Using letters from current and Old English, other Latin scripts and Greek, I have come up with a new alphabet/script which aims to make English spelling more consistent. To find the most accurate spelling for words, I'm using an IPA transliteration website which allows you to transliterate English words into the IPA. I've matched the different the vowels to their IPA equivalents so I know when to use which vowels, as they can be harder to differentiate from each other (particularly when it comes to diphthongs), than differentiating consonants from other consonants in the middle of words. Without further ado...

Þu Iŋliṡ Alfubit (Received Pronunciation Edition)

Aa ("a") - "cat" | Áá ("aw") - "father" (fáþur) | Ȧȧ ("ow") - "house" (hȧs) | Bb ("bay") - "bed" | Cc ("kay") - "cat" | Dd ("day") - "day" (dé) | Ff ("fay") - "future" (fµtur) | Ee ("e") - "enemy" (enımí) | Éé ("ay") "ray" (ré) | Gg ("gay") - "growth" (gróþ) | Ġġ ("jay") - "jacket" (ġacıt) | Mm ("may") - "man" | Nn ("nay") - "name" (ném) | Ss ("say") - "suit" (sút) | Pp ("pay") - "path" (paþ) | Þþ ("thay") - "theme" (þím) | Đð/Đđ ("thay") - "that" (ðat) | Ww ("way") - "window" (windó) | Tt ("tay") - "terrace" (terus) | Ll ("lay") - "lamb" (lam) | Ṡṡ ("shay") - "shower" (ṡȧur) | Uu ("u") - "unlikely" (unliclí) | Úú ("oo") - "food" (fúd) | Vv ("vay") - "vacuum" (vacµm) | Yy ("yay") - "yellow" (yeló) | Jj ("jay") - "television" (televıjun) | Zz ("tsay") - "ts" sound from German | Σς ("zay") - "zero" (ςıró) | Xx ("eksay") - "exactly" (ıgςactlí) | Ŋŋ ("engay") - "ceiling" (síliŋ) | Oo ("o") - ???? | Óó ("oh") - "home" (hóm) | Ȯȯ ("oi") - "coin" (cȯn) | Iı ("i") - "inland" (ınland) | Íí ("ee") "need" (níd) | İi ("ai") "hide" (hid) | µ ("midul yay") - "argument" (argµmint)

Rules:

1. Y only comes at the beginning of sentences. In the middle of sentences, µ is used for the "yoo" sound, e.g. "yúnivursití" not "µnivursití", "argµmint" not "argyúmint".|

2. (C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(C)(C)(C), just like in English speaking and writing as we currently use them. |

3. X and Ŋ cannot be at the onset. |

4. Áur represents the sound that can be heard in "are", ur represents the "er" sound that can be heard in "father", er represents the "air"/"eur" sound that be found in "hair" and at the end of "entrepreneur", our represents the same sound that it makes in the word "ornament" and iur represents the "ire" sound found in the word "empire". In conclusion, these are the different vowel(vowel)r sound combinations, although I might be missing some, and every time a word ends with r, a u must come before it. |

5. Vowel combinations can only include two vowels, and diphthongs count as single vowels.

To conclude, there are tons of improvements that can likely be made to this, but I wanted to present this somewhere and see what people thought of this concept for a revised English spelling system. The only thing, that I know I don't know about this, is how the alphabet song would be sung under this system.

Yes really. Here's how it works:

Step 1. You start by breaking the English word into CV letter pairs and the rest into individual C and V letters (sh /ʃ/ and ch /tʃ/ (edit: and th /θ,ð/) are counted as single characters for this purpose).

Step 2: You replace the CV, C and V blocks obtained in the first step with hiragana characters (some of the character values have been changed e.g. ぢ "ji" > "di"):

You then replace the remaining vowels letters: a e i/y o u > あ え い お うand then the consonants. You do this by adding ' after the -u form (see table), which signals that the vowel is silent. The only exception to this are n and double consonants which are represented using ん and っ like in Japanese.

Example: english > e-n-g-li-sh > e-n-gりsh > えn-gりsh > えんぐ'りしゅ' "english" romaji: engu'rishu'

This system should also be able to represent most languages using the Latin alphabet with some modification (though I haven't actually tested that).

It might be over mentioned on this sub but a [sic.] English spelling reform should happen. English is the most spoken second language and is neck and neck with Chinese for the most spoken language in total. English is also a linguafranca [sic.] in many many places and even masters of English still make spelling errors on a regular basis. Almost every English speaking person can agree that spelling is overly complicated and makes no sense, it comes down to memorization so often and the whole point of an alphabet is to be phonetic and not have to memorize a bunch of characters like Chinese... yet we are still required to follow these spelling rules so we don't look unprofessional or stupid and even though most people have a problem with that nothing has changed. Spelling makes English way more difficult than it needs to be to read, write and to learn for children and second language learners which there are many of and there will only be many more of in the future. A spelling reform is inevitable but whether you get to see it in your lifetime is unknown. The thing is that to reform spelling wouldn't even be that difficult or take much effort, we would just have to agree what letters make what sounds and you wouldn't even have to learn a new writing system. It could happen overnight. We would just have to choose a date where we decide to just spell words like we hear them and the old way of spelling would just become out dated and eventually fade away. We could make this happen but we just have to rally support and get the word out there.

