The Ipifuny Spelling System

(Epiphany)

060305

This is a work in progress. If something looks wrong, it might be.

Ipufuny is a family of spelling systems: Ipifuny-oo, Ipifuny-uu, Ipifuny-dh.

The only difference between the systems are shown in these sample words:

good food brother.

Ipifuny-oo - good food brvthur

Ipifuny-uu - guud food brvthur

Ipifuny-dh - guud food brvdhur

Contents

1 - Some terms and conventions

2 - Introduction

3 - Sample text

4 - Optional spellings

5 - Stress

6 - Vowel chart

7 - Alternate r combinations

8 - Vowel overlaps

9 - Word end vowels

10 - Word end vowels with a suffix

11 - Word end vowel rules

12 - Single vowel words

13 - Vowel combinations

14 - Ambiguous vowel combinations

15 - Vowel exceptions

16 - Syllabic consonants

17 - Consonants

18 - Consonant exceptions

19 - x, ex, cs, ecs, egz, ics,gz, igz

20 - Homophones and homographs

21 - Hyphenated words

22 - Contractions

23 - More rules and exceptions


1 - 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 <> symbols will mark a TS word being referenced.

EPG symbols will be enclosed in //.

Ipifuny spelling will be in italics. <Father> /’ffaadh-ur/ fothur.

Stress marking will be before the syllable. ('x) - primary stress. (,x) - secondary stress.

Base word - is a word without prefixes or suffixes. Base word, necessary; unnecessary, necessarily.

Schwa is the: a in, alone, the e in silent, the i in rabbit, the o in bottom, the u in circus. For all practical purposes, schwa is the same as the vowel in cut except for stress and length.

In Ipifuny, schwa is spelled u except: schwa is spelled 'a' at base word end. <Comma> coma, camuraman, camuraz.

It might be a good idea to take a quick overall look at this file before attempting to digest the information from the beginning.

2 - Introduction

Ipifuny is spelled in the General American dialect. Kind of. It uses some merged vowels, which essentially makes it an Ipifuny dialect.

Ipifuny is going out on a limb relative to many other spelling systems. A major departure from TS is being made in order to supply a considerable amount of stress marking with an unconventional use of the letter v. V used to be used as both vowel and consonant and Ipifuny is resurrecting the practice. As far as I know, it was never used as a stress marker. In Ipifuny, vowel-v is the same as 'u' but stressed and of longer duration. U will still be used in single syllable words. Cut. Also, v is being used in the vr combination, as in the word <further> fvrthur/fvrdhur. Vr and ur, are the same sound except for stress and duration. Vowel-v before r is different from v in other environments. When vv would occur, uv or vu, will be spelled. <Above> ubuv, <version> vurzhun.

Since all spelling systems based on pronunciation and spelling predictability will look somewhat different from TS, these oddities might not be overly significant and they do offer benefits.

See this page for information on a preliminary dictionary for Ipifuny-oo.

3 - Sample text

A much larger sample of Ipifuny text, a trascription of H. G. Wells' The Time Machine, may be downloaded from here.

A portion of a story

THE EMPURUR'Z NU CLOEZ

By Hans Christian Andersen (transcribed in Ipifuny-oo - good food)

Meny yirz ugo, ther wuz an Empurur, hu wuz so exesivly fond uv nu cloez, that he spent ol hiz mvny in dres. He did not trvbul himself in the leest ubout hiz soeljurz; nor did he ker tu go eethur tu the theutur or the chaes, exept for the opurtoonutyz then ufordud him for displaying hiz nu cloez. He had a difurunt soot for eech our uv the day; and az uv eny vthur king or empurur, wun iz ucvstumd tu say, "he iz siting in counsul," it wuz olwaez sed uv him, "The Empurur iz siting in hiz wordroeb." Tiem past meruly in the larj toun wich wuz hiz caputul; straenjurz urievd evry day at the cort. Wun day, tu roegz, coling themselvz weevurz, maed ther upiruns. Thay gaev out that thay nu how tu weev stufs uv the moest buetuful cvlurz and ilaburut paturnz, the cloez manyufacshurd frum wich shood hav the wvndurful propurty uf rimaening invizubul tu evrywun hu wuz unfit for the ofus he held, or hu wuz extrorduneruly simpul in carructur. "Theez must, indeed, be splendud cloez!" thot the Empurur. "Had I such a soot, I miet at wuns fiend out wot men in my relmz ar unfit for ther ofus, and olso be aebul tu distingwish the wiez frum the foolish! This stuf must be woevun for me imeedeutly." And he cozd larj sumz uv mvny tu be givun tu boeth the weevurz in ordur that thay miet bigin ther wurk durectly. So the tu pritendud weevurz set up tu loomz, and ufectud tu wurk very bizuly, tho in realuty thay did nvthing at ol. Thay askt for the moest delicut silk and the pyoorust goeld thred; poot boeth intu ther oen napsaks; and then cuntinued ther pritendud wurk at the empty loomz until laet at niet.

