Renglish
From "Re-English" but removing one "E".
Preface
This is the result of an independent activity spawned from my casual interest in linguistics and writing. This experimental “rewriting system” is based on incorporating a few letters no longer used in the English language along with some from languages which influenced English, plus some lesser used practices.
The result is a very similar writing system to English which slightly reduces the number of characters used in a body of text while retaining (if not improving) phonetic representation.
This is not a serious attempt at reforming English as they don’t target perceived issues and contain some inconsistencies in design, but I would be flattered if some elements were picked up by others (Thorn and Ethel are pretty cool letters).
The Changes
The first three letters are “þ” (thorn), “ȝ” (yogh), and “ſ” (long s): those no longer used in English. More info here.
Thorn / Þþ
To be used in place of “th”.
In English, “th” covers both the voiced “th” sound (as in “this”) and the unvoiced “th” sound (as in “thanks”), so “þ” will do the same.
Yogh / Ȝȝ
To be used in place of “gh” if it doesn’t make the “g” sound.
In English, this is usually silent, as in the cursed 4-letter “ough” combo, except when used at the beginning of a word. However “gh” does represent a sound in other languages (via transliteration) and did so for the English of yore. That’s what “ȝ” will cover.
Long s / ſ
To be used in place of the first “s” when there are two “s”es (basically “ss” becomes “ſs”).
In English, this was actually the way “s” was written, with the curlier version we’re used to being a variant which appeared at the end of words or sometimes as the second “s” in a pair. The last rule is what Renglish uses. Interestingly enough, a letter in German (the “ß”, which represents “ss”) arose from these two letters (consider how “ß” looks like “ſs” fused together).
The rest are borrowed from other languages or systems (which English may or had utilized), but some are also lesser used practices.
C-cedilla / Çç
To be used in place of “c” when it makes the “s” sound.
This is used in French and other romance languages to represent the “s” sound.
Nasalized o / Õõ
To be used in place of “on” except at the end of words.
This letter and how Renglish uses it was inspired by French, which contains nasal vowels, and how the IPA represents such vowels. To represent nasal vowels, French typically writes them as the vowel to be nasalized followed by an “n”. However, the IPA (and some other languages) represents nasalization by adding the tilde over a vowel. Renglish does not use nasalization and only uses this letter to merge two English ones.
Ash and Ethel / Ææ and Œœ
To be used in cases where “ae”, “oe”, or “e” have been originally represented as “æ” or “œ”.
Both are used in words borrowed from Latin, French, and Greek, although “æ” has also been used in the English of old. This may be harder to implement for some, as in English English, some words split the old “æ” into “ae”, while in the US of American English, “ae” has been simplified to just “e”. An example is the old “mediæval”, which is spelled as “mediaeval” or “medieval” depending on which side of the Atlantic one is on. In Renglish, both return to “mediæval”.
Diaeresis
These are to be used in place of hyphenated vowels or when two vowels are pronounced separately.
These appear as two dots over a vowel (ä, ë, ï, ö, and ü), resembling the umlauts of German. This is something which is rarely used in English, only appearing in some American publications, as hyphens (if used at all) are preferred. This is something which is used in French too, such as in “Noël”.
And / &
To be used in place of “and”.
Simple as that. I would have used a different fancy unicode character for “ET”, such as "🙰", but that would not display properly on some devices.
To be used in place of “qu”.
Any English speaker can observe the plethora of words using “q” which is promptly followed by a “u”. Renglish “q” can be imagined as having the “kw” sound, but there are many foreign or loanwords where the “q” does not make that sound. But hey, it eliminates a perceived redundancy!
One last note to point out for all changes which replace two letters with one: They are not to be applied to pairs formed from compound words (or any combination of roots and affixes). As an example, the word “lighthouse” in Renglish is does not become “liȝþouse”, but instead becomes “liȝthouse”.