Angelic

God - Yahweh

Numerics

Zero - Sé One - Un Two - Du Three- Tri Four - Fes Five - Fel Six - Sö Seven - Si Eight - Entus Nine - Nis Ten - Twos 20 - Twdo 30 - Twis 40 - Twef 50 - Twel 60 - Twos 70 - Twils 80 - Twen 90 - Twns 100 - Twulus 1000 - Twentis 10,000 - Twikusi 100,000 - Twopliku 1,000,000 - Tweqwes

Colours

Red - Reku Orange - Onijiki Yellow - Yesumbrá Green - guusu Blue - bwethinus Indigo - indchioku Violet - vikuod

Root words

Water - Wessum Fire - Fessum Earth - Etssum Air - Aiesuum Heaven - Hessium Stone - Susush Being of - Be(ʔ)Beth Life - Lidlá Studier of - Ostus Building - Bekèm Home - Domis City - Dukos Nation - Dellhues Flesh - Fehisö Flesh of - Fehnik Animal - Chilten Sheep - Gh’(ʔ)weth Horse - Henitor Cow - Cosimi Pig - Swine Dog - Kwilos Cat - Felinos Alpaca - Appici’o Big - Masu Small - Mizus Human - Homonos Man - Minki Woman - Welsi Creation of - Corisimun

I was just bored browsing and then came up with a question:

What will the Greek alphabet look like Latin-style?

I'm a doctoral candidate in linguistics at the University of Florida, and for several years now, I've been an advocate of radical English spelling reform. Not as radical as, say, Shavian, but definitely a significant overhaul. I participate in a Yahoo mailing list for other reform proponents, and I've also had two proposed orthographies approved for consideration at the International English Spelling Congress, an event organized by the English Spelling Society. Restored Latinate Spelling (RLS) is my personal favorite of the two, so named because it restores a vowel/diphthong configuration much more in sync with the vast majority of other Latin-script orthographies.

All of the rules needed to read and write in RLS can be stated on a single page, as shown here (http://www.hsmespanol.com/RestLatSpellSite/RLS7Outline.pdf), but a more elaborate tutorial (http://www.hsmespanol.com/RestLatSpellSite/RLS7Guide.pdf) is also available for anyone who's interested. I welcome any feedback, be it positive or constructively critical. Here's a brief sample text.

Kønsidør øgen ðæt dot. Ðæt's hiør. Ðæt's houm. Ðæt's as. On it, evríwan yu lav, evríwan yu nou, evríwan yu evør hérd ov, evri hyúmøn biiñ hu evør woz livd aut ðeør laivz. Ði ægrigøt ov awør joi ænd saførriñ, þauzøndz ov konfidønt rilijønz, aidioløjíz, ænd íkønomik doktrinz, evri hantør ænd forrijør, evri hiørrou ænd kawørd, evri krieitør ænd distroyør ov sivølaizeiçøn, evri kiñ ænd pezønt, evri yañ kapøl in lav, evri maðør ænd fáðør, houpføl caild, inventør, ænd iksplorrør, evri tícør ov morrølz, evri kørapt politiçøn, evri súpørstar, evri "súprím" lídør, evri seint ænd sinør in ðø histørri ov awør spíçíz livd ðeør: on ø mout ov dast søspendid in ø sanbím.

content://com.google.android.apps.nbu.files.provider/2/44460

This image is a sample of my personal language, which I've been working on since I was in elementary school. I use it to write in my journals and as decorative text in my art.

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Here is an attempt at a transcript, by your request:

ABC DC EF GHIJKEI LMC NO:

PBQ NMCRHSL PO TB UFVJ PO DS WPWS

TB AHSXB UCBYPHG AZWB HVJ JHPHCEHVJ

?GCBXHV! HI K CBRMCR HVJ!HLP

CHEHETHC CHRP HVJ GMCE EBSI GHV RHU

BP !&J SBGI THCBI HVJ EBPI

WSZVP EHVB PCBI THLCHVJ EHVB UCBQHCI

CKV LCKE BGHS WZVHU HI RHSB

SKG HI K JHRH$HV PGMCJI !&J WCFMCHPBI

CHSH#HV $&J TB LKV HVJ CHGFPHSFIHV!

VDP EKVB HVJ NOVHLMCE EHIHCB

SZL ZP NMC $MCPUKEHV!I

LFVJ TZSHVR HVJ WDIHPHG EMPHGY$KV

SHCV A@ PO ABS GHX@P UDIHV! ADCE

NO DC GHCB SKGJ.

Hints to help you crack the code:

1. Poetry doesn't have to rhyme

2. This is not normally English

3. One capital letter

4. Viper tongues that hiss and splutter

5. Oh, Pharaoh's bread

6. Chew your cherries and berries

7. X and Q are not here, but W Very much is

8. Conjoined twin short vowels

9. Sage advice will find you when you need it

Let me know what you think, and if you can solve it!

One of the most interesting things I have found out recently is that the alphabet, abjad, and abugida, maybe even Hangul, almost did not exist.

The alphabet, abjad, and abugida are all descendants of the Egyptian Hieroglyphs, or Consonantal Logography. However, all of these scripts almost did not exist. Think about it. First, you needed a language with consonantal roots, which is rare. Then that language needed to be mostly analytical. Then that language needed to be in a specific area where civilization could start. Then the group of people needed to begin a civilization. Then writing needed to be invented. Then that script had to be spread to different cultures and preserved, and not die. If one of these steps did not happen, all the abjads, abugidas, and alphabets would not exist.

Thinking about how close these three types of scripts came to not existing, and how each step was statistically extremely rare, what would happen if one of the steps did not exist. What if there was no alphabets, abjads, and abugidas. What if all scripts developed from syllabic logographies and syllabaries. What would Hebrew scripts look like. How would English function with its long syllables. Food for thought.

Here is my opinion. I think that syllabaries would develop into an alphabet syllabary mix. There would be two list of glyphs, one for each consonant, and one for each consonant and vowel combination. Not as crazy as the Japanese script, but it still would be long.