Caribbean Orthography Project

806007430 LING 6406 Dr.
Ferreira
THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES

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ACADEMIC YEAR: 2010/2011 SEMESTER: 2
COURSE CODE:LING 6406 TITLE: The Pronunciation and Spelling of English
NAME: Hassan Basarally ID: 806007430
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………………………‫حسا ن بصر عا ىل‬ …..………

21/05/2011………..
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806007430 LING 6406 Dr. Ferreira
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Name: Hassan Basarally
ID: 806007430
Course: LING 6406- Pronunciation and Spelling of English
Lecturer: Dr. Ferreira
Assignment: 3- Caribbean Orthography Project-Trinidad- TriniSpell
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Preface
The English language initially used the Runic alphabet for its orthography. In the Fifth
Century, this changed to the Roman alphabet when the Germanic tribes inhabiting the British
Isles were converted to Christianity. This religious change brought with it an era of orthographic
stabilisation and by the Tenth Century the Roman alphabet was used in several areas of society
e.g. religion, commerce and law. Another major change in orthography occurred with the
Norman conquest of the British Isles. The Norman French rulers implemented many new
spelling conventions for English phonemes and tremendously expanded the existing word stock.
The Great Vowel Shift in the Fifteenth Century resulted in huge changes in the
phonology of English vowels. However, these changes were not immediately reflected in English
spelling. In addition, Greek and Latin words were imported in large numbers. Scribes, monks
and other members of higher, literate society prescribed rules for spelling. With the expansion of
the British Empire, more foreign words were imported from the Indian subcontinent, the
Americas and Africa. The establishment of the United States allowed the development of
American spelling that over time became an alternative spelling for many English speakers.
English in the Caribbean arrived in the Fourteenth Century. Today, the spelling system is
fairly conservative and the use of British spelling conventions are predominant. The Anglophone
Caribbean has English-lexicon creoles coexisting with Standard English as the official language.
If spelling reform is to be made for the region it must see a reduction in the amount of ways an
individual phoneme can be spelt and archaic spellings and rules must be modernised or removed.
These two principles are what TriniSpell is based upon.
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A Map of Trinidad and Tobago
Figure 1: A Map of Trinidad and Tobago.
Trinidad and Tobago is a twin island republic in the Caribbean. It is the most southerly of
the Caribbean archipelago and has a population of approximately 1.3 million people. The
majority of the people live on the larger island of Trinidad. The territory is bordered by
Venezuela to the south and Grenada to the north-west. English is the official language but the
majority of people speak an English-lexicon creole, Trinidad English Creole. The literacy rate is
about 98% with most citizens completing five years of secondary school.
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Alphabet Letters and Corresponding Sound Values (Trinidadian English) 1
Sound Value Alphabet Letters
/p/ p, pp, ph, gh
/b/ b, bb, bh
/t/ t, tt, ed, pt, th, ct
/d/ d, dd, ed, dh
/ɡ/ g, gg, gue, gh
/k/ c, k, ck, ch, cc, qu, q, cq, cu, que, kk, kh
/m/ m, mm, mb, mn, mh, gm, chm
/n/ n, nn, kn, gn, pn, nh, cn, mn
/ŋ/ ng, n, ngue, ngh
/ɹ/ r, rr, wr, rh, rrh
/f/ f, ph, ff, gh, pph, u
/v/ v, vv, f, ph
/θ/ th, chth, phth, tth
/ð/ Th
/s/ s, c, ss, sc, st, ps, sch, cc, se, ce, z
/z/ s, z, x, zz, ss, ze, c
/ʃ/ sh, ti, ci, ssi, si, ss, ch, s, sci, ce, sch, sc
/ʒ/ si, s, g, z, j, zh, ti, sh
1
Adapted from http://www.auburn.edu/~murraba/spellings.html
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/tʃ/ ch, t, tch, ti, c, cz, tsch
/dʒ/ g, j, dg, dge, d, di, gi, ge, dj, gg
/h/ h, wh, j, ch
/j/ y, i, j, ll
/l/ l, ll, lh
/w/ w, u, o, ou, wh
/iː/ e, ea, ee, e…e, ae, ei, i…e, i.e., eo, oe, ie...e, ay, ey, i, y, oi, ue, ey, a
/ɪ/ i, y, ui, e, ee, i.e., o, u, a, ei, ee, ia, ea, i...e, ai, ey, oe
/uː/ oo, u, o, u…e, ou, ew, ue, o…e, ui, eu, oeu, oe, ough, wo, ioux, ieu,
ault, oup, w
/ʊ/ oo, u, o, oo...e, or, ou, oul
/eː/ a, a…e, aa, ae, ai, ai...e, aig, aigh, al, ao, au, ay, e (é), e...e, ea, e.g., ei,
ei...e, eig, eigh, ee (ée), eh, er, es, et, ey, ez, i.e., oeh
/ə/ a, e, o, u, ai, ou, eig, y, ah, ough, gh, ae, oi
/o/ o, o…e, oa, ow, ou, oe, oo, eau, oh, ew, au, aoh, ough, eo
/ɛ/ e, ea, a, ae, ai, ay, ea…e, ei, eo, i.e., ieu, u, ue, oe
/ʌ/ u, o, o…e, oe, ou, oo, wo
/ɔː/ a, au, aw, ough, augh, o, oa, oo, al, uo, u, ao
/ɒ/ o, a, eau, ach, au, ou
/aː/ a, ah, aa, i
/aɪ/ ae, ai, aie, aille, ais, ay, aye, ei, eigh, ey, eye, i, i…e, ia, i.e., ic, ig, igh,
is, oi, ui, uy, uye, y, y...e, ye
/ɔɪ/ oi, oy, awy, uoyoy…e, eu
/ɒʊ/ ou, ow, ough, au, ao
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/ɛə/ aar, ar, are, arre, ear, er, our, uar
Table 1: Table of Sound Values and Alphabet Letters in Trinidadian English
Trinidadian English possesses some vowels and diphthongs that are different to many varieties.
The phonemes /e/, /æ/, /eɪ/, /oʊ/ and /eə/ are realised as /ɛ/, /a/, /ɑ/, /o/and
/ɛə/respectively. Some consonants, namely /c/ and /g/are palatalised to /cj/ and /gj/. This
results in a word like cat being pronounced as /cjat/.
Trinidadian English Consonants and Consonant Groups
Bilabial Labio- Dental Alveolar Post- Palatal Velar Labial Glottal

