Kevin

English spelling is phonetically inconsistent. One letter (or set of letters) can represent multiple sounds (such as C in cup or cellar). What's more, the same set of letters can have different pronunciations as seen in this quote:

“English can be weird. It can be understood through tough thorough thought, though.” — David Burge.

The above words all have “ough,” yet most are pronounced different (except for thorough and though because they rhyme).

This creates problems for English learners and natives. No one knows how to pronounce a word until they've heard its pronunciation. To fix this, each letter should be assigned to one specific sound. Each letter in this table corresponds to a sound in American English.

Letter	IPA	Example
a	æ	Ask
b	b	Bet
c	tʃ	Chicken
d	d	Deal
e	e	Elephant
ə	ə	About
f	f	Far
g	g	Go
h	h	How
i	i	Even
j	j	Yell
k	k	Kite
l	l	Lean
m	m	Me
n	n	No
o	ɔ, ɑ	All, October
p	p	Pat
r	ɹ	Red
s	s	Some
t	t	To
u	u	Hoot
v	v	Van
y	ɪ	In
z	z	Zebra
-	ʔ	Kitten (but t is glottalized as heard in this audio clip)

Unfortunately, some sounds require more than 1 letter. Making up new letters would complicate things. Using 2 letters to represent a sound should suffice.

Letters	IPA	Example
ai	aɪ	I
au	aʊ	Loud
dzh	dʒ	Just
ei	eɪ	Ate
ng	ŋ	Long
oi	ɔɪ	Oil
ou	oʊ	Low
sh	ʃ	Shut
th	θ, ð	Three, There
zh	ʒ	Genre

The benefit with this approach is that almost every letter in the above tables can be typed using current keyboards in English-speaking countries. The only exception is “ə.”

This alphabet system removes Q, W, and X because each letter creates a sound that can be replaced by the letters in the table. Q becomes K, W becomes U, X becomes KS or Z. This makes the alphabet 24 letters long (because Ə was added). Ə and other letters could replace these letters on the keyboard.

Example

Source: https://read.gov/aesop/002.html

An Ox came down to a reedy pool to drink. As he splashed heavily into the water, he crushed a young Frog into the mud.

The old Frog soon missed the little one and asked his brothers and sisters what had become of him.

“A great big monster,” said one of them, “stepped on little brother with one of his huge feet!”

“Big, was he!” said the old Frog, puffing herself up. “Was he as big as this?”

“Oh, much bigger!” they cried.

The Frog puffed up still more.

“He could not have been bigger than this,” she said. But the little Frogs all declared that the monster was much, much bigger and the old Frog kept puffing herself out more and more until, all at once, she burst.

Moral: Do not attempt the impossible.

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Sors: https://read.gov/aesop/002.html

En Oks keim daun tu ei ridi pul tu dzhringk. Az hi splashd hevyli intu thə wodr, hi krəshd ei jəng Frog intu thə məd.

Thi old Frog sun mysd thə lydl uən and askd hyz brəthrz and systrz wət had bikəm əv hym.

“Ə greit byg monstr,” sed uən əv them, “stept on lydl brəthr wyth uən əv hyz hjudzh fit!”

“Byg, wəz hi!” sed thi old Frog, pəfyng hrself əp. “Wəz hi az byg az thys?”

“Ou, məc bygr,” thei kraid.

Thə Frog pəfd əp styl mor.

“Hi kəd not hav byn bygr than thys,” shi sed. Bət thə lydəl Frogs ol diklerd that thə monstr wəz məc, məc bygr and thi old Frog kept hrself pəfyng aut mor and mor əntyl, ol at uəns, shi brst.

Morəl: Du not ətempt thi ymposybol.

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One thing to note: spelling for some words did not change. Examples include not, old, and that.

Problems

The main problem with spelling words phonetically is the inconsistent pronunciations seen in English. Secretary is a good example. In American English, it would be spelt as “sekrəteri”. However, in British English, the word would be spelt as “sekrəcri”. While small, these differences add up quickly because many words are pronounced differently in both forms of English. Accents and regional variations only exacerbate this problem.

Potential changes to a word's pronunciation are also problematic. This may mean that changes to spelling are required periodically. An example of this is “kitten.” Normally, it is pronounced “kɪtən” (kytən). However, t-glottalization (dropping t) is becoming more popular. Some people may pronounce it as “kɪʔən” (ky-ən).