304 words - 280 with clear stress - 24 with unclear stress - 92% clear stress - without marking schwa, there is only 75% clear stress.

THE EMPURUR'Z NU CLOEZ

By Hans Christian Andersen (transcribed in Ipifuny-uu - guud food)

Meny yirz ugo, ther wuz an Empurur, hu wuz so exesivly fond uv nu cloez, that he spent ol hiz mvny in dres. He did not trvbul himself in the leest ubout hiz soeljurz; nor did he ker tu go eethur tu the theutur or the chaes, exept for the opurtoonutyz then ufordud him for displaying hiz nu cloez. He had a difurunt soot for eech our uv the day; and az uv eny vthur king or empurur, wun iz ucvstumd tu say, "he iz siting in counsul," it wuz olwaez sed uv him, "The Empurur iz siting in hiz wordroeb." Tiem past meruly in the larj toun wich wuz hiz caputul; straenjurz urievd evry day at the cort. Wun day, tu roegz, coling themselvz weevurz, maed ther upiruns. Thay gaev out that thay nu how tu weev stufs uv the moest buetuful cvlurz and ilaburut paturnz, the cloez manyufacshurd frum wich shuud hav the wvndurful propurty uf rimaening invizubul tu evrywun hu wuz unfit for the ofus he held, or hu wuz extrorduneruly simpul in carructur. "Theez must, indeed, be splendud cloez!" thot the Empurur. "Had I such a soot, I miet at wuns fiend out wot men in my relmz ar unfit for ther ofus, and olso be aebul tu distingwish the wiez frum the foolish! This stuf must be woevun for me imeedeutly." And he cozd larj sumz uv mvny tu be givun tu boeth the weevurz in ordur that thay miet bigin ther wurk durectly. So the tu pritendud weevurz set up tu loomz, and ufectud tu wurk very bizuly, tho in realuty thay did nvthing at ol. Thay askt for the moest delicut silk and the pyuurust goeld thred; puut boeth intu ther oen napsaks; and then cuntinued ther pritendud wurk at the empty loomz until laet at niet.

4 - Optional spellings

Ipifuny is not intended to have optional spellings, except: names and capilalized words may be spelled in the old spelling. There will be some exceptions to this rule explained later. However, it simplifies spelling considerably to spell in what you think is the most common dialect, so that may be best until you learn the difference between your dialect and the Ipifuny dialect. At any rate, it is not likely to become important in your lifetime.

For now; proper names and such will be spelled as in TS. America, England, William. But the days of the week and months of the year should be spelled in Ipifuny. This is an area that needs more work. Use your own judgement about the acceptablility of using the new spelling. You could use both spellings when the pronunciation of the old spelling would be clarified.

5 - Stress

a - /ee/ - Ee is stressed except in single syllable words; where stress is not relevant. <Really> reely, feet.

b - /y/ - Vowel-y is always unstressed. <Really> reely. <Restate> rystaet.

c - /u/ - 'A' at word end is schwa (unstressed) <Camera> camura.

d - U is schwa or /u/ with less than primary stress. <Humdrum> /'hum ,drum/ hvmdrum; <alone> uloen.

e - U is the same as v but unstressed and of shorter duration. <Under> vndur, <alone> uloen.

f - Ur is the same as vr but unstressed and of shorter duration. <Further> fvrthur.

g - The -ing suffix at word end is unstressed. Singing.

h - Full stress can be marked for teaching purposes. When marking stress with a diacritic, the diacritic will be placed above the first letter of a vowel digraph. á é í ó ú úu Á É Í Ó Ú áe ée íe óe úe óo áu/áw/ ói/óy óu/ów. <Alow> ulów. A default stress rule can be used that places stress on the first syllable if no stress marks are used in the word. This means only a small number of words need a stress mark. About 8%.

