bRitic
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The spelling system of bRitic/bʀitic (pronounced /ˈbrɪtɪʃ/) is a phonetic notation pronunciation guide based on the Latin alphabet, commonly envisioned as a means of future English spelling reform, created by Reginald Deans, and referenced by the Spelling Society.[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 keyboard, which avoids the input problems involved with systems using diacritics or other symbols not displayed on a computer input tool, as is the trouble with the IPA. It is claimed that the system would also reduce the length of English spellings on average by 12.5%.[2]
The system serves no particular standard of English pronunciation, but rather provides the means that could be used for the spelling of different varieties of English.
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[edit] Etymology
The word "bRitic (bʀitic)" 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 the system is written without upper case letters, (except A/A, N/ɴ, R/ʀ, Y/ʏ, and W/W, which have differing phonological meanings than their lowercase counterparts, "a", "n", "r", "y", and "w"). The system is often referred to as "nwspel", which, in bRitic, is pronounced the same as "new spell" would be in English.
[edit] Letters
bRitic distinguishes 10 vowels and 21 consonants. Each is written with a different letter, which gives the system a one-to-one correspondence of sounds to letters, all of which are accessible on a computer keyboard. Diphthongs are written as the two vowels that make them (/eɪ/ is written ei, eg: "day" = dei), and long vowels are written as the vowel followed by a hyphen (/e:/ is written e-, eg: "fare" = fe-). Affricative consonants are written as the two consonants that make them (/dʒ/ is written dj, eg: "judge" = djadj).
The system does not distinguish between /v/ and /ð/, or /f/ and /θ/, grouping them as minimal pairs, influenced by the Th-fronting phenomenon spreading throughout English dialects, although unofficial alternatives can be used for /ð/ and /θ/, such as capital usage of V/D, and F/T respectively.
The letters r /ɜ/, w /u/, and y /i/ represent both vowels and semivowels, while their uppercase counterparts represent their approximant consonant equivalents, which are respectively R /ɹ/, W /w/, and Y /j/.
[edit] Vowels
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[edit] Consonants
1 There is a split within the bRitic community as to whether or not /θ/ and /ð/ should use the same letters as /f/ and /v/. Traditionally the sounds have been distinguished, but in many contemporary British pronunciations they are pronounced the same. The alternative to grouping them in such a way is to use an "x" to represent both /θ/ and /ð/. However, this raises criticisms in itself, since /θ/ and /ð/ are distinct, so some[who?] view such a conflation as influenced solely by the traditional orthography. If a distinction between /f/, /θ/, /v/ and /ð/ is to be made, the non-standard capital usage of T or F for /θ/, and D or V for /ð/ may be seen. 2 Not included in standard bRitic, but occasionally used when specifying foreign, or rare sounds. |
[edit] Letter names
The names of the letters used in the bRitic alphabet all follow a regular pattern. The names of consonants are formed by adding a schwa sound onto the end of it. In this way, the letter name for b is pronounced /bə/, and written in britic as b'. The names of vowels are no different from the pronunciation of the vowels themselves. Therefore, the name for the letter i is simply pronounced /ɪ/ and written as i.[3]
[edit] Auto-modification
Due to the fact that in blocks of lowercase text, the letters 'A', 'N', 'R', 'Y', and 'W', may be visually inappropriate, they may often be substituted when possible, for 'A', 'ɴ', 'ʀ', 'ʏ', and 'W'. This is met with criticisms however, since it goes against the rules of bRitic that all letters used must be accessible on an average keyboard. Also, the small caps 'W' (W) resembles the lower case 'w', and is thus difficult to differentiate between the two.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Lung, Richard; West African & Britic; retrieved on 2008-05-26
- ^ ALFABET ANALYSIS. Richard Lung, Scarboro; retrieved on 2008-05-27
- ^ English Spelling Priorities: the ESP alfabet; retrieved on 2008-05-27
