Hookt on foniks wurks fer me :) George Orwell told us to use small words. It almost follows that you will be using old words that everyone knows, instead of new words for old things. Because of about three thousand frequently occurring "sight words" that make rules of their own, phonics is incomplete. If an elementary school teacher does not teach phonics, then children will need to learn it on their own, and only bright ones will form good rules. The first rule is that every child learn to ignore impatient demands that they sound out a word, because if they stumble, then it is probably because they do not understand what they are reading. "What does it sound like? What does it mean?..."
My Introduction to advances in phonics
I began in about 1996 with an order for letters that made more sense than the Roman alphabet you know. Actually, that was only when I determined that a lot of people should know about my order. My discovery that other orders for letters exist came from reading a book by Harry Lorayne on mnemonics in about 1994. It also began as a linear alphabet that is one long line. Later, in late 1997, when I was an internet fledgeling, I concluded that two ways were to order consonants. One is from back of mouth to front. Another is to relate voiced consonants (Vee for example) to whispered consonants (like Fuh).
I chose both. In a table, consonants are ordered labial, dental, palatal, then glottal in columns rightward. Odd rows are voiced. Even rows are whispered consonants. Two rows (five and six) in my colour chart are hisses, while stops are on two bottom rows.
Graphically relating similar sounds
followed naturally from phonoglyphic order and as few rules as I could come up
with in a radical font (2010-02-11), which is double-mapped from Shavian, partly so that you understand that I intend my font for use in regyuhlr speLing. My font is slightly smaller than Shavian, because I did not make glyphs for two vowels that lead an awR. I mean to imply thoze vowelz, as in standard English. For you to hear what I mean if you do not pronounce the following words with a rhotic (North American) accent is very hard: "air", "ear", "ire", "oar", "uur". You may notice a vowel similar to a schwa intervenes between a hard vowel and an awR in those words; same with these mostly non-words: "ahr", "err", "ihr", "awR", and "uhr", except a letter name haz its own vowel, and it is very much like a soft oh. I count two vowels that lead an awR.
Voiced and whispered counterparts in consonants are upside-down from each other. Hard (long) and soft (short) vowels are also upside down from each other. Some versions of Saffron Karaoke contain a note about my realization that awEE (I) is actually a dipthong (conjugated vowel). The most arbitrary parts are in Lay, Yeh, Hai, Waw, and Ruu; semivowels, which are consonants that are so difficult to distinguish from vowels that three in the middle of that list are commonly confused with vowels (in French, spelt with vowels), while Asians meld Lay and Ruu. Nasals are in the same order as other consonants, with one flaw, that being my schwa is among nasals. That choice was for neatness in my chart. I could either make one group of vowels six letters long, or stick a vowel where it does not really belong, and since all other groups contain four or five members, I chose to stick a schwa (as in "put") where it does not belong.
My songs
My most recent song on this topic is a bridge to legacy; New names; familiar order. You might notice a Chaw in place of a "letter see". That is how Italians use it in "Cello" and a few other words that are also English. A Guu in place of Jee, because Jee is a dumb name for a letter. I do not pronounce Qay as Kay. It is a voiced glottal hiss in the name "Marghoob", and Tim Horton's catch-phrase "Roll up the Rim to Win". Ruu and Qay might be the sole example of where Romans placed two similar-sounding letters together, those being growl and awR. I doubt that, since it would put growls in some unlikely places within latin. In other words, it is likely that assigning Qay to growling, which is frequently heard for awRs in some Spanish speakers does not reprezent Latin assignments. Using Xah to reprezent the sound common to a Scottish "Loch" and a Jerman "Buch" is not new. That is what X means in IPA.
The first song I used for my glyphs was "Morning Has Broken", with English words from Eleanor Fargeon, and its melody being ancient Gaelic (public domain), except for a bridge that is probably from Cat Stevens, and since my lyrics are longer, I needed that bridge.
My second song is an adaptation of "Born Free"" with a different beat and more length. Eleven verses are in "Morning Has Broken" --three from Eleanor, four from a contributor to "Voices United", and four more from a Scout. That might get boring after about five, so I think it needs nine variations. I suspect that if I pose them correctly in relation to each other, then "Born Free" can work as duet harmony for "Morning Has Broken".
My third song is in four parts, and I am not sure that I cannot improve upon my arrangement. Two parts of Pavlov 4 Cybersocial Birds are in a call and answer format that signifies blues. Two parts in it went into Saffron, my fourth video, which is harder than I want. My idea for making it easier to sing might only be a barbershop arrangement that demands less range. In that case, I will sing all four parts, and both files will stand. P4CB serves the same purpose as my first two videos, except that its tune is more difficult for having more irregularities of timing. You might ask where Pavlov comes into that video: paired stimuli.
Naming letters to carry over noise
Alpha, Tango, Bravo. You probably heard letters from that phonetic alphabet, which police and military personnel use, before. My names are one syllable with the same effect; clarity over noise. What pattern? Hard vowels, Soft, Hard in reverse, Soft in reverse. That way, Vuu, Fuh, Bay, and Pah end up with different vowels attached, so they sound much more distinct than Vee, eF, Bee, and Pee. You can get the idea from filling out this excercise based upon roman letters you know.
Colouring Letters
It was an afterthought to make videos more interesting, and I did not happen on an excellent way to minimize colours in my videos, so I will be doing them all again. When I did it the first time, I did not want to make a relation between semi-vowels and nasals that did not exist. A better way to do it makes stop-consonants red and cyan, while hisses become yellow and blue (no change). Meanwhile, vowels will get more contrast in green and majenta. That leaves orange and steel (green:128 blue:255) for semi-vowels and nasals. I had a rule that interfered with my decision to minimize colours: That rule is toast. The video dressing for this this audio will come with changes in my colour scheme. For the vast majority of people who know nothing about my work, and a lot of people that do, such changes will hav little practical meaning, because all that my colouring does, besides make video more interesting, is provide a link other than song between my videos. That colour connection will be broken for a while. At my rate of production, perhaps three months.
BrewJay's Babble Bin
