American English Spelling: An Informal Description

600 Pages·1988·21.161 MB·English

by  D.W. Cummings

Symbol Symbol
IPA Used Here Example IPA Used Here Example
ae sing
e boat
a:, a bought
au boy
b pop
tf roar
d sass
£ shush
i tot
7^3
f thin
g then
h but
E X LIB RIS
i book
ai boot
d3 vat
k wit
yet
I lime .yu butte
m m mum z Z zap
n n nun 3 zh azure
n ®n lighten 9 9 alone
4
k.
\
American English Spelling

D. W. CUMMINGS
American
4
English
Spelling
An Informal Description
The Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore and London
This book has been brought to publication with the generous assistance
of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
© 1988 The Johns Hopkins University Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
The Johns Hopkins University Press
701 West 40th Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21211
The Johns Hopkins Press Ltd., London
The paper used in this publication meets
the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cummings, D. W. (Donald Wayne), 1935—
American English spelling.
Bibliography: p.
Includes indexes.
1. English language—United States—Orthography and spelling. I. Title.
PE2817.C86 1988 421'.54 86-30537
ISBN 0-8018-3443-0 (alk. paper)
Contents
4
Detailed Table of Contents vii
Preface xxv
Notes on Usage xxxi
Analysis
1. Spelling as System 3
2. The Explication of Written Words 32
Tactics
3. Sequences and Distributions 69
4. String Patterns and Rules 90
5. Suffix Rules 112
6. VCV in Disyllables 123
7. The Third Syllable Rule 131
Procedures
8. Silent Final e and Its Deletion Rule 145
9. The Twinning Rule 161
10. Assimilated Prefixes 177
Correspondences
11. The Sounds and Letters of English 201
12. Short a, /a/ 213
13. Short e, lei 217
14. Short i, HI 222
15. The Short o’s, /a/ and 16/ 231
16. High Short u, Ini 241
17. Low Short u, Ini 244
VI Contents
18. Long a, /a/ 249
19. Long e, lei 258
20. Long i, III 271
21. Long o, 16/ 280
22. The Simple Long u, lul 288
23. The Complex Long u, /yu/ 297
24. The Diphthongs, /oil and /au/ 301
25. Vowels before Irl 307
26. The Front Stops: Ibl, /p/, Idl, and It/ 327
27. The Velar Stops, Igl and Ikl 350
28. The Simple Fricatives /v/, If/, /th/, /th/, and Ihl 373
29. The Simple Fricatives Izl and Isl 391
30. The Palatal Sibilants: /sh/, Ichl, /j/, and Izhl 407
31. The Nasals: /ml, Ini, and /r)/ 423
32. The Liquids, III and Irl 439
33. The Semivowels, /w/ and lyl 456
34. Conclusion 461
Bibliography 465
Index of Words 475
General Index 539