dental alveolar Velar
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Plosive p b t d k g
Nasal m n ŋ
Fricative f v θ ð s z ʃ Ʒ
Affricates ʧ ʤ
Approximant ɹ j w h
s
Lateral l
Trinidadian English Vowels and Vowel Groups
Front Central Back

Close i u
9
I ʊ
Close-mid e o ɔɪ
aɪ ə
Open-mid ɛ ɛə ɒʊ ʌ ɔ
2
Open a ɒ
Project-An Analysis of Attempts at Spelling Reform and TriniSpell
Spelling reform of the English language has always been a major issue. Many reformers
sought to give English an alphabetic system of spelling. The alphabetic system means that one
sound will be represented by one symbol and each sound will be written by in the order in which
it is spoken (Cook, 12). They are termed the one to one and linear order principles. English
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The diphthongs move from open and open-mid positions to near close and centre vowels.
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departs from both of these principles. Regarding the one to one principle, there are many ways in
which a phoneme is written in English, there is the presence of digraphs e.g. <sh> and the
presence of silent letters, usually in words that are not Anglo-Saxon in origin. English also
departs from the linearity principle. Or example, currency symbols are placed before figures but
read after them e.g. $5 is read five dollars not dollars five. Follick argues for the need for
spelling reform based on national and international reasons (54). With a simplified spelling,
children will find the subject easier, boosting literacy rates and creating a more educated society.
Simultaneously, foreigners will have an easier time with English spelling and pronunciation
enhancing the communicative capabilities and with it economic and social opportunities.
However, it must be noted that many proponents of spelling reform do not treat with the
fact that spelling is influenced by dialect. Hence, a reform may be suitable for speakers of a
particular dialect but not the entire language. Dialectal variation requires English to have
arbitrary rules that must be memorised to make it mutually intelligible (Rogers, 196). This is one
reason why conservative spelling is beneficial; the spelling is recognisable across dialects.
Another problem with undertaking spelling reform is that an alphabetic spelling is difficult for
English due to its history of adding foreign words to its word stock. The spelling used to
represent such words seeks to guide pronunciation and show etymology (Kessler and Treiman,
270). Another major argument of not undertaking spelling reform is that the existing system is
sufficient. Bryson states that reform is thwarted by consonants in English being fairly regular, the
absence of diacritics which make writing and reading easier and the language preserved the
spellings of forcing words, giving syntactic and etymological information (121).
One of the earliest attempts at spelling reform was proposed by Sir Thomas Smith also
tried to phonetic system in which a single grapheme will represent a single sound. This approach
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was based on his argument that writing imitated speech and letters reflected sound (Scragg, 91).
He proposed the use of Greek letters to represent each phoneme. The orthography was viewed as
too complicated as too many new graphemes were added. e.g. circumflex and other diacritics. In
the 1560’s , John Hart also proposed spelling reform. Hart did not employ diacritics, making the
proposed alphabet a bit more acceptable that Smith’s but still insisted on trying to employ a
system in which there was a one to one correspondence with sound. Hart sought to create a new
symbol for <ch>, syllabic <l> and <gh>. The system was successful in producing many
graphemes to represent a phoneme, e.g. <g>, <s>, <k> and <g> represented /g/, /s/, /k/ and /g/,
but there was very little appetite for reform though the system was close to the existing
