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]
	e_e	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]
	eau	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]
	ere	iəʳ	here [hiəʳ]
	ie	e	friend [frend]
		iiʸ	collie [koliiʸ]
		aiʸ	die [daiʸ]
	ie_e	i	sieve [siv]
	ie_e	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]
	are	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]
	ao	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]
	ah	aəʳ	shah [ʃaəʳ]
	al	a	salmon [samən]
		aəʳ	half [haəf]
		oəʳ	talk [toək]
	ar	aəʳ	cart [kaət]
	ar	ʊəʳ	quart [kwʊət]
	are	aəʳ	are [aəʳ]
	are	eəʳ	bare [beəʳ]
	ay	aiʸ	bayou [baiyʊʊʷ]
	ay	eiʸ	may [meiʸ]
	aye	aiʸ	aye [aiʸ]
ayr	eəʳ	Ayr [eəʳ]
aw	oəʳ	jaw [joəʷ]
awe	ʊəʳ	awe [ʊəʳ]
ia	əʳ	social [soʊʃəl]
ia	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]
eau	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)
ua	oəʳ	broad [broəd]
uar	aəʳ	guard [gaəd]
uay	iiʸ	quay [kiiʸ]
silent		logically [lojikliiʸ]

sum θoətiz abaʊt vaʊl and konsənənt karaktəriz