The Folksrite Spelling System

021107

There has been a name change. This system was previously named R Script, but there are several sites on the net with R Script in the name. I have an old system I named Foecsrite, but am no longer promoting it. It seems acceptable to use the name Folksrite for this system.

This is a work in progress. There should be few questions left that are not covered here. There is some repetition that seemed necessary. There are probably a few errors I have missed. There are several changes between this version and the previous version. Sorry I lost track of the specifics. There are bound to be plenty of errors left, but this document is usable as it is. (Update 060707: This version of Folksrite is considerably out of date but an updated version will not be available for some time. For the latest comments on Folksrite, go to http://360.yahoo.com/apprentice42.

The version of Folksrite shown here might be referred to as a "Publishers Standard". A more informal spelling might be acceptable that allows limited options, such as; buttun or butun; thicket or thicut; bubble or bubul, able or abel, etc; where the pronunciation is the same with either spelling; disregarding stress. Or, where unstressed i and u may be interchanged, because of differences in speaking accent, without loss of understanding. Atitude or atutude; lusid or lusud, valid or valud. It would be better, however, if we just had one spelling for each word, in order to make the text identical, whether written in Texas or India. So I suggest a single spelling accent would be preferable to a different spelling accent for each major region of the English speaking world.

For a long example of Folksrite text, see this transcription of the O Henry story "The Ransom of Red Chief".

1 - Introduction

2 - Some terms and conventions

3 - The construction of the Folksrite spelling accent

4 - Optional spellings

5 - Stress

6 - Compound words - prefixes - suffixes

7 - Vowels

8 - Consonants

9 - Double consonants

10 - Vowel combinations

11 - Vowel exceptions

12 - Syllabic consonants

13 - e, ex

14 - Homophones and homographs

15 - Hyphenated words

16- Apostrophes, contractions, possessives

17 - More rules and explanations

18 - Amber supplement

1 - Introduction

If national versions of Folksrite are chosen instead of just one spelling accent; British and American versions of Folksrite will be very much alike. They may be named Folksrite-Br and Folksrite-Am for convenience. Both British and American spellings can be used in the same text without confusion. If it is ever important, it will be a long time from now. Wus or was; uv or ov; bin or been; privesy or privusy. The spelling most like traditional spelling (TS) is used in "standard" Folksrite.

Using TS as a guide to spelling.

Since Folksrite is accepting much ambiguity in order to maintain a TS appearance, there is much memorization necessary. In writing about Folksrite, it is convenient to recommend using TS as a guide. This is not necessary. Convenient. All who are reading about Folksrite at present will already be familiar with TS. Besides these rules; refer to a standard British-American pronunciation dictionary for the likely sound-spelling that will be used in Folksrite, and spell accordingly, until a Folksrite dictionary is available.

See Amber supplement at the end of this document for a "shortcut" spelling accent.

Traditional Spelling

Folksrite

Folksrite is a spelling system for English. It is a complete spelling system with rules; not a list of words to be respelled. Folksrite is not meant for everyone. At least not right now. Only a few will agree that we should promote a spelling system such as Folksrite; or any spelling system; preferring to leave traditional spelling (TS) alone, or just respell a few words that give us the most trouble. The appeal of Folksrite is to those who believe our present spelling system is in need of considerable repair, and there is no time like the present to get on with it. While the past is full of attempts to correct the errors within TS, there has been very little success. This does not mean that we are doomed forever with our crippled spelling system. Other languages have made corrections with their spelling systems. English has not always been spelled as we see it, and future text will undoubtedly look quite different from what we see today. If we fail to provide some intelligent direction; future generations will struggle with the learning of English and its spelling system, just as we are today. What a shame. What an embarrassment. Should we not be disappointed in the performance of our ancestors relative to our spelling system? Will the future be disappointed with us?

Anyway; Folksrite is a sample of how we could make the learning of reading and spelling of English much easier. Spelling reformers come in all varieties. Some want very small changes, while others think we should go all the way to a fully alphabetic (pronunciation determines spelling) spelling system. Folksrite is somewhere in the middle, with the hope that a foothold can be obtained, whereby meaningful change can occur, that provides the necessary ingredients required to make learning to read and write English much easier. One of these ingredients is salability. It doesn't matter how "good" a spelling system is, if no-one will, or can use it.

Folksrite accepts many TS features in order to "look" more like TS, thereby removing a major objection to large scale spelling reform. In so doing, much ambiguity is accepted, that a more fully alphabetic spelling system would not condone; making Folksrite harder to learn, but hopefully, more acceptable to the "buying public". For example: basic, music, sure cure, cube, tube. These words require some fancy footwork to decode (figure out). A previously acquired vocabulary will greatly aid in this effort. These words spelled in a more alphabetic spelling might look like; baisik, muezik, shuur, kyuur, cueb, toob. It's doubtful the public will ever agree to this.

Folksrite requires the writer to match the spelling with the definition sometimes, or to choose between several possible spellings. Male or mail, inn or in, see or se, snow or sno, drown or droun, nose or noze, jas or jaz or jazz, nibble or nibul, marcut or market, etc. He/she has to learn whether a short vowel requires a double consonant. Ad or add, ebb or eb, iff or if, of or off, this or thiss, thus or thuss, mis or miss.

Using the Folksrite rules and a British/American pronouncing dictionary, with alternate pronunciations, should provide all the information you need to spell Folksrite well enough. A hard part of this is finding the word in the dictionary. Few dictionaries have made it easy to find words by their pronunciation. A Folksrite dictionary may eventually be made available.

The Folksrite spelling accent will lean toward British pronunciation, because it will generate spellings most like TS if the a's in |father| and in |cat| are merged in the spelling. Cat, father, hot, dog, |cough| cof, |caught| caut, |thought| thaut. Those already familiar with present spelling will have little trouble knowing which words need special attention. New learners will need to work harder to see where their speaking accent differs from the Folksrite spelling accent.

Names are spelled as at present.

Stress marking is found here and there, but is irregular in both TS and Folksrite.

multiple symbols for the same sound - day, vain/vane/vein; me, see, athlete; sky, tie, bike, alibi; go, toe, goat, snow; auto, awful; out, now; coil, loyul; snow, go, toe, alone, until, label; cook, back, tubacco; new, booty, duty.

multiple sounds for the same symbol - cat, father, idea; this, thin; pet, label, demand, sequense; yes, penny, sky; it, alibi; now, snow; cut, until, regular, accumulate, aluminum; fuel, influential.

Following are more key words spelled in Folksrite. With some duplication.

Craftsman, Munday, vineyard, handcurcheef; disputashes, singulur, regulur, acumulate, aluminum; bible, nibble, camul, locel; acre; sure, pure, cure, lure, cureus, insurense; basic, music, muchuul, robot, micro; cube, tube; booty, duty; care, fare, fair, terrer; cake, baby, hobby, hiking, focus, yellow, hello, coma, comma; drawn, awful; drown, owl; coil, loyul; day, they, rain, rein, maid, made; me, see; fly, alibi, high, tie; go, toe; few, argue, new, flu; care, fair, errer; heer, here, spirit; mayer, player; marry, starry; for, faur, in, inn; tu, too, twu; this, thin; reenter, react, diugram, oasis, influenshul, going; oftun, has, jazz; acshun, ancshus, caushun, ocazhen; extra, exist, extreme.

Folksrite is a spelling sistum for English. It is a complete spelling sistum with rules; not a list ov wurds tu be respelled. Folksrite is not ment for everywun. At leest not right now. Only a few will agree that we shood prumote a spelling sistum such as Folksrite; or any spelling sistum; prefurring tu leev trudishunul spelling (TS) alone, or just respell a few wurds that giv us the most trubble. The apeel ov Folksrite is tu those hu beleev our present spelling sistum is in need ov considuruble repair, and ther is no time like the presunt tu get on with it. While the past is full ov attempts tu curect the errers within TS, ther has been verry little suxess. This dus not meen that we are doomed forevur with our crippled spelling sistum. Uther langwijes hav made curecshuns with their spelling sistums. English has not always been spelled as we see it, and fucher text will undoutedly look quite differunt from what we see tuday. If we fail tu provide sum intelijunt direcshun; fucher jenurashens will struggle with the lurning ov English and its spelling sistum, just as we are tuday. What a shame. What an embarrusmunt. Shood we not be disappointed in the purformunse ov our ansesters relutiv tu our spelling sistum? Will the fucher be disappointed with us?