convention (Suarez, 130).
In the 1580’s, Mulcaster argued that instead of complete reform, English needed to be
consistent in its writing system (Scragg, 95). For Mulcaster, writing did not represent an image
of speech but an approximation of it. Mulcaster saw little need to greatly alter a system that was
in use for such a long time. In addition, if the reader understood the writer, significant change is
unnecessary. Mulcaster’s reforms can be described in terms of stabilisation, it maintained
consonant doubling and the silent <e> and was designed to improve the teaching of spelling. It
sought to standardise a general spelling rule, the analogy of a word, forming the plural of words
and its derivatives (Suarez, 132).
Another attempt at spelling reform was pioneered by George Bernard Shaw. This system
was based on three major changes to the existing system: the removal of apostrophes in
abbreviations, spacing to show emphasis and the use of American simplified spelling. In addition
to these changes Shaw sought to create an entirely new spelling system called Shavian which
abandoned the Latin alphabet altogether. This brought most resistance to the proposal. In
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addition, the removal of apostrophes in abbreviations created ambiguity to the reader as whether
the noun was plural, a contraction or in the genitive case. Shaw’s spacing for emphasis was also
problematic as it did not lead to economy of text but made it cumbersome. For example, the
exclamation stop it would be spelt s t o p i t. This spacing may not be of great importance to
academic or bureaucratic discourse by would have a profound impact to writers of fiction.
Noah Webster’s spelling reforms in 1783 are arguably the most well received as many of
his proposed reforms were adopted in the United States. The principles in Webster’s new
orthography were the removal of silent letters e.g. the <a> in meant and bread to be spelt bred
and ment and characters with an ambiguous sound were replaced by those with a definite one
e.g. the <ea> in mean and <ie> in grieve would be replaced by <ee>. Also, the <ch> in French
words would be replaced with <sh>. The reform sought to simplify spelling as much as possible,
e.g. <ogue> was changed to <og>. For Webster the proposed spelling reform would reduce the
time spent by children learning to spell. The reforms would also be beneficial to foreigners who
would see a uniform pronunciation reflected in the spelling, reduce the amount of letters and
distinguish British from American orthography (Webster, 398). A major reason for Webester’s
success is the political will to undergo spelling reform. A recently independent United States was
satisfied with adopting a new spelling convention for a new nation.
An attempt at major spelling reform in the Anglophone Caribbean is the Jamaica
Language Unit. This unit, based in Mona, Jamaica has developed a spelling for Jamaican. It was
developed by Frederic Cassidy in the 1960’s. Its fundamental assumption that Jamaican is a
language in its own right as opposed to a variety of English (Jamaica Language Unit, 1).
Amongst its salient features is the removal of all silent letters. There is the insertion of <y> or
<w> to separate vowels that occur next to each other e.g. liar is spelt liyard. The letters <q> and
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<x> have been replaced by <k> and <ks> respectively. The sound /ʤ/ is represented by <zh> in
the Jamaican spelling system e.g. version will be spelt vorzhan. Though it deals with Jamaican as
a separate language it addresses many difficulties for the English speller in the Caribbean.
Despite acceptance of this system is slow it has made strides in standardising orthography in
linguistics areas in which creoles exist. The system has been used in several translation projects
