SaypYu is a simpler and more accessible phonetic system.

Whilst specialist systems like the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) have over a 160 characters SayPu has only 24. Words written in SayPu are more easily recognized and comprehended if you are familiar with just four basic rules. These rules are easily understood and remembered by learning just four short phrases.

Using (Modified) SaypYu. Lesson 1: The Four Phrases. There are four simple things to remember when you read SaypYu, and each can be learnt by learning a simple phrase:

Get yor hed round shwaa. This phrase illustrates how to pronounce (shwaa).

Shwaa is a short vowel sound. If you make it as a short a/e/i/u sound your pronunciation will probably be close enough to be understood. More on Shwaa a bit later.

Dayr yu drink dh hayr v dh dog? ay is a long A sound in SaypYu such as in care or air. Hence Hair = Hayr and Dare = Dayr. It is usually followed by an r to make ayr. ow as in show and know, not as in how and now. ai as in thai which rhymes with thigh. I as in mile or might is written ai so
nice = nais.

All other letter combinations can be easily understood by simply saying exactly what you see. An example:

Nou yu now dhis yu mait kayr tu trai reding dhis sentns: Dh kwik broun foks jmps owvr dh leyzi grey hound dog.

Lesson 2: More on Shwaa. The Schwa (Shwaa in SaypYu) is a sound that occurs in English and other languages. Here are a few examples where the schwa sound appears in English words: a as in ago e as in taken i as in pencil u as in run a as in sofa Combinations of vowels: ai as in mountain Unwritten: as in rhythm (the sound between the th and the m) [gow] [teykn] [pensl] [rn] [sowf] [mountn] [ridhm]

Schwa is the hidden vowel of English, frequently used but usually disguised as another character. The schwa is one of the most common sounds in English so it is logical that it has its own symbol in SaypYu. According to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), the sound of schwa is represented using . However, we did not wish to use this symbol for SaypYu because it looks very similar to a. Instead, we chose the shape of a reversed e, or for the sound of schwa in SaypYu because the sound of schwa is similar to the sound of e (as in pen). Since the symbol is different it is good practice to refer to the SaypYu version of the symbol by its SaypYu spelling, Shwaa.

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If handwriting Shwaa it is easier and more fluid to form the characters as and . HTML codes are ɘ for and Ǝ for . In Microsoft Word you can hold down Alt and type 600 or 398 on the number pad and the letter is inserted when you release the Alt key. Not all fonts support these characters so they may render them in other fonts. The Unicode for is U+0258 and for is U+018E. If you are using Microsoft Word you can type in the four digit number and then hit Alt+X. If using a program such as Autohotkeys you can create a script containing the lines q::Send {U+0258} and +q::Send {U+018E} which will give you swhaa when you use the Q key. The letters Q, C and X are not used in SaypYu words. c::Send k and +c::Send K can be added to the script to automatically change any Cs you type.

Lesson Three. The table below summarizes how the characters of SaypYu are used with some useful examples. Traditional : SaypYu Short Vowels Traditional: SaypYu Long Vowels Traditional: SaypYu Gliding Vowels i : ai site : sait pie : pai ou : ou out : out bough : bou cow : kou a : ey same : seym o : ow role : rowl snow: snow Traditional : SaypYu Consonants I Traditional : SaypYu Consonants II Traditional : SaypYu Consonants III

a:a man : man

a : aa father : faadhr bar : baar a : ay care : kayr

b:b bed : bed

l:l left : left

t:t train : treyn

e:e pen : pen

c:k cat : kat

m:m men : men

th : dh this : dhis

i:i kid : kid u:u put : put

ee : ii street : striit oo : uu boot : buut fool : fuul soup : suup aw : aw dawn : dawn saw : saw sore : sawr i : uh first : fuhrst

c:s centre : sentr ch : tsh check : tshek

n:n nice : nais p:p please : pliiz

th : th thin : thin v:v very : veri

o:o top : top a: agree : grii

oy : oy toy : toy

d:d debt : det

ph : f Philip : Filip phone : fown q:k queen : kwiin

w:w west : west

u : yu cube : kyub

f:f friend : frend

y:y you : yu

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u: run : rn

o : oor door : door corn : koorn oar : oor

g:g get : get

r:r rule : ruul

x : ks six : siks

a: functional : fnkshnl a: media : miidi y:i city : siti oo : u good : gud food : fud

h:h hi : hai

tion : shn relation : rileyshn s:s sleep : sliip sh : sh ship : ship

x : gz exact : igzakt

j:j jack : jak k:k king : king

z:z zest : zest ch : kh loch : lokh

IPA, OED and CED to SaypYu Conversions. The following table allows direct conversion of phonetic renderings of RP words into SaypYu. For completeness I have included Arpabet too, but be cautioned that Arpabet represents American pronunciation and not the RP used for SaypYu. Note that IPA and the OED and CED phonetic alphabets use j to represent a y sound, which is counter-intuitive to English speakers.

