Richard,
I am not an expert on this system designed to make English spelling
more transparent while minimizing word-sign disruption. The 4 rules
are published. I could post them. The forth rule is fairly easy f =
[f]. (no ph spellings) phone respelled fone.
According to you the traditional writing system implies that ale and
day should be pronounced with a different vowel. Can you be any
more precise?
Most dictionary pronunciation guides for GA indicate the same vowel
Webster: Al, dA. (ál, dá). An Australian dictionary might
indicate two different vowels: Al and dI (ál dí) /eIL daI/
You did not indicate what the vowel should be according to the
historical orthography and Peter didn't indicate how he pronounced
these words other than to say that they did not have the same vowel.
--- "Richard Wordingham" <richard.wordingham@...> wrote:
T.O. actually implies that they are pronounced differently! The 'i'
or 'y' of English -ai-/-ay typically corresponds to Old English 'g'
or (Old) French 'i'. I think the general merger of these sounds
(with the development of lengthened OE short 'a') actually dates to
the Great Vowel Shift.
> Was 'wat' (in 'Wat goes for') a spelling mistake for 'wot'? It
seemed distinctly British (e.g. Norfolk - a Northwest accent would
require 'what'). Incidentally, doesn't General American preserve
the 'h'?
GA probably preserves the h more than some other dialects. 4 Rule
Spelling drops unpronounced letters so evidently the h is not
pronounced in Vancouver. (Theo is from Vancourver, B.C.).
The spelling <wat> without some kind of w-modification rule e.g. wa
= wQ or wO does not suggest the correct pronunciation.
4 Rule Spelling, however, is not phonemic spelling. It has fewer
anomolies but is far from perfect.
> Richard.
> > > SB: The words "ale" and "day" would not be rewritten according
to the 4 rules. Since this is not a phonemic writing system, I am
not sure that it means that that every English speaker pronounces
the vowel in these words the same any more than the present writing
system implies this.