e.g. the translation of the Bible into Jamaican. This situation has highlighted the reality that
people may be more willing to accept spelling reform on the level of a particular language
variety as opposed to changing the standard completely.
A contemporary attempt at spelling reform can be seen in Cut Spelling which was
developed in the 1970’s. Cut Spelling removes each unpronounced letter in a word. Cut spelling
has three substitution rules: <igh> becomes <y> when representing the phoneme / aɪ/, <j>
always represents /ʤ/ and <f> always represents /f/. There is also no consonant doubling. A
major drawback to this approach is that the letters removed provide the reader with syntactic
information to decode meaning. An illustration of this can be seen in the word damn, the Cut
Spelling system spells it as dam. This spelling does not disambiguate the word from dam, the
water reservoir. In addition, consonant doubling generally marks a vowel as short, covertly
assisting in pronunciation. Consonant doubling also assists in giving meaning. For example,
consonant doubling can distinguish between a content and function word as function words are
spelt with two letters e.g. in and content words are longer e.g. inn (Kessler and Traiman, 270).
The information carried by such silent letters is important as natives read words as units not letter
by letter.
There has also been the focus on changing vowel graphemes by spelling reformers. On
such system is called New Spelling, the most recent version of this system was developed in
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1958. It holds that the current system of vowel graphemes do not accurately represent the
sounds. For example it proposes that <uu> represent /uː/ so food will be spelt fuud. New Spelling
also seeks to change the orthography of some consonants. Like Cut Spelling there is no
consonant doubling. The letters <x> and <gz> are replaced by <ks> and <z> respectively. Also,
the letters <c> and <ck> are replaced by <s>; hence cedar would be spelt sedar. New spelling
does not seek to introduce any new characters or diacritics. It avoids combinations that are not
already in use except for some deemed unavoidable e.g. <dh> and <zh>. Each symbol in New
Spelling must be self sufficient and not dependant on any adjacent letter (Ripman and Archer,
13). In addition, the system allows for divergence in pronunciation, economises the use of letters
and departs as little from current spelling or the principle of least disturbance.
The spelling reform proposed for Trinidad is termed TriniSpell. It works on the following
principles: where possible, it has one grapheme to represent one phoneme, no use of diacritics
and the addition of new letters where necessary. Generally, TriniSpell consonants are the same as
the current orthography. However, some aspects were changed. /ʤ/, /ks/ and /k/would be spelt
<j>, <ks> and <k> in all instances. Three new graphemes were introduced: <ʧ>, <ʃ> and <ŋ>,
each representing their corresponding value on the IPA chart. The graphemes were chosen
because they reduced the amount of letters and the appearance of each grapheme does not appear
too strange to English readers. The vowels in TriniSpell are characterised by the letter doubling.
The short vowels e.g. /ɪ/ are represented by a single grapheme. The long vowels and diphthongs
are represented by two or more letters. No new orthographic symbol was introduced for the
vowel phonemes in TriniSpell. Below is a complete list of the graphemes and corresponding
sound values for TriniSpell.
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Consonants
Grapheme Pronunciation
<b> /b/
<s> /s/
<d> /d/
<f> /f/
<g> /g/
<h> /h/
<j> /dʒ/
<zh> /ʒ/
<k> /k/
<l> /l/
<m> /m/
<n> /n/
<p> /p/
<r> /ɹ/
<t> /t/
<v> /v/
<w> /w/
<y> /j/
<z> /z/
<ks> /ks/
<ʧ> /tʃ/
<kw> /kw/
<ʃ> /ʃ/
<dh> / ð/
<th> / θ/
<ŋ> /ŋ/
Table 2: Alphabet Letters and Corresponding Sound Values of TriniSpell Consonants
Vowels
