelling reform mentioned in an article in the Journal of the Spelling Society, created by spelling reformer, Reginald Deans.[1] The system allows a basic one-to-one correspondence of sounds with letters in English, but uses only symbols that are available on a normal European/American keyboard, which avoids the input problems involved with systems using diacritics or other symbols not displayed on a keyboard. The system also reduces the length of English spelling by an eighth.[2]

Contents

[edit] Etymology

The word "britic" is the spelling, in britic, for the word "British", since the English language originally came from Britain. The word is written with an initial non-capital letter since britic is written without upper case letters, (except "A", "N", "R", "Y", and "W", which have differing phonological meanings than their lowercase counterparts, "a", "n", "r", "y", and "w"). The system is often reffered to as "nwspel", which, in britic, spells out "new spell".

[edit] Success

The system has been tested on primary school children in the UK and Australia, and the children responded well and quickly to learning the system.[3]

[edit] Letters

Letter names follow the typical English convention of adding an /i:/ sound onto the end of a consonant to get the name (e.g. "b" in traditional english is pronounced 'bee', or /bi:/) , but applies the rule to every consonant, unlike traditional English, which does not do so for all of them (e.g. "s" in traditional english is pronounced 'ess' or /es/, rather than 'see' or /si:/). The names of the consonants are achieved by placing the consonant in front of a "y" (pronounced /i:/). This means that letters such as 'c' in britic, which are pronounced differently from their "regular" use in traditional English, have very different pronunciations. The letter 'c' is named "cy" (pronounced like "she"), while the letter name for 's' is pronounced like "see", which was pronunciation for the name of "c" in traditional english.

Vowels follow a similar pattern, by each adding a "y" in britic (/i:/) to the end of the vowel to produce the vowel name. However, this does not make the vowel a diphthong, and is instead spoken in two separate syllables. In the case of the name for the letter "y", a 'y' is still added on to the end to make the name, making "yy", which is essentially just a long /i/ (giving it the same pronuncation as the letter name 'e' in traditional english).[4]

[edit] Vowels

britic IPA Estuary English example General American example letter name letter name IPA
@ (ɑ) /a,æ/ bat bat @y (ɑy) /ai:,æi:/
a /ʌ,ɑ/ nut not ay /ʌi:/
A (ʌ) /ə/ above above Ay (ʌy) /əi:/
e /ɛ,e/ bet bet ey /ɛi:/
i /ɪ/ bit bit iy /ɪi:/
o /ɒ,ɔ,o/ not torn oy /ɒi:/
r /ɜ/ burglar ry /ɜi:/
u /ʊ/ good good uy /ʊi:/
w /u/ rude rude wy /ui:/
y /i/ feed feed yy /i:/

Long vowels

britic IPA Estuary English example General American example
aa /ɑ:/ car caught
ee /ɛ:/ hair
ii /ɪ:/ fear
oo /ɔ:/ caught
rr /ɜ:/ hurt
uu /ʊ:/ tour

Diphthongs

britic IPA Estuary English example General American example
@u /aʊ,æʊ/ house
ai /ɑɪ/ buy
au /ɑu/ old
Au /əʊ/ no
ei /ɛɪ/ day
oi /ɔɪ/ boy
ou /oʊ/ no

[edit] Consonants

britic IPA example letter name letter name IPA
Labial
b /b/ big by /bi:/
p /p/ pig py /pi:/
v /v/ or /ð/ vat or the vy /vi:/
f /f/ or /θ/ fig or think fy /fi:/
m /m/ mat my /mi:/
W /w/ wait Wy /wi:/
Coronal
d /d/ do dy /di:/
t /t/ to ty /ti:/
z /z/ zoo zy /zi:/
s /s/ sat sy /si:/
n /n/ no ny /ni:/
R /ɹ/ ring Ry /ɹi:/
j /ʒ/ measure jy /ʒi:/
c /ʃ/ shell cy /ʃi:/
l /l/ lot ly /li:/
Dorsal & Glottal
g /g/ go gy /gi:/
k /k/ kettle ky /ki:/
h /h/ hill hy /hi:/
x /x/ loch xy /xi:/
N /ŋ/ sing Ny /ŋi:/
Y /j/ yellow Yy /ji:/

[edit] Sample text

Traditional English

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

Unchanged britic for Estuary English

aa faavA, hw aat in hevAn,
h@lAud by vai neim.
vai kiNdAm kam.
vai wil by dan,
on rf az it iz in hevAn.
giv as vis dei aa deily bRed.
n fAgiv as aa trespAsiz,
@z wy fAgiv vAuz hw trespAs Ageinst as.
n lyd as not intA tempteicAn,
n delivA as fRom yvAl.
fA vain iz vA kiNdAm,
n vA p@uA, n vA glooRy,
fA evA n evA.
aamen.

Auto-modified britic for Estuary English

aa faavʌ, hw aat in hevʌn,
hɑlʌud by vai neim.
vai kiɴdʌm kam.
vai wil by dan,
on rf az it iz in hevʌn.
giv as vis dei aa deily bʀed.
n fʌgiv as aa trespʌsiz,
ɑz wy fʌgiv vʌuz hw trespʌs ʌgeinst as.
n lyd as not intʌ tempteicʌn,
n delivʌ as fʀom yvʌl.
fʌ vain iz vʌ kiɴdʌm,
n vʌ pɑuʌ, n vʌ glooʀy,
fʌ evʌ n evʌ.
aamen.

Unchanged britic for General American

aR faathAR, hw aRt in hevAn,
h@loud by vai neim.
vai kiNdAm kam.
vai wil by dan,
on rRf az it iz in hevAn.
giv as vis dei aR deily bRed.
n fARgiv as aR trespAsiz,
@z wy fARgiv vouz hw trespAs Ageinst as.
n lyd as nat intA tempteicAn,
n delivAR as fRam yvAl.
fAR vain iz vA kiNdAm,
n vA p@uR, n vA glooRy,
fAR evAR n evAR.
aamen.

Auto-modified britic for General American

aʀ faathʌʀ, hw aʀt in hevʌn,
hɑloud by vai neim.
vai kiɴdʌm kam.
vai wil by dan,
on rʀf az it iz in hevʌn.
giv as vis dei aʀ deily bʀed.
n fʌʀgiv as aʀ trespʌsiz,
ɑz wy fʌʀgiv vouz hw trespʌs ʌgeinst as.
n lyd as nat intʌ tempteicʌn,
n delivʌʀ as fʀam yvʌl.
fʌʀ vain iz vʌ kiɴdʌm,
n vʌ pɑuʀ, n vʌ glooʀy,
fʌʀ evʌʀ n evʌʀ.
aamen.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Lung, Richard; West African & Britic; retrieved on 2008-05-26
  2. ^ ALFABET ANALYSIS. Richard Lung, Scarboro; retrieved on 2008-05-27
  3. ^ Australian National Language on OZ INTURNET; 1999-02-11; retrieved on 2008-05-27
  4. ^ English Spelling Priorities: the ESP alfabet; retrieved on 2008-05-27