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

j - EPG stress marking will be before the syllable. ('x) - primary stress. (,x) - secondary stress

6 - Vowel chart

EPG = Epiphany PG

IP = Ipifuny-uu

EPG

IP

TS

IP

 

EPG

IP

TS

IP

a

a

trap

trap

 

ae

ae

face

faes

arr (f)

arr

marry

marry

 

ee

ee

geese

gees

e

e

bed

bed

 

y

y (d)

penny

peny

i

i

kit

kit

 

ie

ie

light

liet

o

o (a)

hot

hot Br

 

oe

oe

goat

goet

aa

o (a)

hot

hot Am

 

ue

ue

fuel

fuel

ar (f)

ar

car

car

 

oo

oo (c)

goose

goos

v

v (b)

under

vndur

 

au

o

thought

thot

u

u

alone

uloen

 

or (f)

or

fork

fork

vr

vr (b)

early

vrly

 

oi

oi

coin

coin

ur

ur

letter

letur

 

ou

ou

mouth

mouth

uu

oo/uu (c)

foot

foot/fuut







a - /aa/, /o/ and /au/ are merged in the spelling except, aa and aw are used at word end and aa is spelled as the first vowel of a vowel combination. Hot dog. <Spa> spaa, <draw> draw, drawing, <naive> naaeev.

a1 - When spelling dialog, it would be best not to merge vowels in the spelling, so: hot, dog, on, fork, because, good, food, could be spelled: hot or
haat, dog or daug, aan or aun or on, bicoz or bicuaz or bycauz, good or guud, food or fuud, cut or cuut, etc.

b - Vowel-v and vr are always stressed.

b1 - When vv would occur, spell uv or vu. <Above> ubuv, <version> vurzhun.

c - 'Oo' is spelled for both /oo/ and /ue/ in Ipifuny: good food. Ipifuny-uu spells, guud food.

d - Y is both vowel and consonant. There is no conflict. Y is a consonant when followed by a vowel excepting when it is part of a word end vowel. Layout, Flying.

e - In the EPG, /a+r/ is spelled arr; /aa+r/ is spelled /ar/; /au+r/ is spelled or. /marry/, /kar/, /ffork/. Purists may prefer to use, /ar/, /aar/ and /aur/. <Marry> /mary/; <car> /kaar/; <fork> /ffaurk/. See below.

7 - Alternate r combinations

EPG

EPG-alt

Ipifuny

keyword

Ipifuny

ar

arr

arr

marry

marry

aar

ar

ar

car

car

aur

or

or

corn

corn



8 - Vowel overlaps

This chart shows vowel spelling overlaps. These overlaps permit a more TS appearance and do not hurt word recognition significantly.

Vowel

TS keywords

 

Ipifuny spelling

a

trap - comma

 

trap - coma

e

dress - me

 

dres - me

i

kit - deny

 

kit - dini

o

lot - go - thought

 

lot - go - thot

u

strut - alone - flu

 

strut - uloen - flu

ee

fleece - reenter

 

flees - reentur

y

sky - story - yes

 

sky - story - yes

oe

goat - coed


goet - coed

oo

good - moon - cooperate


good/guud - moon - coopuraet

ue

influential - fuel

 

influenchul - fuel

oi

choice - going

 

chois - going

ou

mouth - poet

 

mouth - pout

See Vowel combinations for more examples of vowel overlapping.

9 - Word end vowels

EPG

IP

TS

IP

 

EPG

IP

TS

IP

a

ah

nah

nah

 

ie

y

fly

fly

aa

aa

spa

spaa

 

ie

i

deny

dini

v

uh

huh

huh

 

oe

o

go

go

u

a

comma

coma

 

oo

u

flu

flu

ae

ay

day

day

 

ue

ue

argue

argue

ee

ee

agree

ugree

 

au

aw

saw

saw

ee

e

be

be

 

oi

oy

boy

boy

y

y

story

story

 

ou

ow

cow

cow


10 - Word end vowels with a suffix

camuraman, camuraz, dayliet, playur, playd, ugreed, ugreubul, beez, being, carreur, bereul, berying, beryd, hapy, enyway, penyz, flypaepur, flying, flyur, pried, rilied, riliubul, goez, going, <mower> moeur, argued, argueing, fueur, rinuing, <newer> nuur, rinood, sawhors, sawing, sawd, boyz, boyhood/boyhuud, unoying, unoyd, distroyur, cowboy.

11 - Word end vowel rules

Some rules for word end vowels are not shown here because they are covered elsewhere.

a - Y, is only /ie/ at word end of single syllable words or in compound words at the end of a single syllable word. By, my, shy, flypaepur, playur.

b - When single vowel letters, e, i, o, u or y /ie/, are at base word end and a suffix beginning with a consonant is added, the word end vowels will revert to their digraph forms. ee, ie, oe, oo, ie. <Knees> ne-z, neez; <allied> ali-d, alied; <snowed> sno-d, snoed; <glued> glu-d, glood; <fry> fry, fried, <fries> friez. The same action is required in double words. <Snowman> sno-man, snoeman.

c - Y /y/ at base word end will convert to e when a suffix beginning with a vowel (this includes syllabic consonants) is added. <Carrier> carreur, <burial> bereul. <Happiest> hapeust, <hurried> huryd, <worries> wuryz, <married> marryd.

d - Word end vowels preceeding /.l/, /ul/; /.r/ or /ur/, will be spelled with ul or ur following the word end vowel. <Betrayal> bitrayul, <player> playur, <carrier> carreur, <Denial> deniul, <flyer> flyur, <newer> nuur, <drawer> drawur, <destroyer> distroyur. Exception: word end vowel o will convert to oe; <Mower> moeur.

