DRE Spelling System Definition

This file, outlining how the spelling system DRE works, is mostly self-explanatory.  It lists, for four categories (single vowels, vowels with r, vowels with combinations and consonants) examples of the accepted interpretations of the letters, and respelling patterns.   At the end are a few extra rules and a list of words and endings from which accents may be omitted in reduced DRE.  Almost all words cited in the examples have no spelling changes other than the addition of diacritics.  Readers interested in the goals and principles underlying DRE are referred to the DRE birth announcement.  Detailed explanations about the DRE design can be found in the DRE design document.  Quoted references in the text refer to the named section of the design document.

Single vowels

a

    hat
    avoid
    bábe
    fàther
    âny

Respellings:

    want, wash, watch, what, was, wander ->
        wont, wosh, wotch, whôt, wôz, wonnder (*)
    swallow, swamp, quantity, quality ->
        swollów, swomp, quontity, quolity (*)
    equal, equality, equalize -> équol, equolity, équolíze (**)
    water -> wauter
    always, also, false, salt -> aulways, aulsó, faulse, sault
    all, call, appall, wall, mall, bald ->
       aul, caull, apaul, waul, maull, bauld
    chalk, talk, walk, stalk, balk -> chauk, tauk, wauk, stauk, bauk
    alms, balm, calm, palm, psalm -> ahms, bahm, cahm, pahm, psahm
    salmon, half, halve -> saamon, haaf, haav (***)
    locale, rationale -> locaal, rationaal (***)
    atlas, Christmas, compass, furnace ->
       atlâs, Cristmâs, compâss, furnâce (****)

    (*)        These words are respelled with o to accommodate the British pronunciation. 
    (**)      The word <equality> is a bit of a problem.  It has to be respelled, but then what is to be done with <equal>, <equalization>, etc.?  The  spellings équal and équol are equally good at representing the pronunciation.  The principle of minimizing respelling would say to leave the existing spellings unchanged, while the principle of preserving word relationships would change them.  I've decided to change them, despite the existence of words like <equate>, <equation> and <Equator>, which clearly cannot be changed to have an "o" vowel.  But the similarly related words <equilateral>, <equilibrium> and <inequity> already have a different vowel, so it doesn't seem that these additional differences make things all that much worse.
          (***)    See "The aa and aà digraphs".
    (****)  See "Ending -s, -ce, -se and -ss".

e

    get
    rivet
    bé
    sautè
    prêtty
    congrêss, kindnêss, lifelêss (*)
    dùët, diët, wickëd

Respellings:

    ensemble, entree, genre -> onsomble, ontrèe, jhonrë

    (*)  See "Ending -s, -ce, -se and -ss".

i

    fit
    devil
    híde
    magazìne
    rátïó

    Also see -ci-, -si-, -ssi- and -ti-

Respellings:

    view, peculiar, million, rebellious ->
       véw, pecúlyar, millyon, rebellyôus
    marriage, carriage -> marraj, carraj
    malice, promise -> malis, promis (*)
    high, sigh, thigh, right, mighty, frighten ->
       hý, síe, thí, ríet, míety, fríeten (**)

    (*)   See "Ending -s, -ce, -se and -ss".
    (**) For consistency, most words containing a silent gh are respelled with a -y or -w digraph.  For igh, only a bare ý would work, and this mandates the addition of a silent e in most cases.  Using íe instead is closer to the original, and avoids the silent e.  The spelling of <thigh> as thí rather than thíe is a personal esthetic preference of the designer.

o

    sob
    lemon
    hópe
    cròss
    wônder

Respellings:

    folk, yolk -> foek, yoek
    colonel -> côrnel
    to -> tu
    do, two, who, whose, whom, tomb, womb ->
       dù, tew, hoó, hoós, hoóm, toóm, woóm
    move, movie, approve, lose -> mùve, mùvie, aprùve, lùze
    bosom, woman, wolf -> boozom, wooman, woolf
    purpose, thermos -> purpôse, thermôs (*)
    women -> wimmen
    wont -> wòant (**)
    one, once, done, none -> wunn, wunce, dunn, nunn (***)
    John -> Jon