Anyway; Folksrite is a sample ov how we cood make the lurning ov reeding and spelling ov English much eesier. Spelling reformers cum in all vuriuties. Sum want verry small chanjes, while uthers think we shood go all the way tu a fully alfubetic (pronunseashen deturmins spelling) spelling sistum. Folksrite is sumwher in the middle, with the hope that a foothold can be obtained, wherby meeningful chanje can ocur, that provides the nesusery ingredeunts required tu make lurning tu reed and rite English much eesier. Wun ov these ingredeunts is salebility. It dusn't matter how "good" a spelling sistum is, if nowun will, or can use it.

Folksrite axepts menny TS feechers in order tu "look" mor like TS, therby remooving a majer objecshun tu larj scale spelling reform. In so duing, much ambiguity is axepted, that a mor fully alfubetic spelling sistum wood not condone; making Folksrite harder tu lurn, but hopefully, mor axeptuble tu the "bying public". For example: basic, music, sure cure, cube, tube. These wurds require sum fansy footwurk tu decode (figiur out). A preveusly aquired vocabulery will graitly aid in this effurt. These wurds spelled in a mor alfubetic spelling might look like; baisik, muezik, shuur, kyuur, cueb, toob. It's doutful the public will ever agree tu this.

Folksrite requires the riter tu mach the spelling with the definishun sumtimes, or tu choose between sevurul possible spellings. Male or mail, inn or in, see or se, snow or sno, drown or droun, nose or noze, jas or jaz or jazz, nibble or nibul, marcut or market, etc. He/she has tu lurn whether a short vowul requires a dubble consununt. Ad or add, ebb or eb, iff or if, of or off, this or thiss, thus or thuss, mis or miss.

Using the Folksrite rules and a British/American pronounsing dicshunery, with alturnut pronunseashens, shood provide all the infurmashen yu need tu spell Folksrite well enuf. A hard part ov this is finding the wurd in the dicshunery. Few dicshuneries hav made it eesy tu find wurds by their pronunseashen. A Folksrite dicshunery may evenchuully be made availuble.

The Folksrite spelling axent will leen tuword British pronunseashen, because it will jenurate spellings most like TS if the a's in |father| and in |cat| are murjed in the spelling. Cat, fathur, hot, dog, |cough| cof, |caught| caut, |thought| thaut. Those alreddy fumiliur with presunt spelling will hav little trubble knowing which wurds need speshul atenshun. New lurners will need tu wurk harder tu see wher their speeking axent differs from the Folksrite spelling axent.

Names are spelled as at presunt.

Stress marking is found here and ther, but is irregulur in both TS and Folksrite.

Multiple simbuls for the same sound - day, vain/vane/vein; me, see, athlete; sky, tie, bike, alibi; go, toe, goat, snow; auto, awful; out, now; coil, loyul; snow, go, toe, alone, until, label; cook, back, tubacco; new, booty, duty.

Multiple sounds for the same simbul - cat, fathur, idea; this, thin; pet, label, demand, sequunse; yes, penny, sky; it, alibi; now, snow; cut, until, regulur, acumulate, aluminum; fuel, influenshul.

Following are mor kee wurds spelled in Folksrite. With sum duplicashen.

Craftsman, Munday, vineyard, handcurcheef; disputashes, singulur, regulur, acumulate, aluminum; bible, nibble, camul, locel; acre; sure, pure, cure, lure, cureus, insurense; basic, music, mutuul, robot, micro; cube, tube; booty, duty; care, fare, fair, terrer; cake, baby, hobby, hiking, focus, yellow, hello, coma, comma; drawn, awful; drown, owl; coil, loyul; day, they, rain, rein, maid, made; me, see; fly, alibi, high, tie; go, toe; few, argue, new, flu; care, fair, errer; heer, here, spirit; mayer, player; marry, starry; for, faur, in, inn; tu, too, twu; this, thin; reenter, react, diugram, oasis, influenshul, going; oftun, has, jazz; acshun, ancshus, caushun, ocazhen; extra, exist, extreme.

Analyzing the classic story "Rip Van Winkle" indicates:

Total word count in text - 6,156

Total characters in text - 26,417

Rip Van Winkle words unchanged - 4,296 - 70%

Characters - 16,784 - 64%

1,658 individual words.

10,174 characters.

978w unchanged 59%

680w changed 41%

Many changes have been slight. Pliunt, surmun, wurth, husbund, verry, presise, beetun, colunist, sumtimes, vaper, chanje, ets.

2 - Some terms and conventions

TS = traditional spelling.

EPG = Epiphany Pronunciation Guide. EPG symbols are used to illustrate specific sounds. Refer to the EPG vowels in the chart. The reader can understand the meanings of the symbols as used here in context. There is no need to look anywhere else for the EPG.

The || symbols will sometimes mark a TS word being referenced.

EPG symbols will be enclosed in \\.

Syllabic divisions will be arbitrary when it is unclear (to me) where they should be placed.

Folksrite spelling will be in italics. |Father| fathur.

Base word - is a word without prefixes or suffixes. Base word; spell. Spelling, spelled.

Schwa is the: a in, alone, the e in silent, the o in bottom, the u in circus. In the Folksrite spelling accent, schwa is the same as the vowel in cut except for stress and length.

Schwa \u\ is spelled;

U is the default spelling of schwa.

A at word beginning, preceding a syllabic break--alone \u 'loen\, until \un 'til\.

A at word end--comma.

E in the magic-e position--label.

E after \k\. Trinket, chicken.

U after vowels; ereul, reul, diul, duul, cruul, royul; Eun, Iun, liun, Miun, ruffeun, museum, pireud, vacuum, bestowul, deniul, renewul.

\ul\ is frequently spelled le at word end; able, label, bubble, possible; camul, travul.

In two syllable words, schwa-a is magic at word end and will cause a preceding consonant to be doubled, if the consonant is preceded by a short stressed vowel. Coma, data, quota, puma, Reba, soda, sofa, toga, ova; comma, dramma, Alla, Ella, mamma, Anna, Donna, pappa, plazza. In three syllable words this feature is unreliable. Camura.

\ur\ is similar to \u\. It is unstressed. \ur\ will be spelled er at word end, unless it will cause a short vowel to appear long; in which case it will be spelled ur. Manur, fathur, nacher, similur. Exception: \ur\ is sometimes spelled re at word end; acre, ocre, ogre. Use TS as a guide.

This document will use the term long vowel in reference to; \ae\, \ee\, \ie\, \oe\, \ue\ and \oo\. Cake, feet, bike, vote, fuel, moon. Short vowel will refer to; \a\, \e\, \i\, \o\, \aa\, \v\, \uu\, \c\, and \ur\. Cat, pet, pig, fox Br, fox Am, pup, foot, urly, letter. There is more than one way to spell several of these vowels in Folksrite. The vowel in |goat| is pronounced a little differently in British and American accents but there is no confusion when they are spelled the same in Folksrite. Goat.

Br = British English. In Folksrite, it will be RP (Received Pronunciation), except Folksrite will not drop the r's.

Am = American English, as found in Merriam-Webster.

Nine vowel forms are referred to as "magic". Magic-e, magic-y, magic-ing, magic-le, magic-re, magic-us, magic-o, magic-ow, and magic schwa. These vowel forms mark some long vowels. Associated with these magic vowels are double consonants that "protect" stressed short vowels from appearing long, because of the influence of the magic vowels. Bible, nibble, later, latter. Cake, raven, bony, bonny, liking, licking, able, bubble, acre, focus, hello, ecco, tumato, halo, hollow, coma, comma. Unstressed short vowels are not protected. Possible.

In this document, compound word will refer to a double word. Not a word with a prefix or suffix added. Handyman.

Decode; means to figure out the pronunciation from clues in the spelling, vocabulary, and context.

3 - The construction of the Folksrite spelling accent.

The Folksrite spelling accent is a blend of the American and British accents; sometimes modified by traditional spelling. Folksrite puts a high priority on a traditional appearance, so rather than choose either a British or American spelling accent, Folksrite will consider the traditional spelling appearance as well, and sometimes choose a different accent that is in use. For instance; the British distribution of some vowels (\a\, \aa\, \o\, and \au\) will generally be followed because they produce more of a traditional appearance. Hot, dog, on, or, caut, cat, father. (\a\ and \aa\ are merged in the spelling.) Sometimes a different accent will produce more of a match. |Often| oftun, is a minority accent but closest to TS. For the time being, Folksrite suggests variable spellings of some words so that a majority accent may be spelled if a better TS-like match is not known. For instance: |lucid| in Am - lusud; in Br - lusid; |privacy| Am - privesy; Br - privusy; |occasion| acazhen or ocazhen. The preferred spelling of these words (for now) would be; lusid, privusy or privesy, ocazhen. In the future, the spelling accent should shift to conform to the majority speaking accent(s). The reason to spell to the TS favoring minority accent is to gain the support of those who resist accepting a new spelling system because the appearance is too different from TS. It's possible this tactic will gain little; in which case it should be dropped. At any rate; it should eventually be dropped.

