Contents -- List of tables -- About the author -- Acknowledgments -- A 40-year gestation -- How to use this book -- 1. Introduction -- 1.1 Context -- 1.2 Aims -- 1.3 Some terminology -- 1.4 Phonemes -- 1.5 Long and short vowels -- 1.6 Graphemes -- 1.7 Consonant clusters and 'blends' -- 1.8 Split digraphs and 'magic ' -- 1.9 Stem words and derived forms -- 1.10 Positions within words -- 1.11 Open and closed syllables -- 1.12 '2-phoneme graphemes' -- 1.13 'Regular' correspondences -- 2. The phonemes of spoken English -- 2.1 Choosing an accent to analyse -- 2.2 How many phonemes? -- 2.3 The consonant phonemes of Received Pronunciation -- 2.4 The vowel phonemes of Received Pronunciation -- 2.5 Polysyllabic words and word stress -- 3. The phoneme-grapheme correspondences of English, 1: Consonants -- 3.1 The general picture: the regular spellings of English consonant phonemes -- 3.2 Order of description -- 3.3 Frequencies -- 3.4 The main system and the rest -- 3.5 Consonants with doubled spellings which are rare in one-syllable words: /b d g m n p t/, plus /r/ -- 3.5.1 /b/ as in by -- 3.5.2 /d/ as in dye -- 3.5.3 /g/ as in goo -- 3.5.4 /m/ as in my -- 3.5.5 /n/ as in nigh -- 3.5.6 /p/ as in pie -- 3.5.7 /t/ as in tie -- 3.5.8 /r/ as in rye -- 3.6 /r/-linking -- 3.7 Consonants with doubled spellings which are regular at the end of one-syllable words after a short vowel spelt with one letter: /k ʧ f ʤ l s v z/ -- 3.7.1 /k/ as in coo -- 3.7.2 /ʧ/ as in chew -- 3.7.3 /f/ as in few -- 3.7.4 /ʤ/ as in jaw -- 3.7.5 /l/ as in law -- 3.7.6 /s/ as in sue -- 3.7.7 /v/ as in view -- 3.7.8 /z/ as in zoo -- 3.8 Consonants without doubled spellings: /h ŋ ∫ ʒ θ ð w j/ -- 3.8.1 /h/ as in who -- 3.8.2 /ŋ/ as in ring -- 3.8.3 /∫/ as in fission -- 3.8.4 /ʒ/ as in vision -- 3.8.5 /θ/ as in thigh -- 3.8.6 /ð/ as in thy -- 3.8.7 /w/ as in well.

3.8.8 /j/ as in yell, union -- 4. How do you know when to write a consonant letter double? -- 4.1 The easy bits -- 4.1.1 Consonant letters are never doubled at the beginning of a word -- 4.1.2 Some consonant letters are never or almost never written double: -- 4.1.3 Doubled consonant letters are very rare after long vowels and diphthongs -- 4.2 The main consonant-doubling rule (Part 1 of 'double, drop or swop' - see sections 6.4-5) -- 4.3 Other hints for writing a consonant letter double -- 4.3.1 Where the two parts of a compound word, or an affix and a stem, have adjacent identical consonant letters, the consonant letter is written double -- 4.3.2 Monosyllabic content words with /VC/ structure have a double consonant letter: the Three-Letter Rule -- 4.3.3 Consonant phonemes /b d f g k p t z/ are almost always spelt with double letters before final /əl/ spelt where the immediately preceding vowel phoneme is short, stressed and spelt with a single letter -- 4.3.4 More generally, consonant letters are mostly written double in the middle of two-syllable words where the immediately preceding vowel phoneme is short and written with a single letter -- 4.3.5 At the end of one-syllable words where the preceding vowel phoneme is short and spelt with a single letter the following consonant phonemes are mostly written double: /k ʧ f ʤ l s z v/ -- 4.4 Hints for not writing consonant letters double -- 4.4.1 At the end of one-syllable words where the preceding vowel phoneme is short and spelt with a single letter the following consonant phonemes are mostly written single: /b d g m n p t/ -- 4.4.2 When do you not write consonant phonemes /b d f g k p t z/ with double letters before final /əl/ spelt ? -- 4.4.3 Digression: When do you not spell final /əl/ as ?.

