International Pronunciation Differences
As an international language, English is currently written and spoken
somewhat differently in various parts of the world.
On the one hand, by using a phonetic spelling, Lytspel eliminates most
differences that traditionally exist between written British (BE) and
American English (AE), e.g. «culer, senter, orgenys, ánelys, lycenss,
catalog, aijing, program, chek, gray» ‹colour/color, centre/center,
organise/organize, analyse/analyze, licence/license, catalogue/catalog,
ageing/aging, programme/program, cheque/check, grey/gray›.
On the other hand, tailoring Lytspel to faithfully represent just one
regional variety would cause many deviations from the alphabetic principle
for everyone else. And creating different variants of Lytspel each fitting
just one regional variety would introduce even larger differences between
different regional varieties of written English than traditionally exist
between BE and AE.
Instead of going down either of theses routes, Lytspel had been designed as
some kind of “global compromise.” It aims to keep the phonetic principle
reasonably intact for all varieties of spoken English, and particularly for
RP (since the English language originates in England) and GA (since the
United States are the country with the highest number of native English
speakers).
Several details of the Lytspel spellings have already been motivated as
representing sound distinctions that exist either in RP or in GA. But such
compromises are not almost possible without making the written language
extremely complex and unwieldy. In other cases, Lytspel therefore resolves
differences between RP and GA by choosing one spelling – often the one
that keeps the written language more similar to tradspell or else the
shorter one:
- /a/ («a») is preferred if a vowel is commonly spoken as either /a/ or
/A/, e.g. «last, guulash» ‹…goulash›.
- /a/ is also preferred if a vowel is commonly spoken as either /a/ or
/eI/, e.g. «patent, patriat» ‹…patriot›.
- /a/ is also preferred if a vowel is commonly spoken as either /a/ or /Q/,
e.g. «rath» ‹wrath›.
- /A/ («aa)» is preferred if a vowel is commonly spoken as either /A/ or
/eI/, e.g. «tomaato, swaadh» ‹tomato, swathe›.
- /aI/ («y», «iy» before vowels) is preferred if a vowel is commonly spoken
as either /aI/ or /i:/, e.g. «nydher, fílistyn» ‹neither, philistine›.
- /E/ («e)» is preferred if a vowel is commonly spoken as either /E/ or
/eI/, e.g. «agen» ‹again›.
- /E/ is also preferred if a vowel is commonly spoken as either /E/ or
/i:/, e.g. «lezher, predececer» ‹leisure, predecessor›.
- /I/ («i») is preferred if a vowel is commonly spoken as either /I/ or
/aI/, e.g. «cristelin, direct, orgenisaition» ‹crystalline, direct,
organization›.
- /I/ is also preferred if a vowel is commonly spoken as either /I/ or /i:/
(e.g. «afrodísiac» ‹aphrodisiac›), unless its original representation is
‹ee› (e.g. «been»).
- /i:/ («ee», «i» before vowels) is preferred if a vowel is commonly spoken
as either /i:/ or /eI/, e.g. «beeta, gaseebo, Ízrial» ‹beta, gazebo,
Israel›.
- /Q/ («o») is preferred if a vowel is commonly spoken as either /Q/ or
/O:/, e.g. «álkehol, cloth» ‹alcohol…›.
- /Q/ is also preferred if a vowel is commonly spoken as either /Q/ or
/oU/, e.g. «process, shon» ‹…shone›.
- /Q/ is also preferred if a vowel is commonly spoken as either /Q/ or /V/,
e.g. «from, whot, acomplish» ‹…what, accomplish›.
- /oU/ («oa») is preferred if a vowel is commonly spoken as either /oU/ or
/O:/, e.g. «sloath» ‹sloth›.
- /U/ («oo») is preferred if a vowel is commonly spoken as either /U/ or
/u:/, e.g. «coocu, hoof» ‹cuckoo…›.
- /jU/ «ue» is preferred if a vowel is commonly spoken as either /jU/ or
/j@/, e.g. «dócuement, ócuepy» ‹document, occupy›.
- /Ir/ («ir») is preferred if an r-colored vowel is commonly spoken as
either /Ir/ or /3:/, e.g. «squirel» ‹squirrel›.
- /3:/ («ur») is preferred if an r-colored vowel is commonly spoken as
either /3:/ or /A(r)/, e.g. «clurk» ‹clerk›.
- /w/ («w») is preferred if a sound preceding a vowel is commonly spoken as
either /w/ or one of /ju:/ or /jU/, e.g. «jágwar» ‹jaguar›.
- If a vowel is spoken as a schwa or omitted altogether in some regions, as
/aI/ elsewhere, Lytspel generally uses «i» /I/ as a compromise, e.g.
«ájil, vursetil», ‹agile, versatile›.
- Otherwise, if a vowel is spoken with a full vowel sound in some regions,
while reduced to a schwa or omitted altogether elsewhere, Lytspel tends
to write the full version, e.g. «cátegori, ínevaitiv, militerri,
portrait, prymerri, python, roazmairi, téstimoani» ‹category, innovative,
military, portrait, primary, python, rosemary, testimony›.
- If some people pronounce /I/ and others a schwa, Lytspel uses «i» if
that’s the original representation, e.g. «simplify».
- /z/ («s» or «z», depending on position) is preferred if a consonant is
commonly spoken as either /z/ or /s/, e.g. «irais, venisen, talizmen»
‹erase, venison, talisman›.
- If a consonant is commonly spoken as either /Z/ or /S/, final «sion»
/Z@n/ is preserved if it’s already the traditional ending (e.g.
«convursion» ‹conversion›), otherwise /S/ (usually «sh») is preferred,
e.g. «Aisha, iraisher» ‹Asia, erasure›.
- If some people pronounce /D/ and others /T/, «th» (or «ther») is
preferred, e.g. «with, zither».
- /si:/ (depending on position, but often «ci») is preferred if a sequence
is commonly spoken as either /si:/ or /S/, e.g. «hecian, omniciant»
‹hessian, omniscient›.
- /zi:/ (depending on position, but often «si») is preferred if a sequence
is commonly spoken as either /zi:/ or /Z/, e.g. «hoasieri, Malaisia»
‹hosiery, Malaysia›.
- /ti:/ («ti» before vowels) is preferred if a sequence is commonly spoken
as either /ti:/ or as one of /S, Si:, tS, tSi:/, e.g. «sentiant,
consortiam, bestial, bestierri» ‹sentient, consortium, bestial,
bestiary›.
If a letter is commonly either spoken or silent, Lytspel tends to preserve
it, e.g. «platinum, trait» (not “platnum, tray”).
If speakers in different regions tend to stress different syllables,
Lytspel usually places the stress early rather than late, e.g. «an ádress,
décaid, truncait» ‹an address, decade, truncate›. But in the case of
originally foreign words where a late stress placement corresponds to the
pronunciation in the original language, it is often preserved, e.g.
«cafeen, expoasáy» ‹caffeine, exposé›.
Other differences are usually unique to just one or very few words. In such
cases, Lytspel generally prefers the pronunciation that is more similar to
the traditional written form, e.g. «cordial, figer, shéduel» ‹…figure,
schedule› (rather than “corjel, figyer, skejuul”).
In a few cases, one pronunciation is preferred because it is more similar
to that of a closely related word, e.g. «pryveci» ‹privacy› from «pryvet»
‹private› (rather than “priveci”).