No harm is done if you make a "wrong" guess. If Folksrite is accepted, it will be a long time before it is important, and by then most bugs will be worked out of the system, and it will be more clear which decision is best. This is still a work in progress. If you think you would like the system except for a few changes you would make; go ahead with your preferences and see how they work.

I expect the British will want to choose British-like spellings and the Americans will want American-like spellings and the Australians, Indians, etc., will have their preferences. I think this is a mistake. If we settled on just one spelling accent, text could be read with ease, anywhere in the world. The initial learning would be easier for some than for others. Choosing minority spelling accents for more of a TS look works better sometimes than others, and some choices will be arbitrary. There are bound to be some sticky parts to this manner of choosing the spelling accent. It may have to be changed, but for now, a preferred spelling of each word will be attempted that considers TS.

No matter what system you are considering; if it is largely pronunciation based; you will have to learn the difference between your accent, and the spelling accent. Though Folksrite has a few "sight words" almost all words can be spelled by using the rules, and learning the spelling accent. Those already familiar with TS should have little problem picking up the spelling accent. New learners will have to study harder; no matter which spelling accent they are learning. For a long time, the only people using Folksrite will already have mastered TS. If it ever becomes important, more detailed explanations and examples will be forthcoming.

The Americans will have to learn which words the British pronounce with \aa\, \o\, and \au\, so they will know when to spell a, o, and au, because Americans frequently pronounce \aa\ or \au\ where they see o in traditional text. |Spot, hot; dog, long, cross.| Many words are pronounced with both \aa\ and \au\. |Because, thought, caught, brought, cough, naught.| Because, thaut, caut, braut, cauf, naut. Those who are already literate in English can get clues from traditional spelling for which words need an a, o or au, spelling. |Adagio, avocado, blase, bravado, bravo, father, garage, massage, tamale, autobahn; dog, caught, thought.| In Folksrite-Am; adadjo, avucaddo, blasay, bruvaddo, bravvo, fathur, gurazh, musazh, tumally, autoban; dog, caut, thaut. In Folksrite-Br; the same as Am except for; garazh, masazh. In standard Folksrite, a single choice will be made, where sometimes a minority accent will be spelled. Garaj, massaj.

Computer, compare; conflict, control, consist, conclude.

The above words are usually pronounced with schwa \u\ in place of o, but a minority pronunciation is \o\, though it sounds quite out of place to me. The \o\ spelling accent will be used because it conforms to TS. The majority spelling accent is still permissible for now; so, conflict or cunflict; control or cuntrol, etc. The preferred spelling will generally be the one closest to TS, but not necessarily. Sum minority accents seem a little too far from the majority accents, and should probably not be spelled. |Actual| - should it be, acshuul or actuul? \'ak shoo l\ or \'akt joo l\? This decision has not been finalized yet for Folksrite. A Folksrite dictionary would narrow the choices but that's not a problem at this time. A British-American pronouncing dictionary can be consulted for the most likely spelling accent as modified by these rules. The above list would be spelled; compare, computer, conflict, control, consist, and conclude.

There are other rules and exceptions that affect the spelling. These will be covered later.

4 - Optional spellings

Names and capitalized words may be spelled in the old spelling. There will be some exceptions to this rule. Use your own judgment about the acceptability of using the new spelling for these words. It won't be important for a long time.

Considering the British RP and American pronunciations, plus minority pronunciations; the one that produces spellings closest to TS will generally be chosen.

Since Folksrite keeps the TS ambiguities relative to \s\ and \z\; they will cause many "misspellings", we should be tolerant of spelling z or s for the \z\ sound, such as; surprise or surprize, reulize or reulise. If a TS appearance was disregarded; z should be spelled for \z\, even for plurals and possessives. Haz, waz, fraze, noze, etc.

5 - Stress

Folksrite relies on vocabulary to provide proper stress placement. There are some spellings that suggest relatively consistent reduced stress, such as y and ing at word end, but even this is compromised by y being spelled for both \y\ and \ie\ at word end. Penny, deny. A double consonant suggests the preceding short vowel is stressed in multi-syllable words. Letter, beginning. Schwa is unstressed but it is spelled a, e, and u. A, e, and u, represent other sounds also. Alone, until, regulur \ju\. Ee at word end is stressed. Agree, degree. Us at word end is unstressed. Focus. Ss at word end generally but not always marks stress. Discuss, emboss, amiss. Ess might or might not be stressed. Obsess, absess, prinsess.

Stress can be marked for teaching purposes. á é í ó ú óo Á É Í Ó Ú ái ée íe óe/ów úe óo áu/áw ói/óy óu/ów. |below| belów, |allow| alów. A default stress rule can be used that places stress on the first syllable if no stress marks are used in the word.

For general text, vocabulary will provide proper stress except for uncommon words. Look it up.

6 - Compound words - prefixes - suffixes

When a base word has a prefix or suffix added, or is part of a compound word, its spelling may or may not change; |craftsman| crafts-man,craftsman; breckfust. Not, crafsmun. |Monday| Mun-day, Munday. Not Mundy. |Gentleman| jentul-man, jentulman; jentul-men, jentulmen, cannot. |Tuesday| Tusday, Friday, forman, |handkerchief| handcurcheef, vineyard. Obviously 'vineyard' is not pronounced as 'vine-yard'. Should we spell vineyard or vinyard or vinyurd? Folksrite will go with vineyard as is in current treatment. The Folksrite dictionary will likely have some controversial spellings in this regard. \'fien jard\ vineyard, will represent the spelling accent though it is probably not in current use. |Breakfast| will be sound-spelled, breckfust, though the word can be separated into, break-fast. Braikfast, seems like too much of a stretch, even though it fits the meaning. We will press on, and leave the future to change this if they wish. Exceptions:

When word end vowel y \y\ is followed by a suffix, y will be changed to i. Happier, happiness, |beautiful| buetiful. But; handyman, candybar, pennywise. Where man, bar, and wise are full words, and not just suffixes. Handy-man.

\y\ - When a word with ee \ee\ becomes part of a compound word, and the stress of \ee\ is changed to \y\; ee will still be spelled. Chikweed.

When full is a suffix or prefix, it is spelled ful. Careful, buetiful. When al(l) is a prefix or suffix, it is spelled all or al; using TS as a guide. Almost, withal, over-all, dansehall.

Sometimes \y\ midword is unclear whether it is part of a compound word; in which case \y\ will be spelled i. Handicapped, happily, buetiful. Compare with, comprehend, independunt.

When a word is unclear as to the nature of its various elements; an element that forms an identifiable word (using pronunciation) will generally remain unchanged from its original Folksrite spelling. Always. Disapointed, disability, probability; marketuble, possible. Not; disupointed, disubility, probubility; marketable.

Some compound words may be spelled with a hyphen for clarification. No-wun or nowun, go-cart or gocart, bi-plane or biplane. Standard Folksrite will likely leave the hyphen out.

Some words may still be unclear, and it would be best to check a dictionary to see the preferred treatment. Until. See above for reference to ful and al. Whether to spell l or ll is irregular in TS and Folksrite will spell these as TS spells them.

The prefix \antie-\ or \anty-\ will be spelled anti-. Antibiotic.

When a prefix or suffix or word, is added to a word, it may cause a double consonant, whether it is pronounced or not. Irregulur, unnesusery, reully, cannot.

\ur\ will be spelled er at word end. Murderer, newer. Except:

Sometimes syllabic-r is compressed, as in; flower/flour, fire.

\y_r\ will be spelled ier at word end when a word end y, is changed to i. Carrier, barrier. \y_r\ will be spelled eur, otherwise. Nucleur.

\jur\ will be spelled iur at word end. Fumiliur, failiur, figiur. Exception; lawyer, sawyer.

\ur\ will be spelled re at word end in words that are spelled with re in TS. Acre, ocre, ogre.

\ur\ will be spelled ur, if er would cause a short vowel to appear long. Regulur, manur, tenur.

The following suffixes are used for their ability to assist in approaching a TS appearance. Es, ed, en, er, est, less, ness, le, re. Kisses, shapes; aided, waved, padded, grabbed; safer, letter; latest, tallest, able, apple, acre; timeless, closeness.

The \ust\ suffix will be spelled est when referring to such as; fastest, biggest, tallest, hottest.

The \ust\ or \ist\ suffix will be spelled ist when referring to such as; dentist, pharmacist, cyclist, chemist. Dentist, farmisist, siclist, cemist.