O.E.D PA a e

SaypYu Arpabet aka C.E.D IPA (Amer. PA Pro!) a apl, kan, hat, plad AE // apple, can, hat, plaid

EH IH UH oo

// // / / / / //

ever, head, get, said bed, fell, men, any it, big, finishes, she, odd, hot, waffle good, book, put, should, room, who, through, you, shoe, flew, two, blue about, animal, problem, circus, enemy, incredible, gallop, focus up, mother, mud, tough

e e i o u

ever, hed, get, sed bed, fel, men, eni it, bog, finishs, shi od, hot, wofl gud, buk, put, shud, rum, hu, thru, yu, shu, flu, tu, blu bout, animl, problm, surks, enmi, inkredbl, galp, fowks p, mdhr, md, tf aarm, faadhr. aahaa iit, sii, niid, pliz, griin

AH/AX

/ /

AH

//

AA IY

a i

arm, father, aha // /i/ eat, see, need, please, green

aa ii

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u :

UW ER or ur

/u/ ooze, food, soup, sue /r/

early, bird, stirring

uu ur

uuz, fuud, suup, suu urli, burd, sturing

e a

AY EY OY AW OW

a e

/a/ I, ice, hide, deny, fine, /e/ //

ai

aisle, sight, why, bye, lie, buy, guide aid, hate, day, they, gray, great, freight, rsum oil, choice, toy, noise

ey

oy ou ow

Ai, aiz, haid, dinai, fain, ail, sait, wai, bai, lai, bai, gaid eyd, heyt, dey, dhey, grey, greyt, freyt, rezyumey oyl, tshoyz, toy, noyz out, loud, hou, hous show, sow, snow, dhow, hlow, tow, sowp, ow, rowd, bilow, mowt, bowt awl, fawl, tawk, saw, awgst, thaw, bawt door, floor, poor, moor ir, hirow, bir ayr, kayrful, wayr, wayr, mayr, dhayr, mayr pyur, kyur yunait, hyumid, fyu, yu, yuth, yuulji fair, taird our, sour

ou

a / o r

/a/ out, loud, how, house /o/ show, sew, snow,

r /r ju

AO AO R

// /or/ /r/ /r/

though, hello, toe, soap, owe, road, below, mote, boat all, fall, talk, saw, august, thaw, bought door, floor, pour, more ear, hero, beer air, careful, wear, where, mare, their. mayor pure, cure

aw oor ir ayr

EH R UH R

ur yu

/y u

unite, humid, few, ewe, youth, eulogy fire, tired Hour, sour

a AW R

/ar/ /ar / /r/

ai our

ER

teacher, afterward, murderer yes, yacht equation, pleasure, vision, beige shy, cash, emotion china, catch giant, badge, jam loch sang, sink, singer thigh, maths thy, breathe, father

(r)

tiitsh, ft, murdr

j t x

/j/ / / // /t/ /d/ /x/ // // //

y j sh tsh j kh ng th dh

yes, yot ikweyjn, plej, vijn, beyj shai, kash, imowshn tshain, katsh jaint, baj, jam lokh sang, sink, singr thai, maths dhai, briidh, faadhr

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The SaypYu project was launched by Jaber George Jabbour in December 2012 and is intended to make pronunciation easier and foster international understanding. SaypU is not intended to replace but to compliment more complex systems such as the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). This page uses a number of reforms to SaypYu that have not yet been accepted by Mr Jabbour. It is my belief that these logical reforms make SaypYu more useful and should be adopted so I have taken the liberty of using them in this series of articles. Additional information and the rationale behind the proposed reforms can be found here:http://www.scribd.com/doc/196958655/Reforming-SaypYu-Next-Steps For more information and to assist in the SaypYu project visit:http://www.saypyu.com/ Converting into SaypYu Philip West March 2014.

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