4.4.4 When do you not write doublable consonant letters double in the middle of two-syllable words (other than those ending in /əl/)? -- 4.4.5 The third syllable from the end of a word rarely ends in a doubled consonant letter -- 4.4.6 Doubled consonant letters are very rare immediately before the endings -- 4.4.7 When do you reduce to ? -- 4.5 Learn the rest -- 4.6 Consolation prizes -- 4.6.1 Consonant letters are never written triple -- 4.6.2 Final + -- 5. The phoneme-grapheme correspondences of English, 2: Vowels -- 5.1 The general picture: the principal spellings of English vowel phonemes -- 5.2 Order of description -- 5.3 The main system and the rest -- 5.4 Short pure vowels: /æ e ɪ ɒ ʌ ʊ ə/ -- 5.4.1 /æ/ as in ash -- 5.4.2 /e/ as in end -- 5.4.3 /ɪ/ as in ink -- 5.4.4 /ɒ/ as in ox -- 5.4.5 /ʌ/ as in up -- 5.4.6 /ʊ/ as in pull -- 5.4.7 /ə/ (the schwa vowel) as in the first sound in about -- 5.5 Long pure vowels (other than /iː, uː/): /ɑː ɜː ɔː/ -- 5.5.1 /ɑː/ as in aardvark -- 5.5.2 /ɜː/ as in earl -- 5.5.3 /ɔː/ as in awe -- 5.6 Diphthongs (other than /eɪ, aɪ, əʊ/): /ɔɪ aʊ eə ɪə ʊə/ -- 5.6.1 /ɔɪ/ as in oyster -- 5.6.2 /aʊ/ as in ouch -- 5.6.3 /eə/ as in air -- 5.6.4 /ɪə/ as in ear -- 5.6.5 /ʊə/ as in rural -- 5.7 Letter-name vowels: /eɪ iː aɪ əʊ juː/, plus /uː/ -- 5.7.1 /eɪ/ as in aim -- 5.7.2 /iː/ as in eel -- 5.7.3 /aɪ/ as in ice -- 5.7.4 /əʊ/ as in oath -- 5.7.5 /juː/ as in union -- 5.7.6 /uː/ as in ooze -- 6. Some spelling rules for vowels -- 6.1 ' before except after ' -- 6.2 'To spell the names of letters in one-syllable words ending with a single consonant phoneme, write the vowel-name letter and the consonant letter and magic ' -- 6.3 'In non-final syllables of stem words, spell letter-name vowels with their name letters'.

6.4 -deletion (Part 2 of 'double, drop or swop') -- 6.5 -replacement (Part 3 of 'double, drop or swop') -- 6.6 -replacement, -deletion and -insertion -- 6.7 -- 6.8 -- 6.9 Using related forms to spell schwa -- 6.10 Elided vowels -- 7. Special processes -- 7.1 Dual-functioning -- 7.1.1 Letter -- 7.1.2 Letter -- 7.1.3 Letter -- 7.1.4 Letter -- 7.2 Surfacing sounds -- 7.2.1 Sounds which surface in stem-initial position -- 7.2.2 Sounds which surface in medial position -- 7.2.3 Sounds which surface in stem-final position -- 8. The graphemes of written English -- 8.1 Choosing a written variety to analyse -- 8.2 How many graphemes, and how many correspondences? -- 8.3 The graphemes of the main system and the rest -- 9. The grapheme-phoneme correspondences of English, 1: Graphemes beginning with consonant letters -- 9.0 Unwritten consonant phonemes -- 9.1 General introduction to the grapheme-phoneme correspondences -- 9.2 When is a digraph not a digraph? -- 9.3 Frequencies -- 9.4 The general picture: the regular pronunciations of English graphemes beginning with consonant letters -- 9.5 Order of description -- 9.6 -- 9.7 -- 9.8 -- 9.9 -- 9.10 -- 9.11 -- 9.12 -- 9.13 -- 9.14 -- 9.15 -- 9.16 -- 9.17 -- 9.18 -- 9.19 -- 9.20 -- 9.21 -- 9.22 -- 9.23 -- 9.24 -- 9.25 -- 9.26 -- 9.27 -- 9.28 -- 9.29 -- 9.30 -- 9.31 -- 9.32 -- 9.33 -- 9.34 -- 9.35 -- 9.36 -- 9.37 -- 9.38 -- 9.39 -- 9.40 -- 9.41 -- 9.42 -- 9.43 -- 9.44 Some useful generalisations about graphemes beginning with consonant letters.

10. The grapheme-phoneme correspondences of English, 2: Graphemes beginning with vowel letters -- 10.1 The general picture: the regular pronunciations of English graphemes beginning with vowel letters -- 10.2 Order of description -- 10.3 -- 10.4 -- 10.5 -- 10.6 -- 10.7 -- 10.8 -- 10.9 -- 10.10 -- 10.11 -- 10.12 -- 10.13 -- 10.14 -- 10.15 -- 10.16 -- 10.17 -- 10.18 -- 10.19 -- 10.20 -- 10.21 -- 10.22 -- 10.23 -- 10.24 -- 10.25 -- 10.26 -- 10.27 -- 10.28 -- 10.29 -- 10.30 -- 10.31 -- 10.32 -- 10.33 -- 10.34 -- 10.35 -- 10.36 -- 10.37 -- 10.38 -- 10.39 -- 10.40 -- 10.41 Correspondences of (±word-final ) in content words with no other vowel letters (monosyllables) -- 10.42 Correspondences of in words with at least one later vowel letter other than 'silent' (polysyllables) -- 10.43 Consolation prize? -- 11. Evaluating some pronunciation rules for vowel graphemes -- 11.1 Some history -- 11.2 'When there are two vowels side by side, the long sound of the first one is heard and the second is usually silent.' -- 11.3 'When a written word has only one vowel letter, and that letter is followed by at least one consonant letter other than , the vowel has its usual short pronunciation.' -- 11.4 'When a final is preceded by a consonant letter other than and that consonant is preceded by a single vowel letter, the final is silent and the other vowel letter has its letter-name ('long') sound.' -- 11.5 'When follows and is not followed by , or by any consonant letter plus , it is pronounced /ɒ/.'.

11.6 'When is the final letter in a word, it always has a vowel sound, either alone or in combination with a preceding .'.