\d\ and \ud\ - spelled ed when an inflection. The e will be "magic", and cause a preceding consonant to be doubled to mark a stressed short vowel. Added, ragged, matted. Exception; when ed follows a base word ending with, ch, sh, th. Mach, mached.

When \ud\ is not an inflection, it will be spelled ud. Salud.

Past tense is not always pronounced \d\ or \ud\. Kept, slept.

Past tense \d\ - spelled ed after consonants following short vowels. Laffed, edjed, backed, willed, jammed, fanned, mapped, barred, passed, lived, fussed.

Past tense \d\ - spelled ed after word end vowels. Played, lied, tried, eccoed, glued. Except; word end vowels ee and ue will be followed by d. Agreed, freed, argued.

Plural will be spelled s and es for \s\, \z\, \iz\ and \uz\.

\s\ - with short vowels; laffs, backs, ships, pets, books.

\z\ - with short vowels; beds, bags, wells, jams, fins, bars, gluvs.

\s\ - with long vowels; roofs, lakes,weeks, kites, boats, shapes.

\z\ - with long vowels; rides, roads, piles, times, tunes, fires, nives, loavs, glues, cues.

\uz\ - badjes, passes, peeses, busses, ajes, fases, uses.

Plural following word end vowels;

Days, trees, flys/flies, tumatoes, eccoes, news, glues

The \s\ or \z\ sound at word end will be spelled, se or ze, if an s spelling might suggest an unwanted plural. Horse, sinse, false, copse, corse; raise, pleese, freeze, loose, cause, noise, house. Geese, spelled gees would imply a plural of gee. Similarly with these/thees. |Series| seems to be in a class by itself. It seems wrong to spell sireese; yet sirees seems to imply the plural of siree, by the previous logic. We will keep sirees, and hope to find a better rule. Maybe the rule should apply only to single syllable words.

Non-plural/non-possessive \s\ at word end.

Following unstressed short vowel; except \e\.

promise - promis

precipice - presipis

office - offis

haggis - haggis

osmosis - osmosis

abacus - abucus

embarrass - embarrus

\es\ - ess stressed and unstressed.

princess - prinsess

abscess - absess

assess - asess

address - address, adress

Following a stressed short vowel.

amiss - amiss

amass - amass

emboss - emboss

discuss - discuss

abyss - abiss

Following a consonant.

influence - influunse

attendance - atendunse

else - else

glimpse - glimpse

horse - horse

fierce - feerse

hearse - hurse

fence - fense

dance - danse

copse - copse

corpse - corpse

waltz - waltse

Exception: The possessive |its| will still be spelled its; not itse.

Following, \au\, \oi\, \ou\.

cause - cause

noise - noise

house - house

\us\ at word end is a magic vowel form, and spelled us.

focus - focus

famous - famus

Uranus - Uranus \juur 'ae nus\

opus - opus

fetus - fetus

abacus - abacus - an unstressed vowel form is not protected by double consonants, so the middle a is ambiguous.

heiress - errus

Magic-e vowel forms at word end, with s as the consonant.

vase, vise, close, nose, dose, wise, these, those, use, fuse.

Se and ze after long vowels.

Vase, eese, these, wise, nise, nose, use.

fleece - fleese

geese - geese

grease - greese

goose - goose

loose - loose

lose - loose or looze?

freeze, ooze

Ss after short vowels in single syllable words.

Mass, mess, miss, moss, muss.

7 - Vowels

Vowels will use TS as a guide for which words get which spellings. Go, toe, whoa, road, rode, etc. The following rules will help predict most spellings without reference to TS.

Short vowels.

\a\ - a - cat

\e\ - e - pet

\i\ - i - pig

\aa\ - a - fathur

\o\ - o - pot, bothur - British pronunciation.

\v\ - u - cut, humdrum \'hum ,drum\. Spelled uh at word end. Huh, uh-uh.

\u\ - schwa - a, e, and u - alone, label, until.

\c\ - u - \'cr ly\ urly, further - \cr\ is stressed \ur\.

\ur\ - unstressed \cr\. After, fathur.

\uu\ - book. Spelled u, midword as if it was \ue\ or \u_e\;. \uu\ will be spelled u in some multisyllable words; using TS as a guide. |Chutzpah| hutspa, during, goody; suger, cure.

\uul\ and \ul\ will be merged in the spelling, but \uul\ may be spelled ool or ull; using TS as a guide. Wool, pull.

\uul\, \ul\, \vl\, are merged in the spelling, but \uul\ may be spelled ul(l) or ool; using TS as a guide. Ultra, dull, awful, pull, wool.

U is spelled for several sounds.

\v\ - cut, humdrum \'hvm ,drvm\.

\u\ - schwa - until, \hidden\ hiddun |'hid n|.

\ue\ - music - single letter long \u_e\.

\ue\ - |peculiar| peculiur \pi 'kuel jur\ - midword. |Beauty| buty - u_y (magic-y).

\oo\ - tubing - u_ing. Stupidity. Flu - word end.

\ju\ - |regular| regulur \'reg ju lur\- midword.

\uu\ - during, |chutzpah| hutspa.

Long vowels.

The "long" vowels can be spelled with, a single letter, a digraph, or a "magic" vowel form.

TS will be used as a guide as to which vowel forms are spelled. Other rules apply.

A single letter will be spelled for a long vowel where TS spells it, and a digraph will be spelled where TS spells a digraph. Basic, sequunse, micro, robot, music; peeple, eegle, beetle, reesun, seesun, beecun, creecher, even, resent, Eden, pie; noodle, stupid, booty, duty, maintain, find, wind, bind, grind, gost, post, host, most. See; Magic vowels below; for more long vowel forms. Also; |beautiful| buetiful; |lieutenant| lootenunt.

\ae\ - ai, a_e, a_y, a_ing, a, ay, ei, ey.

Maintain, cake, baby, baking, basic, caos, day; always, layer, vein, they.

\ee\ - ee, e_e, ee_y, ee_ing, e.

Feet, athlete, leefy, seeking, sequunse, reulise, me, agree; tree, see.

\ie\ - ie, igh, ign, i_e, i_y, i_ing, i, y.

Tie, high, right, sign, rite, ivy, find, hiking, micro, alibi, diugram, fly.

\oe\ - oa, o_e, o_y, o_ing, o, ow, oe.

Loaf, vote, bony, choking, robot, going, go; snow, toe.

Ow is spelled for both \oe\ and \ou\. Snow, know, now.

\ue\ - ue, u_e, u_y, u_ing, u, ew.

Fuel, refuse, buty, using, peculiur, argue; few. U_e will be spelled for both \ue\ and \oo\ at word end when a magic-e vowel form is spelled. Refuse, intrude. U is spelled for both \ue\ and \oo\ midword. Acumulate, aluminum.

\oo\ - oo, u_e, u_y, u_ing, u, ew.

Moon, intrude, goofy, duty, shooting, stupidity, graduul, flu, new, too. U_e will be spelled for both \ue\ and \oo\ at word end when a magic-e vowel is spelled. Refuse, intrude. U is spelled for both \ue\ and \oo\ midword. Acumulate, aluminum.

Magic vowel forms.

There are nine magic vowel forms in Folksrite. Magic-e, y, ing, us, le, re, o, shwa-a, ow. All but magic-e are only magic at word end.

Magic vowel forms mark long vowels and influence the placement of double consonants.

In two syllable words, magic vowel forms cause a preceding consonant to be doubled if the consonant follows a short stressed vowel. Winning, hobby, boddy, planned. In words with more than two syllables, the magic function is unreliable. Reliuble. Ow does not mark a long vowel, but does force doubling of a consonant following a short stressed vowel. Yellow, hello. Magic-e may be active midword, by spelling e for \u\ when \u\ is in the magic position. Raven, label. \ur\ is similar; faverit.

Magic-e has the following pattern: long vowel/consonant/e. Cake, label, raven, smile, attitude. Where the e indicates the vowel to the left of the single consonant is long, with some exceptions.

Sometimes a vowel looks like a magic-e vowel but is not. Curect, agen.This infrequent ambiguity will be accepted.

Two consonants may be left of e in the last syllable, for more of a TS look. |Change| chanje, taste, waste. This causes a limited amount of ambiguity when the ing suffix is added. Taste, tasting; fast, fasting.

When a word ending with magic-e has a suffix added; the e will remain. Lively, pavemunt. Compound words; homemade, hereinafter.

When a vowel combination begins with e; the e will not be magic. Video, stereo.

In TS, magic-e long vowels are irregularly spelled at word end.

When \u\ or \ur\ is in the "magic" position, e will be spelled instead of u; marking a preceding vowel as long. Label, naked, broken, even, locel, poker, oder. Exception: \us\ at word end will be spelled us, even if \u\ is in the magic position. \us\ is "magic" and will cause a preceding consonant to be doubled to mark a short stressed vowel. Focus, ruckus.

