The quest continues to make https://dechifro.org/shavian the best pronunciation tool available for the English language. The final boss is the Collins Scrabble Dictionary, all 279,500 words that can legally be played in a Scrabble tournament. If you've ever watched Will Anderson's YouTube channel, you know how ridiculously over-inclusive this word list is. A common question in his comment section is, "What language is this?"
I refereed the above game between two computer players, allowing NOULD, AIRTH, SERK/CIRQUE, LIN, DOW, and EELIER because they were just too good to refuse.
My translation is 99.97% complete -- only 86 words remain unshaved -- but it's only about 88% correct. I pull 1000 random Scrabble words, look them up in the Collins on-line dictionary, find about 120 that need fixing, end up fixing another 800 in the process, then score 88% again on the next try. The thought of crawling the entire dictionary to find and fix all 33,000 incorrect words is too horrifying to contemplate.
I did, however, verify all the two- and three-letter Scrabble words, of which there are 362 and 3086 respectively.
Our immense scientific vocabulary, far exceeding 100,000 words, comes almost entirely from Greek and Latin, which are five-vowel languages. How do you map sounds from a five-vowel language into a fifteen-vowel language? You might say, duh, use the five vowels that best match the donor language and discard the other ten. Wrong!
What you must do instead is assign two or three sounds to each of the five vowel letters, then have an Enigma-style rotor that assigns one sound to each vowel in a particular word. Always run this rotor from right to left so that each new suffix changes the entire word:
econ ๐ฐ๐๐ช๐ฏ
economy ๐ฆ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ฆ
economic ๐ฐ๐๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐
econometer ๐ฐ๐๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐๐ผ
econometric ๐ฆ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ง๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐
econometrician ๐ฐ๐๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฉ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐๐ฉ๐ฏ
This is a common argument against phonetic spelling. It breaks roots like nation/national, chaste/chastity, and thousands of others.
My Pilot Metropolitan has been โout for deliveryโ since Tuesday, so I took it upon myself to go to Blick Art and buy my second fountain pen (before my first has even arrived!). I also got a converter for this one, along with โNeptuneโ color water-based ink. All of this to make some pretty letters in a Clairefontaine notebook.
Using the converter was much easier than I expected, and the paper in this notebook performs fantastically - no feathering or bleeding at all. As the picture shows, this pen is a Japanese Platinum Plaiser with an F03 nib ($21.99 USD). All in with the two pens, the converter, the ink, and the notebook, Iโm just under $110.00. Not bad for starting out a hobby.
Itโs my first experience with a fountain pen, so I canโt compare it to another apple, so to speak, but vs ballpoints itโs pretty nice. Iโm looking forward to getting in some more time with it. Iโm also hoping to get my original selection delivered, and seeing how the two compare to each other.
For the curious, all three lines say the same thing. First line is the Shavian alphabet, second is Latin (and this is my good writing sample), and third is my own conscription and modification of Anglo-Saxon/Anglo-Frisian Runes for modern American English.
๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐ด๐ ๐ฟ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ก๐ถ๐ ๐ ๐๐ด๐๐ด๐. ๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐จ๐ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ค๐ ๐๐ด๐ฏ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐๐ณ๐๐ผ ๐ ๐ค๐ญ๐๐ด๐ฐ๐๐๐ฉ ๐๐ฆ๐
๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฆ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ค๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐ค ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ค๐ ๐ข๐ ๐ด๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐ค๐ ๐ ๐ฏ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ โข๐ค๐๐ฏ ๐๐๐ฎ๐๐, ๐๐ ๐ฒ๐ฅ ๐๐๐ ๐ฃ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ค ๐๐ ๐ข๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ โข๐๐๐ฏ. ๐ฅ๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ค๐ ๐ธ ๐๐ ๐๐ค๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐-๐๐ฏ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ธ ๐ญ๐ค๐ข๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ฏ ๐๐ ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ธ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ค๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ฃ๐ค๐๐๐ค. ๐ค๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ผ ๐๐๐ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ฉ ๐๐ฏ๐๐๐. ๐ฒ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ ๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ ๐๐๐ฅ ๐ ๐ฏ๐น๐ฅ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ค ๐๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ ๐ฒ๐๐พ.