English spelling rules

Notice: Incomplete

A spelling rule can be used to infer pronunciation from spelling, or spelling from pronunciation. Here are some spelling rules.

Latin Alphabet

The English language uses a variant of the Latin alphabet. Typical sound correspondences are as follows:

Letters

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

m

n

o

p

q

r

s

t

u

v

w

x

y

z

Sounds

[b]

[k]

[d]

[ɛ]

[f]

[g]

[h]

[ɪ]

[d͡ʒ]

[k]

[l]

[m]

[n]

[ɔ]

[p]

[k]

[ɹ]

[s]

[t]

[ʌ]

[v]

[w]

[ks]

[j]

[z]

As there are more than 26 sounds in the English language, this must be violated on occasion.

Pronunciation from spelling

Determining pronunciation from spelling can usually be done in a few steps (with exceptions of course).

Determining the type of sound

Take a word and start off by trying to determine if each letter is representing a consonant, or a vowel.

A, e, i, o, and u represent vowels ('e' sometimes represents no sound at all, like in 'like', but it's a useful fiction to get the right result- the 'e' used to be pronounced)

All other letters, except y, represent consonants ('r' sometimes is part of a digraph representing a vowel, as in 'art', but it's a useful fiction to get the right result- the 'r' used to be pronounced)

B, d, g, j, l, m, n, r, v, w, y, and z, as well as the vowels, are always voiced. All other letters, except s, are always unvoiced.

Y is a consonant if and only if it's followed by a vowel and doesn't follow a 'consonant letter' (e.g., "yellow, "yoyo"). In all other instances, it's a vowel (e.g., "Aryan [please replace with a better (i.e., less politically charged) example]", "Elysium") and (for the most part) behaves like the letter i.

Activity: Take some words and determine the type of sounds, and the sounds involved

Usefulness of useful fictions

The usefulness of these useful fictions can be shown by these examples:

The fact that 'r' is a 'consonant letter' is how we know that the 'ry' in 'Aryan' (for lack of a better example) is pronounced [ɹi] and not [ɑj] (from interpreting the 'ar' as a digraph - see below)

The fact that 'e' is a 'vowel letter' is why the 'i' in 'like' is pronounced [ʌi] and not [ɪ] (see below)

Determining the pronunciation

Monographs

b

Condition	Pronunciation
all	b

c

Condition	Pronunciation
-ce-,-ci-,-cy-	[s]
-ch-	see 'ch' digraph
else	[k]

d

Condition	Pronunciation
all	[d]

g

Condition	Pronunciation
-ge-, -gi-, -gy-	[d͡ʒ]
gh	see 'gh' digraph
else	[g]

h

Condition	Pronunciation
-ch-	see 'ch' digraph
-gh-	see 'gh' digraph
-ph-	see 'ph' digraph
-sh-	see 'sh' digraph
-th-	see 'th' digraph
-wh-	see 'wh' digraph
-zh-	see 'zh' digraph
else	[h]

k

Condition	Pronunciation
all	[k]

l

Condition	Pronunciation
-le	see 'le' digraph
else	[l]

m

Condition	Pronunciation
all	m

n

Condition	Pronunciation
-ng-	see 'ng' digraph
else	[n]

q

Condition	Pronunciation
-qu-	see 'qu' digraph
else	[k]

r

Condition	Pronunciation
-ar, -arC-	see 'ar' digraph
-er, -erC-	see 'er' digraph
-ir, -irC-	see 'ir' digraph
-or, -orC-	see 'or' digraph
-ur, -urC-	see 'ur' digraph
-re	see 're' digraph
else	[r]

s

Condition	Pronunciation
-[voiced sound]s, -[voiced sound]s[voiced sound]-	[z]
else	[s]

t

Condition	Pronunciation
-tr- -tu-	[t͡ʃ]
-th-	see 'th' digraph
else	[t]

v

Condition	Pronunciation
all	[v]

w

Condition	Pronunciation
all	[w]

x

Condition	Pronunciation
all	[ks]

z

Condition	Pronunciation
-zh-	see 'zh' digraph
else	[z]

Digraphs

ae

Condition	Pronunciation
-ae	[]
else	[i:]

ai

Condition	Pronunciation
-air	see 'air' trigraph
else	[]

ar

Condition	Pronunciation
all	[]

au

Condition	Pronunciation

aw

Condition	Pronunciation

ay

Condition	Pronunciation

ch

Condition	Pronunciation
-sch-	see 'sch' trigraph
else	[t͡ʃ]

ea

Condition	Pronunciation
all	[i:]

ee

Condition	Pronunciation
all	[i:]

qu

Condition	Pronuniation
-que	see 'que' trigraph
else	[kw]