When a long vowel is followed by two consonants and \u\; the \u\ will be spelled e. Sacred. This has not been fully tested.

The inflections; ed, er, es, est, are magic, because of the e in the spelling, and they mark a vowel as long if it is followed by a single consonant. Saved, safer, fases, latest. They also cause a preceding consonant to be doubled if the consonant follows a short stressed vowel. Padded, biggest. However; ch, sh, th, and zh, will not be doubled. Wached, wishes.

\ur\ is spelled er at word end unless its magic feature will cause a short vowel to appear long. Tenur, |manor| manur, fathur, lathur, opurate; letter, rubber, differ, differunt, archer, archery, armer, armery.

But, when er is an inflection, it will still be spelled er, even after, ch, sh, th, zh. Cacher (cach-er), fisherman.

Magic-y is at word end as in; baby, leeky, ivy, pony, puny, duty, booty; Magic-y will cause a preceding consonant to be doubled to mark a short stressed vowel; even if TS does not double a consonant in the word. Boddy, studdy, tumally.

\ee\ is not reduced to a single letter vowel relative to magic-y. The word |deny| does not have \ee\ in it. Deny \dy 'nie\.

\oo\ may be spelled oo or u relative to magic-y; using TS as a guide as to which spelling goes with which word. Ruby, duty, Judy; booby, goofy, kooky, booty, groovy.

\ue\ is also spelled u relative to magic-y. |Beauty| buty, puny.

\ar\ will be spelled arr relative to "magic" y. The ambiguity between \ar\ and \arr\ will be accepted here. Starry, marry.

When a base word ending with magic-e has the y suffix added, the e will not be dropped. Stone - stoney, slimey, cajey, shakey, smiley, shiney; scarey.

Magic-ing is at word end as in; taking, seeking, hiking, smoking, using, gluing, shooting. \ee\ is not reduced to a single letter vowel relative to magic-ing, but \oo\ may or may not; using TS as a guide as to which words are spelled with which vowel form. Ing at word end will force a preceding consonant to be doubled to mark a stressed short vowel. Sunning. Two consonants may be left of ing for more of a TS look. This causes a limited amount of ambiguity. Taste, tasting; fast, fasting. Since are is sometimes spelled for \er\ at word end; and it is treated as a "magic-e" vowel; the addition of ing at word end will be spelled as in; caring, daring.

Magic-le is at word end as in; able, bible, noble. Le at word end will force a preceding consonant to be doubled to mark a stressed short vowel. Bubble, puddle. When an ing suffix is added, the e is dropped. Enabling, idling, ogling, bugling.

Magic-re is at word end as in; acre, |ochre| ocre, ogre, |euchre| ucre.

Magic-us is at word end as in; focus, bogus, hocus-pocus, onus, opus, hiatus, fetus. Magic-us will force a preceding consonant to be doubled to mark a short stressed vowel. |Heiress| errus, |jealous| jellus.

\us\ at word end is spelled us if es may be mistaken for plural, when e is spelled to mark a long vowel. Focus, |famous| famus.

Magic-o is at word end as in; halo, silo, ego, loco, Fido, hello.

Magic-o will cause a preceding consonant to be doubled to mark a short stressed vowel; even if TS does not double a consonant in the word. Tumato/tumatto, bravvo, ecco, adadjo, avucaddo, bravvo, tubacco, hippo, lasso.

The ambiguous a in ago is not marked with double consonants because it is not a short stressed vowel.

Magic-ow is at word end as in; shaddow, widdow, meddow, yellow, hollow, pillow, minnow, narrow, sorrow, burrow. In this case; magic-ow does not mark a long vowel. Magic-ow will cause a preceding consonant to be doubled to mark a short stressed vowel; even if TS does not double a consonant in the word. Magic-ow will not follow a syllable with a long vowel. Compare; avow, alow. The a is not a short stressed vowel.

Magic-schwa-a is at word end as in; coma, Cuba, tuba.

Magic-schwa-a will cause a preceding consonant to be doubled to mark a short stressed vowel; vunilla, bunanna. comma, Donna, \era\erra (minority pronunciation).

Other vowels.

\au\ - au and aw; haul, auto, saw, awful, drawing. See \al\ below.

\oi\ - oi and oy; coin, boy, oil, |loyal| loyul, oyster.

\ou\ - ou and ow; out, cow, ow; |towel| towul, drown. Note, ow is spelled for both \oe\ and \ou\. Snow, now.

\oe\ - o, oe, o_e and ow; go, toe, home, snow, gallows. Note, ow is spelled for both \oe\ and \ou\. Snow, now.

\al\ is spelled al. |Calendar| calunder. But;

\aul\ will be spelled; aul, all, and al; using TS as a guide. All, hall, haul, talk, almost, withal, overhaul, etc. This requires matching spelling to pronunciation, as is done with long vowel digraphs and magic-e vowel forms, at word end. Conflicts; Al, alubaster, salury, calunder.

\y\ - unstressed \ee\ - spelled y at word end. Penny, ennyway. Except:

when word end vowel y \y\ is followed by a suffix, y will be changed to i. Happier, happiness. But; handyman, candybar, pennywise. Compound words. Spelled e elsewhere, when the pronunciation could be \y\, even if the most common pronunciation is unstressed \i\. Begin, demand, prevent, relate; |comprehend| comprehend. Present spelling can be used as a guide to show the words in Folksrite that will be spelled with e, in case the pronunciation is not too clear, such as; descry, describe.

Where \ee\ is reduced to \y\ in compound words like |chickweed| \'chik wyd\; the original spelling of the word element will be kept. Chickweed.

\i\ - This unstressed sound is often spelled e in TS; especially in the first syllable. |Deny| \di 'nie\, |remove| \ri 'moof\, |December| \di 'sem bur\. Most of these words are also pronounced with \y\. \dy 'nie\, \ry 'moof\, \dy 'sem bur\. When \y\ is a possible pronunciation, e will be spelled; except at word end. Generally TS can be used as a guide as to which words fit this condition.

\vl\, \ul\, and \uul\, are merged in the spelling, but \uul\ may be spelled ull or ool; using TS as a guide. Ultra, dull, awful, pull, wool.

R colored vowels

EPG

Folksrite

SAMPA

arr

orr

jur

uur

juur

shuur

syuur

aer

eer

ier

oer

uer

oor

our

arr

er/air/are

ir/eer/ere

arr

orr

ur/er

iur

oor/ure/u

ure/ur

sure

ayer/eir

eer

yer/ier/ire/ir

ower

ewer

our/ower

marry

terror/hair/hare

spirit/hear/here

car

starry

sorrel

burn

cooperation/letter

failure/familiar

tour/lure/luring

pure/Uranus

sure

player/layer/their

seer (see-er)

flyer/flier/fire/firing

lower

fewer

newer

corn

flour/flower

marry

terrer/hair/hare

spirit/heer/here

car

starry

sorrul

burn

coopurashen/letter

failiur/fumiliur

toor/lure/luring

pure/Uranus

sure

player/layer/their

seer

flyer/flier/fire/firing

lower/lowering

fewer

newer

corn

flour/flower

E@`/Er

I@`/Ir

/Qr/

j@`

U@`

jU@`

SUr

sjUr

e@`

i:@`

aI@`

o@`

ju:@`

u:@`

aU@`

\aer\ = \ae r\; \eer\ = \ee r\; \ier\ = \ie r\; \oer\ = \oe r\; \uer\ = \ue r\; \oor\ = \oo r\; \ou r\ = \our\. Player, seer, fire, lower,fewer, newer, flower/flour.

Note that ower is pronounced \oer\ and \our\; ewer is pronounced \uer\ and \oor\. Lower, flower; fewer, newer. The homophones, flower and flour can have different spellings.

EPG spells \a r\ as \arr\. Likewise \e r\ as \er\; \i r\ as \ir\; \aa r\ as \ar\; \au r\ as \or\. Marry, merry, deer, car, corn.

When the r colored vowels have more than one way to be spelled; they will be spelled as in TS. Care, fair, ther; heer, here, spirit; toor, cure; fire, flyer, flier; flower, flour.

The ambiguity of, Marry; starry, and scarred, will be accepted.

\er\ - er/air/are - terrer, ther, hair, hare, fairy, ferry. Are will be treated the same as a magic-e vowel. This means also that, at word end, two consonants are permitted between the a and e. |Scarce| scarse, scarsely, harem. As with |change| chanje; a magic-e will be allowed following two consonants at word end. Chanje, scarse, scarsely, scare/scarey.

