Truespel phonetics is scientifically derived from US English phonics. This presentation shows how and why Truespel is needed as an international phonetic guide

1. 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

2. 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

3. Alphabet – Set of letters (26) for spelling English
Alphabetical principle – letters stand for speech sounds
Phonabet – Total Set of phonemes in a language
Phonemes – Speech sounds (40 in US English)
Graphemes – written phonemes in a phonetic system
Tradspel – Traditional spelling (orthography)
Tradneme – various spellings of a phoneme in tradspel
Phonics - Examines the typical tradnemes of language
Phonetics – System of graphemes (as in dictionary keys) plus
other cues illustrating pronunciation (like syllabic stress)
Truespel Terms

4. 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

5. The Voice of America (VOA) is the official external broadcast institution
of the United States federal government http://names.voa.gov
AL 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

6. (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

7. 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 slide
http://bit.ly/13MLm4P
The Basics of Truespel Phonetics
and the 40 Sounds of US English

9. 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 at
https://www.screenr.com/V0ZN - in raw hits
Truespel Integrates Phonics with Phonetics

12. 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

13. 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 phonetics
https://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

14. Good readers correlate with the ability to sound out
words according to the National Reading Panel of 2000
Phonetics is in the Common Core - http://justpaste.it/comcoreenglish
3rd Grade Reading Results
FCAT in my county = 20% reading failures for last 2 years 2013, 2014
Lucy Calkins teaching method http://bit.ly/1pUN8FJ
Ohio “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

15. 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

16. 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

17. --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

18. 95% of Scientific Journals are in English
English is the Lingua Franca of the World

19. 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

20. “Synthetic Phonics” http://bit.ly/1egMtIg
Now 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

21. 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

22. Pronunciation – words in text - see dinosaur names:
http://www.screenr.com/dxHN
Statistics – Phoneme popularity of each letter analyzed
http://justpaste.it/aqe
Translation – “Happy Birthday” in 15 Languages
http://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

23. Monthly Hits on the Converter Are Increasing

24. 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

25. The following will all come together via truespel See
http://justpaste.it/truespelnow
1. Dictionary Pronunciation Guides
2. Translation Guides (other languages)
3. Reading Teachers Guides and Primers
4. Phonemic Awareness Aptitude Testing
5. ESL Guides
(See S. Korean high school ESL trials - http://justpaste.it/koreatrials
The Truespel Result - Literacy Integration

26. 1. Fit truespel into Common Core for k-1
2. Standardize teacher training of phonetics http://justpaste.it/teachertrain
3. Create user feedback sites
4. Create user game sites with truespel
5. Expand the web site with more information http://truespel.com
6. Write other languages in truespel phonetics
7. Fit truespel into ESL instruction, measurement
8. Calibrate truespel for phonemic awareness aptitude assessment
9. Upgrade dictionaries and translation guides with truespel phonetics
10. Eventually stablish one phonetic spelling system for all languages
Note: Truespel has been mentioned as a phonetic respelling of the Korean language
Future Work - Truespel Partnering Tasks
and Projects

27. Creator: Thomas E. Zurinskas, tzurinskas@yahoo.com
Location: Greenacres FL, Palm Beach County
Website: http://truespel.com
Converter: http://truespel.com/en
Tutorials: 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