I have ‘promoted’ four infrequent correspondences, /ɒ/ spelt at 6%, /ɪə/ spelt at 8%, /juː/ spelt - percentage unknown, but clearly very low, and /uː/ spelt at this is largely because in the grapheme-phoneme direction the correspondences of are highly regular – see section 10.37.Ĩ Again, the frequencies are Carney’s text frequencies (see section 3.2), but for /ɪ, ɪə/ I take issue with them, and for /iː/ I dispense with them completely – see sections 5.4.3, 5.6.4, 5.7.2. However, as with consonant phonemes, the dividing line cannot be absolute. For the choice of 9% see in particular /ɔː/ spelt and /uː/ spelt (sections 5.5.3, 5.7.6), which definitely have to be considered parts of the main system of English spelling and contrast (at 8%) /ʌ/ spelt, /ɜː/ spelt and /ɔː/ spelt (sections 5.4.5, 5.5.2, 5.5.3), which equally certainly are Oddities and not parts of the main system. The reason for setting a generally higher criterion for vowel spellings than for consonant spellings (see section 3.2) is that vowel spellings are so much more varied. Both 3-phoneme graphemes are definitely Oddities.Ħ Most entries end with Notes, and some have Tables.ħ By reasonable frequency here I usually mean at least 9% of the occurrences of that phoneme in running text. (Almost all the 2-phoneme graphemes are also Oddities, but a few belong to the main system and are included there).Īny 3-phoneme grapheme in which the phoneme occurs. Oddities, graphemes which are used to spell that phoneme only rarely.Īny 2-phoneme graphemes in which the phoneme occurs. Other graphemes which are used to spell that phoneme with reasonable frequency. In my opinion, each of the 20 vowel phonemes of English, plus /juː/, has a basic grapheme, the one which is most frequent and/or seems most natural as its spelling. Section 5.4 covers short pure vowels, section 5.5 long pure vowels other than /iː, uː/, section 5.6 diphthongs other than /eɪ, aɪ, əʊ/, and section 5.7 the letter-name vowels plus /uː/.ĥ Under each vowel phoneme I deal with the spellings in this order: in two-syllable words after /l, r/, otherwise Ĥ In sections 5.4-7 I set out the vocalic phoneme-grapheme correspondences between RP and British spelling, under the vowel phonemes listed in the order in which they appear in Table 5.1. before consonant clusters, before /t/, otherwise Mainly many exceptions with in unstressed syllables before /nt/, otherwise, with many exceptions with (so rare and diverse that no generalisations are worthwhile) in monosyllables ending in /d, k/, elsewhere , but in word-final unstressed /ɪʤ/, and frequently in other unstressed syllables VOWELS OTHER THAN THE LETTER-NAME VOWELS AND /uː/ TABLE 5.1: MAIN SPELLINGS OF THE 20 VOWEL PHONEMES, PLUS/juː/, BY WORD POSITION Similarly, digraphs with () tend to occur wordfinally and to alternate with digraphs with () elsewhere There is a minor and scattered pattern before consonant clusters: in closed monosyllables the long vowel /ɑː/ and the letter-name vowels /aɪ, əʊ/ are spelt with the single letters and the letter-name vowel /eɪ/ is spelt before /nt/ for/ɑː, eɪ/this pattern extends to closed final syllables of polysyllablesĭigraphs with () tend to occur word-finally and to alternate with digraphs with () elsewhere The letter-name vowels and /uː/ mostly have split digraph spellings in closed final syllables (with the notable exceptions of /iː, uː/ in monosyllables) The letter-name vowels and/uː/have remarkable consistency in nonfinal syllables (with the notable exception of /iː/in unstressed syllables) The phonemes are therefore classified into short pure vowels, long pure vowels other than /iː, uː/, diphthongs other than/eɪ, aɪ, əʊ/, and the letter-name vowels plus /uː/.ģ Amidst the clutter of Table 5.1 various generalisations can be discerned:įive of the short pure vowels have a predominant spelling in initial position ( /ʊ/ does not occur in this position, in RP) The letter-name vowels /eɪ, iː, aɪ, əʊ, juː/, plus /uː/, need to be analysed according to position within non-final vs final syllables (and then, within final syllables, according to two further, crossed dichotomies see also sections 6.2 and 6.3), whereas all the rest need to be analysed according to position as initial, medial or final phoneme. 5.1 The general picture: the principal spellings of English vowel phonemesġ This chapter can be summed up by saying that only five of the vowel phonemes of RP /æ, e, ɒ, aʊ, juː/ have highly regular spellings (80%+) wherever they occur, while none of the other 15 has a spelling accounting for more than 60% of its occurrences (though see section 5.4.3 for the possibility that /ɪ/ may also belong in the highly regular group).Ģ The main regularities for all 20 vowel phonemes, plus /juː/, are summarised in Table 5.1, by position in the word.
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