𐑩 𐑕𐑤𐑲𐑑𐑤𐑦 𐑯𐑻𐑛𐑦 𐑒𐑮𐑨𐑖 𐑒𐑹𐑕 𐑑 ·𐑖𐑱𐑝𐑾𐑯 𐑤𐑧𐑑𐑼𐑟

Originally posted on /r/Shavian and with additional edits

0. About

Shavian is an alphabet for English that writes everything regularly^*, and is overall more compact and, in my opinion, neat and pretty. One letter makes only one sound^*, and the same sound is always written with the same letter^*. Similar sounds tend to have similar shapes, which makes it feel elegant to me.

*There are just a handful of exceptions, but they’ll be explained later

It was created by Ronald Kingsley Read as the winning entry of a contest organized as the dying wish of Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw (hence the name “Shavian”), whose play Pygmalion you may know as the basis of the movie My Fair Lady.

Resources

• Shavian.info
• Shavian School — a more gradual lesson approach
• Interactive Shavian info sheet
• The Kingsley Read Lexicon — the big ol’ word list
• Shingo! — a word game

Preface

“All models are wrong, but some are useful.” — statisticians’ adage commonly attributed to George E. P. Box

The Shavian spelling standard does not perfectly represent any native English speaker’s accent perfectly. A British English speaker will find that they pronounce the “compound vowel” letters same as a plain vowel, while an American Engilsh speaker will find that they pronounce certain pairs of vowels the same. Nonetheless, the standard is useful as a starting point that represents both these standard dialects fairly accurately. The standard does not elevate one dialect over the other, similar to how the abbreviation UTC is short for neither “Coordinated Universal Time” nor “Temps Universel Coordonné”.

In short, Shavian is not spelled how you—an individual English speaker—say it; Shavian is spelled how we—as English speakers as a whole—say it.

1. Letters — The Tall, the Deep, and the Short

Imagine a handwriting practice notebook. It would be ruled with 4 lines: at the top of the lowercase “b” (= ascender height), at the top of the lowercase “x” (= x-height), at the bottom of the lowercase “x” (= baseline), and at the bottom of the lowercase “p” (= descender height).

Shavian is also written on these 4 imaginary lines. Much like English lowercase letters, Shavian letters come in three sizes:

• 10 tall letters, i.e. from ascender height to baseline: 𐑐𐑑𐑒𐑓𐑔𐑕𐑖𐑗𐑘𐑙
• 10 deep letters, i.e. from x-height to descender height: 𐑚𐑛𐑜𐑝𐑞𐑟𐑠𐑡𐑢𐑣, which are twins of the tall letters
• 20 short letters, i.e. from x-height to baseline: 𐑤𐑮𐑥𐑯𐑦𐑰𐑧𐑱𐑨𐑲𐑩𐑳𐑪𐑴𐑫𐑵𐑭𐑷𐑶𐑬, most of which have twins

There are also 8 compound letters, which are combinations of multiple letters: 𐑸𐑹𐑺𐑻𐑼𐑽𐑾𐑿. (The first component of 𐑺 and 𐑻 were scrapped, though.)

2. Consonants — I’m You, but Vibrate-ier

Throughout this post, I’ll use the IPA and a few examples to illustrate the pronunciation.

Shavian has 24 consonant letters: all 10 tall letters, all 10 deep letters, and 4 of the 10 short letters.

For 8 out of 10 tall–deep pairs, there is a regular pattern. The tall ones are voiceless, and the deep ones are voiced.

• 𐑐 = /p/, pin, lips, pop
• 𐑚 = /b/, bin, libs, bob

Notice how they’re both pronounced with your lips together and a puff of breath, but the deep one is pronounced with a vibration in your throat.

• 𐑓 = /f/, fan, off, half
• 𐑝 = /v/, van, of, have

Notice how both of them are pronounced between your lower lip and your upper teeth. Since they also involve lips in their pronunciation, they have a similar hooked shape to 𐑐 and 𐑚.

On their own, they are read as the words “for” and “of”, respectively.

