Making the Phonics-to-Phonetics Leap With Truespel

by Thomas E. Zurinskas, Creator of Truespel Phonetics, Greenacres, FL

Author of “The Costs of Poor Reading Skills”http://justpaste.it/poorreadingcost

See clickable links at http://justpaste.it/FLCtruespel2016

What is (~)Truespel?Truespel (~truespel) is a free, simple phonetic spelling

system based on US English “talking” dictionaries--Simple – No special symbols, takes less than an hour to

learn for the basics (high school ESLs).--Phonetic – Only one “spelling” per sound plus a stressed

syllable rule, making it a true pronunciation key.--Writable – Uses typical alphabet, capitalization and

punctuation. You can write phonetically as you speak. --Free - it’s on the internet. See truespel.com/en for the

converter. Tutorials at http://accessyoutube.org.uk/truespel

Alphabet – Set of letters (26) for spelling EnglishAlphabetical principle – letters stand for speech sounds Phonabet – Total Set of phonemes in a languagePhonemes – Speech sounds (40 in US English)Graphemes – written phonemes in a phonetic systemTradspel – Traditional spelling (orthography)Tradneme – various spellings of a phoneme in tradspelPhonics - Examines the typical tradnemes of languagePhonetics – System of graphemes (as in dictionary keys) plus other cues illustrating pronunciation (like syllabic stress)

Truespel Terms

We forget things that we don’t use, and phonetics isn’t used much. For instance, can you write the phonetic notation (from any system or dictionary pronunciation key) for these three sounds?

1. “ah”2. “uh”

3. “awe”

(See official USA (phonetic?) solution in the next slide)

“Phonetics” Has Rightfully Been Ignored

The Voice of America (VOA) is the official external broadcast institution

of the United States federal government http://names.voa.govAL QAEDA al K-EYE-(eh)-duh BEILIN, YOSSI YO- see BAY- lihn

BERGER, OSCAR O-skahr behr-ZHEHRR BERNANKE, BEN BEHN berr-NAN-kee

BOURGASS, KAMEL kah-MEHL boor-GAHS BUNDESBANK BOON- dehs-bah-nk

CALABRIA kah-LAH-bree-ah CALDERA, RAFAEL rah-f-eye-EHL cahl-DAY-rah

CEAUSESCU, NICOLAE nee-ko-L-EYE-eh chow-oo SHEHS-koo

CHAISIT SHINAWATRA CH-EYE-siht shihn-ah-WAHT CHEN XITONG CHUHN SHEE TAWNG

Note: the VOA “Intermediate Dictionary” now has a truespel pronunciation guide via Truespel Book 3 (authorhouse.com)

The Voice of America Pronunciation Spelling

(All the sounds of US English are in this story. Can you figure out what it says?)

IPA 1 (See converter at http://upodn.com)

ðæt kwɪk beʒ fɑks dʒəmpt ɪn ðə ɛr ovər itʃ θɪn dɒg. lʊk awt, aj ʃawt, fɔr hiz fɔjld ju əgɛn.

IPA 2 (See http://tinyurl.com/ipaconverter from modelino)

ˈðæt ˈkwɪk ˈbeɪʒ ˈfɑks ˈdʒəmpt ˈɪn ðiː ˈer ˈoʊvər ˈiːtʃ ˈθɪn ˈdɔg. ˈlʊk ˈæʊt, ˈaɪ ˈʃæʊt, fər ˈhiːz ˈfɔɪld ˈjuː əˈgen.

(accents may be a play)

Two International Phonetic Alphabet Converters

That quick beige fox jumped in the air over each thin dog. Look out, I shout, for he’s foiled you again, creating chaos.

~That kwik baezh faaks jumpd in thee air oever eech thhin daug. Look out, Ie shout, for heez

foild yue uggen, kree”aeteeng kae’aas (kreeyyaeteeng kaeyaas)~~

Note: tilde (~) means truespel phonetics. Use two tildes to bracket several words

See today’s “new” British Council Phoneme Chart next slidehttp://bit.ly/13MLm4P

The Basics of Truespel Phoneticsand the 40 Sounds of US English

Phonetics = one “spelling” per phoneme, as in a dictionary key. (There are 40 sounds in US English)

Phonics = the many ways tradspel spells phonemes(There are 140 ways to spell them - analyzing the top

6 spellings of the top 5k words of US English)The Great Truespel Phoneme Popularity Chart

Is athttps://www.screenr.com/V0ZN - in raw hits

Truespel Integrates Phonics with Phonetics

The “alphabetic principle” is that letters stand for sounds. Thus pronunciation can be “sounded out” (decoded).

But English is not consistent. However:

Consonants = 90% of the consonant sounds are spelled in their most popular way

Vowels = 50% are spelled in their most popular way.

Data is from truespel book 4 which analyzes 15.4 M word instances or about 90% of words on a typical page,

.

