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Shavian:Policy

Introduction

This is only a draft, and these are all up for discussion at the moment. Please discuss them on the talk page and we'll look for some kind of consensus. Suggestions (and citations for or against existing ideas) are very welcome. Marnanel 02:01, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

If there is systemic deviation from a policy which has broad consensus, a bot may be used to make bulk changes to the lexicon according to a rule.

Pitman on standardisation

In personal and intimate writing the forty-eight (40+8) characters of the Shaw alphabet may faithfully portray the pronunciation of the individual; but, as Shaw pointed out, too eccentric a dialect may hamper, and even destroy, effective communication. He considered that, though there was no need to standardize writing if not intended for publication, there was every need for conformity in print; standard spellings being particularly desirable when that print is intended for circulation throughout the English-speaking world.
In his Will, Shaw specified just such a standardization for this play. He laid down for it a 'pronunciation to resemble that recorded of His Majesty our late King George V and sometimes described as Northern English'. He was an expert in stage direction and, so it may be supposed, considered this pronunciation to be the best basis for comprehension with acceptability in reading as he had found it to be in speech from the stage.
But by all means write as you think fit, and leave experts to standardize printers' spelling. -- James Pitman, from the introduction to Androcles.

Remember, we are the experts of whom he spoke.

Policies

  1. A policy describes the way we do something on this wiki, and exists in order to make spelling more uniform and therefore easier to learn. Wherever a policy applies, that policy should be either followed or changed according to consensus.
  2. Policies are numbered. They should not be renumbered, so that they can be referred to more easily: if a policy is deleted, that number should be withdrawn.
  3. Spellings from Androcles are canonical and should not be changed unless they are clearly misprints, and in any case not without discussion.
  4. Policies about how to spell words which do not appear in Androcles should cite similar Androcles words where possible. You may find these words using the category, or by using the transliterator: they will appear in green.
  5. Spellings which appear in Shaw Script carry some canonical authority but not as absolutely as Androcles.
  6. "nk", as in ink, is 饜憴饜憭, not 饜懐饜憭. Rationale: think.
  7. Syllabic "n", as in maiden, is 饜懅饜懐, not 饜懐. Rationale: taken.
  8. Syllabic "l", as in candle, is 饜懅饜懁, not 饜懁. Rationale: jungle.
  9. 饜懇 and 饜懠 should never appear in stressed syllables, including in single-syllable words. They should be used extensively in unstressed syllables: Shaw Script gives[1] the examples of other, governor, acre, martyr as suitable uses for 饜懠. 饜懄 is also well-suited to unstressed syllables, as in eleven=="饜懄饜懁饜懅饜憹饜懇饜懐" in Androcles.
  10. Apostrophes which indicate possession (beast's, Androcles') should be retained. (Your thoughts are especially welcome on this point.)
  11. Apostrophes which indicate elision (don't) should not be retained.
  12. The naming dot should be used only on nouns and abbreviations. See also policy 14.
  13. Final unstressed -y (including in -ly) is, in general, rendered by 饜懄 rather than 饜懓. Rationale: piteously.
  14. Initialisms (that are not pronounceable as a word) use the initial sound of each word (if it can be determined), with a namer dot before each letter. Example: 路饜懀路饜憫路饜懃路饜懁 for HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), 路饜憭路饜憰路饜憱 for CSS (Cascading Stylesheets). Acronyms (that are pronounceable as a word) use a namer dot before the entire word: 路饜懐饜懎饜憰饜懇 (or 路饜懐饜懞饜憰饜懆?) for NASA.
  15. Possibly use more one-letter abbreviations, as suggested on page 145? 饜憮 "for", 饜憵 "be", 饜憿 "with", 饜懀 "he", 饜憰 "so", 饜憶 "do". (Still under discussion)
  16. Possibly use two-letter abbreviations, as suggested on page 146? 饜憺饜憫 "that", 饜憿饜憻 "was", 饜懀饜憹 "have", 饜懐饜憫 "not", 饜憺饜憰 "this", 饜憵饜憫 "but", 饜憮饜懃 "from", 饜懀饜憶 "had", 饜懀饜憻 "has", 饜憵饜懐 "been". (Still under discussion)
  17. On the use of 饜懢. (Still under discussion)
  18. On the use of 饜憳饜懌 versus 饜懣. (Still under discussion)
  19. Use 饜懅饜懏, 饜懆饜懏, and 饜懗饜懏 when appropriate (rather than 饜懞 or 饜懟 or some such). Rationale: very, apparently, and encourage, respectively. This means that "Mary, marry, merry" are distinguished as "饜懃饜懞饜懄, 饜懃饜懆饜懏饜懄, 饜懃饜懅饜懏饜懄". Use of 饜懄饜懏 as opposed to 饜懡 when appropriate, as in spirit (no mirror-nearer merger).
  20. Use r-ligatures even followed by a vowel (where non-rhotic speakers still pronounce an /r/) in words such as 饜懠饜懖饜憹 arrive. (Rationale: usage in Androcles.)
  21. Splits and mergers-- needs copying in
  22. Affricates vs stops
  23. If in doubt of the quality of a vowel, AHD4 (the American Heritage Dictionary, 4th edition), as cited e.g. on dictionary.com, may be an indication, since it makes roughly the same distinctions as what I take to be the "standard Shavian accent".
  24. On yod-dropping
  25. L-breaking not reflected in writing: "tile, boil, fowl" are written 饜憫饜懖饜懁 饜憵饜懚饜懁 饜憮饜懍饜懁 (i.e. as one syllable) whether or not they rhyme for the speaker with the two-syllable words "dial, royal, vowel" (饜憶饜懖饜懇饜懁 饜懏饜懚饜懇饜懁 饜憹饜懍饜懇饜懁).
  26. Final -age, -ege, -edge is -饜懄饜憽. Rationale: knowledge, courage.
  27. Final -ful is -饜憮饜懇饜懁, -fully is -饜憮饜懇饜懁饜懄. Rationale: fruitful.
  28. Unstressed initial pro- is 饜憪饜懏饜懇-. Rational: protect.
  29. Phrases in languages other than English should be spelt out in the alphabet customarily used for that language. You may use Template:Foreign for this: {{Foreign|fr|Ou est ma chatte?}}

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