Traditional Spelling Revised

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Traditional Spelling Revised (TSR) is a conservative English-language spelling reform which seeks to apply the underlying rules of English orthography more consistently. [1] It was created by Stephen Linstead and chosen by the International English Spelling Congress (IESC) as the preferred alternative to the defective English orthography in March 2021. [2] [3]

Contents

The English Spelling Society, sponsor of the congress, affords TSR a degree of support and publicity which will be reviewed in March 2025. [4] TSR has consequently been mentioned several times in the media. [5] [6] [7] [8]

Changes

TSR is broadly spelt the same as traditional English orthography, but some rules and spellings are applied more consistently. [9]

'Magic e' rule

Where a single consonant separates a vowel and a silent word final e, the first vowel is 'lengthened'. Unlike the doubling rule, the consonant is not doubled when 'lengthening' is undesired. Instead, the 'magic e' is dropped (unless it indicates soft or hard ⟨c⟩ or ⟨g⟩, then the consonant is doubled).

The graphemes ⟨ar⟩ and ⟨or⟩ do not straightforwardly take on the "lengthened" forms. Instead ⟨-are⟩ represents /ɛər/ and ⟨-ore⟩ is unchanged.

Doubling rule

The doubling rule dictates that when a stressed vowel is followed by a single consonant and another vowel (which isn't 'magic e'), the stressed vowel is 'lengthened'. This can be negated by doubling the consonant between the two vowels, thus keeping the vowel short. Therefore letters are dropped or doubled from traditional spelling.

Doubled ⟨g⟩ before ⟨e⟩ may be spelt ⟨dg⟩ or ⟨gg⟩ to indicate whether it is soft or not.

There is an exception for the letter ⟨i⟩, which does not lengthen itself unless it is part of the ⟨-ing⟩ suffix.

Disambiguation of graphemes

Where graphemes ambiguously represent more than one sound, they are rewritten to be less ambiguous.

Silent letters

Where letters are rendundant to pronunciation, they are removed. This includes uses of word-final e that suggest "lengthening" when there is none (unless it suggests soft c as in ⟨office⟩). The homographs that this creates are distinguished using apostrophes, hyphens or diaereses.

Importantly, the following spellings are not redundant to pronunciation.

Homophones

There are cases in which spellings of homophones will not merge (and therefore not be disambiguated using an apostrophe). Some phonemes have several different permitted spellings, which helps to distinguish homophones visually.

Some words are respelt where an alternate spelling can be used instead of an apostrophe. However, neither ⟨or⟩ / ⟨ore⟩ / ⟨oar⟩ nor ⟨pore⟩ / ⟨pour⟩ are differentiated.

New graphemes

Two new letter combinations have been introduced to unambiguously represent /ɑː/ ⟨aa⟩ and /ʊ/ ⟨uu⟩. Though not made explicit, ⟨faather⟩ is likely spelt with a double ⟨a⟩ as both RP and GenAm pronounce it with /ɑ(ː)/, in comparison to ⟨rather⟩, which is pronounced differently by those dialects.

Exceptions

The spellings of some common words that do not otherwise comply with the rules of TSR are preserved so as not to drastically change the look of text. [9] These exceptions, called "sign words" in the documentation, are given in groups, though not all the words in these groups are changed.

Some common suffixes are retained.

Some common letter sequences, called "sub-groups" are retained even when irregular.

Proper nouns are kept the same, unless alternative spellings become accepted. Loan words are indicated in italics.

