Some Thoughts About Vowel And Consonant Characters

Alphabets And Abjads

The English language does not have an alphabet—that is, not a true one. A true alphabet (hereafter in this piece, “an alphabet”) has characters for the phonemes: in a Platonic Ideal of an alphabet, a one:one mapping of characters to phonemes. This places alphabets in the phonetic group of writing systems, along with syllabaries (where characters represent syllables), as opposed to the logographic group of writing systems (such as hieroglyphs, where characters represents words or concepts, as well as some sounds). The other two types of phonetic writing system are abjads, where only consonants are represented, and abugidas, where consonants are the base for each character but there is a systematic set of diacritics that indicate vowel sounds. One can see from this that consonants are always represented in these phonetic writing systems, and that the difference lies in what to do about vowels: abjads ignore them; alphabets represent them equally with consonants; syllabaries combine them with consonants arbitrarily; abugidas combine them with consonants systematically.

The Latin script (based on Greek, based on Phoenician, etc) was useful as a close-to-true alphabet in the many langauges with only a few vowel phonemes, which could easily be represented by its five vowel characters (‘A’, ‘E’, ‘I’, ‘O’, ‘U’), or digraphs of these. As the script spread to new lands with eccentric (by Mediterranean standards) vowels, and as time wore on and these languages developed internally and intermingled externally, these handful of vowel characters, sufficient three thousand years ago, became hopelessly insufficient.

In addition, English in particular is a hybrid of many sources, primarily a Romance and Germanic fusion, but incorporating elements from across the British Empire. Internally, the bizarre Great Vowel Shift did what it says and caused an eccentric change in how English vowels are pronounced. These two dramatic forces mean that English spellings frequently do not represent the phonemes they are ostensibly supposed to.

In this long but light piece, I will attempt to list, for each letter (character) and each phoneme, all of the main variations that I can think of. Note that although I borrow some IPA characters for my phonetic letters, I do not like the overall IPA scheme, finding it too pedantic for practical use. For more information, see the pages on my English reforms. The pronunciations are ordered roughly according to the reformed alphabet, character first, vowels before consonants. I am only including words that I think a normal educated reader might reasonably know and consider to be English. As ever, these pronunciations primarily reflect my own accent, Standard British with a North of England flavour.

