Dutton Speedwords: Pronunciation

VOWELS

There are five vowels - a, e, i, o, u - and two diphthongs - au, y

(a) The five vowels

Each of the vowels has a long and a short sound; Dutton gives the
pronunciation as:
Long:  ah, eh, ee, oh, oo [as in 'moon']
Short: as in - at, get, it, odd, put.

I assume the long sounds are meant to be pure sounds without the
diphthongization found in Southern British and in American speech.

The words illustrating the short sounds are to be understood in their
(north?) British pronunciation, i.e. a is more like American o in got, and
the short o is closer a "clipped" aw in law.

When used alone or final in a root word, the vowel is long; when followed
by consonant _in the same morpheme_ the vowel is short.
(Rules for addition of affixes and for compound words are given below.)


(b) The diphthongs

au = ow in cow, how &c.

y  has _two_ pronunciations:
 - when used alone (= 'was') it is pronounced:  yoh
 - elsewhere it is pronounced as igh in might.

(Apart from au, when two vowels occur together _in the same morpheme_, they
are sounded separately, presumably  with no interruption such as a glottal
plosive or Lojban's "'".)



CONSONANTS

Most have their standard English pronunciation, but:

c = tch in match
g is always hard as in get
j = s in measure (French j)
q = qu in quick (kw)
r is always trilled as in Scots English (Italian r)
s is always voiceless as in less

Note: sh is a digraph pronounced exactly as in English; elsewhere h is
always pronounced as an aspirate.

Radicals spelt with a single consonant as generally pronounced as the
consonant followed by a shwa, if the next word begins with a consonant or
before a pause, or by "a very short ee" if the next word begins with a
vowel.
The following are exceptions:

b (= but) is given by Dutton as English "but" - it is not clear
          whether the vowel is the southern British & American, i.e
          similar to a shwa, or northern English where it rhymes
          with put.
f (= for)       pronounced: froh
h (= has/have) pronounced: hee
m (= with)      pronounced: mitt
n (= not)       pronounced nott (English short o)
x (= if)        pronounced: ex
z (= as)        pronounced: zoo



STRESS

Generally on the first syllable of a word.
Exceptions:
(a) the suffix -o, _always_ takes the main stress.
(b) the verbal prefixes u- and y- are never stressed.



PREFIXES

The prefixes me-, my- and y- are normal, i.e. meh-, migh-, igh-

The prefix u- is prounced oong- (short oo and ng as in young).
(Note: "having" is hu, (not *uh) and is pronounced: hoong)



SUFFIXES

(a) single vowel
These are pronounced long.  If the are attatched to a preceeding vowel,
then a yod (English consonantal 'y') is pronounced between the two vowels,
e.g. dau (= allow, grant) is: dah-yoo

(b) the suffixes -c and -n
These are pronounced -choh and -(y)un (short-oon) and do not shorten a
preceeding vowel; e.g.
         lec (= mail) is: lehchoh
         gan (= scarcely) is: gah-yun

(c) the suffix -d
- does not shorten a preceeding vowel;
- is pronounced as -d after b,g,l,m,n,r and v;
- is pronounced -edd after all other consonants.

(d) the suffix -z
- does not shorten a preceeding vowel;
- is pronounced with an preceeding shwa after _all_ consonants.

(e) the suffix -r
generally follows the same rules as -z; however, if confusion might occur
with another radical, the suffix must be written as -er and pronounced
accordingly.  Examples:
         far (= agent) is: fahr
         junr (= child) is: [Zun@r]
but      maer (= maker) is: mah-yerr.
(ma = "to make" - mar = "marry, marriage")

(f) the suffix -m
- shortens a preceeding vowel;
- is pronounced -omm after all consonants.

(g) all other single letter suffixes
- shorten a preceeding vowel;
- after a consonant, the suffix is pronounced in its normal way "if it can
be articulated without difficulty". Otherwise -t is pronounced -ett and a
short -i- is pronounced before all the others.  Final -s must also be
pronounced -iss after -k- and -g- to avoid confusion with -x.

(h) the two letter suffixes -st and -za
-st is pronounced -ist and -za is pronounced -zah.  They do not shorten
preceeding vowels, e.g.
        rist (= clerk) is: ree-ist;
        sanst (=doctor) is: sannist
        perza (=dad,pop) is: perrzah



COMPOUND WORDS

When two radicals form a compound the first has an -ng [N] sound added if
it ends in a vowel, the vowel remaining long, and -ing [iN] added if it
ends in a consonant. (Stress stays on first syllable).
Examples:
     albe (= already) is: ALLing-beh  (ALL rhymes with shall!)
     diel (=telephone) is: DEENG-ell
     rysan (=hospital) is: RIGHNG-san

"On the rare occasions when a compound includes three radicals the syllable
'-ish' is inserted between the second and third components.  It is then
unnecessary to sound '-ing' between the second and third components.  When
the first component ends in a vowel the sound '-sh' follows the vowel
immediatedly without the interposition of the vowel -i- ."
Examples:
     opmekav (=anti-aircraft) is 'OPP-ish-mek-avv'
     ryefki (=gymnasium) is: RIGHSH-eff-kee



THE AMPERSAND

     & (= and) is like English `and'
     &e (= et cetera) is `ANdeh'



Sources:

Dutton World Speedwords
by Reginald J.G. Dutton
published by Dutton Publications, London.
3rd edition - 1946

Dutton Double-Speed Words: Companion to Text-Book
by Reginald J.G. Dutton
published by Dutton Publications, London.
3rd edition - 1946

(The "Double-Speed Words" of the latter title are the same as "World
Speedwords".  Reginald Dutton had a tendency to vary the names both of his
"World Brief-Script" (i.e. speedwords) and his shorthand (in the manner of
Pitman and Gregg) in his various publications.