World Orthography

The World Orthography (WO) is an alphabet and transcription system based on the Africa Alphabet and the International Phonetic Alphabet. In Daniel Jones’s 1948 Difference between Spoken and Written Language, an adaptation of WO for English is given with the letters a b c d ð e ə f g h i j k l m n ŋ o p r s ʃ t θ u v w x y z ʒ. The capitals of ð, ə, ŋ, ʃ, θ, and ʒ are: Ð (shaped like Ƌ), Ə, Ŋ (shaped like large ŋ), Ʃ (shaped like sigma Σ), Θ, and straight-bottomed Ʒ (shaped like reversed sigma).

World Orthography
Script type	alphabet
Time period	Invented 1948

Examples

English sample from Jones 1948:

Ðis paragraf ʃouz hwot Iŋgliʃ luks laik in wən form ov Wərld Orθografi. It wil bi noutist ðat it iz not posibəl tu yuz for pərposəz ov speliŋ ən egzakt reprezənteiʃon ov ði spic ov eni wən Iŋgliʃ-spiikiŋ gruup, bət ðat veiriəs adapteiʃonz hav tu bi meid in ordər tu rendər ðə speliŋ yuzəbəl bai ool sekʃonz ov ði Iŋgliʃ-spiikiŋ wərld. For instans, it iz probabli advaizabəl tu meik ði leter ə du dyuti for ði saund ʌ as wel az for ði saund ə, in akordans wið ði spiic ov meni in ði Norθ ov Iŋglənd and in Amerika hu du not distiŋgwiʃ ðiiz saundz. Laikwaiz it wil nou daut bi faund konviinien tu rait moust ov ði ənstrest ə-saundz wið ðeir prezənt speliŋz, sins ðei sou ofən ʃou releiʃonʃips tu aðər wərdz, az in pedant, pedantik, provident, providenʃal, meθod, meθodikal. Əgein it wil oolmoust sərtenli bi faund advanteijəs tu introdyus ə sərten nambər ov “wərd sainz” tu denout ʃort komon wərdz wið veiriabəl pronənsieʃion, for instəns a, ði, bi, mi, ʃi, du, tu, hu. A limited nambər ov wərdz wud hav oltərnativ speliŋz, e.g. pas, paas, grant, graant, soolt, solt, agein, agen, wið, wiθ.

See also

• Africa Alphabet
• Latin-script alphabet
• International Phonetic Alphabet
• Lepsius Standard Alphabet

References

• Firth, J. R. (January 1933). "Notes on the Transcription of Burmese". Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies. VII (1): 137–140. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00105488. S2CID 170841013.
• Firth, J. R. (January 1936). "Alphabets and Phonology in India and Burma". Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies. VIII (2–3): 517–546. doi:10.1017/S0041977X0014114X. S2CID 162218142.
• Harley, Alexander Hamilton (1944). Colloquial Hindustani. K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.
• Jones, Daniel (1942). The problem of a national script for India. Hertford: Stephen Austin and Sons.
• Jones, Daniel (1948). "Differences between Spoken and Written Language". Le Maître Phonétique. Troisième Série. 26 (63). Cambridge University Press: 1–8. JSTOR 44705274.
• MacMahon, Michael K.C. (1991). "The International Phonetic Alphabet". In Malmkjær, Kirsten (ed.). The Routledge Linguistics Encyclopedia. London: Routledge.
• Perera, H. S.; Jones, Daniel (October 1938). "The Application of World Orthography to Sinhalese". Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies. IX (3): 705–707. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00078460. JSTOR 608231. S2CID 122081842.