Characters To Phonemes

Letter Graph Phoneme Example
e e e bet [bet]
i pretty [pritiiʸ]
əʳ happen [hapən]
eiʸ pate [pateiʸ]
iiʸ she [ʃiiʸ]
ʊʊʷ cue [kyʊʊʷ]
e_e e creme [krem]
iiʸ phoneme [foʊniim]
ea e head [hed]
əʳ ocean [oʊʃən]
iiʸ sea [siiʸ]
iəʳ idea [aidiəʳ]
eiʸ yea [yeiʸ]
ea_e iiʸ leave [liiv]
eau oʊʷ beau [boʊʷ]
yʊʊʷ beauty [byʊʊtiiʸ]
eah eəʳ yeah [yeəʳ]
ear aəʳ heart [haət]
eəʳ swear [sweəʳ]
iəʳ near [niəʳ]
uəʳ earn [uən]
er əʳ killer [kiləʳ]
iəʳ adherence [adhiərəns]
aəʳ sergeant [saəjənt]
uəʳ her [huəʳ]
ere eəʳ there [ðeəʳ]
iəʳ here [hiəʳ]
ie e friend [frend]
iiʸ collie [koliiʸ]
aiʸ die [daiʸ]
ie_e i sieve [siv]
iiʸ grieve [griiv]
a_e i mortgage [mʊəgij]
a axe [aks]
əʳ senate [senət]
eiʸ make [meik]
ai_e eiʸ raise [reiz]
ais_e aiʸ aisle [ail]
aire eəʳ solitaire [soliteəʳ]
ae e aesthetic [esθetik]
iiʸ paediatric [piidiiyatrik]
eiʸ reggae [regeiʸ]
aer eəʳ aero [eəroʊʷ]
au_e eiʸ gauge [geij]
oəʳ sauce [soəs]
oʊʷ mauve [moʊv]
ʊəʳ pause [pʊəs]
are aəʳ are [aəʳ]
eəʳ bare [beəʳ]
aye aiʸ aye [aiʸ]
awe ʊəʳ awe [ʊəʳ]
silent interest [intrest]
a a a cat [kat]
e ordinary [ʊədineriiʸ]
o what [wot]
əʳ comma [koməʳ]
aiʸ naïve [naiyiiv]
aəʳ father [faəðəʳ]
iiʸ karaoke [kariiyoʊkii]
eiʸ major [meijəʳ]
eəʳ barer [beərəʳ]
ʊəʳ water [wʊətəʳ]
a_e a axe [aks]
i mortgage [mʊəgij]
əʳ senate [senət]
eiʸ make [meik]
aa aəʳ kraal [kraəl]
aar aəʳ aardvark [aədvaək]
ai a plait [plat]
i captain [kaptin]
e said [sed]
əʳ certain [kuətən]
aiʸ samurai [saməraiʸ]
eiʸ pain [pein]
ai_e eiʸ raise [reiz]
ait eiʸ distrait [distreiʸ]
aigh eiʸ straight [streit]
ais_e aiʸ aisle [ail]
air eəʳ hair [heəʳ]
aire eəʳ solitaire [soliteəʳ]
ae e aesthetic [esθetik]
iiʸ paediatric [piidiiyatrik]
eiʸ reggae [regeiʸ]
aer eəʳ aero [eəroʊʷ]
ao eiʸ gaol [jeil]
aʊʷ tao [taʊʷ]
aor oəʳ extraordinary [ekstroədineriiʸ]
aow aʊʷ miaow [miiyaʊʷ]
au a laugh [laf] (variant)
o vault [volt]
aʊʷ tau [taʊʷ]
aəʳ laugh [laəf] (variant)
oʊʷ sauté [soʊteiʸ]
oəʳ Laura [loərəʳ]
ʊəʳ auto [ʊətoʊʷ]
au_e eiʸ gauge [geij]
oəʳ sauce [soəs]
oʊʷ mauve [moʊv]
ʊəʳ pause [pʊəs]
augh oəʳ taught [toət]
aul oəʳ caulk [koək]
aur oəʳ dinosaur [dainəsoəʳ]
ach o yacht [yot]
as oəʳ Arkansas [aəkənsoəʳ]
ah əʳ cheetah [ciitəʳ]
aəʳ shah [ʃaəʳ]
al a salmon [samən]
aəʳ half [haəf]
oəʳ talk [toək]
ar aəʳ cart [kaət]
ʊəʳ quart [kwʊət]
are aəʳ are [aəʳ]
eəʳ bare [beəʳ]
ay aiʸ bayou [baiyʊʊʷ]
eiʸ may [meiʸ]
aye aiʸ aye [aiʸ]
ayr eəʳ Ayr [eəʳ]
aw oəʳ jaw [joəʷ]
awe ʊəʳ awe [ʊəʳ]
ia əʳ social [soʊʃəl]
aiʸ dial [dail]
iar aiəʳ diary [daiəriiʸ] (UK)
ea e head [hed]
əʳ ocean [oʊʃən]
iiʸ sea [siiʸ]
iəʳ idea [aidiəʳ]
eiʸ yea [yeiʸ]
ea_e iiʸ leave [liiv]
eau oʊʷ beau [boʊʷ]
yʊʊʷ beauty [byʊʊtiiʸ]
eah eəʳ yeah [yeəʳ]
ear aəʳ heart [haət]
eəʳ swear [sweəʳ]
iəʳ near [niəʳ]
uəʳ earn [uən]
oa aəʳ quinoa [kiinwaəʳ]
oʊʷ boat [boʊt]
oəʳ broad [broəd]
oar əʳ cupboard [kubəd]
oəʳ board [boəd]
ʊəʳ coarse [kʊəs]
ua ʊʊʷ dual [jʊʊl] (UK)
oəʳ broad [broəd]
uar aəʳ guard [gaəd]
uay iiʸ quay [kiiʸ]
silent logically [lojikliiʸ]

sum θoətiz abaʊt vaʊl and konsənənt karaktəriz