\ir\ - ir/eer/ere - spirit, heer, here.

\uur\ - Oor/ure/u - toor/lure/luring

\uur\ will sometimes be spelled as if it was \uer\, in the magic-e vowel form. Sure, pure, cure. As with magic-e long vowels, e will sometimes be spelled for \u\ in words like, insurense. \uur\ will sometimes be spelled with a single vowel letter. Luring, during, Uranus.

\aer\ - Layer, player, mayer; their.

The spelling accent of |their| in Folksrite will be \dhaer\. Their house is white. \dhaer\ is a minority pronunciation.

\oer\ and \our\ share a simbol. Flower, lower. Now, snow.

Word end vowels.

\a\ - ah

\aa\ - spa, ma

\v\ - huh, uh-uh

\u\ - comma, idea

\ae\ - day, they, |weigh| wei

\ee\ - me, see

\y\ - penny

\ie\ - fly, tie, high, hi, alibi

\oe\ - go, whoa, toe, snow

\oo\ - flu, too, new

\ue\ - few, argue

\au\ - saw

\oi\ - boy

\ou\ - cow, thou

As can be seen above; some word end vowels can be spelled more than one way. These spellings are the same as in TS, but fewer. If you are familiar with TS, you will know when to spell these vowels. If you are not familiar with TS, you will have to match the spelling with the definition. Notice; a, y, ow, and ew, are spelled for more than one sound. Spa, comma; story, fly; now, snow; new, few.

Word end vowels with a suffix

\ae\ - played, |weighed| wei, weid; |neigh| nei, neid; pay, paid; obeyed, days, gayest, player, playing, gayly, playubul, betrayul.

\ee\ - agreed, trees (tree-s), freest (free-est), freer, freely, seeing, agreeuble.

\y\ - married, stories, urliest, urlier, studdying, ameuble, happiness, happily.

\ie\ - fried, fries, highest, higher, highly, trying, flyuble, deniul.

\oe\ - showed, toes, lowest, lower, slowly, going, knowuble, |bestowal| bestowul.

\ue\ - argued, cues, fewest, fewer, arguing, arguubul.

\oo\ - glued, glues, bluest, newer, sewer, newly, gluing, duuble, renewul.

\au\ - sawed, saws, rawest, drawer, lawyer, sawing.

\oi\ - toyed, toys, coyly, enjoyuble.

\ou\ - alowed, cows.

When word end vowel y \y\ is followed by a suffix, y will be changed to i. Happier, happiness. But; handyman, candybar, pennywise. Where man, bar and wise are full words, and not just suffixes.

\ie\ - At word end is spelled i when the ed or es suffix is added. Fried, flies, tries.

8 - Consonants

1 - SAMPA

2 - EPG

3 - Folksrite

4 - TS

5 - Folksrite

1	2	3	4	5
b	b	b	back	back
d	d	d	day	day
f	ff	f	fat	fat
g	g	g	get	get
h	h	h	hat	hat
dZ	jj	j/dj	judge	judj
k	k	c/k ck cc	cook back accurate	cook back accurut
l	l	l	little	little
m	m	m	man	man
n	n	n	nice	nise
p	p	p	pen	pen
kw	kw	qu	quit	quit
r	r	r	rib	rib
s	s	s	soon	soon
t	t	t	tea	tee
v	f	v	view	vew
w	w	w	wet	wet
ks	ks	x*	six	six
j	j	y	yes	yes
z	z	z	zip	zip
tS	ch	ch	church	church
D	dh	th	this	this
T	th	th	thin	thin
S	sh	sh	ship	ship
W	wh	wh	what	what
Z	zh	zh	vision	vizhun
N	ng	ng	ring	ring

*See, 14 - X, ex

Six, extra, exaltashen, exeed, exactly.

Consonant exceptions

TS and Folksrite are irregular in their spelling of \k\.

\k\ - Folksrite - c, k, ck, cc. TS - C, k, ck, ch, cc, qu, q, cq, cu, que, kh. Refer also to x \ks\. Six, extra.

Regularly k before; \e\, \ee\, \y\, \i\, \ie. Keg, keep, munky, kit, kite.

Exception; cemist, ciropracter, okay.

Regularly ck at word end after, a, e, i, o, u. Back, peck, stick, clock, duck, atack.

Exception; after i in multisyllable words. Picnic.

Exception; when q is at word end in TS, k will be spelled in Folksrite. |Iraq| Irak.

Regularly c before a consonant. Act, aclimate, acmy, acnolij, acrid.
Exception; okra.

\ku+consonant\, midword; is regularly spelled cke+consonant.Racket, pocket, rocket, thicket, rickety, bucket, becken, chicken. Exceptions; |lacquer| lacur, |liquor| licur. TS does not spell double \k\ in these words. \ul\ is sometimes spelled le at word end. Use TS as a guide. Nickle, tackle.

Regularly k after a consonant. Bank, mark, ask, talk. A following \u\ will regularly be spelled e. Blanket, market, trinket, snorkel, ankle, unkle.

Exceptions; falcun, talcum. Arc/ark (homophones).

Regularly k at base word end after long vowels, and \uu\. Awake, bake, freek, baking, shakey, spook; look.

Regularly c after a long vowel and before le or re, at word end. Sicle, treecle; acre, ocre, ucre.

Midword, in a magic-e vowel form; \k\ will be spelled either c or k; using TS as a guide.

Locel, yokel, bacen, token.

k is spelled as a marker in, know, knowing, known, unknown, knew. Not in |knowledge|, |acknowledge | - nolij, acnolij. For the reason of avoiding conflict with the homophones |no| and |new|.

The \ngg\ sound will be spelled ng; |anger| anger - \'ang gur\.

\ngz\ - spelled nx. |Anxiety| - \ang 'zie u ty\ anxiuty; |auxiliary| auxiliury.

\n(t)sh\ - When either \nsh\ or \nch\ can be pronounced in a word, spell nsh.

|nuptial ancient conscience ascension mansion|; nupshul, anshunt, conshunse, asenshun, manshun.

\kw\ will always be spelled qu. Quit.

\th\ and \dh\ will be spelled th. Thin, then.

\s/z\ - Irregular in TS, and it is impossible to make a rule that regularizes these sounds without much disruption of a TS appearance. S will be spelled for \z\ most of the time. Z is always spelled for \z\ at word beginning. Z and zz are spelled for \z\ where TS spells them. Nose, froze, zip, zone, gaze, |phase/faze| fase/faze, |face|fase, jazz, fizz, buzz, whiz, Oz. Has, jazz, jazzy, |busy| bizzy, dizzy, fuzzy; hazy, |ease/easy| eese/eesy, cozy/cosy, rosy. Dazzle, drizzle, nozzle, muzzle. \z\ will be spelled zz before le, at word end. Dazzle, drizzle, nozzle, muzzle.

\ju\ will be spelled u midword. |Regular| regulur, |accurate| accurut.

\jur\ will be spelled iur in the last syllable. |Failure| failiur, |familiar| fumiliur. Exceptions, using TS as a guide; lawyer, sawyer.

See, 14 - x, ex.

9 - Double consonants

TS spells double consonants irregularly and Folksrite will also be irregular, but not so much as TS. See; Double consonants and magic vowel forms, below.

Double consonants at word end are irregularly spelled: ebb, cab, add, Ed, id, odd; if, off; egg, beg; Al, all, install, withal, ill; up; us; fuzz, Oz. Sometimes double consonants are spelled at word end to avoid a homograph. Ann, an; in, inn; but, butt. Use TS as a guide.

Double consonants are frequently spelled at the ends of single syllable words ending in; \f\, \jj\, \k\, \l\, \s\. Ff, dj, ck, ll, ss. Stuff, stuffed, stuffing, stuffy, suffer, judj, judjed, judjing, pudjy, back, backed, backing, sticky, smell, smelled, smelling, smelly, gess, gessed, gessing. There are plenty of exceptions. Gas, this, if, Al, thus; ebb, add, odd, Ann, err. Use TS as a guide.

\k\ doubled will be cc, and ck. Use TS as a guide, if the rules shown here are not clear enough. |Tobacco| tubacco, stucco, accurusy, back.

Consonants will never be tripled. Misspell, misspent.

When a prefix or suffix is added to a word, it may cause a double consonant, whether it is pronounced or not. Irregulur, unnesusery, reully.

A compound word may generate a double consonant by joining two words. Can-not - cannot, even though only one consonant is pronounced.

At word end, \s\ is spelled ss after \e\ e to avoid being mistaken for plural. |Princess, recess, abcess| prinsess, resess, absess

At word end, \s\ is spelled ss after a stressed short vowel. |Harass, assess, emboss, amiss, discuss.| Hurass, asess, emboss, amiss, discuss.

