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As we English speakers are all too aware of, the current English language may very well be one of the worst languages using the Latin script today. This proposal aims to fix some of the problems that, at least, written English has.
Let's first list off all of the letters in the current English alphabet:
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz
The most obvious problem here is the letter C. It makes two sounds, /k/ and /s/, of which are, of course, taken by K and S, respectively. Therefore, it's only reasonable to omit it (mostly). For similar reasons, the letters Q and X have also been removed from standard usage.
Similarly, a lot of still-useful letters have the problem of serving redundant purposes, such as the letter G situationally being pronounced /dʒ/, despite the letter J already serving this purpose. I will therefore be limiting consonants to one phonetic sound and vowels to two, unless otherwise stated. This limitation will require that new letters be added, which will be later discussed. The list goes as follows:
1Used for phonetic /æ/-raising only
2The second sound listed is written using a U with breve (Ŭŭ).
Firstly, we need to address the 2 valid sounds that any given vowel can make in New English. How can we distinguish between them? We do this with the diacritical mark macron (en-nu mākron/makron, ā). Without it, the vowel uses the first pronunciation listed above, and the latter if the macron is included. Examples of each usage:
The only two exceptions to this rule so far are the U and ash. The latter will be discussed later. As for the former, it makes 3 sounds. The first and last sounds follow the rule, with the former using no accent, and the latter using a macron. The second, however, as stated earlier, uses the diacritical mark breve (en-nu brēv, ă). Below are some examples of this in use:
Four new letters have been added to New English: the thorn (en-nu þōrn, Þþ), the C with acute (en-nu ćē, Ćć), the S with acute (en-nu eś, Śś), and the ash (en-nu aś, Ææ). Here are examples of these letters in use:
The ash is a letter that may need a bit more explanation. According to the chart provided above, it should make the same sound as the standard A. However, as also stated before, this letter reperesents æ-tension, where the sound /æ/ is modified following certain consonants, like N and M. For better understanding, here are a few examples:
Along with the new letters, some existing letters have been modified for easier phonetic usage. The G loses the /dʒ/ that is already taken by the J, as stated earlier. Likewise, the letter Y as a vowel is now impossible by valid means, as all vowel Y sounds are covered by other letters. Here are examples of these changes in action:
There are some times when a consonant will say its name. In previous iterations of the proposal, I had simply used macrons where they were needed. However, I learned that most consonants do not support this natively, and therefore would be very hard to implement on non-handwritten instances. Therefore, we will combine letters to approximate the name instead. The mappings are listed below:
1It is unlikely that this letter will be used literally. It will most likely be solely used for its phonetic sound instead.
Most Current English words already use this system, so this should be one of the easier parts of the language to adjust to.
Replacing English's rules with a phonetic one is going to inevitably result in word overlap, such as the New English tū now covering the American English words to, too, and two. If I were to let all these converted words stay as is, this language would be dead on arrival, as there would be even more confusion, thanks to so a singular word now meaning many things. To fix this, I will take words from other languages and previous forms of English to replace these overlaps. A list of words I have found so far, and their replacements, can be found here.
Over the centuries, English has taken many forms, and those forms all use rather vague names. With New English, I intend to name all of these English versions in a more future-proofed manner. These names will be written in New English (italicised).
Starting with Old English, it will be renamed Ānglō-Saxonik Ēngliś, as the Anglo-Saxons were the main speakers of the language. The language can also be shorthanded into their native spelling of English, Ænglisċ.
Middle English could stay as Midul Ēngliś, as the Middle Ages were when this stage of English was used.
Our current stage of English could be renamed to Flatend Ēngliś, as it removed and simplified many things present in previous stages, such as the removal of the thorn and eth in everyday usage.
Finally, a future-proofed name for New English should be Fōnetik Ēngliś, as it's main purpose is to allow written English to be consistent with its oral counterpart.
The rules of New English should only be applied to words native to the language. That is to say, that any foreign words that aren't loan words do not follow New English's standard, but the standard of its parent language. For example:
These rules should also generally apply to names, but do not have to.
The statement that this proposal improves English by immesurable amounts should be one of no contest. This does not by any means mean that it is perfect, far from it. Here are some of the issues I am immediately aware of:
I have no doubts that this list will grow rapidly as time goes on.
This concludes this proposal for a New English. Do keep in mind that this document is never finished, and can and will absoulutely change. You can influence this if you think of something you think should be added to or modified in New English, by contacting me through any of the listed socials.
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