    (*)     See "Ending -s, -ce, -se and -ss".
    (**)   wont is the DRE spelling of <want>.  wòant spells the American pronunciation of <wont>, while woant works for the British one.
    (***) See "could, would, one, done".

u

    cut
    circus
    múle, dúty (*)
    rùde
    bûsh
    popülar, petróleüm (**)

    See also qu

Respellings:

    busy, business -> bizzy, bizness
    persuade, suave, suede, suite -> perswáde, swàv, swáde, swéte
    guano, anguish, language -> gwànó, angwish, langwaj

   (*)   The spelling "ú" is used for long u whenever the pronunciation of "you" is allowed.  "ù" is used when this pronunciation never occurs.  A similar rule distinguishes the pairs éu/eu, éw/ew and úe/ùe.  See "long u".
   (**) Note the implied y- of the letter ü.  It represents the long u of "múle" after it has been reduced to a schwa. 

y

    myth, silly
    vínyl
    flý

Respellings:

    embryo, halcyon -> embréó, halcéon

Vowels with r

ar

    càr
    câre
    polärity
    arrów
    fòrward

Respellings:

    war, warm, warn, wharf, warrant, warrior, reward ->
       waur, waurm, waurn, whòrf, worrant, worrìor, rêwaurd (*)
    quarter, quarrel, quarry -> quòrter, quorrel, quorry (*)
    carousel, guarantee -> carrosel, garrantee (**)

    (*)   aur is used rather than òr whenever the possibility of confusion with traditional spelling exists, as with <worm> and <worn>.  The word <warrior> is a difficult problem - logic calls for it to be spelled waurìor, but the British pronunciation calls for the vowel o.
    (**) The spelling "arr" is prefered to "är" when it is necessary to respell a word for some other reason, e.g., the unstressed ou in "carousel".

er

    her
    hêre
    vèry
    terror

Respellings:

    there, where -> thâre, whâre (*)
    ersatz, scherzo, sombrero -> eirsàtz, skeirtzó, sombreiró (*)

   (*) The existing spellings, though suitable for American English, are misleading for British English.  See "Other vowels before r".
   

ir

    sir
    fíre
    spìrit
    mirror

Respellings:

    iron -> íôrn
    squirrel -> squirel
    lira, nadir, nirvana -> liera, nádier, niervàna (*)

    (*) The existing spellings, though suitable for American English, are misleading for British English.  See "Other vowels before r".

or

    fòr, bòre
    förest (British English)
    actor
    wôrd (*)
    horrid, sorry (**)

          (*)    The circumflex in wôrd is not required to avoid ambiguity.  But the expectation that "word" should be pronounced as wòrd is quite strong, and for this reason DRE insists on a circumflex over the o in -or- whenever it is followed by a consonant and pronounced as either the stressed or unstressed er sound (i.e, one of the sounds of <merger>).
          (**)  While the spelling sörry could be used for <sorry> in American English, it is one of a very few words for which this pronunciation of orr seems to be dominant.  See "ör and är".

ur

    fur
    cúre, múral
    jùry
    gûrù
    accüracy (*)
    hurry, fûrry (**)

Respellings:

    bury, burial -> bèry, bèrìal

    (*)    The spelling úr is used for the sound /jUr/.  The spelling ür is used for /j@r/.  The difference is often subtle, and the traditional spelling -ure is often used for both.
    (**)  ûrr is used in British English in those few words where urr is pronounced /3`/.  See "Other vowels before r".

yr

    týrant
    lyric
    myrtle, martyr, zephyr -> mirtle, martir, zephir (*)

    (*)  Allowing -yr to be pronounced as <ur> at the ends of words or between consonants would be consistent, but there are so few words of that sort I decided to keep things simple, and respell as "ir".  This also allows the respelling wyrd, of which I am fond.