Double consonants will be spelled to mark a stressed short vowel in the same words as in traditional spelling. Possible, letter, manner, |manor| manur; backing, inning; stuff, judj, back, well, mass, buzz; has, add, ebb, an, Ann, in, inn, if, off. This is an irregular (unpredictable except by memorization) feature of traditional spelling, and will be irregular in Folksrite. It's one of those either/or situations. Either a double consonant is spelled or it's not. Like learning when to spell mail or male.

Ch, sh, th, zh, will be treated as single consonants. X is counted as two consonants; \ks\; mixer.

The following use TS to suggest a Folksrite spelling accent that seems reasonable to use. In time; these should be changed to the more common speeking accent, as shown with the ch spelling.

|virtue| - vurchues - vurtue - \’fcrt ue\ - \’fcrt joo\

|perpetual| - purpechuul - purpetuul - \pur ‘pet ue ul\ - \pur ‘pet joo ul\

|suggestion| - sugjeschun - sugjestiun - \sug ‘jest jun\

|natural| - nachurul - naturul - \’nat jur ul\ - not given in Longman as an option

|question| - queschun - questiun - \kwest jun\ - not given in Longman as an option

Magic vowel forms mark long vowels and influence the placement of double consonants.

In two syllable words, magic vowel forms cause a preceding consonant to be doubled if the consonant follows a short stressed vowel. Winning, hobby, boddy, planned. In words with more than two syllables, the magic function is unreliable. Ow does not mark a long vowel, but does force doubling of a consonant following a short stressed vowel. Yellow, hello. Magic-e may be active midword, by spelling e for \u\ when \u\ is in the magic position. Raven, label. \ur\ is similar; faverit.

10 - Vowel combinations

Vowel combinations beginning with \oo\ will spell u or oo, using TS as a guide. Gluing, |influence| influunse, goo/gooey. Not gooy.

Vowel combinations beginning with \ue\ wil spell u; ambiguity.

See Word end vowels and r colored vowels.

A - Reference number

1 - EPG symbol

2 - Traditional keyword

3 - EPG word

4 - Folksrite - Spelling accent.

5 - Folksrite vowel combinations

These are not all the vowel combinations but the pattern can be seen.

A	1	2	3	4	5
01	ae-e	layette	lae 'et	layet	aye
02	ae-i	saying	'sae ing	saying	ayi
02a	ae-i	algebraic	al jju 'brae ik	aljubraic	ai
03	ae-aa	chaos	'kae os	caos	ao
04	ae-u	betrayal	bi 'trae l	betrayul	ayu
04a	ae-u	layaway	'lae u wae	layaway	aya
04b	ae-u	gaiety	'gae u ty	gauty	au
05	ae-oe	layover	'lae oef r	layover	ayo_e
06	ae-ou	layout	'lae out	layout	ayou
07	y-a	piano	py 'an oe	peano	ea
07a	y-a	patriarch	'pae try aark	patreark	ea
08	y-e	reenter	ry 'ent r	reenter	ee
09	ee-i	seeing	'see ing	seeing	eei
010	y-ae	create	kry 'aet	create	ea_e
011	y-ee	medieval	my dy 'eef l	medeevel	ee_e
012	y-y	tibiae	'tib y y	tibey	ey
013	y-oe	video	'fid y oe	video	eo
014	ee-aa	neon	'nee on	neon	eo
015	ee-u	agreeable	u 'gree ub l	agreeuble	eeu
015a	ee-u	idea	ie 'dee u	idea	ea
016	ie-a	diagonal	die 'ag un l	diagunul	ia
017	ie-e	paella	pie 'el u Br	piela Br	ie
018	ie-i	flying	'flie ing	flying	yi
018a	ie-i	eyeing	'ie ing	iing	ii
019	ie-aa	ionosphere	ie 'aan us fir	ionusfere	io
020	ie-u	lion	'lie un	liun	iu
021	ie-ae	hiatus	hie 'ae tus	hiatus	ia_u
022	ie-ee	hyena	hie 'ee nu	hiena	ie
022a	ie-ee	naive	nie 'eef	nieve	ie_e
023	ie-oe	diode	'die oed	diode	io_e
023a	ie-oe	bayou	'bie oe (Am)	bio	io

024	ie-oo	bayou	'bie oo (Br)	biu	iu
025	ie-ou	buyout	'bie out	byout	you
026	oe-a	coaxial	koe 'ak sy l	coaxeul	oa
027	oe-e	coed	'koe ed	coed	oe
028	oe-i	going	'goe ing	going	oing
029	oe-aa	cooperate	koe 'op u raet	coopurate	oo
029a	oe-aa	koala	koe 'aa lu	koala	oa
030	oe-u	poet	'poe ut	pout	ou
030a	oe-u	boa	'boe u	boa	oa
031	oe-ae	oasis	oe 'ae sus	oasis	oa_e
032	oe-y	showy	'shoe y	showy	owy
033	oo-e	influential	,in floo 'en(t)sh l	influenshul	ue
033a	oo-e	whoever	hoo 'ef r	huevur	ue
034	oo-i	gluing	'gloo ing	gluing	ui

035	oo-aa	nuance	'noo aans (Am)	nuanse	ua
036	oo-i	fluid	'floo id (Br)	fluid	ui
037	oo-y	gooey	'goo y	gooey	ooey
038	oo-ae	graduate	'grad ue aet	graduate	ua_e
039	oo-oe	duo	'doo oe	duo	uo
040	oo-ou	throughout	throo 'out	thruout	uou
041	ue-e	innuendo	,in ue 'en doe	inuendo	ue
042	ue-i	ambiguity	,am big 'ue it y	ambiguity	ui
043	ue-ee	evacuee	y fak ue 'ee	evacuee	uee
044	ou-e	however	hou 'ef r	howevur	owe
045	ou-i	plowing	'plou ing	plowing	owi
046	ou-u	allowance	u 'lou uns	alowunse	owu
047	oi-i	annoying	u 'noi ing	anoying	oyi
048	oi-u	joyous	'jjoi us	joyus	oyu
049	oi-ae	foyer Br	'foi ae	foiay	oiay
050	oi-y	employee	em 'ploi y	employy	oyy
051	oi-oe	arroyo	u 'roi oe	aroyo	oio
052	au-i	drawing	'drau ing	drawing	awi
053	aa-e	paella	paa 'el u Am	paela Am	ae
055	i-u	theater	'thi u tur Br	thiuter Br	iu

Ambiguous vowel combinations

08	y-e	reenter	ry 'ent r	reenter	ee
028	oe-i	going	'goe ing	going	oing
029	oe-aa	cooperate	koe 'op u raet	coopurate	oo
030	oe-u	poet	'poe ut	pout	ou
033	oo-e	influential	,in floo 'en(t)sh l	influenshul	ue
033a	oo-e	whoever	hoo 'ef r	huevur	ue
041	ue-e	innuendo	,in ue 'en doe	inuendo	ue
055	i-u	theater	'thi u tur	thiuter	iu

Considerable ambiguity is permitted in Folksrite because it simplifies spelling without significantly harming word recognition. TS has lots of this type of vowel overlap, and we can deal with the few that are in Folksrite.

The ambiguous vowel combinations can generally only be pronounced two ways. Only one of which will provide word recognition when context and vocabulary are considered.

11 - Vowel exceptions

Some of these are mentioned elsewhere. Some are not shown here but mentioned elsewhere.

\ae/u\ - a - The indefinite article, a will be used for both the stressed and unstressed forms as in traditional spelling. "Hav a cup ov watur."

\a\ and \aa\ are merged in the spelling, and the British accent is mostly used for the vowel distribution of words with \a\, \aa\, \o\, and \au\. Cat, fathur, bothur, hot, dog, |caught| caut, |thought| thaut.

\vl\, \ul\, and \uul\, are merged in the spelling. Ultra, dull, pull. But \uul\ is sometimes spelled ool; wool.

\i, y, u\ - are frequently spelled e in TS when the syllable can be pronounced with \y\. Believe, demand, desire, prevent, comprehend. Folksrite will also spell this type of vowel with an e. Beleev, demand, desire, prevent, comprehend. An exception will be when y is a word end vowel as in the word happiness, in which case \y\ will be spelled i.

\oo\ and \uu\ are both spelled with oo. Good food.

\oo\ and \ue\ are both spelled with u_e at word end. Cube, tube, super.