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Grapheme Pronunciation
<e> /ɛ /
<a> /a/
<uu> /ʊ /
<u> / ʌ/
<o> / ɒ/
<ai> /aɪ/
<oy> /ɔɪ/
<or> /ɔ/
<oo> /oː/
<ow> /ɒʊ/
<i> /ɪ/
<ee> /iː/
<aa> /eː/
<ah> /ə/
<oe> /uː/
<are> /eə/
<er> /ɜ/
<ar> /a/
Table 3: Alphabet and Corresponding Sound Values of TriniSpell Vowels 3
Spelling Rules and Conventions (TriniSpell)
TriniSpell is an eclectic approach to spelling reform. It builds upon the work of previous
reform and makes some addition that will make the system more agreeable to Trinidadian
English speakers. Some of the rules and conventions of TriniSpell are:
1. <-our> spelling in words of French origin will be spelt <-or> e.g. colour and favour will
be spelt color and favor respectively.
3
Vowels include diphthongs.
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2. <-ight> will be spelt <ite> when it represents the phoneme /aɪ/ in the word final position
e.g. tonight and delight will be spelt tonite and delite.
3. The phoneme /f/ will be spelt <f> in all instances e.g. enough and sulphur will be spelt
enuf and sulfur.
4. The phoneme /ʤ/ will be spelt <j> in all instances e.g. judje will be spelt judj.
5. The ‘silent e’ will be removed when it does not have great impact on the reader
deciphering meaning. For example, words like judge, discipline can be spelt judj and
disciplin while ape will remain aape. It is maintained to prevent the occurrence of
consonant clusters that are not allowed in English e.g. ripped will remain the same
because the consonant doubling indicates a short vowel and <ed> prevents the <pd>
cluster from occurring.
6. When words are palatised, a <y> is placed after the consonants in which it occurs.
7. <-ise> and <-ize> are both allowed at the users discretion in TriniSpell.
8. <-re> and <-er> are both allowed at the users discretion in TriniSpell.
Sample Story in TriniSpell
Dhe Skoorpeeon and dhe Frog
Wone daa aa skoorpeeon set owt on aa jernee thru dhe forests and hilz and reeʧd aa rivaa. Dhe
rivaa waz waid and swift and dhear wer noo brijiz in sait. Sudenli hee sor aa frog sitiŋ in dhe
buʃiz bai dhe baŋk. Hee deesided toe aks dhe frog for aa raide akros dhe streem.
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“Wuud yoe bee soo kaind az toe giv mee aa raide akros dhe rivaa?” aksed dhe skorpeeon. “How
doe ai noe you woon’t trai toe kil mee?” aksed dhe frog hezetantlee. “If ai trai then ai wuud dai
toe bikuz ai kanut swim” sed dhe skoorpeeon. Dhis maad sens toe dhe frog but hee aksed “wot if
yoe stiŋ mee wen yoe get orn mai bak?” “Dhis iz troe” agreed dhe skoorpeon “but dhen ai
wuudn’t bee aabel toe get toe dhe odher saide orf dhe rivaa.” Soo dhe frog agreed toe taak dhe
skoorpeeon akros dhe rivaa. Dhe skoorpeeon krorled ontoe the frog’s bak and dhe frog slid intoe
he rivaa. Dhe mudee watah swerld arownd dhem but dhe frog staid nare dhe surfaas so dhe
skoorpeeon wuud not drown. Hee kikd stroŋlee throe dhe first haf orf dhe streem, hiz fliperz
padliŋ waildee against dhe curent.
Hafwaa akros dhe rivaa dhe frog sudenlee felt aa ʃarp stiŋ in hiz bak and owt of dhe corner of
hiz aie sor dhe skoorpeeoon remove hiz stiŋar from dhe frog’s bak. Aa dedŋ numnis began toe
creep intoe hiz limz. “Now wee ʃal both dai. Wai did yoe doo dhat?” crookd dhe frog. Dhe
skoorpeeon srugd and sed toe dhe drowŋiŋ frog “ai kuud not help maiself, it iz mai naaʧer.”
Dhen they both sank intoe dhe mudee waterz of dhe swiftlee flooiŋ rivaa.
Glossary of Sample Story in TriniSpell
 ai-I
 aa-a
 aie-eye
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 akros-across
 arownd-around
 aabel-able
 aksed-asked
 bak-back
 brijiz-bridges
 bikuz-because
 crookd-croaked
 curent-current
 dhe-the
 dhen-then
 drowŋiŋ-drowning
 doo-do
 dai-die
 dedŋ-deadening
 dhis-this
 deesided-decided
 flooiŋ-flowing
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 fliperz-flippers
 hiz-his
 hafwaa-halfway
 hee-he
 hilz-hills
 intoe-into
 iz-is
 krorled-crawled
 kuud-could
 kikd-kicked