12 - Single vowel words

<ah> aa, <eh> ae, <I> I, <eye> ie, <aye> ie, <oh, owe> oe, <ewe> ue. The indefinite article is spelled, a; /ae/ and /u/. "Hav a cup uv cofy." <You> will be spelled yu instead of ue in order to preserve some TS appearance.

13 - Vowel combinations

a - Vowel combinations that begin with /ae, ee, ie, oe/ will drop the e. <Chaos> caos, <create> creaet; <agreeable> agreubul; <reliable> riliubul; <oasis> oaesus, <gaiety> gauty, <poet> pout. Exception; /oe/ at base word end followed by ul or ur. <Mower> moeur. Also; /oe_y/ will be spelled: oey. <Showy> shoey.

b - /y/ will be spelled e at the beginning of a vowel combination except when it preceeds ing. <Piano> peano, <hurrying> hurying. <Carrier> carreur, <merriest> mereust.

c - /ee/ will be spelled e at the beginning of a vowel combination <realize> reuliez. Even when ee is a word end vowel: <agreeable> ugreubul, <seeing> seing, being.

d - Some vowel combinations begin with a ‘word end vowel’ such as, ay, y /ie/, y /y/, aw and ow. These will not be converted to, a, i, ou, etc. <Layaway> layuway, <flyover> flyoevur, flying, <however> howevur, drawing, <annoying> unoying.

e - Sometimes /ju/ and /y-u/ are interchangeable, depending on diulect. <Ceremonial> serumoeneul or serumoenyul, <colonial> culoeneul or culoenyul, <champion> champyun or champeun. The ‘standard’ will select a preferred spelling. In this case, serumoeneul, culoeneul and champyun. For the time being, spell what seems comfortable to you.

f - Vowel combinations beginning with /oo/ will spell u: gluing, <gooey> guy.

g - Vowel combinations beginning with /ue/ wil spell ue: <vacuum> vacueum.

A - Reference number

1 - EPG symbol

2 - Traditional keyword

3 - EPG word

4 - Ipifuny - American dialect

5 - Ipifuny vowel combinations

These are not all the vowel combinations but the pattern can be seen. All of these words are not used in Ipifuny.

A

1

v1+v2

2

3

4

5

01

ae_e

layette

lae-'et

laet

ae

02

ae_i

saying

'sae_ing

saying

ayi

02a

ae_i

algebraic

al-jju-'brae_ik

aljubraic

ai

03

ae_aa

chaos

'kae_aas

caos

ao

04

ae_u

betrayal

bi-'trae_ul

bitrayul

ayu

04a

ae_u

layaway

'lae_u-wae

layuway

ayu

04b

ae_u

gaiety

'gae_u-ty

gauty

au

05

ae_oe

layover

'lae_oe-fur

layoevur

ayoe

06

ae_ou

layout

'lae_out

layout

ayou

07

y_a

piano

py-'an-oe

peano

ea

07a

y_a

patriarch

'paet-ry_ark

paetreark

ea

08

y_e

reenter

ry-'ent-ur

reentur

ee

09

y_ae

create

kry-'aet

creaet

eae

010

y_ee

medieval

my-dy-'eef-ul

mydeeevul

eee

011

y_y

tibiae

'tib-y_y

tibey

ey

012

y_oe

video

'fid-y_oe

video

eo

013

ee_i

seeing

'see_ing

seing

ei

014

ee_aa

neon

'nee_aan

neon

eo

015

ee_u

agreable

u-'gree_u-bul

agreubul

eu

015a

ee_u

idea

ie-'dee_u

iedea

ea

016

ie_a

diagonal

die-'ag-u-nul

diagunul

ia

017

ie_e

paella

pie-'el-u

piela

ie

018

ie_i

flying

'fflie_ing

flying

yi

018a

ie_i

eyeing

'ie_ing

iing

ii

019

ie_aa

ionosphere

ie-'aan-us-ffir

ionusfir

io

020

ie_u

lion

'lie_un

liun

iu

021

ie_ae

hiatus

hie-'aet-us

hiaetus

iae

022

ie_ee

hyena

hie-'een-u

hieena

iee

023

ie_oe

diode

'die_oed

dioed

ioe

023a

ie_oe

bayou (Am)