• 𐑑 = /t/, ten, kit, tat
• 𐑛 = /d/, den, kid, dad

The same pattern applies, but this time, with the tip of your tongue against the part of your gums that the hot cheese on your pizza tends to burn. This sharper sound is written a sharper bend than 𐑐 and 𐑚.

On its own, 𐑑 means “to”, but “too” and “two” are spelled out as 𐑑𐑵.

• 𐑒 = /k/, cage, lock, kick
• 𐑜 = /g/, gauge, log, gig

These are pronounced with the back of your tongue against the roof of your mouth. So instead of the end of the letter that pokes above/below, the inside part is bent.

• 𐑔 = /θ/, thing, sheath, ether
• 𐑞 = /ð/, they, sheathe, either

One of four pairs of fricatives (along with 𐑓/𐑝)—i.e. those airy sounds made by turbulent air flow in your mouth. No neat mnemonic here, unless you know Icelandic or the IPA, in which case they look like the lowercase letter eth (ð).

On its own, 𐑞 is the correct spelling for “the”.

• 𐑕 = /s/, sane, ass, miss
• 𐑟 = /z/, Zayne, as, Ms.

Oh come on, this is literally just S and Z.

• 𐑖 = /ʃ/, sure, mesher, cash
• 𐑠 = /ʒ/, Dr. Zhivago, measure, (that thing that’s short for “casual”)

They’re pronounced in the same general area and way as 𐑕, but since it’s closer to the back of the mouth, the bend is closer to the middle of the line.

• 𐑗 = /t͡ʃ/, cheap, H (aitch), chest
• 𐑡 = /d͡ʒ/, Jeep, age, jest

Okay, this is neat: since the consonant sounds like 𐑑 and 𐑖 put together, the letter is 𐑗, the corner of the 𐑑 and the body of the 𐑖 put together! Neat, right? (Doubt me? Try saying “tin” and “shin” at once, and you’ll get something close to “chin”.)

Unfortunately, the other two pairs are less neat.

• 𐑘 = /j/, yet, your, yacht
• 𐑢 = /w/, wet, war, watt

These are approximants—simple sounds that are basically vowels. 𐑘 is like a slide from “yee” way up high. 𐑢 is like a lift from “woo” way down low. Both of these are voiced consonants.

• 𐑙 = /ŋ/, anchor, rowing, ink
• 𐑣 = /h/, help, chutzpah, who

For some reason, the deep letter is voiceless and the tall letter is voiced. I’ve heard this being justified by several arguments (❶ they are pronounced in much more different ways than the actual pairs; ❷ the suffix “-ing” [-𐑦𐑙] and the “nk” in “ink” [𐑙𐑒] looks better if 𐑙 was tall), but I’ve just resigned to memorizing it as just an exception.

Now on to the short letters. The pairs of short letters are related by the category of sound.

• 𐑤 = /l/, lore, clack, low
• 𐑮 = /r/, roar, crack, row

These consonants are classified as liquids. To remember which is which, cup your hands together to form a “𐑤𐑮” shape. Your left hand and right hand make their corresponding sound!

• 𐑥 = /m/, mum, cam, trams
• 𐑯 = /n/, none, can, trans

These consonants are nasals, meaning your breath flows out from your nostrils, not your mouth. 𐑙 is also in this category. To remember which is which, imagine a mountain with a “𐑥𐑯” shape. Much like the word “mountain” (𐑥𐑬𐑯𐑑𐑩𐑯), it starts with a 𐑥 and ends with a 𐑯.

On its own, 𐑯 spells “and”. Chain 3 of them (𐑯𐑯𐑯) for “et cetera”. Combo wombo!

Congratulations! You are now introduced to all Shavian consonants!

3. Vowels — Cut, Cot, Caught, Merry, Mary, Marry

There are 24 Shavian vowels: 16 short letters and 8 compound letters. They make enough distinctions to write both General American English and Standard Southern British English, but you might not make all the distinctions depending on your accent.

