Phonemic spelling, used throughout this manual, is a re-spelling system revised by Beaupre and Cornett from Dr. Cornett's "Foenetic Spelling" system published in 1971. For readers familiar with the earlier system a table of differences appears at the end of this guide. Phonemic spelling is compatible with Cued Speech and delineates actual pronunciations and variations of pronunciation of English words. It requires no diacritics nor exotic forms of letters other than those which appear in the regular 26-letter alphabet. Wherever possible, Phonemic Spelling follows common spellings of spoken phonemes. However, words are deliberately included for each phoneme which show the variations in English spelling for that phoneme. Words listed in regular English spelling which differ from Phonemic Spelling are enclosed in quotation marks (ex., "father" fahthur). Certain diphthongs marked with an asterisk (*) are shown at the end of this Guide n further re-spellings which match Cue positions (ex., ay* = e [chin] + i [throat]).a [throat] = at sat man strap pal hand glad ah [side/forward] = Ah!Shah "father" fahthur "army" ahrmi "farm" fahrm "car" kahr "calm" kahm aw [chin] = saw lawn dawn awful awning jaw "short" shawrt "fall" fawl "sauce" saws "thought" xhawt "George" Jawrj "broad" brawd ay*[chin+throat] = day say play bluejay may away "male" mayl "eight" ayt "they" thay "great" grayt "neighbor" naybur "Amy" Aymi "wait" wayt b [handshape 4] = bed jib bring lab habit "rabbit" rabit ch [handshape 8] = chin church which branch "latch" lach "witch" wich d [handshape 1] = day dad led lid held "daddy" dadi e [chin] = Ed met bed let set get elm self rest "deaf" def "says" sez "leopard" lepurd "said" sed "Thames" temz "measure" mezhur ee [mouth] = see tree bee deep seen seed "secret" seekrit "sea" see "Leigh" Lee "leisure" leezhur "yield" yeeld "receive" riseev "phoneme" fohneem er [chin+3-side] = "there" ther "bare" ber "stair" ster f [handshape 5] = fat fee if fling shelf "laugh" laf "enough" inuhf "photograph" fohtugraf g [handshape 7] = good gab wig flag green "ghost" gohst "exact" igzakt h [handshape 3] = how help hat hit haw hay "who" hue "whose" huez "here" hir "hair" her "light-house" liet-hows i [throat] = it sit film Jim skin fist fishing himself "busy" bizi "myth" mixh "behind" bihiend "luggage" luhgij "goodness" goodnis "mountain" mowntin "women" wimin "added" adid "tallest" tawlist ie* {side+throat]= tie pie tried fried die dried "tide" tied "aisle" iel "height" hiet "night" niet "type" tiep "idle" iedul "buy" bie "cyclone" sieklohn "idea" iediu (or)iedeeu j [handshape 7] = jib join jaw jay jam "George" jawrj "judge" juhj "region" reejun "courageous" kurayjus k [handshape 2] = kit book look skeet "cow" kow "car" kahr "school" skuel "lacquer" lakur "conquor" kawngkur "quick" kwik "knock" nahk l [handshape 6] = lie lay oil flue shelf pal "Sally" sali "bell" bel m [handshape 5] = may murmur film elm "Jimmy" jimi "lamb" lam "damn" dam "home" hohm n [handshape 4] = now ant tan turn "knee" nee "pneumonia" numohnya ng [handshape 8] = sing sang rang spring "anger" anggur "single" singgul "singer" singur "ink" ingk "longer" lawnggur "bingo" binggoh oh [side/forward]= Oh! "go" goh "slow" sloh "soul" sohl "boat" boht "beau" boh "home" hohm "hotel" hohtel "though" thoh oi*[chin+throat] = oil join boil foil toil soil "boy" boi "loyal" loiul "Joyce" jois "noise" noiz "oyster" oistur oo [throat] = foot wood good stood book "pull" pool "wolf" woolf "could" kood ow*[side+throat] = how now brown down town "out" owt "about" ubowt "sauerkraut" sowurkrowt "bough" bow p [handshape 1] = pan pal tip plow spring "happy" hapi r [handshape 3] = red raw tree print "farm" fahrm "very" veri draw prow "car" kahr "here" hir "hair" her poor "pore" pawr s [handshape 3] = see saw say Sue sweets tasks "sister" sistur "peace" pees "city" siti "mice" mies "pencil" pensul sh [handshape 6] = shin wish sheet fishing "nation" nayshun "session" seshun "special" speshul "sugar" shoogur t [handshape 5] = tap stand string set slept twin tempt hurt "pretty" priti "debt" det "Thames" Temz "taught" tawt th [handshape 2] = then that than this with "either" (voiced) eethur "the" thu (or)thi (or when stressed!) thee xh [handshape 7] = "teeth" teexh "tooth" tuexh "thick" xhick "thin" xhin "bath" baxh "thought" xhawt "faithful" fayxhful u [side/down] = submit subdue surplus suspend (unstressed) "sofa" sohfu "final" fienul "porous" pawrus "porpoise" pawrpus "national" nashunul (or) nashnul "Paula" Pawlu ue [chin] = blue gluetrue subdue Sue "rule" ruel "pool" puel "do" due "soup" suep "Reuben" Ruebun "flew" flue "shoe" shue "new" nue "cue" kyue "few" fyue uh [side/down] = "mother" muhthur "brother" bruhthur "cup" kuhp "supper" suhpur "oven" uhvun "sulfur" suhlfur "adult" uduhlt "button" buhtun "suburb" suhburb ur [mouth] = hurt turn burn fur furnish burp urn "fern" furn "sir" sur "attorney" uturni "Myrtle" Murtul "earnest" urnist "connoisseur" kahnusur; (the following are unstressed examples of the same phoneme in Cued Speech) pursue "pursuit" pursuet "pertain" purtayn "mother" muhthur "later" laytur "either" eethur "water" wahtur v [handshape 2] = vat vow "of" uv vie vest "love" luhv "live" liv w [handshape 6] = wet way twin win "queen" kween "one" wuhn "was" wuhz wh [handshape 4] = wheel which when "what" whuht "where" wher "why" whie y [handshape 8] = yes yet "yellow" yeloh "Sawyer" sawyur "William" Wilyum "few" fyue "use" yues (or) yuez "senior" seenyur "onion" uhnyun z [handshape 2] = zed Zeb zap zest "zoo" zue "his" hiz "prism" prizum "pigs" pigz "legs" legz "season" seezun zh [handshape 1] = "Zhivago Zhivahgoh "Asia" Ayzhu "leisure" leezhur "television" teluvizhun "measure" mezhur "beige" bayzh*These diphthongs are sometimes re-spelled as follows to clarify precise Cue positions in practice sessions and in the "Cued Speech Guide to American Pronunciation of Common Words":
e-i [chin+throat] = /ay/ as in "day (1-c,5-t) and "late" (5-c,5-t,5-s)
ah-i [side+throat]= /ie/ as in "tie" (5-s,5-t) and "type" (5-s,5-t,5-s)
aw-i [chin+throat]= /oi/ as in "oil" (5-t,5-c,6-s) and "boy" (4-c,5-t)
ah-oo [side+throat] = /ow/ as in "now" (4-s,5-t0 and "out" (5-s,5-t,5-s)
Differences Between "Phonemic Spelling"
and "Foenetik Speling"Phonemic Spelling (1983) Foenetik Spelling (1971) /ay/ /ae/ [None. Speaker selects /o/ /ah/ or /aw/ depending upon dialect.] /oh/ /oe/ /ow/ /ou/ /th/ (voiced) /tH/ /xh/ (voiceless) /th/ /u/ (unstressed neutral /u/ [No distinction between vowel) stressed and unstressed /uh/ (stressed neutral neutral vowel] vowel)
Advance to Vowels & Diphthongs
***EndFil*** Walter J. Beaupre, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus
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