'bie_oe

bio

io

024

ie_ue

bayou (Br)

'bie_oo

biu

iu

025

ie_ou

buyout

'bie_out

byout

you

026

oe_a

coaxial

koe-'ak-sy_ul

coaxeul

oa

027

oe_e

coed

'koe_ed

coed

oe

028

oe_i

going

'goe_ing

going

oing

029

oe_aa

cooperate

koe-'aap-u-raet

coopuraet

oo

029a

oe_aa

koala

koe-'aal-u

coola

oo

030

oe_u

poet

'poe_ut

pout

ou

030a

oe_u

boa

'boe_u

boa

oa

031

oe_ae

oasis

oe-'ae-sus

oaesus

oae

032

oe_y

showy

'shoe_y

shoey

oey

033

oo_e

influential

,in-ffloo-'en-chul

influenchul

ue

033a

oo_e

whoever

hoo-'e-fur

huevur

ue

034

oo_i

gluing

'gloo_ing

gluing

ui

035

oo_aa

nuance

'noo_aans Am

nuons

uo

036

oo_u

fluid (Am)

'ffloo_ud

fluud

uu

037

oo_y

gooey

'goo_y

guy

uy

038

oo_oe

duo

'doo_oe

duo

uo

039

oo_ou

throughout

throo-'out

thruout

uou

040

oo_ae

graduate

'grajj-oo_aet

grajuaet

uae

041

ue_e

innuendo

,in-ue-'en-doe

inueendo

uee

042

ue_u

vacuum

'fak-ue_um

vacueum

ueu

043

ue_ee

evacuee

i-fak-ue-'ee

evacueee

ueee

044

ou_e

however

hou-'e-fur

howevur

owe

045

ou_i

plowing

'plou_ing

plowing

owi

045a

ou_i

howitzer

'hou_its-ur

houitsur

oui

046

ou_u

allowance

u-'lou_uns

ulowuns

owu

047

oi_i

annoying

u-'noi_ing

unoying

oyi

048

oi_u

arroyo

u-'roi_u

uroia

oia

048a

oi_u

joyous

'jjoi_us

joyus

oyu

049

oi_ae

foyer Br

'ffoi_ae

foiay

oiay

050

oi_y

employee

im-'ploi_y

imployy

oyy

051

oi_oe

arroyo

u-'roi_oe

uroio

oio

052

au_i

drawing

'drau_ing

drawing

awi

053

aa_e

paella

paa-'el-u

paaela

aae


14 - Ambiguous vowel combinations

01

ae_e

layette

lae-'et

laet

ae

08

y_e

reenter

ry-'en-tur

reentur

ee

011

y_ee

medieval

my-dy-'ee-ful

mydeeevul

eee

017

ie_e

paella

pie-'el-u

piela

ie

027

oe_e

coed

'koe_ed

coed

oe

028

oe_i

going

'goe_ing

going

oi

029

oe_aa

cooperate

koe-'aap-ur-aet

coopuraet

oo

029a

oe_aa

koala

koe-'aa-lu

coola

oo

030

oe_u

poet

'poe_ut

pout

ou

033

oo_e

influential

,in-ffloo-'ench-ul

influenchul

ue

033a

oo_e

whoever

hoo-'ef-ur

huevur

ue

036

oo_u

fluid (Am)

'ffloo_ud

fluud

uu

041

ue_e

innuendo

,in-ue-'en-doe

inueendo

uee


Ambiguity is permitted in Ipifuny because it simplifies spelling without significantly harming word recognition. Its an either/or situation. It is either /oo/ or /oe_aa/. Also it reduces the length of the vowel combination from oeo to oo or from ooe to ue. TS has lots of this type vowel overlap and we can deal with the few that are in Ipifuny.

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

15 - Vowel exceptions

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

b - /aa/, /o/ and /au/ are merged in the spelling except, aa and aw are used at word end and aa is spelled as the first vowel of a vowel combination. Hot dog. <Spa> spaa, <draw> draw, drawing, <naive> naaeev.

c - /arr/ - Arr is spelled in Ipifuny for this sound to avoid conflict with ar (car) and to look more like traditional spelling. Marry.

d - /oel/ - /oel/, is not pronounced as /oe+l/ though it will be so spelled in EPG. The sound is as in; gold, soldier, boulder, solstice, doldrums. In Ipifuny, gold is <galled>, bold is <bald>. <Gold> goeld, soeljur, boeldur, soelstus, doeldrumz.

e - /v/ - U will be spelled in single syllable words. Cut, <sunny> svny.

e1 - /vf/ will be spelled, uv, and /fvr/ will be spelled, vur. <Above> ubuv; <version> vurzhun.