Vowel combinations

aa (*)

    baa, saamon
    salaàm 

aar (*)

    bazaàr 

        (*)  See "The aa and aà digraphs".

ae

    antennaé

Respellings:

    maelstrom -> maylstrom
    aerial, aerobic, aerodynamic -> ayrìal, ayróbic, ayródýnamic
    Caesar -> Cézar
    reggae, sundae -> reggay, sundey

ai/ay

    maid, play
    Saígon, saýonàra
    mountâin
    nàìve

Respellings:

    aisle, ay/aye, ayatollah -> aýle, aý, aýatólla
    said, says -> sed, sez
    again, against -> agân, agânst
    plaid -> plaad
    straight -> strayt

air/ayr

    air

Respellings:

    prayer -> prayr

au/aw

    author, law

Respellings:

    because, cauliflower, sausage, Australia ->
        becòz, còlliflower, sòssaj, Òstrálya (*)
    gauge -> gáje
    chauffeur, gauche, mauve -> shófeûr, góshe, moave
    caught, fraught, taught, naughty, daughter, slaughter ->
        cawt, frawt, tawt, nawty, dawter, slawter
    laugh, laughter -> laaf, laafter
    authority, restaurant -> athòrity, restoront
    aunt -> ahnt (**)

    (*)   These spellings are intended to accommodate British English.
    (**) Spelled for the pronunciation most amenable to avoiding a clash with <ant>.

aur/awr

    centaur

Respellings:

    drawer -> drawr
    laurel -> lorrel (*)

   (*) This spelling is intended to accommodate British English.

ea

    beat
    ídéa

Respellings:

    bread, lead, read, head -> bredd, ledd, redd, hedd (*)
    jealous, health, peasant, endeavor ->
       jellôus, helth, pezzant, endevvor
    sweat, death, heaven, meant, breast, deaf, cleanse ->
       swet, deth, hevven, ment, brest, deff, clenz (**)
    great, break, steak, yea -> greyt, breyk, steyk, yay
    yeah -> yeh

    (*)  The d is doubled in hedd to avoid the appearance of past tense in the many compounds of  <head>, e.g., fathedd.
    (**) The spelling "deff" distinguishes <deaf> from the slang "def".  A reminder of how language evolution thwarts planning.

ear

    clear
    heàrt

Respellings:

    bear, pear, tear, wear, swear -> beyr, peyr, teyr, weyr, sweyr
    earl, early, earnest, earth, heard, hearse ->
       erl, erly, ernest, erth, hird, herse
    learn, pearl, search, yearn -> lern, perl, serch, yern

ee

    green
    matinèe
    réelect

Respellings:

    been -> bên

eer

    beer

ei/ey

    rein, prey
    steín, eýe
    kéy
    medléy
    béing, áthéist

Respellings:

    conceive, deceit, receipt, seize, either, leisure ->
        conceeve, deceet, receet, seeze, éyther, leezjur (*)
    deign, feign, reign -> deyn, feyn, reyn
    eight, sleigh, weigh, freight, neighbor ->
       eyt, sley, wey, freyt, neybor
    heifer, reveille -> heffer, revvely
    height, sleight -> heýt, sleýt

    (*)  See "The ei digraph".

eir/eyr

    their

Respellings:

    weird -> wyrd

eu/ew

    féud, féw, néw (*)
    sleuth, crew
    núcleüs

Respellings:

    sew -> soe

    (*)  See "u" above.

eur/ewr

    Éuropéan
    amateûr
    Jewry

ie

    brief
    líe
    quiët

Respellings:

    sieve, handkerchief, mischief -> siv, hankerchif, mischif
    friend -> frend

ier

    pier

Respellings:

    brier, drier -> bríar, drýer
    financier, frontier, brassiere -> financeer, fronteer, brazêre (*)

