The Bobdot system has a set of characteristics which are unique in a
pronunciation guide system intended for the language of Peter Jennings
– NBC English. The system represents a new approach to spelling which
should allow the teaching of the art of alphabetic reading to children
in about three months – in kindergarten – with literature which
matches their vocabulary. The resemblance of marked text to TS may be
seen in the Late Arrival story
below.
Vowel letters and vowel digraphs have both a stressed and unstressed form.
Primary stress in a multiple-syllable word is always apparent.
Voiced and unvoiced 'th's are differentiated.
Consonant letters and digraphs have but one sound.
A word like finger is differentiated from a word like singer – without added letters.
Upper and lower case letters are provided.
No use is made of color, underlining, big and little letters, bold or italic letters.
All required characters are available with the International Keyboard.
Alan Beale's dictionary conversion program is capable of automatically converting any text within the bounds of its 30,000 words.
The Wyrdplay
converter can be used to convert articles, stories, etc. into
Bobdot.
Nod to TS adepts:
'c' as in 'cat' is used when preceding 'a', 'o', or 'u'.
two forms of 'ou' are provided: ou and ow
two forms of 'oi' are provided: oi and oy
or always has the sound in 'for'
ar always has the sound in 'far'
sh and ch are as in TS
b c d f g h j k l m n ng (sing) nk (pink) p r s t v w y z
wh, ch, sh, tþ/th, zh – when,
chip, ship, tþink/trútþ, then/smúth, mezhur
a e i o u – impakt, contekst, orbit,
padlok, chesnut
pat, pet, pit, pot, pup (stress
marks not required in single syllable words)
ä ë ï ö ü – enäkt,
inëpt, òmït, impöstur, rébütul
--
(stressed short vowel)
schwa – (unstressed brief sound of 'u') simpul, ubët, posubul
á é í ó ú – plá, mé, mí,
gó, klú
à è ì ò ù – vàcáshun,
rèälitè, satìr, invòcáshun,
intùïshun (unstressed long
vowel)
'aw' as in outlaw
stressed: 'äw' (unläwful,
bècäwz)
'û' as in lûk, wûd,
cûd, shûd uncûkt, pûr, tûr
unstressed 'û' = eu: inpeut,
outpeut, thrúpeut
'ou' (o + ú) as in out, mound
(not used at end of word or preceding a vowel letter)
'ow' (o + ú) at end of word or preceding a vowel letter (cow, power)
stressed: 'öu/öw' (undöutedlè,
ulöw)
'oi' (aw + é) as in oil, boil
(not used at end of word or preceding a vowel letter)
'oy' (aw + é) at end of word or preceding a vowel letter (boy, royul)
stressed: 'öi/öy' (unöid,
unöy)
'a' which precedes 'r' or 'h' = 'o' (car, Panumah)
stressed: incärsuràt
'o' which precedes 'r' = 'aw' (or,
for)
stressed: bèför
'ur' = sound in prospur,
muthur,
inturn, mólur
stressed: impürvèus,
ulürt, unpurtürbd, urjunt
'er' indicates the sound in perul,
peruscòp
stressed: intërugàt,
impërd, er, vërè
c' is used before 'a', 'o', or 'u' (marked or unmarked) for the sound in <cat> (cap, cop, cut). 'k' is used in all other places for this sound. (kis, kin, kwik)
Where 'n' has the sound in 'sing' the 'n' will be marked, except in the case of an only or final syllable of a word where the 'n' is followed by 'g'. Therefore: sing, siñing, dúing, hañing, hañur, añgur, angst, lawng, hangd
Where 'nk' or 'nc' has the sound in <pink> or <anchor> the 'n' will be marked, except in the case where the 'nk' occurs in an only or final syllable of a word. Therefore: pink, rank, piñking, rañking, Iñcuh, añcur
Where an initial 'ur' precedes a vowel the 'u' will be sounded as a separate syllable (urív, uróz).
'uh' indicates the 'u' sound at the end of a word or a syllable (túnuh, ìdéuh, huhräs)
sight words: I a the
The consonant system of Bobdot:
bib, cap/cop/cut, dad,
fíf, gag, hot,juj, kik, lilè, mom, nan, pop, ror, sis,
tot, valv, went, whál, yes, zú/buz
Rules for noting which syllable has the primary stress:
In a word which has no marked vowels stress is on the first or only syllable.
In a multi-syllable word with one or more marked vowels the stressed syllable is indicated by a vowel marked with dieresis, accent acute, or circumflex, or by the absence of any of these markings, in which case the stressed syllable is the first.
Examples:
humdrum, pat, cat, akshun, undur, pursun
(Rule 1)
implí, convursáshun,
impursëptublè, kañgurú, tínè,
dèsídedlè, sìtáshun,
inïshèàt (Rule 2)
simplè, amplifì, banjò (Rule 2 default)
The
Lát Urívul
Bob stróld up the
path. Hé wuz lát and wuz cunsïduring hiz
alibì. Hé lisund tú the uthur carz in the
strét, heding hóm. The dawg, with paw rázd,
gréted him at the dor. Molè cûd awlwàz tel
when hé urívd. Shé wuz a fátþful
kréchur, and the sensitïvitè uv that nóz wuz
not a mitþ. The hous wuz kwíet. Hé lûkt doun
at the vínul tíl. It cûd stand sum polish but
hé wûd rèzïst the impuls tú
cumplán.
Hé saw hiz fothur in
the garden nir the fens but didn't bothur tú cawl him. Hé
wuz obvèuslè prèpëring tú mó
the lawn. Hé cûd sé the nábur'z cow in the
medò and the dens wûdz bèyönd. It sémd
a trivèul matur but hé awlwàz lûkt tú
sé if ther wuz enètþing on the kichun tábul.
Hiz wíf mít rít a nót. Ther wuz a nú
novul ther, probublè hurz. It had a pèkyúlyur
simbul on the cuvur. The títul sed sumtþing uböut
nûronz. Hé didn't nó whut that wuz uböut but
simplè didn't ker.
Hé
dèsíded tú rèmúv the lábul
now frum the pakij hé wuz kerèing. Hé hópt
that Murtul wûd not huhräs him uböut the cawst uv the
nú fur cót hé had bawt hur. Hé had a
ferlè gûd rèplí. At lést it wuz
pád for. And the furst uv the yir wuz awlmòst hir and the
er wuz cóld.
Hé found the
pápur partlè ópun, óvur a cher. It had
ránd in the morning. The pápur awfun got wet. Hé
turnd the rádèò on but didn't ker for the
siñing.
Hé red uböut the
síklòn which had awlmòst hit the sivik sentur. The
skí had lûkt tþretning. Hé gáv a
sí. Ther wûd hav bin the devul tú pá if the
storm had bin wurs. The nolij mád him wins. Hé
tþawt, "Wé ar só helples in the fás uv bad
wethur." Hé gáv sum tþawt tú sólur
powur, but klung tú hiz yúzhúul rigur, which ment
discüsing this witþ hiz wíf bèför
máking a dèsïzhun. Shé ekspëkted this
cunsiduráshun. Hé had bin tþiñking
uböut èmürjensè powur and had an
ìdéuh. Sum mezhur uv akshun mít bé
prúdunt.
To comment on this page,
e-mail Alan at wyrdplay.org