f - /ul/, /.l/, /u-l/ - Merged in the spelling and will be spelled ul. <Dull > dul; <paddle> /pad.l/ padul; <pull> /puul/, pul; <bull> /buul/, bul; <alone> uloen.

g - /-id/ and /-ud/ at word end. When either -id or -ud could be pronounced at word end; spell -ud. <Afforded> ufordud, <affected> ufectud <lucid> loosud. This should probably be reversed for the British dialect.

h - /y/ - ‘Y’ is a vowel before consonants and at base word end. <Any> eny, <anytime> enytiem, story, marrying.

h1 - ‘Y’ is a consonant when preceeding a vowel except when ‘y’ is at base word end. Carrying, <million> milyun, yes, layout.

i - O’ - prefix in family names. Pronounced, /oe/ and sometimes, /u/. <O’Malley> O’Maly. /oe’mal-y/ /u’mal-y/

j - /-ust/ and /-ist/ at word end will be spelled, -ist. Dentist, kemist, fizusist, pyoorist. It is sometimes hard to tell whether the pronuniation should be /-ist/ or /-ust/, so choosing one for all instances seems the thing to do.

16 - Syllabic consonants

a - .l, .m, .n and .r, are syllabic consonants in EPG. <Feel> /'ffee.l/; <button> /bvt.n/; <ffire> /'ffie.r/.

b - A syllabic consonant is an unstressed, l m n or r, that can represent a syllable without any other vowel representation. <Bottle> /bot-l/, <several> /sef-r-l/, <button> /bvt-n/, <fire> /'ffie-r/.

c - Ipifuny spells the syllabic consonant with u when it follows a consonant. <Awful> /auff.l/ oful.

c1 - Exception a: /r.l/. may be spelled out or not. <Girl> gurl or gurul, <world> wurld or wuruld; <quarrel> quorl or quorul, <squirrel> squurl or squurul. The standard will likely choose spellings to match present TS. Gurl, wurld, quorul. I believe there are two vowels in these words; girl /'gur.l/ and world /'wur.ld/, but I have been assured that I am wrong. Anyway, it looks like /.l/ to me.

c2 - Exception b: Contractions such as, couldn’t, will be compressed. Cuudnt.

c3 - There is a spelling sequence that may optionally be pronounced two ways: Vcsl/rv. V = stressed vowel; c = consonant; s = schwa; l/r = l or r; v = vowel. <Family> famuly or famly; <several> sevurul or sevrul. Standard Ipifuny will generally spell the longer form. Since this doesn't always work well, words with this form may be spelled either way. Famuly, famly, <struggle> strugul, <struggling>, strugling, <tickle> ticul, <tickling>, ticling. Generally, one of these will look right to you.

d - /y/ - Y is a vowel before consonants and at word end. Y is a consonant before vowels. <Million> milyun, yes.

e - /.l/, /ul/, /.r/ and /ur/ will be spelled, l and r, following stressed vowels. <fire> /'ffie.r/ fier, <feel> /'ffee.l/ /'ffee_ul/ feel, oil, <royal> /'roi_ul/ roil, <royally> /'roi_ul-y/ roily. Word end vowels modify this rule. <Carrier> carreur, <burial> bereul, <betrayal> bitrayul.

Exception - See Word end vowel rules for syllabic consonants following word end vowels. <Flyer> /'fflie.r/ flyur.

17 - Consonants

EPG

TS

IP

TS

IP

 

EPG

TS

IP

TS

IP

b

b

b

boy

boy


t

t

t (b)

top

top

k

c

c (a)

cat

cat


f

v

v

vine

vien

d

d

d (b)

dog

dog

 

w

w

w

wet

wet

ff

f

f

fish

fish

 

ks

x

x

extra

extra

g

g

g

goose

goos

 

gz

x

x

exact

exact

h

h

h

hat

hat

 

j

y

y

yellow

yelo

jj

j

j

jug

jug

 

z

z

z

zebra

zeebra

k

k

k (a)

kit

kit

 

ch

ch

ch

church

church

l

l

l

lip

lip

 

dh

th

th

brother

brvthur

m

m

m

man

man

 

sh

sh

sh

shoe

shu

n

n

n

net

net

 

th

th

th

bath

bath

p

p

p

pig

pig

 

wh

wh

w

wheel

weel

kw

qu

qu

quit

quit

 

zh

varies

zh

measure

mezhur

r

r

r

rat

rat

 

ng

ng

ng

sing

sing

s

s

s

sack

sak

           

a - See Consonant exceptions (a), below.

b - See Consonant exceptions (b), below.

