Date: Wed, 4 Jan 2006 18:07:45 +0000
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When we first learn to read, we are taught to pronounce words by
"sounding out" their letters.  This strategy works fairly well since
most letters correspond to phonemes, and where they do not, many
exceptions are easy to learn.  However, Dmitri Borgmann compiled a list
of words containing an Invisible Alphabet in "Beyond Language"
(Scribner's, 1967, p. 250).  His list contains one word for each letter
in the alphabet, where each word contains the phoneme usually
associated with its letter -- but the letter itself is not in the
word.  We call such letters "ghost letters."

A list of words for each letter in the alphabet makes sense if each
letter represents one phoneme, but this is the very assumption Dmitri
is having fun with.  Below is a similar list, which instead contains
words for each phoneme -- but the letter or letters that are usually
pronounced as the phoneme are missing.  We will call such missing
letters "ghost phonemes."

My choice of phonemes is entirely subjective, but I have been guided
somewhat by the International Phonetic Alphabet.  In compiling the list
I preferred words in which no letter represents the phoneme (e.g.,
BURGH /bu-ro/, MBIRA /em-bir-a/), words that are common, and words not
recently borrowed from a foreign language (if the word was recently
borrowed, the language of origin is bracketed, except French).  I do
not consider proper names or acronyms (e.g., POW for a word containing
the sound of L but not the letter L).  I do allow mispronunciations
that have become common enough to be listed in Merriam-Webster's
Collegiate Dictionary without a substandard or dialect label (e.g., I
do allow GOVERNMENT with the V pronounced like a B, but I do not allow
OPERA pronounced like OPRY).  Finally, I do not list words where it
makes more sense to consider a letter as silent than it does to
consider it as being pronounced unusually, e.g., PSALM.

Many people have seen the spelling GHOTI for FISH (GH sounded like F in
LAUGH, O sounded like I in WOMEN, TI sounded like SH in NATION).  From
the list below we also have the spelling WAS for FISH (W sounded like F
in TAW, A sounded like I in AGATE, S sounded like SH in SURE).  What
does CLOMP spell?  (Answer at end of article).

<pre>
 Phoneme Normal  Example         Ghost   Example
         Spelling                Spelling
 ------- ------- -------         ------- -------
 schwa   various                         CHASM

 \a\     A       ADD             E       THRESH
                                 EI      CEINTURE
                                 ER      CHERT
                                 I       MERINGUE
 				 UI      GUIMPE

 \a_\    A       APE             OI      QUOIT
         EI      LEI             EE      GEEST ~[German]
         ER      FOYER           OE      ROEMER ~[German]
         EY      PREY            UI      UITLANDER ~[Afrikaans]

 \a.\    A       AH              I       LINGERIE
         E       ENTREE          U       FURTHEST
         O       COT

 \b\     B       BABY            P       MUNICIPAL
                                 V       GOVERNMENT

 \ch\    CH      CHIN            SE      RINSE
         SI      TENSION         SH      WELSH
         TE      RIGHTEOUS       TH      POSTHUMOUS
         TI      QUESTION        CK      KOLACKY ~[Czech]
         T       NATURE          CZ      CZARDAS ~[Hungarian]
                                 KY      KYAT ~[Burmese]
                                 TT      AFFETTUOSO ~[Italian]

 \d\     D       DO              T       TAO ~[Chinese]
                                 T       PARTNER
                                 TT      BUTTINSKY
                                 Z       INTERMEZZO ~[Italian]

 \e\     E       ELF             -       MBIRA ~[Bantu]
         A       ANY             I       DOMINICK
         U       BURY            AOI     TAOISEACH ~[Irish]

 \e_\    E       EAT             A       BOLOGNA
         I       SKI             AY      QUAY
         Y       PRETTY          OIS     CHAMOIS
                                 J       FJORD
                                 AGH     SHILLELAGH ~[Irish]

 \f\     F       FAN             V       LEV ~[Bulgarian]
         PH      PHASE           W       TAW ~[Hebrew]
         GH      LAUGH

 \g\     G       GO              C       ECZEMA
         X       EXAM            K       KIP ~[Lao]

 \h\     H       HAT             -       THRESHOLD
         WH      WHO             G       GILA MONSTER ~[Spanish]
                                 J       JUNTA ~[Spanish]
                                 X       QUIXOTE ~[Spanish]

 \hw\    WH      WHO             JU      MARIJUANA ~[Spanish]
                                 HU      AYAHUASCA ~[Spanish]