    (*)  These words conflict with the regular use of -ci-, -ssi- and -ti-.

oa

    oak
    bròad
    cóalition

oar

    oar

oe

    foe, heroes (*)
    póet

Respellings:

    canoe, shoe -> canùe, shùe
    does -> duz
    phoenix -> phénix

    (*)   When a word ending with ó is pluralized by the addition of -es, the diacritic is removed.  That is, the plural of hêró is hêroes.  Standardizing the way that the plurals of -o words are formed would be nice, but is beyond the scope of DRE.

oi/oy

    coin, boy
    góing

Respellings:

    porpoise, tortoise -> porpis, tortis
    boudoir, memoir, repertoire, reservoir ->
       boùdwàr, memwàr, repertwàr, rezervwàr
    choir -> cwíor
    heroin, heroine -> hèróin, hèróen
    buoy, buoyant -> booy, booyant (*)
    coyote -> caýóté

    (*)  "booy" is a rather inventive spelling, managing to convey the ambiguity between the pronunciations /bOI/ and /bu:i/.

oo

    foot
    foód, roóf
    cóoperáte

Respellings:

    blood, bloody, flood -> blud, bluddy, flud
    brooch -> bróuch (*)
    pooh -> peu

    (*)  The unusual spelling "bróuch" suggests both American pronunciations.

oor

    poor

Respellings:

    door, floor -> dòr, flòr

ou/ow

    cloud, crowd
    sóul, belów
    coûd
    groùp
    pòrôus

Respellings:

    knowledge, acknowledge -> knolledj, aknolledj
    double, couple, country, cousin, southern, touch, young ->
       dubble, cupple, côntry, cuzzin, sôthern, tuch, yung (*)
    Houston -> Héuston
    thought, sought -> thawt, sawt
    bough, drought -> bou, drout
    dough, though, although -> dówe, thó, aulthó (**)
    cough, trough -> cauff, trauff
    rough, tough, slough -> ruf, tuff, sluff
    slough, through -> slù, thrù
    thorough, borough, furlough -> thurró, burroh, furlów

    (*)    The unusual DRE spelling of <country> is to avoid offending the squeamish.
    (**)  While "dów" for <dough> fits the general pattern of DRE's handling of gh, it is almost impossible not to read this word as rhyming with "cow".  While the appearance of "dówe" is unusual, there is the precedent of "ówe".

our/owr

    sour, dowry
    yoùr, contoùr
    coûrìer
    còurt

Respellings:

    adjourn, bourbon, journal, scourge, courteous ->
       adjurn, burbon, jurnal, scurj, curtéôus
    courage, flourish, nourish -> curraj, flurrish, nurrish (*)

    (*)  See "Other vowels before r" for the logic of this change.

ue

    cúe (*)
    blùe
    inflùënce

    (*)  See "u" above.

ui

    guíde
    súicíde
    flùid

Respellings:

    nuisance, suit, pursuit -> núesance, seut, purséut
    bruise, cruise, juice, fruit, recruit ->
       brùez, crùez, jeuce, frùet, recrùet
    biscuit, circuit -> biscut, circut
    build -> bild

uy

    buý, guý

ye

    dýe

Miscellaneous vowel respellings

    chaos, aorta -> cáoss, áòrta
    beauty -> béuty
    bureau, chateau, plateau -> búró, sható, platóe
    bureaucracy, bureaucrat -> búrocracy, búrocrat
    jeopardy, leopard, Leonard -> jeppardy, leppard, Lennard
    people -> peaple
    yeoman -> yóman
    George -> Jòrj
    neon, peony -> néon, péony
    amphibian, vial -> amphibìan, víal
    diamond -> díemond
    radio, pioneer -> rádìó, píoneer
    opium, triumph -> ópìum, tríumph
    dual, virtual -> dúal, virtjùal
    duo, muon -> dúó, múon
    fluorine -> floorìne (*)
    continuum -> continúum

   (*)    The spelling floùrìne/flòurìne would cater to both the British and the American pronunciation but, regrettably, this would cause needless confusion with flour.

