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 ɘround shwaa”. This phrase illustrates how to pronounce “ɘ” (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 dhɘ hayr ɘv dhɘ 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 sentɘns: “Dhɘ kwik broun foks jɘmps owvɘr
dhɘ 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” [“ɘgow”]
- “e” as in “taken” [“teykɘn”]
- “i” as in “pencil” [“pensɘl”]
- “u” as in “run” [“rɘn”]
- “a” as in “sofa” [“sowfɘ”]
- Combinations of vowels: “ai” as in “mountain” [“mountɘn”]
- Unwritten: as in “rhythm” (the sound between the “th” and the “m”) [“ridhɘm”]
● 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 “ə”. 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”, “ɘ” or “Ǝ” 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 “э” and
“Э”.
● HTML codes are ɘ for “ɘ” and Ǝ for “Ǝ”. 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 “ɘ” is U+0258 and for Ǝ 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 : Traditional: Traditional: Traditional : Traditional : Traditional :
SaypYu SaypYu SaypYu SaypYu SaypYu SaypYu
Short Vowels Long Vowels Consonants I Consonants II Consonants III
Gliding Vowels
a:a a : aa i : ai b:b l:l t:t
man : man father : faadhɘr site : sait bed : bed left : left train : treyn
bar : baar pie : pai
ou : ou
e:e a : ay c:k m:m th : dh
out : out
pen : pen care : kayr cat : kat men : men this : dhis
bough : bou
cow : kou
i:i ee : ii a : ey c:s n:n th : th
kid : kid street : striit same : seym centre : sentɘr nice : nais thin : thin
oo : uu o : ow
u:u ch : tsh p:p v:v
boot : buut role : rowl
put : put check : tshek please : pliiz very : veri
fool : fuul snow: snow
soup : suup
aw : aw
oy : oy d:d ph : f w:w
o:o dawn : dawn
toy : toy debt : det Philip : Filip west : west
top : top saw : saw
phone : fown
sore : sawr
a:ɘ i : uh u : yu f:f q:k y:y
agree : ɘgrii first : fuhrst cube : kyub friend : frend queen : kwiin you : yu
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o : oor
u:ɘ door : door g:g r:r x : ks
run : rɘn corn : koorn get : get rule : ruul six : siks
oar : oor
a:ɘ h:h tion : shn x : gz
functional : hi : hai relation : exact : igzakt
fɘnkshnɘl rileyshn
a:ɘ j:j s:s z:z
media : miidiɘ jack : jak sleep : sliip zest : zest
y:i k:k sh : sh ch : kh
city : siti king : king ship : ship loch : lokh
oo : u
good : gud
food : fud
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 Arpabet aka C.E.D IPA SaypYu
PA (Amer. PA
Pro!)
a AE æ /æ/ apple, can, hat, plaid a apɘl, kan, hat, plad
e EH e /ɛ/ ever, head, get, said e ever, hed, get, sed
ɛ /ɛ/ bed, fell, men, any e bed, fel, men, eni
ɪ IH ɪ /ɪ/ it, big, finishes, she, i it, bog, finishs, shi
ɒ ɒ /ɒ/ odd, hot, waffle o od, hot, wofɘl
ʊ UH oo ʊ /ʊ/ good, book, put, u gud, buk, put, shud,
should, room, who, rum, hu, thru, yu, shu,
through, you, shoe, flu, tu, blu
flew, two, blue
ɘ AH/AX ə /ə/ about, animal, ɘ ɘbout, animɘl,
problem, circus, problɘm, surkɘs,
enemy, incredible, enɘmi, inkredɘbɘl,
gallop, focus galɘp, fowkɘs
ʌ AH ʌ /ʌ/ up, mother, mud, ɘ ɘp, mɘdhɘr,
tough mɘd, tɘf
ɑː AA ä aː /ɑ/ arm, father, aha aa aarm, faadhɘr. aahaa
iː IY ē iː /i/ eat, see, need, please, ii iit, sii, niid, pliz, griin
green
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uː UW uː /u/ ooze, food, soup, sue uu uuz, fuud, suup, suu
ɘ: ER ü or ɜː /ɜr/ early, bird, stirring ur urli, burd, sturing
ur
ʌɪ AY ī aɪ /aɪ/ I, ice, hide, deny, fine, ai Ai, aiz, haid, dinai,
aisle, sight, why, bye, fain, ail, sait, wai, bai,
lie, buy, guide lai, bai, gaid
eɪ EY ā eɪ /eɪ/ aid, hate, day, they, ey eyd, heyt, dey, dhey,
gray, great, freight, grey, greyt, freyt,
résumé rezyumey
ɔɪ OY ɔɪ /ɔɪ/ oil, choice, toy, noise oy oyl, tshoyz, toy, noyz
aʊ AW ou aʊ /aʊ/ out, loud, how, house ou out, loud, hou, hous
əʊ OW ō əʊ / /oʊ/ show, sew, snow, ow show, sow, snow,
oʊ though, hello, toe, dhow, hɘlow, tow,
soap, owe, road, sowp, ow, rowd,
below, mote, boat bilow, mowt, bowt
ɔː AO ɔː /ɔ/ all, fall, talk, saw, aw awl, fawl, tawk, saw,
august, thaw, bought awgɘst, thaw, bawt
ɔːr AO R ɔːr /oʊr/ door, floor, pour, oor door, floor, poor,
more moor
ɪə ɪə /ɪər/ ear, hero, beer ir ir, hirow, bir
ɛː/ɛːr EH R eə /ɛər/ air, careful, wear, ayr ayr, kayrful, wayr,
where, mare, their. wayr, mayr, dhayr,
mayor mayr
ʊə UH R ʊə pure, cure ur pyur, kyur
/y u
ju unite, humid, few, ewe, yu yunait, hyumid, fyu,
youth, eulogy yu, yuth, yuuləji
ʌɪə /aɪər/ fire, tired aiɘ faiɘr, taiɘrd
aʊə AW R /aʊər Hour, sour ouɘr ouɘr, souɘr
/
ER /ər/ teacher, afterward, ɘ(r) tiitshɘ, ɘftɘ, murdɘrɘ
murderer
j /j/ yes, yacht y yes, yot
ʒ /ʒ/ equation, pleasure, j ikweyjɘn, plejɘ, vijn,
vision, beige beyj
ʃ /ʃ/ shy, cash, emotion sh shai, kash, imowshn
tʃ /tʃ/ china, catch tsh tshainɘ, katsh
ʤ /dʒ/ giant, badge, jam j jaiɘnt, baj, jam
x /x/ loch kh lokh
ŋ /ŋ/ sang, sink, singer ng sang, sink, singɘr
θ /θ/ thigh, maths th thai, maths
ð /ð/ thy, breathe, father dh dhai, briidh, faadhɘr
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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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