\oel\, \ol\ - \oel\, is not pronounced as \oe+l\. The sound is as in: |gold, soldier, boulder, solstice, doldrums|. When the base word is spelled with ole; the ing suffix is added as with long vowels, the spelling will be oling. Poling, rolling. \oel\ before y will be treated as a long vowel. Holy. \oel\ will use TS as a guide as to which vowel form to take. Hole, bowl, role, roll, sole, soal, goal, pole, poll, tole, toll, control, console, etc. \ol\ is also spelled oll or ol. Doll, dolfin.

The following spellings show 'wa' words that spell with the American accent because it is more like TS in these words. The merging of \aa\ and \a\ is also shown.

\wo\, \waa\, and \wa\, will be spelled wa. Swan, wach, squad, aquatic; wax.

\who\, \whaa\, and \wha\, will be spelled wha. What, whack.

\kwo\, \kwaa\, and \kwa\, will be spelled qua. Quality, quack.

12 - Syllabic consonants

Folksrite spells the syllabic consonant with a preceding vowel when it follows a consonant. Awful \'auff l\ , prisum, prisun, after.

Exception a: \r(u)l\. will be spelled rl or rul; using TS as a guide. |Girl| gurl, |world| wurld.

Exception b: Contractions such as |couldn't| will remain compressed. Coodn't.

There is a spelling sequence that may be pronounced two ways. Vc(s)l/rv. V = stressed vowel; c = consonant; (s) = schwa; l/r = l or r; v = vowel. |Family| family or famly; |several| sevurul or sevrul. Folksrite will generally spell the longer form. Since this doesn't always work well, TS will be used as a guide for the preferred spelling.

Family, strugling, tickling.

\.l\, \ul\, \.r\, and \ur\, may be compressed following stressed vowels. Fire, feel; but not necessarily. |Real| reul, reully, royul, towul, owl. Reel and reelly, should be acceptable spellings, but TS is used as a guide for the preferred forms for the standard. |Reel| reel, |real| reul, reully. Exceptions: Compression of syllabic l and r following a stressed vowel will not always apply to syllabic l and r following word end vowels. Flyer or flier, player, deniul. Use TS as a guide.

\ju\ will be spelled iu in the last syllable. Milliun.

\jur\ will be spelled iur in the last syllable. Fumiliur.

13 - x, ex

\ks\, \eks\, \egz\, \iks\, \gz\, \igz\, \ngz\.

Spell x for \ks\ and \gz\. Except:

Do not spell x with possessives or plurals. Socks/soks, not sox. Box, six, figs, pigs, |Rick's| Rick's, |wrecks| recks.

When a compound word or affix forms a \k-s\ or \g-z\ sound when joined; x will not be spelled. Zigzag \'zig zag\; |rucksack| \'ruk sak\ ruksak; |irksome| \'urk sum\, urksum.

Six, extra, exhaltation, exceed, exactly.

\siks\, \'ek stru\ \,egz aal 'tae shun\ \ek 'seed\ \ig 'zact ly\

Six, extra, exaltashen, exeed, exactly.

\ngz\ - spelled nx. |Anxiety| - \ang 'zie u ty\ anxiuty;

\gz\ - |auxiliary| auxiliury.

Ex is pronounced \eks\, when it has the meaning expressed in, "ex-president".

Ex is pronounced \eks\ when it is before an unstressed syllable beginning with a consonant. Extra.

Ex is pronounced \egz\ when it is before an unstressed syllable beginning with a vowel. |Exhaltation| exaltashen.

Ex is pronounced \iks\ when it precedes a stressed syllable beginning with a consonant. |Exceed| exeed.

Ex is pronounced \igz\ when it precedes a stressed syllable beginning with a vowel. Exactly.

14 - Homophones and homographs

Words that sound/are-spelled the same but have different meanings are considered a problem, but context and vocabulary can usually be counted on to remove confusion. There are a lot of homophones in English, and attempting to clarify all of them in the spelling would require a lot of unnecessary memorization. If the word is in your vocabulary, you will have no problem. If it isn't; look it up. Sometimes double consonants are used at word end to show a difference between homophones. In/inn. TS may be used as a guide as to which spelling goes with which definition. In a new spelling system, some homophones will loose their individual status, (reed) where others will be newly created or modified (wei). What should be the difference between light and lite?

15 - Hyphenated words

The elements of hyphenated words are spelled as if they were individual words except for syllabic consonants that are representing words, such as in: Poos-n-boots, hit-r-mis.

The apostrophe may be used as shown below in place of some sounds. See Contractions below.

|o'clock| o'clock (of clock).

|back-to-back| back-tu-back or back-t'-back

|cat-o'-nine-tails| cat-o'-nine-tails.

|cul-de-sac| cull-da-sack or cull-d'-sack.

|Hop-o'-my-thumb| (Hop on my thumb)| Hop-o'-my-thum.

16 - Apostrophe, Contractions, Possessives

The following list shows most of the words using the apostrophe in contractions. Arn't, can't, coodn't, didn't, dusn't, hadn't, hasn't, isn't, shoodn't, shoodn't'v, wurn't, woodn't, books'r, he'd, he'll, I'd, I'll, it'll, Peter'll, she'll, they'll, we'll, what'll, wher'll, yu'll, she'd, wher'd, what'd, yu'd, Jack'd, Jane'd, they'd, we'd, I'm, what'm, they'r, we'r, what'r, yu'r, that's, what's, I'v, students'v, they'd'v, they'v, we'v, it's, wher'v, yu'v, he's, hu's, she's. Possessives; John's, Mary's, Charles' or Charles's. But the possessive |its| is spelled without the apostrophe as in TS, its; but will not have an e ending to mark it as not being plural, such as; wunse, sense.

Special cases; don’t, won’t (spelled as pronounced, with the apostrophe showing it is a contraction).

17 - More Rules and explanations

Some of these are mentioned elsewhere.

Sight words. A sight word is a word that does not conform to the rules of Folksrite. Actually, since the rules are quite flexible, many words could be called sight words because they are not readily decoded. The definite article, the, will be spelled in its traditional form. The apple. The door. - The apple. The dor. Not, tha dor. In general, most homographs (words spelled the same with different definitions) are not avoided. However; the words |I|, |eye| and |aye|, will be spelled, I, ie and ie, respectively. |You| will be spelled yu, instead of ue, to preserve some TS appearance. Other words that seem wise to clarify; |to, too, two| tu, too, twu; |for, four| for, faur. Other similar words are treated elsewhere.

\aa\ |ah| aa, \v\ |uh| uh, \ae\ |eh| ai, \ie\ |I| I, |eye| ie, |aye| ie, \oe\ |oh| o, |owe| owe, \ue\ |you| yu, |ewe| ew; ow. "I hav sumthing in my ie." The indefinite article, \ae\ and \u\, is spelled, a; "Hav a cup ov coffy."

Proper names, and some regularly capitalized words, may be spelled with the traditional spelling. The days of the week and months of the year, should be spelled in Folksrite. This is an area that needs some work. For now, use your own judgment about when the old spelling will be most appropriate.

Capitalization will remain as it is in traditional spelling.

The word, I, will still be capitalized, as well as its contracted forms. |I'll| I'll, I'm.

Letters representing sounds (not regular words) will be spelled as the writer perceives the sound; as in TS. Brr, shh, thwack.

18 - Amber supplement

The Amber spelling system is the same as Folksrite; except Amber merges different vowels. Folksrite merges \a\ and \aa\. Amber merges \aa\, \o\, and \au\.

Folksrite - cat fathur bothur cast hot dog thaut bravo;

Amber - cat fothur bothur cast hot dog thot brovo.

The American vowel distribution of \a\ is used. So |cast| will be spelled cast; even though it is pronounced \kost\ in British RP.

Folksrite and Amber text look very much alike. The Amber spelling accent should be easier to learn (for Americans), than the Folksrite accent, but Folksrite text will look more like TS. Though not much. Since both look a lot different from TS, it seems a bit picky to criticize Amber.

Those already familiar with TS should have little trouble with either system. New learners will find one system closer to their accent than the other.

Paul Stought

To comment on this page, e-mail Paul at wyrdplay.org

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The Folksrite Spelling System

Contents

1 - Introduction

2 - Some terms and conventions

3 - The construction of the Folksrite spelling accent.

4 - Optional spellings

5 - Stress

6 - Compound words - prefixes - suffixes

7 - Vowels

Short vowels.

Long vowels.

Magic vowel forms.

Other vowels.

R colored vowels

Word end vowels.

Word end vowels with a suffix

8 - Consonants

Consonant exceptions

9 - Double consonants

10 - Vowel combinations

Ambiguous vowel combinations

11 - Vowel exceptions

12 - Syllabic consonants

13 - x, ex

14 - Homophones and homographs

15 - Hyphenated words

16 - Apostrophe, Contractions, Possessives

17 - More Rules and explanations

18 - Amber supplement