Suffixes

-ER suffix

Verbs - keep ER Nouns - reduce ER to R if unstressed Adjectives - unsure. Maybe keep ER for superlatives, or change to RE as per MORE. (Although MORE is now spelled MOR so doesn't make sense.)

-OR suffix

Usually for agentive nouns. Nouns - keep OR

-ED suffix

Keep -d and -ed for all past participles and adjectives.

-ESS suffixes

-ness -- retain double s, -ness marks a noun -- different from -n+es
-less -- retain double s, -less marks some adjectives -- different from -l+es

-S and -SS

See Grammatical suffixes.

Grammatical suffixes

Grammatical suffixes include:

s/es for plural nouns, third person verbs
d/ed for past participle verbs and adjectives
n/en for past perfect verbs and some adjectives

In English, there are an array of grammatical word mutations which result in ambiguity. With grammatical context, situational context and intonation, there is rarely any ambiguity in either the spoken or the written language. But spelling is a tool to decrease ambiguity too, so in a respelling process such as this, we make it our intention to further decrease ambiguity where possible, and certainly avoid introducing additional ambiguity.

English has many homophones already, some of which exist due to grammatical mutations. Some are seemingly unavoidable because there are no rules as to what is allowed in the phonetic structure of a word.

Past participle of a verb is formed by adding a D suffix.
- Depending on base word pronunciation, this D may be realised as a /d/, a /t/ or an /ɪd/.
- However, many verbs in base form already end in /t/, /d/ and /ɪd/.
- We can resolve this in written text by appending a silenced E to the end of verbs with the /d/ or /t/ coda. An E is chosen because, when the past participle is formed by adding a /d/, the E will be pronounced as an /ɪ/ (or rarely an /e~ɛ/). Additionally, the letter E is already well-known as a commonly-silent letter, so this will be much easier for people to learn & understand than would be appendance of a silenced I.
- The silenced E appears as such:
  - è ← e + altgr+/ OR e + altgr+P
  - crowd → cráŭdè → cráŭdėd
  - raid → răidè → răidėd
  - weld → weldè → wéldėd
  - brand → brandè → brándėd
  - void → voidè → vóidėd
  - fold → foldè → fóldėd
Third person inflection of a verb is formed by adding a S suffix.
- Depending on base word pronunciation, this S may be realised as a /s/, a /z/ or an /ɪz/.
- However, several verbs in base form already end in a /s/, /z/ and /ɪz/.
- We can resolve this in written text by appending a silenced E to the end of verbs with the /s/ or /z/ coda. Actually, this is already the case with a lot of verbs in the current standard English orthography. An E is chosen for the same reason as with the D coda -- when the 3rd person inflection is formed by adding a S, the E will be pronounced as an /ɪ/.
- Additionally, some verbs end in /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /ʧ/ and /ʤ/. Appending an S on the end phonetically requires an interstitial /ɪ/.
- The silenced E appears as such:
  - è ← e + altgr+/ OR e + altgr+P
  - Single S /s/ series
    s → sè → sėz
    focus → fōcŭsè → fōcŭsėz
    Seems to be very rare. Some exist but tend to be derived from a repurposed noun.
  - Double S /s/ series
    ss → sè → sėz
    confess → confésè → confésėz
    fuss → fusè → fúsėz
    pass → pâsè → pâsėz
    cross → crosè → crósėz
    hiss → hisè → hísėz
    press → presè → présėz
  - CE /s/ series
    ce → çè → çėz
    race → rāçè → rāçėz
    face → fāçè → fāçėz
    reduce → rėďūçè → rėďūçėz
    place → plāçè → plāçėz
  - SE /s/ series
    se → sè → sėz
    base → bāsè → bāsėz
    collapse → colápsè → colápsėz
    convulse → convúlsè → convúlsėz
    disperse → dispérsè → dispérsėz
    decease → dėçēsè → dėçēsėz
    grease → grēsè → grēsėz
    lease → lēsè → lēsėz
  - SE /z/ series
    se → zè → zėz
    choose → чꝏzè → чꝏzėz
    cause → cåzè → cåzėz
    muse → mūzè → mūzėz
    rise → rīzè → rīzėz
    confuse → confūzè → confūzėz
    bruise → brūzè → brūzėz
    analyse → ánalȳzè → ánalȳzėz
    prise → prīs̈è → prīs̈ėz (cannot be prīzè because of prize)
    se → s̈è → s̈ėz (special cases)
  - ZE /z/ series
    ze → zè → zėz
    raze
    prize
    amaze
  - SH /ʃ/ series
    sh → ʃè → ʃėz
    wash → waʃè → wáʃėz
    wish → wiʃè → wíʃėz
    bash → baʃè → báʃėz
    rush → ruʃè → rúʃėz
    brush → bruʃè → brúʃėz

Final S & Z and Final D

I have no recollection ov what I was planning to write here. Perhaps it's already been written in the previous чunk.

PreviousSimplifications NextRespelling of Vowels

Last updated 1 month ago