A converter for a potential spelling reform for the English language.
The English language is among the most widely-spoken languages in the world today, yet it remains among the hardest to learn. This difficulty comes not from its grammatical structure, which is quite simple, but rather its spelling conventions, or lack thereof. This inconsistency in spellings is not only a problem abroad, for foreigners trying to learn English, but also for native speakers. When an English speaker learns a new word, she has to memorize the spelling after seeing it written out, which may take weeks depending on the word's complexity. Speakers of languages like Finnish, Spanish, or Korean, which have more regular spelling conventions, can simply hear a word and know how it's spelled, or see it written out and know it's pronunciation. In 2009, about 1 in every 7 adults in the US were not functionally literate in English: a figure that hadn't changed much since the previous study in 1992. That high failure rate helps contribute to both youth and adults giving up on learning English, after struggling for years.
The English language needs a spelling reform. Even if this sounds simple, it is in fact a rather tedious challenge. Unlike French and German, there is no universal governing body for the English language. Oxford University has some control, but they are far from universal, seeing as Americans don’t spell ‘color’ as ‘colour’. As such, the only people in control of the language are the people who use it: the people of America and the English-speaking world. Convincing the 1.5 billion English-speakers, or even just the 360 million native speakers, is a daunting task. Force a system too fast, and too many people lose track of it. Those who benefit from the system could be outnumbered by those who find it more confusing than the old way of spelling. Drag the change out too long, and people forget that its changing, so nothing changes at all. As such, I have settled not only on a new standard of spelling conventions, but also a method for implementing them at the right pace.
My plan will transform the English language from its current state into “Ïnglïx” (that’s how “English” would be spelled at the end of Phase 5, about 50 to 100 years from now). Ïnglïx will appear vastly different from the English we use today, as each word would be spelled almost phonetically. However the 5 Phases are meant to ease English-speakers into Ïnglïx slowly. Each phase should take about 10 to 15 years, but no less than 5 and no more than 25. The first phase, which I am starting now, will tackle all the consonants in the English language.
The major changes are as follows:
- c is replaced with k or s, unless in the digraph ch
- voiced (hard) th like in this is replaced with dh, to differentiate from the unvoiced (soft) th like in think
- soft g is replaced with j
- ng that makes two sounds, like in finger, becomes n’g; ng in ding stays as is
- ph is replaced with f
- q is replaced phonetically, qu like in square becoming kw, que like in picturesque becoming k, etc.
- s is replaced with z when it is pronounced like a z, like in dogs
- x is replaced phonetically, x in fox becoming ks, x in xylophone becoming z, etc.
- z, s, j, or g that make the zh sound, like z in azure, replaced with zh
- ch digraphs shortened to just c
- sh digraphs shortened to just x
- d and ed verb suffix replaced with ‘d
- sion, tion, cion replaced with xion or zhion, based on pronounciation
- silent consonants removed in all cases
- Some cases will have vowel endings changed slightly. ough like in dough becomes o, ight like in fight becomes ite, ere like in where becomes are, etc.
- silent e dropped if it changes only consonants
- double consonants removed, except those in suffixes
- certain vowels are changed (based loosely on phases 2 and 3) when two words pronounced differently end up with the same spelling, such as know and now
- The vowels will not be changed, or changed further, if two words pronounced the same end up with the same spelling, just because they do not have the same meaning. Pairs such as knot and not, know and no, and knight and night will become homonyms (spelled not, no, and nait, respectively) joining other homonyms such as band, tire, or kind.
This reform does not affect proper nouns, so all the Quincys, Xaviers, Gigis and Christinas out there need not worry about changing your name. If you want to change the spelling of your home city or town, you can start your own petition for that. Otherwise, though, anything that’s not the name of a person, place, or brand will be affected. This is a phase 1 translator for your ease of use. Many words will not be changed by phase 1, so if a word is spelled the same way, it may be accurate. If it clearly breaks one of the above rules, simply let me know the word in question and I will add it as soon as I am able.
Important note:
I have not yet been able to properly implement suffixes, including tenses and plurals. As such, I suggest translating the root word and then adding the suffix. (e.g. 'd for past tense verbs, s or z for plurals, etc.)
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