Consonants

b, bb

    back, rabbit

Respellings:

    debt, doubt, subtle -> det, dout, suttle
    lamb, limb, climb, bomb, comb ->
       laam, lim, clíem, bom, coem
    dumb, succumb, tomb, womb -> dum, sucumm, toóm, woóm

c, cc

    cell, acid, cýcle, scéne
    cat, cóld, cup, scóld
    occüpý
    accent

Respellings:

    soccer -> soccre
    muscle -> muscel
    Fascist, crescendo -> Fasjist, cresjendó
    cello, concerto -> chelló, conchèrtó
    indict -> indíet
    czar -> tzar

    (See also -ce-, -ci-, -sci-)

-ce-

Respellings:

    ocean, cetacean -> ócian, cetácian
    palace, notice, lettuce -> palâce, nótis, lettus (*)

    (*)  See "Ending -s, -ce, -se and -ss".

ch

    check
    catch

Respellings:

    character, cholera, choral, chorale, chord, chorus ->
       carracter, kholera, kòral, koraal, kòrd, kòrus (*)
    chemical, chimera -> kemical, kímêra
    chlorine, chrome, chronicle  -> khlòríne, khróme, cronicle
    mechanic, anchor, echo, orchestra, ache, architect, monarch ->
       mecanic, ancor, eckó, òrkestra, áke, àrkitect, monarck
    chagrin, chef, chiffon, machine, parachute ->
       shagrin, shef, shiffon, mashìne, pärashùte
    douche, cliche, cache -> doùshe, clìshè, caash
    yacht -> yot (**)

    (*)   See "Consonant digraphs and trigraphs".
    (**) In an American-only DRE, <yacht> would be spelled yaht.

-ci-

    politician, suspicion, áncient, gráciôus, glácier

Respellings:

    appreciate, speciality -> aprécïáte, specïality (*)

    (*)  See "Aggravátion and Tòrtjur".

d, dd

    day, ladder

Respellings:

    handkerchief, handsome, Wednesday -> hankerchif, hansum, Wenzday
    soldier, procedure, grandeur -> soldjer, procédjur, grandjeûr (*)

    (*)  See "Aggravátion and Tòrtjur".

dg

Respellings:

    badger, bridge, judge -> badjer, bridj, judj

f, ff

    fit, cliff

Respellings:

    of -> ov (*)

    (*)  In an American-only DRE, <of> might well be uv.  Because <of> is almost always unstressed, it is spelled ov rather than ôv.

g, gg

    get, gill, go, gýnecolojy, egg

Respellings:

    gem, giant, gym, age, cabbage -> jem, jíant, jym, áje, cabbaj
    margarine, legend, region, logic, clergy ->
       marjarin, lejend, réjon, lojic, clerjy
    suggest -> sugjest
    exaggerate -> exajeráte
    ghastly, ghost, ghetto, ghoul -> gastly, góst, gettó, goùl
    burgher -> burgar (*)
    phlegm, paradigm -> phlem, päradíem
    gnome, gnaw, gnu -> nóme, naw, gnù (**)
    arraign, campaign, reign, align, sign, design, impugn ->
       arayn, campayn, reyn, alíne, síen, dezíen, impúen (***)
    foreign, sovereign -> fòrâin, sovrâin
    barrage, garage, massage, beige, prestige, rouge, genre ->
       baràjh, garàjh, massàjh, beijh, prestìjhe, roùjh, jhonrë
    veg, veggie -> vej, vejie

