N'wenglish
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N'wenglish (from New English) is English spelled phonemically. That is, N'wenglish has a perfect one-to-one correspondence between the spoken units (phonemes) and the written units (graphemes). It is intended to replace traditional English spelling, to aid all English language users: illiterates, native English-speaking children and adults, and people learning English.
N'wenglish uses the traditional Roman alphabet, with optional macrons (long marks) over the vowels. N'wenglish spelling is so regular and so similar to traditional spelling that proficient English readers can read N'wenglish in about an hour of study and practice, and regain their former reading speeds in a few months. Compared to proposed spelling reforms such as SR1, Cut Spelling, and the Shavian alphabet, N'wenglish is possibly the most practical reform. [[Neutral point of viewneutrality disputed]]
History
Bob Cleckler became passionately concerned about illiteracy in 1985. He first described N'wenglish in his book, Instant Literacy for Everyone in 1993. To present the problem and solution of illiteracy more clearly and forcefully, Cleckler wrote Let's End Our Literacy Crisis in 2005.N'wenglish spelling rules
1.Each letter or combination of letters has only one sound, as follows (“short,” “long,” and “other” vowels are only convenient grouping terms and have no other significance):5 short vowels: use A, E, I, O, and U for the more-often-used sounds, as in “That pet did not run.”
5 long vowels: add an E to the vowels (AE, EE, IE, OE, or UE) or use macrons (a line over the vowels) for the less-often-used sounds, as in “Mae Green tried roe glue” or “Thā ēt frīd tōfū.
4 other vowels: use AU, OO, OI, and OU for the sounds, as in “Haul good oil out.”
18 consonant sounds represented by a single letter: use the letters that are used most often (except for F, S and Y, entirely because of the very common word of and such words as bags and pity), as in “Yes, Val 'Zip' Kim hid our big fanjet win.”
6 consonant sounds represented by digraphs (two letters): (1) use TH and TT for the sounds as in then and thin, respectively; (2) use C ONLY in CH as in chip; (3) use SH and NG for the sounds as in wishing; (4) use ZH as in muzhik, for the sound of Z as in azure or of S as in treasure.
use Q and X ONLY as follows: use Q (not QU) for the KW sound as in quit and X for the KS sound as in exit (qit and exit in N'wenglish). Use KS instead of X for plurals and possessives ending in K.
A memory aid for the above is:
Mae Green lied, "Joe Blue and Kevin 'Top Gun' Wood haul our oil." Qit mezhuring fish which yuez this ttin box. (It is "Quit," "measuring,""use," and "thin" in English spelling.)
2.There are no silent letters and no double letters that make a single sound, except OO and TT—and EE if macrons aren't used.
3.All sounds must be shown except (1) the NG sound in NK and NX, and (2) a U sound between a vowel (other than U) and R or L.
4.The spelling of trademarks and proper names except the names of the months and days are unchanged.
Optional rules
5.A slash (/) follows primary accented syllables unless the primary accent is on the last syllable. Hyphens are optional. Compound words may be spelled as one word or may be hyphenated.
6.N'wenglish spelling between slashes follows proper nouns and trademarks if needed to show pronunciation.
7.The use of an apostrophe to show contractions (such as can't for cannot) is optional.
8.To avoid confusion with common synonyms, spell the following English words with the N'wenglish spelling shown in parentheses: buoy (boih or buei), burrow (buroew), flower (flouur), son (suhn), too (tueh), two (tuew), ewe (iue), yew (ihue), and the following singular nouns as shown: you (Yue), your (Yoor), and you're (Yoo'r).
Sample text
From the Gospel According To St. John, New King James versionThu Good Nūz uv John
In thu bēgin/ing wuz thu Wurd, and thu Wurd wuz witt God, and thu Wurd wuz God. Thu sām wuz in thu bēgin/ing witt God. Aul ttingz wur mād bī Him, and witt-out Him wuz not en/ē tting mād that wuz mād. In Him wuz līf, and thu līf wuz thu līt uv men. And thu līt shīn/utt in dork/nus, and thu dork/nus komprēhend/ud it not.
Ther wuz u man sent frum God, hūz nām wuz John/Jon/. Thu sām kām for u wit/nus, tū bar wit/nus of thu Līt, that aul men ttrū him mīt bēlēv. Hē wuz not that Līt, but wuz sent tū bar wit/nus uv that Līt.
That wuz thu trū Līt, which līt/utt ev/rē man that kum/utt intū thu wurld. Hē wuz in thu wurld, and thu wurld wuz mād bī Him, and thu wurld nū Him not. Hē kām un/tū Hiz ōn, and Hiz ōn rēsēvd Him not. But az men/ē az rēzēvd Him, to them gāv Hē pou/oor tū bēkum thu sunz uv God, ēv/un tū them that bēlēv on Hiz nām: which wur bōrn, not uv blud, nor uv thu wil uv thu flesh, nor uv thu wil uv man, but uv God. And thu Wurd wuz mād flesh, and dwelt umung us, and wē bēheld Hiz glōr/ē, thu glōr/ē uv thu ōn/lē bēgot/un uv thu Foth/ur, fool uv grās and trūtt.
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