The Alphabet
This is what the Renglish alphabet looks like alongside their sounds:
| Letter | IPA | Sounds like the English... |
|---|---|---|
| A, a | /ɑ/, /æ/, or /eɪ/ | "ah", "a", or "ay" |
| Æ, æ | /i/ | "ee" |
| B, b | /b/ | "b" |
| C, c | /k/ | "c" with the "k" sound |
| Ç, ç | /s/ | "c" with the "s" sound |
| D, d | /d/ | "d" |
| E, e | /i/ or /ɛ/ | "ee" or "e" |
| F, f | /f/ | "f" |
| G, g | /g/ or /dʒ/ | "g" (hard and soft) |
| H, h | /h/ | "h" |
| I, i | /ɪ/ or /ai/ | "i" or "igh" |
| J, j | /dʒ/ or /j/ | "j" |
| K, k | /k/ | "k" |
| L, l | /l/ | "l" |
| M, m | /m/ | "m" |
| N, n | /n/ | "n" |
| O, o | /ɒ/ or /ɔ/ | "aw" or "o" |
| Õ, õ | /ɒn/ or /ɔn/ | "awn" or "on" |
| Œ, œ | /ɛ/ or /i/ | "e" or "ee" |
| P, p | /p/ | "p" |
| Q, q | /kw/ or /k/ | "qu" or "q" |
| R, r | /r/, /ɹ/, /ɻ/, etc | "r" |
| S, s | /s/ or /z/ | "s" |
| T, t | /t/ | "t" |
| U, u | /u/ or /ʌ/ | "oo" or "u" |
| V, v | /v/ | "v" |
| W, w | /w/ | "w" |
| X, x | /ks/ or /z/ | "x" |
| Y, y | /j/ | "y" |
| Z, z | /z/ or /ʒ/ | "z" |
| Þ, þ | /θ/ or /ð/ | "th" |
| Ȝ, ȝ | /∅/, /f/, /k/, etc | "gh" excluding hard "g" |
| & | /ənd/ or /ænd/ | "and" |
Text Sample
Here is a sample of text when the rewriting changes are applied (with the original changes) pulled from a very real Wikipedia page:
Renglish
Þe movement originated in þe aftermaþ of þe Koreän War, as an effort by some countries to counterbalançe þe rapid bi-polarization of þe world during þe Cold War, whereby two major powers formed blocs & embarked on a poliçy to pull þe rest of þe world into þeir orbits. Õe of þese was þe pro-Soviet soçialist bloc whose best known alliançe was þe Warsaw Pact, & þe oþer þe pro-American capitalist group of countries, many of which belonged to NATO. In 1961, drawing on þe prinçiples agreed at þe Bandung Cõferençe of 1955, þe Nõ-Aligned Movement was formally established in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, þrouȝ an initiative of Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Naſser, Ghanaiän President Kwame Nkrumah, & Indõesian President Sukarno.
English
The movement originated in the aftermath of the Korean War, as an effort by some countries to counterbalance the rapid bi-polarization of the world during the Cold War, whereby two major powers formed blocs and embarked on a policy to pull the rest of the world into their orbits. One of these was the pro-Soviet socialist bloc whose best known alliance was the Warsaw Pact, and the other the pro-American capitalist group of countries, many of which belonged to NATO. In 1961, drawing on the principles agreed at the Bandung Conference of 1955, the Non-Aligned Movement was formally established in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, through an initiative of Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah, and Indonesian President Sukarno.
Closing
Renglish was done for fun, mainly to see how the length of a body of text changes, and to see how readable it remains. However, there are still some inconsistencies, such as not fully applying the spelling rules used by the old consonants.
Futre Changes
I have mentioned the “ß” of German, which would take the place of the double “s”, but I chose to stay with the long s since that is what English actually used. I might later incorporate “ß” in the future to further shorten the number of letters needed in some words. If I go about doing this, I might need to figure out how to do so for other pairs of letters, such as the two “t”s in “letters”.
The “(not) nasalized o” rule (“on” to “õ”) was meant to be extended to other “vowel + n” pairs, such as “en”. For the “en” pair, I noticed it is usually followed by a “t” at the end of words and I wondered if I could combine triplets of letters, such as “ent” in “entertainment” into a single letter. For that case, no such letter exists, so I left this as a consideration for another time.
A similar case exists for “on” with the “ion” triplet found at the end of many words, which was my reason for retaining the “n” at the end of words. This may also be considered later.
Lastly, I had actually left out one more unused letter: that being wynn (Ƿƿ). It makes the "w" sound, which is represented by...
...well...
...the letter "w".
I can probably use it to merge "wh" in the future, as some English dialects do make a disctionction between "wh" and "w".
Further Samples
Here are some further examples of the rewriting system. How readable do you find them to be?
Renglish Sample 1
While English-speaking countries traditiõally use cards wiþ þe French suits of Clubs, Spades, Hearts & Diamõds, many oþer countries have their own traditiõal suits. Much of çentral Europe uses German suited cards wiþ suits of Acorns, Leaves, Hearts & Bells; Spain & parts of Italy & Souþ America use Spanish suited cards wiþ þeir suits of Swords, Batõs, Cups & Coins; German Switzerland uses Swiſs suited cards wiþ Acorns, Shields, yellow Roses & Bells; & many parts of Italy use Italian suited cards which have þe same suits but different patterns compared wiþ Spanish suited cards. Asian countries such as China & Japan also have þeir own traditiõal suits. Tarot card packs have a set of distinct picture cards alongside þe traditiõal four suits.