    (*)     A word there's no good spelling for, unless I prefer something equally arbitrary like "burgger".
    (**)   There are no homonym problems with dropping the initial silent g, and no extremely common words affected.  "gnu" is the only problem.  Though a sensible spelling like "nùe" was possible, the word really is a point of fun, and it really seems a shame to regularize it.  I actually considered respelling all the gn- words with kn-.  Suprisingly, there don't seem to be any clashes, but I imagine that any reform that introduced more kn- words would end up getting big laughs from my fellow reformers.
    (***) The spelling "alíen" for <align> cannot be used because of <alien>, and "alíne" already exists as an alternate British spelling.

gh

    See i, ai, au, ei, ou and g

gu

Respellings:

    guard, guerilla, guild, guilt, guitar ->
       gàrd, gerilla, gyld, gylt, gitàr (*)
    plague, vague, brogue, fugue, league, morgue ->
       pláge, váge, bróge, fúge, leag, mòrg

    (*)  Spelling "gyld" and "gylt" with "y" rather than "i" prevents a clash with "gild" and "gilt".

h

    help
    flophouse, mishap, rathóle
    aníhiláte, próhibition, véhement, véhicle, sàhìb (*)
    herb, herbal (**)
    bah, hurrah, Shah, eh, oh, duh

Respellings:

    heir, honest, honor, hour -> eir, onnest, onnor, owr
    rhapsody, rhetoric, rhino, rhubarb, rhyme, rhythm ->
        rapsody, retoric, ríno, rùbàrb, rýme, rythm
    forehead -> fòrehed
    shepherd -> shepperd
    huh, uh-huh, uh-uh -> hunh, unh-hunh, unh-unh (***)

    (*)     As Wijk notes, the presence of the silent h in these words actually makes it easier to pronounce them correctly.
    (**)   When letters are sometimes pronounced, DRE prefers to leave them in rather than remove them.  "several" and "clóthes" are additional examples.
    (***) Respelled to indicate the nasalization in these peculiar interjections.

j

    jam

Respellings:

    hallelujah -> hallelùya
    bijou, Jacques, jabot -> bìjhoù, Jhàq, jhabó
    jalapeno -> halapènyó

k, ck

    keep, deck
    knífe

Respellings:

    blackguard -> blaggard

l, ll

    land, tell
    tríbal, màrvel, púpil, symbol, úseful, áble, mìracle, middle

Respellings:

    llama -> lyàma

    (see a, o, and ou for silent l's)

m, mm

    man, summer
    madam, system, blossom, quòrum
    cazm, baptizm (*)

Respellings:

    mnemonic -> nemonic

   (*)  DRE could avoid respelling some words by keeping the s in -asm and -ism.  But never spelling /z/ with an s (except in plurals and possessives) seems worth a little extra trouble.

n, nn

    náme, banner
    húman, specimen, básin, pàrdon

Respellings:

    autumn, column, condemn, damn, hymn, solemn ->
       autum, collum, condemm, daam, hym, sollem (*)

    (*)  <damn> is respelled as daam to avoid ambiuguity for "dammed" and "damming".  See "The aa and aà digraphs".

ng

    bang, singer
    finger, fungus, angle
    ungráteful

Respellings:

    hinge, danger, engine, mangy -> hinj, dánjer, enjin, mánjy
    lingerie -> lànjheray

p, pp

    pàrt, pepper
    psahm, pséudonym, psýcké (*)

Respellings:

    pneumonia, ptomaine -> néumónya, tómaine
    coup, corps, cupboard, raspberry, receipt ->
       coù, còr, cubord, razberry, receet

    (*)  My main reason for keeping the ps- spelling is <psalm>, which I find absolutely unrecognizable as "sahm".

ph

    philosophy, dolphin

Respellings:

    sapphire -> saphíre
    Stephen -> Stéven

q, qu

    Ìràq, quit

Respellings:

    queue, conquer, liquor, bouquet, etiquette ->
       qéu, conqer, liqor, boùqay, etiqet
    mosquito, antique, risque -> mosqìtó, antìqe, risqè
    acquit, acquiesce -> aquit, acquìesce

r, rr

    rib, trim, hurry
    ácre, massacre, ógre, lùcre

    (See vowels with r and vowel combinations for more details)

s

    say, scâre
    rats, rips, riches
    rods, dògs, amázes, bónes, sófas, crísés
    aulways, upwards, sêries, fécés, rábies (*)
    hers, ours, yoùrs, theirs (*)
    atlâs, crísis, asbestôs, circus, vârìôus (**)
    báse, lease, verbóse, moóse

