fOneDiks

Introduction: fOneDiks is a phonemic alphabet based on English but usable in many other languages. It is designed to be easy to read and understand, and also to be typeable. The IPA and the common dictionaries' phonetic alphabets often use one symbol for a combination of two sounds, have two symbols for one sound (which can be represented by more than one letter), use symbols that are not represented in the common 128-character set, or even the 256-character set, or include unnecessary dipthongs (where two letters next to each other mean one sound together). If one symbol is used for two sounds together, it is not needed as long as the phonetic alphabet contains those two sounds seperately. Two symbols should not be used for one sound because that makes memorizing the alphabet, or even understanding it, harder. Symbols that are not represented in the typeable character set make typing on the computer in that phonetic alphabet impossible without a special font. Dipthongs are a problem because, if the th sound may be found in thin, the sound of t + h cannot be represented. fOneDiks is designed to have none of these problems.

Notation: Except for the Introduction above, all words in fOneDiks will be written in italics. All chapter headings will be larger and bold but still in the text.

Alphabet: Here are the basic letters that are used in fOneDiks for English:
a is used in mat (maD).
A is used in air (Ar).
b is used in bob (bob).
d is used in did (did).
D is used in tee (DE).
e is used in bet (beD).
E is used in fee (fE).
^E is used in yaw (^Ew).
f is used in for (fwr).
g is used in get (geD).
h is used in hut (huD).
i is used in hit (hiD).
k is used in cub (kub).
l is used in let (leD).
m is used in met (meD).
n is used in net (neD).
N is used in sing (siN).
o is used in pot (poD).
O is used in boat (bOD).
p is used in pod (pod).
r is used in rat (raD).
s is used in set (seD).
S is used in mesh (meS).
t is used in pith (pit).
T is used in the (Tu).
u is used in but (buD).
U is used in put (pUD).
v is used in van (van).
w is used in saw (sw).
W is used in too (DW).
^W is used in wet (^WeD).
z is used in fez (fez).
Z is used in pleasure (pleZUr).
Here are the letters in fOneDiks that are NOT used in English:
K is a k sound made at the back of the throat. Arabic is one language that uses it.
L is a Welsh sound formed by fixing the tongue on the top of the mouth and exhaling.
R is a rolling R; in languages with two r sounds, such as Spanish, this is the longer one.
x is the sound made in French instead of r. It is used in words like pour (pWx).
X is a sound used in languages such as German or Hebrew; it can be found in words like Channukah (XonWko).
y is a glottal stop.

Accented Letters: Because of the extremely wide variety of sounds, fOneDiks can be adapted to make different sounds through the use of accents. This is a list of the accents:
() enclose a group of sounds, forming a group.
[] enclose a sound or group of sounds that is an optional pronunciation.
^ makes a sound shorter.
* makes a sound longer.
' makes a sound louder.
" makes a sound much louder.
` makes a sound softer.
`` makes a sound so soft it is almost un-hearable.
~ makes a sound nasalized, as in French words.
- joins two letters in a way that they are pronounced together.
_ creates a small pause between syllables.
When these accents are used, all of them except -, _, (), and [] can be written above the letter they pertain to in handwriting. Of course, in a typed document, this is impossible; thus, they are usually written directly to the left of the letter that they modify. The accent ^ is used with E or W to create what are usually referred to as half-vowels (y and w in normal English writing).