English Sample 1
While English-speaking countries traditionally use cards with the French suits of Clubs, Spades, Hearts and Diamonds, many other countries have their own traditional suits. Much of central Europe uses German suited cards with suits of Acorns, Leaves, Hearts and Bells; Spain and parts of Italy and South America use Spanish suited cards with their suits of Swords, Batons, Cups and Coins; German Switzerland uses Swiss suited cards with Acorns, Shields, yellow Roses and Bells; and many parts of Italy use Italian suited cards which have the same suits but different patterns compared with Spanish suited cards. Asian countries such as China and Japan also have their own traditional suits. Tarot card packs have a set of distinct picture cards alongside the traditional four suits.
Renglish Sample 2
Þe Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in a series of 12 caves around þe site originally known as Ein Feshkha near þe Dead Sea in þe West Bank (þen cõtrolled by Jordan) between 1946 & 1956 by Bedouin shepherds & a team of archæologists. Þe practiçe of storing worn-out sacred manuscripts in earþenware veſsels buried in þe earþ or wiþin caves is related to þe ancient Jewish custom of genizah.
English Sample 2
The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in a series of 12 caves around the site originally known as Ein Feshkha near the Dead Sea in the West Bank (then controlled by Jordan) between 1946 and 1956 by Bedouin shepherds and a team of archaeologists. The practice of storing worn-out sacred manuscripts in earthenware vessels buried in the earth or within caves is related to the ancient Jewish custom of genizah.
Renglish Sample 3
A hyçean planet is a hypoþetical type of planet wiþ liquid water oçeans under a hydrogen atmosphere. Þe presençe of extraterrestrial liquid water makes hyçean planets regarded as promising candidates for planetary habitability. Þey are usually cõsidered to be larger & more maſsive þan Earþ; density data imply þat boþ rocky Super-Earþs & Sub-Neptunes (like K2-18b & TOI-1231 b) can fit þis type, & it is þus expected þat þey will be common exoplanets. As of 2023, þere are no cõfirmed hyçean planets, but þe Kepler miſsion detected many candidates.
English Sample 3
A hycean planet is a hypothetical type of planet with liqid water oceans under a hydrogen atmosphere. The presence of extraterrestrial liquid water makes hycean planets regarded as promising candidates for planetary habitability. They are usually considered to be larger and more massive than Earth; density data imply that both rocky Super-Earths and Sub-Neptunes (like K2-18b and TOI-1231 b) can fit this type, and it is thus expected that they will be common exoplanets. As of 2023, there are no confirmed hycean planets, but the Kepler mission detected many candidates.
Renglish Sample 4
Þe first posts using John Titor's military symbol appeared on þe Time Travel Institute forums on November 2, 2000, under þe username TimeTravel_0 (Þe name "John Titor" was not used at þat time.) Þe posts discuſsed time travel in general, þe first õe being þe "six parts" description of þe compõents reqired for a working time machine & respõses to qestiõs from oþer posters about how such a machine miȝt work. Þese early posts tended to be short. A secõd þread was also made due to shortcomings of þe forum software used at þe time.
English Sample 4
The first posts using John Titor's military symbol appeared on the Time Travel Institute forums on November 2, 2000, under the username TimeTravel_0 (The name "John Titor" was not used at that time.) The posts discussed time travel in general, the first one being the "six parts" description of the components required for a working time machine and responses to questions from other posters about how such a machine might work. These early posts tended to be short. A second thread was also made due to shortcomings of the forum software used at the time.
Renglish Sample 5
Þe manuscript was created in þe early 13þ çentury in þe Benedictine mõastery of Podlažice in Bohemia, now a region in þe modern-day Czech Republic. Þe manuscript cõtains þe complete Vulgate Bible, as well as oþer popular works, all written in Latin. Between þe Old & New Testaments are a selection of oþer popular mediæval referençe works: Josephus's Antiqities of þe Jews & De bello iudaico, Isidore of Seville's ençyclopædia Etymologiæ, þe chrõicle of Cosmas of Prague (Chrõica Bœmorum), & medical works: an early version of þe Ars medicinæ compilation of treatises, & two books by Cõstantine þe African.
English Sample 5
The manuscript was created in the early 13th century in the Benedictine monastery of Podlažice in Bohemia, now a region in the modern-day Czech Republic. The manuscript contains the complete Vulgate Bible, as well as other popular works, all written in Latin. Between the Old and New Testaments are a selection of other popular mediaeval reference works: Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews and De bello iudaico, Isidore of Seville's encyclopaedia Etymologiae, the chronicle of Cosmas of Prague (Chronica Boemorum), and medical works: an early version of the Ars medicinae compilation of treatises, and two books by Constantine the African.