Respellings:

    is, was, has, does, says -> iz, wôz, haz, duz, sez
    phase, rise, closet, prison, clumsy, husband
       pháze, ríze, clozet, prizon, clumzy, huzband
    purchase, crevice, purpose -> purchâse, crevis, purpôse (**)
    alas, chaos, yes -> alass, cáoss, yess (**)
    sugar, sumac, sure, insure -> shûgar, shùmac, sjùre, insjùre
    exposure, measure, leisure, usual, casual ->
       expózjur, mezjur, leezjur, úzjùal, cazjùal (***)
    aisle, debris, isle -> aýle, debrie, íel

    (See also -si-, ss, -ssi-)

    (*)     See "Non-plurals ending in -s".
    (**)   See "Ending -s, -ce, -se and -ss".
    (***) See "Aggravátion and Tòrtjur".

sch

Respellings:

    schedule, scheme, scherzo, schizophrenia, schism ->
       skedjùle, skéme, skeirtzó, skitzophrénìa, skizm
    scholar, school, schooner -> scolar, scoól, scoóner
    schist, schlep, schmuck, schwa -> shist, shlep, shmuck, shwà

-sci-

    conscience, consciôus, lusciôus
    conscïentiôus
    omniscient, prescient

sh

    ship, fish, bûshel

-si-

    mansion

Respellings:

    Asian, invasion, lesion, decision, explosion, confusion ->
       Azian, invazion, lézion, decizion, explozion, confúzion (*)

    (*)  See "Aggravátion and Tòrtjur".

ss

    asset, bless, kindnêss

Respellings:

    dessert, dissolve, possess, scissors ->
       dêzzert, dizòlv, pozess, scizzors (*)
    fissure, pressure, issue, tissue ->
       fisjur, presjur, isjùe, tisjùe (**)
    cutlass, compass, trespass, embarrass ->
       cutlâss, cômpâss, trespâss, embarrâss (***)

    (*)     <desert> (the place) ought to be spelled "dezzert", and <dessert> ought to be spelled "dezert" or "dêzert".  But that would be immensely confusing for traditional spelling readers, and so DRE uses "dêzzert" for <dessert>, and "dezert" for both meanings of <desert>.
    (**)   See "Aggravátion and Tòrtjur".
    (***) See "Ending -s, -ce, -se and -ss".

-ssi-

    passion, expression, mission, Russian

t, tt

    táke, matter

Respellings:

    hasten, fasten, listen, moisten, castle, wrestle, apostle ->
       hásen, fassen, lissen, moisen, cassle, wressle, apossle (*)
    christen, Christmas -> cristen, Cristmâs (*)
    often, soften -> òffen, sòffen (*)
    ballet, buffet, depot, mortgage, cabaret, ricochet ->
       balay, bufay, depó, mòrgaj, cabaray, ricoshay
    century, fortune, actual, perpetual ->
       centjury, fortjun, actjùal, perpetjùal (**)
    saturate, statue, creature -> satjuráte, statjùe, creatjur (**)
    righteous -> ríetjôus

    (See also -ti-.)