 kaind-kind
 kanut-cannot
 limz-limbs
 mudee-muddy
 maiself-myself
 mai-my
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 naaʧer-nature
 numnis-numbness
 nare-near
 owt-out
 orf-of
 ontoe-onto
 odher-other
 orn-on
 padliŋ-paddling
 rivaa-river
 reeʧd-reached
 saide-side
 swiftlee-swiftly
 sed-said
 skoorpeeon-scorpion
 srugd-shrugged
 stiŋar-stinger
22
 stiŋ-sting
 sor-saw
 sudenlee-suddenly
 streem-stream
 stroŋlee-strongly
 surfaas-suface
 staid-stayed
 swerld-swirled
 soo-so
 ʃal-shall
 ʃarp-sharp
 toe-to
 troe-true
 taak-take
 waterz-waters
 watah-water
 wai-why
 wee-we
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 waildee-wildly
 wuud-would
 wuudn’t-wouldn’t
 wen-when
 wot-what
 wone-one
 waid-wide
 yoe-you
Works Cited
Bryson, Bill. The Mother Tongue. New York: W. Morrow, 1990. Print.
Carney, Edward. English Spelling. London and New York: Routledge, 1997. Print.
Cook, Vivian. The English Writing System. London: Arnold, 2004. Print.
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Follick, M. The Case For Spelling Reform. London: Pitman Press, 1965. Print.
Kessler, Brett and Rebecca Treiman. “Is English Spelling Chaotic? Misconceptions Concerning
Its Irregularity.” Reading Psychology24 (2003): 267-289 Web. 14 May 2011
Ripman, Walter and William Archer. New Spelling: Proposals for Simplifying the Spelling of
English without the use of New Letters. 6th ed. London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons Ltd,
1948. Web. 20 May 2011
Rogers, Henry. Writing Systems: A Linguistic Approach. New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell, 2004.
Print.
Scragg, D.G. A History of English Spelling. New York: Manchester Universit Press, 1974. Print.
Suarez, Susana. “The English Spelling Reform in the Light of Richard Mulcaster and John Hart.”
Sederi vii (1996): 115-126 Web 15 May 2011.
“Spelling Jamaican The Jamaican Way” Jamaica Language Unit. 2009. Web. 20 May 2011
Webster, Noah. "An Essay on the Necessity, Advantages, and Practicality of Reforming the
Mode of Spelling and of Rendering the Orthography of Words Correspondent to
Pronunciation”. 1978 Web. 20 May 2011
Appendix 1- Sample Story in Current Orthography
25
The Scorpion and the Frog
One day, a scorpion set out on a journey through the forests and hills and reached a
river.The river was wide and swift and there were no bridges in sight. Suddenly, he saw a frog
sitting in the bushes by the bank. He decided to ask the frog for help getting across the stream.
"Would you be so kind as to give me a ride across the river?" asked the scorpion.“How
do I know you won’t try to kill me?" asked the frog hesitantly. "If I try to, then I would die too,
because I cannot swim!” said the scorpion. This made sense to the frog. But he asked. "What if
you sting me when you get on my back?”This is true," agreed the scorpion, "But then I wouldn't
be able to get to the other side of the river!"
So the frog agreed to take the scorpion across the river. The scorpion crawled onto the
frog's back and the frog slid into the river. The muddy water swirled around them, but the frog
stayed near the surface so the scorpion would not drown. He kicked strongly through the first
half of the stream, his flippers paddling wildly against the current.
Halfway across the river, the frog suddenly felt a sharp sting in his back and, out of the
corner of his eye, saw the scorpion remove his stinger from the frog's back. A deadening
numbness began to creep into his limbs.
"Now we shall both die! Why did you do that?" croaked the frog. The scorpion shrugged,
and said to the drowning frog."I could not help myself. It is my nature."Then they both sank into
the muddy waters of the swiftly flowing river.
Index
26
Alphabetic System…11
Cut Spelling…14
Jamaica Language Unit…14
Linearity Principle…11
Mulcaster…12
New Spelling…15
One to One Principle…11
Shaw…12
Smith…13
Spelling Rules…18
Trinidad and Tobago…5
TriniSpell…15
Webster…13
27