Sound-to-spelling correspondences

Each phoneme has its own spelling patterns. [9]

Vowels

Phoneme Lexical set Grapheme Examples [10] Notes
/æ/TRAPapan, laff [a]
(au)auntc.f. ⟨ant⟩
/ɛ/DRESSepen, frend [b]
(a)manyBy association with ⟨any⟩
(ai)again, againstNo note in word list
/ɪ/KITipin, bisness [c] , pritty [d] , sistem [e]
(o, e)women
/ɒ/LOTopot, wosh [f]
/ʌ/STRUTupun, cum [g]
-otheranother, brother
(o-e)none, nothing, some
/eɪ/FACEa-eface
ailaid, braik [h] , gaige [i] , baiss [j]
eivein
eighneigh
-aystay
-eythey, survey
/iː/FLEECEe-escene
eefeed
ealead"ea" /iː/ doesn't indicate /eɪ/ or /ɛ/: steak → staik, weapon → weppon.
(e)me, he, she, weUsually /∅/, though /iː/ in monosyllables
(ei)eitherCan also be pronounced with /aɪ/
/aɪ/PRICEi-eside
iedie, iedeäl [k]
-ywhy
-yedye
-uybuy
-ighsigh
(aye)ayeWould be /eɪ/ otherwise. Official respelling unknown.
(eye)eyeWould be /iː/ otherwise. ⟨y⟩ and ⟨ie⟩ were suggested then rejected
(ei)eitherCan also be pronounced with /iː/
/oʊ/GOATo-ebone
oamoan
-obanjoMany ⟨-ow⟩ forms are changed to ⟨-o⟩: low → lo, show → sho.
-oefloe
/juː/DUEu-etune
uedue, buetiful [l]
u-unit
ewfew
euEuropeFor words of Greek origin only
/ʊ/FOOTuustuud [m] , puuding [n]
(oul)could, should, wouldUsually /aʊl/
(o)womanUsually /ɒ/
/ɔɪ/CHOICEoiboil
oyboy, deploying
/uː/GOOSEoofood, throo [o]
(u-e)superUsually /juː/
/aʊ/MOUTHouproud
ownow, gown
oughbough
/ɛər/SQUAREairstair, bair [p]
-arebare
eirtheir
(ere)there, whereUsually /ɪər/
/ɑːr/STARTarstarDouble the ⟨r⟩ to change the vowel: ⟨harry⟩. "Harry" and "starry" don't rime.
/ɑː/PALMabathUndisambiguated from /æ/
alpalm
aafaather [q] , tomaato [r] , vaaz [s] , draama [t] Used for British-American differences in pronunciation and ⟨faather⟩
/ɔːr/NORTHoror, for, bord [u] Double the ⟨r⟩ to change the vowel: ⟨horrid⟩
(ore)oreKept for contrast in a few words, but mostly respelled ⟨or⟩
(oar)oar
(our)fourUsually /aʊ.ə/
/ɔː/THOUGHTaufraud
awlaw, lawyer
allcall
al- and implying totalityalwayscf. algebra
aughdaughter
ough(t)bought
/ɜːr/NURSEerherDouble the ⟨r⟩ to change the vowel: ⟨herring⟩, ⟨stirrup⟩, ⟨hurry⟩.
irfir
urfur
(or)word, work, worshipUsually /ɔː/
/ɪər/NEAR-eerbeer
-earhear
-erehere
/i/happY-yfairy
-ie(s)faries⟨-y⟩ becomes ⟨-ies⟩ for plurals.
/ə/, /ɪ/commAa, e, i, o, uafraid, defence, invisible, wonnton [v] , opusSchwa. The indeterminate sound in many unaccented syllables. TSR usually retains the graphemes used in TS for these phonemes.
  1. "laugh" in conventional spelling
  2. "friend" in conventional spelling
  3. "business" in conventional spelling
  4. "pretty" in conventional spelling
  5. "system" in conventional spelling
  6. "wash" in conventional spelling
  7. "come" in conventional spelling
  8. "break" in conventional spelling
  9. "gauge" in conventional spelling
  10. "bass" in conventional spelling
  11. "ideal" in conventional spelling
  12. "beautiful" in conventional spelling
  13. "stood" in conventional spelling
  14. "pudding" in conventional spelling
  15. "through" in conventional spelling
  16. "bear" in conventional spelling
  17. "father" in conventional spelling
  18. "tomato" in conventional spelling
  19. "vase" in conventional spelling
  20. "drama" in conventional spelling
  21. "board" in conventional spelling
  22. "wanton" in conventional spelling

Consonants

The following table lists the consonants that don't always represent the same phoneme, so /b/, /d/, /h/, /l/, /m/, /n/, /p/, /r/, /t/ and /v/ are omitted.