• 𐑦 = /ɪ, i/; bit, SETI, Elizabeth, mirror
• 𐑰 = /iː/; beat, settee

The letter 𐑦 looks just like an I, which is convenient, since it’s pronounced how a single I usually is in English. The letter 𐑰 is like 𐑦 but it’s scrunched up and trying to stretch longer, which is what it sounds like—the “i” sound, but exaggerated and longer. Kit, keet. Rip, reap.

Remember how I said that every letter in Shavian has one sound in English, and every sound in English has only one letter in Shavian? Well, the letter 𐑦 does triple duty: the I in “candid”, the final, unstressed I in “candied” (as opposed to “Candide”), and the unstressed “e”, “i”, or “y” in a lot of words, like the I’s in “lyricist”. I’m not happy about it either.

• 𐑨 = /æ/, bat, am, arrow
• 𐑲 = /aɪ̯/, bite, I’m
• 𐑧 = /ɛ/, bet, em, error
• 𐑱 = /eɪ̯/, bait, aim

These four should be memorized together. 𐑨 and 𐑧 are like the short A and E, and the line on top adds a Y-ish sound.

• 𐑩 = /ə/, Qatar, append
• 𐑳 = /ʌ/, cut, upend, hurry
• 𐑪 = /ɒ/, cot, porridge
• 𐑴 = /oʊ̯/, coat, over

Flip them upside down, though, there’s no apparent pattern.

Since it’s the most common vowel, 𐑩 curves at the top and leads to the next letter in a way that is nice to write the next letter from.

Here’s a visual aid that I've come up with some time ago:

Note that, in an American accent that still distinguishes between the vowels in “cot” and “caught”, there is a group of words in which the vowel sounds like “cot” in British English, but like “caught” in American English. The most common spelling standard, the Kingsley Read Lexicon, puts it with “cot”, but it’s also acceptable for an American English speaker to spell these words with “caught” as they say it.

• 𐑫 = /ʊ/, look, fortune
• 𐑵 = /uː/, Luke, Fortuna

The V and inverted V actually sound like U’s, not V’s. Though, in practice, you could write them curved like U’s, since no other letter can be confused with them just because you wrote them round!

• 𐑭 = /ɑː/, father, calm, ramen
• 𐑷 = /ɔː/, caught, awful

Ah yes, the pair I like to call “the American-Killers”, because most American accents seem to merge 𐑭, 𐑪, and 𐑷 in some way!

If you can’t tell the difference between “bot” and “bought”, “palm” and “pomme”, or “collar” and “caller”, God help you.

Another note about 𐑭: The Kingsley Read Lexicon, the most commonly used Shavian word list, spells “trap” and “bath” with different vowels, which is a rare phenomenon cross-dialectically. There are a sizable minority of us who spell both with 𐑨, so it’s fine to spell “bath” like a Yank or a Northener. But if you see an unfamiliar word with 𐑭 in it, remember that maybe Harry Potter or Boris Johnson may pronounce it like that!

• 𐑬 = /aʊ̯/, tau, power
• 𐑶 = /ɔɪ̯/, toy, coir

The oddjobs. To remember which is which, pour some T (𐑑) on it. The mouth should open to face and drink it if you spell “out” and “toy”: 𐑬𐑑 and 𐑑𐑶.

That’s all the simple ones. Let’s look at the compound ones.

6 of the 8 compounds end in 𐑮 (/r/). Here they are:

• 𐑸 = /ɑːr/, par, arms
• 𐑹 = /ɔːr/, source, adorn

If you’re English, the examples I gave should sound like “pa, alms, sauce, a dawn”. That’s why they’re a combination of 𐑭 and 𐑷 respectively with 𐑮.

• 𐑺 = /eə̯r/, Mary, fairy

Along with its twin, this is one of the two compounds whose first part got scrapped. Theoretically, it’s 𐑱 + 𐑮.

If any of “merry” (𐑥𐑧𐑮𐑦), “Mary” (·𐑥𐑺𐑦), and “marry” (𐑥𐑨𐑮𐑦) sound the same to you, God help you (again).

