Respelling of Vowels

Some vocabulary first

• A standard letter creates one sound at a time.

• A digraph is two letters that create one sound together, or create a diphthong that doesn't match the letters' base values.

• We define a monograph as one letter that creates two sounds at the same time — usually a díφþoŋ (diphthong).

• A díφþoŋ is two vowel sounds pronounced edge-to-edge.

• A mónoφþoŋ is one vowel sound pronounced independently.

Monophthong Vowels

Monograph alterations

W modifies vowels in standard Eŋglish. This is messy and seemingly unnecessary in modern Eŋglish so we are removing it.

W is included in the Monographs section because the W itself still produces the /w/ phoneme, but it modifies the proceeding vowel, which is a monograph.

• wa- and wha- as /wɔ/ (water, what) change to

• wo- and who- — because the letter ⟨a⟩ never makes the /ɔ/-vowels unless preceded by a ⟨w⟩.

Digraphs to monophthongs

There are not many digraph monophthong vowels in English. Most digraphs

• ⟨ae⟩ as /ɪː~eː/ changes to æ

• ⟨oe⟩ as /ɪj~yː/ changes to œ — protects pronunciation.

Diphthong Vowels

Monograph compressions — Magic E

Monographs are (in this publication, at least) singular letters which carry a diphthong value — two vowel sounds together.

Magic E diphthongs are considered as monographs because, when the final E is removed to make way for a suffix, the Magic E vowel maintains its diphthong value.

• a as /ɛj/ in "face". The /ɛj/ is retained with the suffix -ing, facing.

Monographs alterations — no Magic E

Some vowels have diphthong values despite there being no Magic E.

• i in "kind" → ī = kīnd

• o in "go" → ō = gō

Digraph modifications

This can involve:

• changing the letters

• marking the letters

• changing and marking the letters.

Examples

• ⟨ow⟩ as /aw/ changes to:

  • ⟨aw⟩ at the end of a word

  • ⟨aw⟩ if a vowel follows it (maybe?)

  • ⟨aŭ⟩ if a consonant follows it.

• ⟨ow⟩ as /əw/ changes to:

  • /ōw/ at the end of a word

  • ⟨ōw⟩ if a vowel follows it (maybe?)

  • ⟨ōŭ⟩ if a consonant follows it. (maybe?) (shown → ʃōŭn)

R-tail Vowels - rules retained

The Vowel+R rules are retained in NewEng.

Vowel+R

• -ar →

• -er → -r -- if the E is unpronounced or is unstressed /ɜː/~/ə/

• -ir →

• -or →

• -oor → ꝏr

• -our → ȣr

• -ur →

See section/page about -or and -er suffix reduction.

If a vowel is followed by R or RR but its sound is its base value, mark it with the inverted chevron, as such: ǎ ě ǐ ǒ ǔ. (This diacritic choice is under review, because it looks too similar to the breve diacritic: ŏ / ǒ.

• ar : carry → cǎry

• er : ferry → fěry

• ir : mirror → mǐror

• or : borrow → bǒ́rōw

• burrow : bǔ́rōw

If the vowel's pronunciation is of another value, mark it accordingly:

• our : courage → cȣ̂rȧj

Vowel+R+E

• -are → ăr for /ɛː(ɹ)/ in "mare", "square", "spare", "bare"

• -ere → ĕr for /ɛː(ɹ)/ in "there", "where"

• -ire → īr for /ɑjə(ɹ)/ in "fire," "dire", "mire", "wire"

• -ore → or for /ɔ:(ɹ)/ in "more", "core", "lore"

• -ure → ŭr or ūr

W-tail Vowels - rules removed

The Vowel+W rules from Current English are NOT retained in NewEng.

Vowels retain their base value, plus the /w/ closing position.

New	Old	New fix for Old
⟨aw⟩ is /aw/	⟨aw⟩ was /ɔː/	⟨aw⟩ as /ɔː/ is ⟨åw⟩
⟨ēw⟩ is /ɪjuw/	⟨ew⟩ was /ɪjuw/	⟨ew⟩ is invalid
⟨ow⟩ is /ɔw/ like "cold"	⟨ow⟩ was /ɔw/ & /əw/ & /aw/	⟨ow⟩ as /aw/ is ⟨aw⟩ ⟨ow⟩ as /əw/ is ⟨ōw⟩
⟨ōw⟩ is /əw/ like "tow"	⟨ow⟩ was /ɔw/ & /əw/ & /aw/	⟨ow⟩ as /aw/ is ⟨aw⟩ ⟨ow⟩ as /ow/ is ⟨ow⟩