Phoneme Grapheme ExamplesNotes
/dʒ/jjam
gginBefore /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /iː/, /aɪ/
dgedgeDoubled before /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /iː/, /aɪ/
/f/ffrog
phphoneIn words of Greek origin only
/g/ggunExcept before /e/, /ɪ/, /iː/, /aɪ/ with no u (c.f. guide)
/j/yyet
ibastion
/k/kkid
ccreamExcept before /e/, /ɪ/, /iː/, /aɪ/
ckflick, socker [a] Word-finally or doubled
chchemistryIn words of Greek origin only
/ks/xexterminateTreated as doubled (e.g. boxing)
/kw/ququeen
/s/ssunWord-initially, before or after /k/, /f/, /p/, /t/, as part of or after the prefixes ⟨dis-⟩, ⟨mis-⟩, ⟨con-⟩ and ⟨per-⟩ or beginning one part of a compound word (homesick)
sshiss
ccityBefore /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /iː/, /aɪ/
/ʃ/shshed
csociallyBefore ia in some dialects
/tʃ/chchurch
-tchswitch
/θ/ththing
/ð/thbatheIn single syllable words before /ɛ/
(o)th(er)otherIn -other subgroup
/ʒ/s(ure)plesure [b] As part of a common suffix
silesion
  1. "soccer" in conventional spelling
  2. "pleasure" in conventional spelling

Inconsistencies

"Ch" with /k/ sound

Words of Greek origin are supposed to retain "ch" for /k/, [9] though these words are respelled in the word list: [10]

Example text

Gettysburg Address [9]

Fourscor and seven years ago our faathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceeved in libberty and deddicated to the proposition that all men are creäted equal. Now we are engaged in a grait civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceeved, and so deddicated, can long endure. We are met on a grait battle-feeld in that war. We have cum to deddicate a portion of that feeld, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives, that that nation might liv. It is altogether fitting and propper that we should do this, but in a larger senss we cannot deddicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallo this ground. The brave men, livving and ded, who struggled here, have consecrated it far abuv our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the livving, rather, to be deddicated to the grait task remaining befor us that from these onoredded we take increassed devotion to that cause for which they gave the last fuul mesure of devotion - that we here highly resolv that these ded shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that guvvernment of the peeple, by the peeple, for the peeple, shall not perrish from the erth.

Notes and references

  1. Stephen Linstead (2021-01-31). IESC_Second_Session_Final_Meeting . Retrieved 2024-09-28 via YouTube.
  2. "Press Release: Revised Spelling System Approved". The English Spelling Society. 2021-04-12.
  3. "Report of Voting" (PDF). The English Spelling Society.
  4. "International English Spelling Congress | the English Spelling Society".
  5. Woolcock, Nicola (2022-11-23). "Guud greef: Bernard Shaw's society reveals plans for a spelling revolution". The Times. Retrieved 2024-10-23.
  6. Smith-Laing, Tim (2024-07-09). "Shood Inglish speling bee chanjed?". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 2024-10-23.
  7. "Heard, word, bird: should the spelling of some words change?". RTÉ. RTÉ. Retrieved 2023-10-27.
  8. "John Humphrys - Change Our Spelling: Rite or Rong? | YouGov". yougov.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-10-23.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Linstead, Stephen. "TSR Complete Guidance" (PDF). The English Spelling Society. Retrieved 2023-10-27.
  10. 1 2 Linstead, Stephen. "3-4000 most common words transcribed into TSR (by frequency)" (PDF). Retrieved 2023-10-27.

See also