 \i\     I       IS              A       AGATE
         E       AGED            O       WOMEN
         U       BUSY
         Y       GYM

 \i_\    AI      AISLE           AE      BRACCAE
	 AY      AYE
	 EI      HEIST
	 EY      EYE
	 I       ICE
	 UY      BUY
         Y       SLY

 \j\     J       JOB             CH      OSTRICH
         G       GEM             SI      TRANSIENT
         D       PROCEDURE

 \k\     K       KID             G       LENGTH
         C       CAB             GH      LOUGH ~[Irish]
         Q       QUEUE
         X       FIX

 \kh\    GH      AUGHT           H       HAZAN ~[Hebrew]
         CH      OCH             TH      CLARSETH ~[Scottish]
                                 X       XAT ~[Haida]

 \l\     L       LOW             -       KU KLUX KLAN

 \m\     M       ME              ND      GRANDPA, SANDWICH
                                 N       BOYSENBERRY, DAVENPORT

 \n\     N       NO              MP      COMPTROLLER
                                 M       MUSHROOM

 \o\     O       OFF             U       CRITERIUM
         A       ALL
         AU      HAUL
         OU      FOUR

 \o_\    O       OPEN            -       BURGH
         EAU     EAU             A       QUAHOG ~[Narraganset]
         EW      SEW
         AU      HAUT

 \oe\    EU      BLEU            OE      OEILLADE

 \oi\    OI      OIL             AW      LAWYER
         OY      BOY             AU      FRAULEIN ~[German]
                                 EU      KREUZER ~[German]

 \ou\    OU      OUT             O       COMPT
         OW      NOW
         AU      KRAUT

 \p\     P       PORT            -       HAMSTER
                                 F	 CHAMFER
                                 GH      HICCOUGH
                                 B       ABLAUT ~[German]

 \r\     R       RED             LO      COLONEL
                                 F       NEUFCHATEL
                                 U       MILIEU
                                 Y       BOGEYMAN
                                 J       JEN ~[Chinese]
	  			 H       SHA-SHIH ~[Chinese]
                                 OE      LOESS ~[German]

 \s\     S       SAY             Z       LOZENGE
         C       CELL            TH      HETH ~[Hebrew]
         X       WAX

 \sh\    SH      SHY             S       SURE
         TI      NATION          X       LUXURY
         CH      CHEF
         CI      APPRECIATE

 \t\     T       TEA             Z       PALAZZO ~[Italian]
         D       WUNDERKIND      -       MARZIPAN
         ED      PASSED
         -       ABUNDANCE
         -       ANSWER

 \th\    TH      THIN            GH      TROUGH
                                 D       AMADAN ~[Irish]
                                 T       TAOISEACH ~[Irish]

 \dh\    THE                     D       CAID ~[Spanish]
                                 DD      EISTEDDFOD ~[Welsh]

 \u\     U       UP              WO      TWOPENCE
         O       OF              OO      BLOOD
         A       WAS
         E       THE
         I       BIRD

 \u_\    U       GNU             -       GEODUCK ~[Chinook]
         O       DO              W       CWM ~[Welsh]
         OO      OOZE            WO      TWO
         EW      EWE

 \ue\    UE      BIENVENUE       U       GUDE ~[Scottish]

 \v\     V       VERY            B       HABDALAH ~[Hebrew]
                                 F       OF
                                 GH      TROUGHS
                                 PH      NEPHEW ~[British]
                                 W       WAGON-LIT

 \w\     W       WAY             -       ONE
         U       QUA             O       COIF
                                 V       PECCAVI
                                 JU      MARIJUANA ~[Spanish]

 \y\     Y       YARD            G       LASAGNA
         U       UNIT            J       HALLELUJAH ~[Hebrew]
         I       OPINION         J       JAEGER ~[German]
         EW      EWE             H       SENHOR ~[Portuguese]
         LL      BILLION

 \z\     Z       ZONE            TH      CLOTHES
         S       IS              G       PARMIGIANA
         X       XYLOPHONE

 \zh\    Z       AZURE           G       GENRE
         S       VISUAL          J       BIJOU
         SI      ASIA            X       LUXURY
         TI      EQUATION
</pre>





























Answer:  CLOMP spells GROAN (C sounds like G in ECZEMA, LO sounds like
R in COLONEL, nothing sounds like OA in BURGH, and MP sounds like
N in COMPTROLLER).