    (*)   Wijk preserves the silent t in <hasten>, <moisten> and <soften> for etymological reasons, and it is indeed tempting.  DRE does retain it in "cristen" and "Cristmâs", because of the importance of the association with the name of Christ for many believers.
    (**) See "Aggravátion and Tòrtjur".

th

    thing, author, bath
    this, môther, soóthe, with, clóthes

Respellings:

    thyme, Thomas -> týme, Tomâs
    asthma, isthmus -> azma, ismus
    eighth -> eytth
    clothes -> clohs (*)

    (*)  The recommended DRE spelling of <clothes> is "clóthes", the principle being that silent letters (for those who don't pronounce the th) are better than sounds which are not represented in the spelling (for those who do).  However, if one feels strongly that the proper pronunciation is the same as that of "to close", then the DRE spelling "clohs" is recommended.

-ti-

    militia, inflátion, mótion, action, mention, exception, seditiôus
    initïate, rátïó, celestïal

Respellings:

    question, combustion, Christian -> questjon, combustjon, Cristjan (*)
    equation -> equázion

    (*) See "Aggravátion and Tòrtjur".

v, vv

    vest, savvy

w

    way, dwell
    wreck

Respellings:

    answer, sword, two, towards -> anser, sòrd, tew, toards

wh

    whále, whether, whisper, whoops

Respellings:

    who, whom, whose, whole, whore -> hoó, hoóm, hoós, hoel, hòre

x

    ax, taxì, extend
    exact, exempt, exist, exoneráte, exùberant
    xýlophóne, xénophóbìa
    anxiôus, noxiôus

Respellings:

    luxury -> luxjury
    Sioux -> Seu

y

    yàrd, canyon, lawyer

    (See also y the vowel)

z, zz

    zip, buzz
    chintz, waltz

Respellings:

    azure, seizure -> azjur, seezjur
    Nazi, pizza, scherzo -> Nàtzì, pìtza, skèrtzó
    czar -> tzàr
    eczema -> exéma (*)

    (*)  <eczema> is pronounced either as /ks/ or as /gz/.  The cz certainly doesn't communicate this.  Replacing it with an x at least makes it believable.

Miscellaneous consonant clusters (*)

    bdellìum
    ctenophòre, cthonic
    dvàndva, Dvòrjhàk
    gneíss, Gnostic, gnù
    jnàna
    mbìra
    ptèrodactyl
    tmésis

    (*)  English is a shameless language.  It borrows words wherever it can find them, including words containing consonant clusters which simply cannot be pronounced by most English speakers.  One can regard the obscure words in this list as being afflicted with silent letters and respell them.  But I choose not to do so for the following reasons.  They are not spelling problems - they're too seldom used for that.  Anyone who needs to write about ctenophores knows how the word is spelled.  (On the other hand, the word <czar> has become common, and so regrettably must be spelled more sensibly.)  The spellings offer clues to the exotic origins of such words, especially important for scientific terminology.  ptèrodactyl is far more lucid than tèrodactyl would be, to those adept with taxonomic vocabulary.  And, finally, they make the language more fun.  Words such as these add spice to English, and making spelling more sensible shouldn't mean making it bland.  I say let's keep 'em.

Foreign Sounds

A small number of English words have dictionary pronunciations with non-English phonemes.  DRE provides reasonable spellings for these sounds.  It is not very precise with them.  German has multiple ch sounds, and multiple ö sounds, but DRE uses the same spelling for all of them.

/x/, /c/
    loch -> loqh
    Metternich -> Metterniqh

The Scottish/German guttural ch sounds are spelled qh in DRE.

/A~/, /O~/
    concierge -> cõnsyèrjh
    chateaubriand -> shatóbrìãn

The French nasalized vowels are indicated in DRE by putting a tilde over the vowel, and following the vowel with a silent m or n.  So far, I have not found an assimilated French word containing a nasal other than ã or õ, which are luckily enough exactly the nasal vowels in the Latin-1 character set.

/y/, /Y/, /2/, /9/
    Goethe -> Göhtë
    danke shöen -> dànkë shöhn
    Duchamp -> Dühshãm
    Übermensch -> ühbermensh

The German and French close rounded vowels are spelled as öh and üh in DRE.  The DRE dictionary contains no words using these sounds, but they often occur in proper names.

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