Also known as Ddu Toyproytur Spelinn Riyfuwrm
The Typewriter Spelling Reform came about while spending time with one of my typewriters. At the time, having been recently exposed to the Shavian system, I wanted to come up with an alternative Latin-based English orthography that I could use with my typewriter. My original plan was to exploit the properties of typewriting itself (particularly the free ability to print characters on top of other characters), but I found it much simpler and more convenient not to stick to any weird techniques.
This page makes heavy use of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). If you don't know exactly what symbols correspond to what sounds, consider having this interactive IPA chart or Wikipedia's help page on English IPA open in another tab.
This system was not designed for every dialect; this particular system works for Midland American English, or for just about anyone who speaks…
This reform will seem quite unorthodox, especially for non-native English speakers! This is because the typical a e i o u represent what they most often stand for in standard English orthography, and not what they stand for in many other languages (or the IPA, for that matter).
The pronunciations of letters b d f g h k l m n p r s t v w y are relatively uncontroversial, and are thus kept as their original, isolated pronunciations in English. Otherwise,
Because none of the letters a e i o u represent rounded vowels, w acts as a sort of “rounder” here. Speaking of, as I stated before, a e i o u doesn't represent the common /a e i o u/ because those sounds aren't necessarily what they represent in English (let alone the fact that my dialect technically doesn't have /o/). Take, for example, the template b-t; replace the dash with each of those five vowel letters: bat, bet, bit, bot, but. What sounds are those vowel letters making? That's right: /æ ɛ ɪ ɑ ʌ/. Take those and stack on w and y in their traditional senses, and you've got just about everything you need.
This system uses digraphs shamelessly; this isn't necessarily just because of the limitations of having only five-odd letters to reasonably represent vowels with, but because, despite how unorthodox these combinations may seem, they're logically consistent and can still be read. Plus, this system was originally devised on a regular American English typewriter, where accent marks can still technically be done, but are hacky and very inconvenient.
This system leaves out the letters q and x, potentially for more fringe, loaned sounds. For example,
In any instance where digraphs can get confused, use hyphens, especially when it's across syllables: “willingness” becomes wilinn-nes.
Note that many, many words can be validly spelled in multiple different ways, just as those words can be validly pronounced in multiple different ways (You'll see some of these happening in the Examples section):
In instances where quick speech makes some consonants syllabic, preceding vowels are optional: “listen” can be spelled lisin or lisn.
In instances where /t d/ get mutated into /ʧ ʤ/ before rhotics like /ɹ/ or /ɚ/, as in the words “endure” and “tray,” prefer t d rather than c j: write indur instead of injur, and write trey instead of crey.
Most of these are quotes; I have not included the names to which they're attributed because transliterating names to “look weird” would be pretty disrespectful.
U neyssun iz fuwrmd bay ddu wilinn-nes uv iyc uv us tu sser in ddu riysponsibilitiy fuwr uphuwldinn ddu komin guud.
A nation is formed by only by the willingness of each of us to share in the responsibility for upholding the common good.
“Kunsidur yiy ddis,” ddu juj sed, in un olmuwst ssawtinn vuwys, “fuwr wickraft biy indiyd ey viktumlis kraym, wiy mey uwnliy riylay on ddu evidens pruvaydid tiw us.”
“Consider ye this,” the judge said, in an almost shouting voice, “for witchcraft be indeed a victimless crime, we may only rely on the evidence provided to us.”
Oym kunvinsd uv ddis: Guud dun eniywer iz guud dun evriywer. Fuwr u ceynj, stort bay spiykinn tu piypul rattur ddun wokinn bay ddem loyk ddeyr stuwnz ddat duwnt matur. Az lonn az yur briyddinn, its nevur tiw leyt tu diw sum guud.
I'm convinced of this: Good done anywhere is good done everywhere. For a change, start by speaking to people rather than walking by them like they're stones that don't matter. As long as you're breathing, it's never too late to do some good.
It mey biy u ruflekssun on hyiwmin neycur, ddat suc duvisiz ssuud biy nesuseriy tiw kuntruwl ddiy ubyiwsiz uv guvurnmint. But wut iz guvurnmint itself, but ddu greytist uv ol ruflekssunz on hyiwmin neycur? If men wur eynjulz, no guvurnmint wuud biy nesuseriy. If eynjulz wur tiw guvurn men, nayddur eksturnul nuwr inturnul kuntruwlz on guvurnmint wuud biy nesuseriy. In freyminn u guvurnmint wic iz tu biy udministurz bay men uwvur men, ddu greyt difikultiy loyz in ddis: yiw must furst uneybl ddu guvurnmint tu kuntruwl ddu guvurnd; end in ddu nekst pleys ubloyj it tu kuntruwl itself.
It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.
Greyt wurks uv ort hav nuw muwr ufektinn lesin fur us dden ddis. Ddey tiyc us tiw uboyd boy or sponteyniyus impressin witt guud-hyiwmurd infleksubiliti dden muwst wen ddu huwl kroy uv vuwysiz iz on ddiy uttur soyd. Els, tumoruw u streynjur wil sey witt masturliy guud sens prusoysliy wut wiy hav ttot n felt ol ddu toym, end wiy ssal biy fuwrsd tu teyk witt sseym or uwn upinyin frum unuddur.
Great works of art have no more affecting lesson for us than this. They teach us to abide by our spontaneous impression with good-humored inflexibility than most when the whole cry of voices is on the other side. Else, to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another.
Uv kuwrs, in kumurssulz nd propugandu filmz, ddu prudiwsurz duwnt wont tu liyv u speys: ddu stratijiy uv propugandu iz not tu liyv u speys, not tu liyv eniy kwescun. Kumurssulz or propugandu tiwlz in wic imij end myiwzik or lokd tugeddur in uwrdur tu meyk un eksplisit puwynt, like “Boy ddiyz ssiwz” uwr “Guw tu ddis kusiynuw.” Ddu stratijiy uv ort iz prusoysliy ddiy opusit.
Of course, in commercials and propaganda films, the producers don't want to leave a space: the strategy of propaganda is not to leave a space, not to leave any question. Commercials are propaganda tools in which image and music are locked together in order to make an explicit point, like “Buy these shoes” or “Go to this casino.” The strategy of art is precisely the opposite.