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Script
Note consonant pairs. Tall
symbols indicate unvoiced, and deep,
voiced.
| CONSONANTS |
| UNVOICED |
|
VOICED |
| Latin |
IPA |
Shaw |
|
Latin |
IPA |
Shaw |
| peep |
   |
 |
|
bib |
 |
 |
| tot |
 |
 |
|
dead |
 |
 |
| kick |
 |
 |
|
gag |
 |
 |
| thigh |
 |
 |
|
they |
 |
 |
| fee |
 |
 |
|
vow |
 |
 |
| so |
 |
 |
|
zoo |
 |
 |
| sure |
 |
 |
|
measure |
 |
 |
| church |
|
 |
|
judge |
|
 |
| |
|
|
| Latin |
IPA |
Shaw |
|
Latin |
IPA |
Shaw |
| yea |
 |
 |
|
woe |
 |
 |
| ha-ha |
 |
 |
|
hung |
 |
 |
| loll |
 |
 |
|
roar |
 |
 |
| mime |
 |
 |
|
nun |
 |
 |
| |
|
|
| VOWELS |
| Latin |
IPA |
Shaw |
|
Latin |
IPA |
Shaw |
| if |
 |
 |
|
eat |
  |
 |
| egg |
 |
 |
|
age |
|
 |
| ash |
 |
 |
|
ice |
 |
 |
| up |
 |
 |
|
ado |
 |
 |
| on |
 |
 |
|
oak |
 |
 |
| wool |
|
 |
|
ooze |
 |
 |
| out |
|
 |
|
oil |
 |
 |
| ah |
 |
 |
|
awe |
|
 |
| are |
|
 |
|
or |
|
 |
| air |
|
 |
|
err |
 |
 |
| array |
|
 |
|
ear |
|
 |
| ian |
|
 |
|
yew |
|
 |
Shavian, having no capital
letters, utilises the so-called namer-dot
before the first letter of a word to indicate proper nouns or names.
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History and Uses
Linguist and playwright George
Bernard Shaw was a very vocal critic of the use of the Latin
alphabet for English. He referred to it as a great waste of time,
energy and paper. In his will he left £500 prize money for
a competition to be organised after his death, in an effort to create
a new, more practical alphabet for the English language. The competition
was held in 1958, and from 467 entries, the entry by Kingsley
Read won.
The first text to be printed in so-called Shavian
was Shaw's own play Androcles and the Lion.
Few other texts have been written in Shavian,
and it has not been seriously considered as an alternative to the
Latin alphabet.
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