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Dictionary of the British English Spelling System

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Contents

About the author

Acknowledgments

A 40-year gestation

How to use this book

1. Introduction

1.3 Some terminology

1.5 Long and short vowels

1.7 Consonant clusters and ‘blends’

1.8 Split digraphs and ‘magic <e>’

1.9 Stem words and derived forms

1.10 Positions within words

1.11 Open and closed syllables

1.12 ‘2-phoneme graphemes’

1.13 ‘Regular’ correspondences

2. The phonemes of spoken English

2.1 Choosing an accent to analyse

2.2 How many phonemes?

2.3 The consonant phonemes of Received Pronunciation

2.4 The vowel phonemes of Received Pronunciation

2.5 Polysyllabic words and word stress

3. The phoneme-grapheme correspondences of English, 1: Consonants

3.1 The general picture: the regular spellings of English consonant phonemes

3.2 Order of description

3.3 Frequencies

3.4 The main system and the rest

3.5 Consonants with doubled spellings which are rare in one-syllable words: /b d g m n p t/, plus /r/

3.5.1 /b/ as in by

3.5.2 /d/ as in dye

3.5.3 /g/ as in goo

3.5.4 /m/ as in my

3.5.5 /n/ as in nigh

3.5.6 /p/ as in pie

3.5.7 /t/ as in tie

3.5.8 /r/ as in rye

3.6 /r/-linking

3.7 Consonants with doubled spellings which are regular at the end of one-syllable words after a short vowel spelt with one letter: /k ʧ f ʤ l s v z/

3.7.1 /k/ as in coo

3.7.2 /ʧ/ as in chew

3.7.3 /f/ as in few

3.7.4 /ʤ/ as in jaw

3.7.5 /l/ as in law

3.7.6 /s/ as in sue

3.7.7 /v/ as in view

3.7.8 /z/ as in zoo

3.8 Consonants without doubled spellings: /h ŋ ∫ ʒ θ ð w j/

3.8.1 /h/ as in who

3.8.2 /ŋ/ as in ring

3.8.3 /∫/ as in fission

3.8.4 /ʒ/ as in vision

3.8.5 /θ/ as in thigh

3.8.6 /ð/ as in thy

3.8.7 /w/ as in well

3.8.8 /j/ as in yell, union

4. How do you know when to write a consonant letter double?

4.1 The easy bits

4.1.1 Consonant letters are never doubled at the beginning of a word

4.1.2 Some consonant letters are never or almost never written double: <h, j, q, v, w, x, y>

4.1.3 Doubled consonant letters are very rare after long vowels and diphthongs

4.2 The main consonant-doubling rule (Part 1 of ‘double, drop or swop’ – see sections 6.4-5)

4.3 Other hints for writing a consonant letter double

4.3.1 Where the two parts of a compound word, or an affix and a stem, have adjacent identical consonant letters, the consonant letter is written double

4.3.2 Monosyllabic content words with /VC/ structure have a double consonant letter: the Three-Letter Rule

4.3.3 Consonant phonemes /b d f g k p t z/ are almost always spelt with double letters before final /əl/ spelt <-le> where the immediately preceding vowel phoneme is short, stressed and spelt with a single letter

4.3.4 More generally, consonant letters are mostly written double in the middle of two-syllable words where the immediately preceding vowel phoneme is short and written with a single letter

4.3.5 At the end of one-syllable words where the preceding vowel phoneme is short and spelt with a single letter the following consonant phonemes are mostly written double: /k ʧ f ʤ l s z v/

4.4 Hints for not writing consonant letters double

4.4.1 At the end of one-syllable words where the preceding vowel phoneme is short and spelt with a single letter the following consonant phonemes are mostly written single: /b d g m n p t/

4.4.2 When do you not write consonant phonemes /b d f g k p t z/ with double letters before final /əl/ spelt <-le>?

4.4.3 Digression: When do you not spell final /əl/ as <-le>?

4.4.4 When do you not write doublable consonant letters double in the middle of two-syllable words (other than those ending in /əl/)?