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806007430 LING 6406 Dr.

THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES

ACADEMIC YEAR: 2010/2011 SEMESTER: 2

COURSE CODE:LING 6406 TITLE: The Pronunciation and Spelling of English

NAME: Hassan Basarally ID: 806007430

………………………‫حسا ن بصر عا ىل‬ …..………

EXTRACTS FROM THE EXAMINATION REGULATIONS

Name: Hassan Basarally

Course: LING 6406- Pronunciation and Spelling of English

Lecturer: Dr. Ferreira

Assignment: 3- Caribbean Orthography Project-Trinidad- TriniSpell

These two principles are what TriniSpell is based upon.

A Map of Trinidad and Tobago

Figure 1: A Map of Trinidad and Tobago.

Alphabet Letters and Corresponding Sound Values (Trinidadian English) 1

Sound Value Alphabet Letters

/p/ p, pp, ph, gh

/t/ t, tt, ed, pt, th, ct

/d/ d, dd, ed, dh

/ɡ/ g, gg, gue, gh

/k/ c, k, ck, ch, cc, qu, q, cq, cu, que, kk, kh

/m/ m, mm, mb, mn, mh, gm, chm

/n/ n, nn, kn, gn, pn, nh, cn, mn

/ŋ/ ng, n, ngue, ngh

/ɹ/ r, rr, wr, rh, rrh

/f/ f, ph, ff, gh, pph, u

/θ/ th, chth, phth, tth

/s/ s, c, ss, sc, st, ps, sch, cc, se, ce, z

/z/ s, z, x, zz, ss, ze, c

/ʒ/ si, s, g, z, j, zh, ti, sh

/tʃ/ ch, t, tch, ti, c, cz, tsch

/dʒ/ g, j, dg, dge, d, di, gi, ge, dj, gg

/ʊ/ oo, u, o, oo...e, or, ou, oul

/ə/ a, e, o, u, ai, ou, eig, y, ah, ough, gh, ae, oi

/ʌ/ u, o, o…e, oe, ou, oo, wo

/ɔː/ a, au, aw, ough, augh, o, oa, oo, al, uo, u, ao

/ɒ/ o, a, eau, ach, au, ou

/aː/ a, ah, aa, i

/ɔɪ/ oi, oy, awy, uoyoy…e, eu

/ɒʊ/ ou, ow, ough, au, ao

/ɛə/ aar, ar, are, arre, ear, er, our, uar

Table 1: Table of Sound Values and Alphabet Letters in Trinidadian English

Trinidadian English Consonants and Consonant Groups

Bilabial Labio- Dental Alveolar Post- Palatal Velar Labial Glottal

Trinidadian English Vowels and Vowel Groups

Front Central Back

Project-An Analysis of Attempts at Spelling Reform and TriniSpell

spellings of forcing words, giving syntactic and etymological information (121).

convention (Suarez, 130).

unnecessary. Mulcaster’s reforms can be described in terms of stabilisation, it maintained

and its derivatives (Suarez, 132).

academic or bureaucratic discourse by would have a profound impact to writers of fiction.

satisfied with adopting a new spelling convention for a new nation.

An attempt at major spelling reform in the Anglophone Caribbean is the Jamaica

variety as opposed to changing the standard completely.

sound values for TriniSpell.

Spelling Rules and Conventions (TriniSpell)

English speakers. Some of the rules and conventions of TriniSpell are:

be spelt color and favor respectively.

e.g. tonight and delight will be spelt tonite and delite.

enuf and sulfur.

cluster from occurring.

Sample Story in TriniSpell

Dhe Skoorpeeon and dhe Frog