• 𐑻 = /ɜːr/, foreword, earth
• 𐑼 = /ər/, forward, array

These sound the same to me, but making this distinction helped me with my English accent. The top one is stressed, longer, and a tiny bit closer to 𐑦, while the bottom one is unstressed, shorter, and a tiny bit closer to 𐑪.

It always bothered me that 𐑻 sounds more like 𐑼, but 𐑺 looks more like 𐑼. I’ve convinced myself that this is to make confusing words look more distinguishable, and that it’s another exception to Shavian’s general neat tendency.

You use 𐑼 any time there's a 𐑩 followed by a 𐑮, even when it crosses a syllable boundary: “op·e·ra” is “ 𐑪𐑐𐑼𐑩 ”, except for one word in the ReadLex: “in·fra·red” is “ 𐑦𐑯𐑓𐑮𐑩𐑮𐑧𐑛 ” because it crosses a morpheme boundary.

• 𐑽 = /iə̯r/, hear, clearer

Wow, a compound that has another compound in it! It’s a compound of 𐑦 and 𐑼.

• 𐑾 = /iə/, Ian, California, real
• 𐑿 = /juː/, universe, huge, Tuesday

These two are pretty much shorthands with a VIP ticket.

𐑾 is 𐑦 + 𐑩, used every time except when a morpheme boundary is between them (e.g. used in Australia, but not in silliest = silly + -est).

𐑿 is 𐑘 + 𐑵, the only compound between a consonant and a vowel. It’s obviously used for the word “you”, as well as other words like “euphoria”.

Congratulations! That’s all the letters!

4. Punctuation — Dots and Circles

Shavian punctuation is basically just English punctuation.

Some of us like to use «French quotation marks» instead of “American quotation marks”, but it’s just for aesthetic purposes, since they’re center-aligned like short letters. You can use either and be understood.

Shavian has no uppercase or lowercase letters, so forget about starting each sentence with a capital.

Also, Shavian usually is spelled with no apostrophes.

Why did you say “Hey, let’s talk!”? It’s scary.

𐑢𐑲 𐑛𐑦𐑛 𐑿 𐑕𐑱 «𐑣𐑱, 𐑤𐑧𐑑𐑕 𐑑𐑷𐑒!»? 𐑦𐑑𐑕 𐑕𐑒𐑺𐑦.

There are two Shavian-specific punctuation marks, though:

The namer dot or naming dot precedes a proper name that the reader is expected to be unfamiliar with. So Mary and Alex get a dot, but Britain or American not usually.

Note that namer dot usage differs a bit between each user. Some people might put it on “American”, “Shavian”, and “YouTuber”, and some people might not. Just observe the others and do whatever comes naturally to you.

“Mary had a little lamb”, says a British nursery rhyme.

«·𐑥𐑺𐑦 𐑣𐑨𐑛 𐑩 𐑤𐑦𐑑𐑩𐑤 𐑤𐑨𐑥», 𐑕𐑧𐑟 𐑩 𐑚𐑮𐑦𐑑𐑦𐑖 𐑯𐑻𐑕𐑼𐑦 𐑮𐑲𐑥.

The acroring precedes an initialism. Shavian initialisms are made how the long form words are spelled. If respelling it in Shavian might cause confusion, you can always switch back to Latin letters.

Linear algebra is the DNA of an AI.

𐑤𐑦𐑯𐑽 𐑨𐑤𐑡𐑩𐑚𐑮𐑩 𐑦𐑟 𐑞 ⸰𐑛𐑯𐑨 𐑝 𐑩𐑯 AI.

DNA is spelled ⸰𐑛𐑯𐑨, from the pronunciation of “deoxyribonucleic acid” (𐑛𐑦𐑪𐑒𐑕𐑦𐑮𐑲𐑚𐑴𐑯𐑿𐑒𐑤𐑰𐑦𐑒 𐑨𐑕𐑦𐑛) I chose to spell AI in Latin letters, since the same thing would get me something like “Ari” (⸰𐑸𐑦), which doesn’t feel right to me.