4.4.5 The third syllable from the end of a word rarely ends in a doubled consonant letter

4.4.6 Doubled consonant letters are very rare immediately before the endings <-ic(al), -id, -it, -ule>

4.4.7 When do you reduce <ll> to <l>?

4.5 Learn the rest

4.6 Consolation prizes

4.6.1 Consonant letters are never written triple

4.6.2 Final <CC> + <e>

5. The phoneme-grapheme correspondences of English, 2: Vowels

5.1 The general picture: the principal spellings of English vowel phonemes

5.2 Order of description

5.3 The main system and the rest

5.4 Short pure vowels: /æ e ɪ ɒ ʌ ʊ ə/

5.4.1 /æ/ as in ash

5.4.2 /e/ as in end

5.4.3 /ɪ/ as in ink

5.4.4 /ɒ/ as in ox

5.4.5 /ʌ/ as in up

5.4.6 /ʊ/ as in pull

5.4.7 /ə/ (the schwa vowel) as in the first sound in about

5.5 Long pure vowels (other than /iː, uː/): /ɑː ɜː ɔː/

5.5.1 /ɑː/ as in aardvark

5.5.2 /ɜː/ as in earl

5.5.3 /ɔː/ as in awe

5.6 Diphthongs (other than /eɪ, aɪ, əʊ/): /ɔɪ aʊ eə ɪə ʊə/

5.6.1 /ɔɪ/ as in oyster

5.6.2 /aʊ/ as in ouch

5.6.3 /eə/ as in air

5.6.4 /ɪə/ as in ear

5.6.5 /ʊə/ as in rural

5.7 Letter-name vowels: /eɪ iː aɪ əʊ juː/, plus /uː/

5.7.1 /eɪ/ as in aim

5.7.2 /iː/ as in eel

5.7.3 /aɪ/ as in ice

5.7.4 /əʊ/ as in oath

5.7.5 /juː/ as in union

5.7.6 /uː/ as in ooze

6. Some spelling rules for vowels

6.1 ‘<i> before <e> except after <c>’

6.2 ‘To spell the names of letters <a, i, o, u> in one-syllable words ending with a single consonant phoneme, write the vowel-name letter and the consonant letter and magic <e>’

6.3 ‘In non-final syllables of stem words, spell letter-name vowels with their name letters’

6.4 <e>-deletion (Part 2 of ‘double, drop or swop’)

6.5 <y>-replacement (Part 3 of ‘double, drop or swop’)

6.6 <ie>-replacement, <y>-deletion and <e>-insertion

6.7 <-able/-ible>

6.8 <-ant/-ent, -ance/-ence, -ancy/-ency>

6.9 Using related forms to spell schwa

6.10 Elided vowels

7. Special processes

7.1 Dual-functioning

7.1.1 Letter <e>

7.1.2 Letter <r>

7.1.3 Letter <w>

7.1.4 Letter <y>

7.2 Surfacing sounds

7.2.1 Sounds which surface in stem-initial position

7.2.2 Sounds which surface in medial position

7.2.3 Sounds which surface in stem-final position

8. The graphemes of written English

8.1 Choosing a written variety to analyse

8.2 How many graphemes, and how many correspondences?

8.3 The graphemes of the main system and the rest

9. The grapheme-phoneme correspondences of English, 1: Graphemes beginning with consonant letters

9.0 Unwritten consonant phonemes

9.1 General introduction to the grapheme-phoneme correspondences

9.2 When is a digraph not a digraph?

9.3 Frequencies

9.4 The general picture: the regular pronunciations of English graphemes beginning with consonant letters

9.5 Order of description

9.44 Some useful generalisations about graphemes beginning with consonant letters

10. The grapheme-phoneme correspondences of English, 2: Graphemes beginning with vowel letters

10.1 The general picture: the regular pronunciations of English graphemes beginning with vowel letters

10.2 Order of description

10.41 Correspondences of <a, e, i, o, u, y> (±word-final <e>) in content words with no other vowel letters (monosyllables)

10.42 Correspondences of <a, e, i, o, u, y> in words with at least one later vowel letter other than ‘silent’ <e> (polysyllables)

10.43 Consolation prize?

11. Evaluating some pronunciation rules for vowel graphemes

11.1 Some history

11.2 ‘When there are two vowels side by side, the long sound of the first one is heard and the second is usually silent.’

11.3 ‘When a written word has only one vowel letter, and that letter is followed by at least one consonant letter other than <r, w, y>, the vowel has its usual short pronunciation.’

11.4 ‘When a final <e> is preceded by a consonant letter other than <r, w, x, y> and that consonant is preceded by a single vowel letter, the final <e> is silent and the other vowel letter has its letter-name (‘long’) sound.’

11.5 ‘When <a> follows <qu, w, wh> and is not followed by <r>, or by any consonant letter plus <e>, it is pronounced /ɒ/.’

11.6 ‘When <y> is the final letter in a word, it always has a vowel sound, either alone or in combination with a preceding <a, e, o>.’

Appendix A: Assumptions and technicalities

A.1 Citation forms

A.5 Every letter belongs to a grapheme (almost)

A.6 Split digraphs

A.7 Rhymes and phonograms (and rimes)

A.8 Dual-functioning

A.9 Graphemes containing apostrophes

A.10 Word stress

Appendix B: Pedagogically selected lists of phoneme-grapheme and grapheme-phoneme correspondences