The Alphabetic Principle

Truespel integrates phonics with phonetics scientifically by:

1. Picking graphemes using the commonest English spelling of a speech sound, when possible. http://justpaste.it/truescience

Truespel criteria for using phonics for phoneticshttps://justpaste.it/truecriteria

2. Picking graphemes that least conflict with tradspel. This site shows many grapheme related tutorials

http://accessyoutube.org.uk/truespel

Combining Phonics and Phonetics

Good readers correlate with the ability to sound out words according to the National Reading Panel of 2000Phonetics is in the Common Core - http://justpaste.it/comcoreenglish

3rd Grade Reading ResultsFCAT in my county = 20% reading failures for last 2 years 2013, 2014

Lucy Calkins teaching method http://bit.ly/1pUN8FJOhio “Reading Guarantee” = 4.2% reading failures. Those children who are nonreaders get a remedial phonics teacher and more.

See video at http://to.pbs.org/1Jswwje

Phonemic Awareness is Reading Key

Kindergarten - CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.2d

“Spell simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships.”

First grade - CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.1.2e

“Spell untaught words phonetically, drawing on phonemic awareness and spelling conventions.”

Phonetics Is in the Common Core

According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, as reported in the Reading 2000: National Report Card

68% of the 4th graders and 60% of the 8th graders are reading below proficiency

See National Reading Panel http://reading.uoregon.edu/big_ideas/See http: //www.childrenofthecode.org/

Some Reading Improvement in USA Is Needed

--For pronunciation, ESL learners need only know how to say 40 sounds to be able to say any word in US English, even slang. http://www.screenr.com/XOn8

--ESL learners can practice pronunciation at home via the free truespel converter See http://truespel.com/en

--Note that truespel can be used for ESL improvement in “turnaround situations”. Article at http://1.usa.gov/1n2h3Pb

says that more help for ELLs need be given in school.

Truespel Phonetics for ESL

95% of Scientific Journals are in English

English is the Lingua Franca of the World

94% of upper secondary school students in the European Union are choosing English as their second language - Oct 13, 2013, The Star Online http://bit.ly/1d1sbqD

In China for the next five years, all state employees younger than 40 will be required to master at least 1,000 English phrases, and all schools will begin teaching English in kindergarden.

- ABC News Nov 15, 2010 http://abcn.ws/1joEnno

The World is Learning English

“Synthetic Phonics” http://bit.ly/1egMtIgNow in England and taught like phonetics

IBM’s 1980’s “Writing to Read” is a phonetics-first reading system for k-1 that had kids writing phonetically as they learned to read. See http://bit.ly/17toJRn

"SRA Reading Mastery” uses some phonetics in their “phonics” based k-1 reading instruction program http://bit.ly/1hnmnGV (2007 video of kids saying sounds)

Other Phonetic Learning Systems

For k-1 Start with a few sounds at a time similar to UK’s“synthetic phonics”, which starts out with about 12 sounds and goes on from there. Teachers are free to develop and coordinate best practices on this. http://bit.ly/1afIkGb

(note that Lucy Calkins method leaves phonics open for this)

Teachers need not write their own truespel. They can use the converter. For a demo on using the converter see http://bit.ly/R2fIUa The phonetic translation is modeled from the spoken words of “talking” dictionaries, mostly the American Heritage standard US English pronunciation

.

How to Teach Truespel Phonetics

Pronunciation – words in text - see dinosaur names: http://www.screenr.com/dxHN

Statistics – Phoneme popularity of each letter analyzedhttp://justpaste.it/aqe

Translation – “Happy Birthday” in 15 Languageshttp://www.screenr.com/fPaH

Instruction – You can write phonetically as you speak

http://www.screenr.com/GXBN

We Need a Good Phonetic Standard -Uses for Truespel

Monthly Hits on the Converter Are Increasing

The truespel converter lists the majority word form. Check manually for needed alternative forms, e.g.

“the” is usually ~thu but ~thee before a word starting with a vowel (guessing 20%)“use” can be noun ~yues or verb ~yuez“content” can be noun ~kaantent or adj. ~kunttent“subject” can be noun ~subjekt or verb ~subjjekt

Note that stress is tricky and easy to miss. Default syllable stress is on the first vowel else it shifts to the vowel behind a double consonsant.

(e.g., desert/dessert)

Converter Limitation - One Pronunciation

The following will all come together via truespel See http://justpaste.it/truespelnow

1. Dictionary Pronunciation Guides2. Translation Guides (other languages)3. Reading Teachers Guides and Primers4. Phonemic Awareness Aptitude Testing5. ESL Guides

(See S. Korean high school ESL trials - http://justpaste.it/koreatrials

The Truespel Result - Literacy Integration

1. Fit truespel into Common Core for k-12. Standardize teacher training of phonetics http://justpaste.it/teachertrain3. Create user feedback sites4. Create user game sites with truespel5. Expand the web site with more information http://truespel.com6. Write other languages in truespel phonetics7. Fit truespel into ESL instruction, measurement8. Calibrate truespel for phonemic awareness aptitude assessment9. Upgrade dictionaries and translation guides with truespel phonetics10. Eventually stablish one phonetic spelling system for all languagesNote: Truespel has been mentioned as a phonetic respelling of the Korean language

Future Work - Truespel Partnering Tasks and Projects

Creator: Thomas E. Zurinskas, tzurinskas@yahoo.com

Location: Greenacres FL, Palm Beach CountyWebsite: http://truespel.comConverter: http://truespel.com/enTutorials: http://justpaste.it/course2

Clickable Links of this presentation are at: http://justpaste.it/FLCtruespel2015

We need usable phonetics – Time for truespel

Truespel Phonetics Info