18 - Consonant exceptions

a - /k/ - K will be spelled at the end of base words for this sound and before /e/, /ee/, /y/, /i/ and /ie/. Except: K will not follow i at word end of multisyllable words. Picnic, <stick> stik. C will be spelled in all other cases. <Cook> cuuk, keg, keep, <monkey> mvnky, kit, <kite> kiet, sky. <Backtrack> baktrak. <Attack> utak.

b - The /.d/ sound used in this discussion, refers to the t and d sound in <petal> and <peddle> and at word end following unvoiced consonants in words like: packed, passed, scuffed.

b1 - /.d/ is spelled t at word end following unvoiced consonants. <Shaped> shaept, <backed> bact, <watched> wocht, <stuffed> stuft, <toothed> tootht, <washed> wosht. <Capped> capt, <topped> topt, <steeped> steept and <hooked> huuct. <Guest> gest, <guessed> gest, <past> past, <passed> past. ‘D’ looks more like traditional spelling but, ‘t’ is the sound we pronounce, according to the experts. I think the sound is /.d/. Neither /t/ or /d/.

b2 - /.d/ will be spelled t in words like <petal> but d in words like <pedal>. The sound of the word is the same, so the only way to know which spelling will be used is to consult a dictionary. The spelling dialect will be /'pet.l/ and /ped.l/ respectively even though actual pronunciation is /'pe.d.l/ for both. Sound-spelling should spell pedul for both but this action would be expected to generate a lot of unpopularity. <Header> /'he.d.r/ <wetter> /'we.d.r/.

b3 - Another area of difficulty is when a base word pronunciation changes a /t/ sound to a /.d/ sound. <Heat> /heet/, <heating> /'hee.d-ing/. The spelling will remain t in these words.

c - - W is spelled for the w in <water> wotur and the wh in <what> wot. Spelling is simplified by just spelling w. Pronunciation is according to the readers accent.

d - Ng - sing, <ingrate> ingraet - /’in-graet/.

d1 - The ngg sound will be spelled ng; <anger> angur - /’ang-gur/

d2 - The ngc sound will be spelled as in, <think> think, not thingk. Compare with; <income> incum - /’in-kum/.

e - The n(t)s sound in; dance, sense, rinse, since, once; is spelled ns. Dans, sens, rins, sins, wun.

e1 - The n(t)s sound will be spelled nts when it represents a plural ending. <Cent> sent, sents; <scent> sent, sents, <paint> paent, paents.

e2 - With the n(t)sh sound, it is difficult to determine whether nsh or nch should be pronounced in some words. The standard choices may seem arbitrary to some. For the time being, spell whichever seems most comfortable. <Influential> /in(t)-floo_’en(t)sh.l/ influenshul or influenchul, <picture> /'pik(t)shur/ picshur or picchur. This last word is not shown with (t) in my three dictionaries. The pronunciation is given as /'pik-ch.r/ but I pronounce the word /'pik-sh.r/.

f - /kw/ will always be spelled qu. Quit.

g - /th/ and /dh/ will be spelled th in Ipifuny-oo and Ipifuny-uu but th and dh in Ipifuny-dh. Thin. Then/dhen. The user may prefer to spell dh for /dh/. There's no law against it. It might eventually be preferred because it is more accurate relative to pronunciation. Ipifuny is spelling th because, in the past, dh found a lot of resistance and th is familiar, though inaccurate.

h - /tranz-/ and /trans-/ will be spelled, trans-. Transport. It is sometimes hard to tell whether the pronuniation should be /s/ or /z/, so choosing one for all instances seems the thing to do.

i - X, ex, cs, ecs, egz, ics, gz, igz - See below.

19 - x, ex, cs, ecs, egz, ics, gz, igz

six, extra, exhaltation, exceed, exactly

/siks/ /ek-stru/ /egz-aal-tae-shun/ /ek-seed/ /ig-zactly/

Six, extra, exoltaeshun, exeed, exactly.

a - Spell x for /ks, gz. Except: b, c.

<six> fix /siks/

<auxiliary> oxilyury

b - Do not spell x for possessives or plurals. Socks/soks, not sox. Box, six, figz, pigz, <Rick's> Rik's, <wrecks> reks.

c - When a double word or compound word 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.

d - Some words, when pronounced out of context, are unclear as to whether they are plural or not. When this is the case with cs sounds at word end: x will not be spelled. Cosmetics, ethics, italics, optics, <pediatrics> pedeatrics, <physics> fizics, <mathematics> mathumatics, <mechanics> mucanics, tactics.

e - When a compound word is unclear about plural affecting the x or ks spelling: ks will be spelled. <Spokesman> spokes-man, spoeksmun; <trickster> trick-stur, trikster.

f - At word beginning, ex will be spelled for the, ics, igz, ecs and egz sounds. <Exhaltation> exultashun, <excite> exiet, <example> exampul. The addition of a prefix will not change the ex spelling. Inexact.

g - At word beginning; ex is pronounced /eks/, when it has the meaning expressed in, 'ex-president'.

h - At word beginning; ex is pronounced /eks/ when it is before an unstressed syllable beginning with a consonant. Extra.

j - At word beginning; ex is pronounced /egz/ when it is before an unstressed syllable beginning with a vowel. <Exhaltation> exultashun.

k - At word beginning; ex is pronounced /iks/ when it preceeds a stressed syllable beginning with a consonant. <Exceed> exeed.

m - At word beginning; ex is pronounced /igz/ when it preceeds a stressed syllable beginning with a vowel. Exactly.

20 - 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.

21 - Hyphenated words

a - There is no dependable rule about when to hyphenate words so the judgement of the writer will be good enough.

b - 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.

Dog’z-body, <half-breed> haf-breed, <hand-me-down> hand-me-doun, <hellbent> hel-bent, <ill-advised> il-udviezd.

c - The apostrophe may be used as shown below in place of some sounds. [See Vowel exceptions about, O’.] See Contractions below.

<o’clock> u’clok (uv clok).

<back-to-back> bak-tu-bak or bak-t’-bak

<cat-o’-nine-tails> cat-u’-nien-taelz.

<cul-de-sac> cul-da-sak or cul-d’-sak.

<Hop-o’-my-thumb> (Hop on my thumb)> Hop-u’-my-thum - spelled as pronounced.

22 - Contractions

The apostrophe (‘) will be used in contractions and possessives except for contractions ending in /nt/. Arnt, books'r/buuks’r, cant, coodnt/cuudnt, didnt, doent, duznt, hadnt, haznt, he’d, he’l, he’z, hu’z, I’d, I’l, I’m, it’l, it’s, I’v, iznt, Jack'd, Jane’d, John’z, Mary’z, Peter’l, she’d, she’l, she’z, shoodnt/shuudnt, shoodnt'v/shuudnt’v, stoodunts’v, that's, thay’d, thay’d’v, thay’l, thay’r, thay’v, we’d, we’l, we’r, we’v, wurnt, wot’d, wot’l, wot’m, wot’r, wot’s, wer’d, wer’l, wer’v, woodnt/wuudnt, woent, yu’d, yu’l, yu’r, yu’v.

23 - More Rules and explanations

a - 'Sight words'. The definite article, THE, will be spelled in its traditional form. The apple. The door. - The apul. The dor. Not, tha dor. The indefinite article is spelled, a; /ae/ and /u/. "Hav a cup uv cofy." In general homographs (words spelled the same with different definitions) are not avoided. However; the words <I> and <eye> and <aye> will be spelled, I and ie and ie, respectively. <You> will be spelled yu instead of ue in order to preserve some TS appearance.

b - Names and most regularly capitalized words, will be spelled with the traditional spelling. But the days of the week and months of the year will be spelled in Ipifuny. This is an area that needs some work. For now, use your own judgement about when the old spelling will be most appropriate.

c - When a suffix is added to a proper name that retains the old spelling, the suffix is spelled with the new spelling. Charles, <Charles’> Charles’z. Not, Charles’ or Charleses. <Jane’s> Jane’z.

d - 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’l, I’m. "I hav sumthing in my ie, but I’m stil aebul tu se."

e - When a word is formed of two or more elements the spelling will represent the pronunciation of the compound word, not its seperate elements. Grand-dad, grandad; grand-ma, granma; can-not, canot; un-necessary, unnesusery; ir-responsible, iresponsubul. <Craftsman> crafsmun. You may need to consult a dictionary to see the most common pronunciation. Sometimes an optional pronunciation is shown and no preference given. The standard will choose one. You may spell either until it is important that you learn the 'correct' one. Probably forever.

e1 - Exception: When word end pronunciation is either -l-ly or -ly, spell -ly. <Agilely> /’adj-ul-ly/ ajuly.

<heroically> hiroicly, <hostilely> hostuly, <ideally> iedeely, <loyally> loily, <materially> mutireuly, <really> reely, <wholly> hoely, <woolly> wuly, <belly> bely, <folly> foly, <fully> fuly, <dully> duly, <foully> fouly.

f - Letters representing sounds (not regular words) will be spelled as the writer percieves the sound. Brr, shh, thwac.

g - /mak/, /muk/, /mik/ - Mc - Prefix in names. It will always be spelled Mc in Ipifuny. <McDonald> McDonuld, <McAfee> McUfy. Pronounced /mak/ before unstressed syllables and /muk/ or /mik/ before stressed syllables.

Paul Stought



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