Editing English orthography (section)

=== Vowels ===
In a [[generative linguistics|generative]] approach to English spelling, Rollings (2004) identifies twenty main orthographic vowels of [[Stress (linguistics)|stressed]] syllables that are grouped into four main categories: "Lax", "Tense", "Heavy", "Tense-R".

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|-
! rowspan="2" | Letter
! colspan="2" |Lax
! colspan="2" |Tense
! colspan="2" |Heavy
! colspan="2" |Tense-R
|-
!IPA
!example
!IPA
!example
!IPA
!example
!IPA
!example
|-
! a
|{{IPAc-en|æ}}
|man
|{{IPAc-en|eɪ}}
|mane
|{{IPAc-en|ɑːr}}
|mar
|{{IPAc-en|ɛər}}
|mare
|-
! e
|{{IPAc-en|ɛ}}
|met
|{{IPAc-en|iː}}
|mete
|{{IPAc-en|ɜːr}}
|her
|{{IPAc-en|ɪər}}
|here
|-
! i
|{{IPAc-en|ɪ}}
|win
|{{IPAc-en|aɪ}}
|wine
|{{IPAc-en|ɜːr}}
|fir
|{{IPAc-en|aɪər}}
|fire
|-
! o
|{{IPAc-en|ɒ}}
|mop
|{{IPAc-en|oʊ}}
|mope
|{{IPAc-en|ɔːr}}
|for{{efn-lr|name=o-heavy-tense-r|no distinction between heavy and tense-r {{vr|o}} in most varieties of English (see [[horse–hoarse merger]]).}}
|{{IPAc-en|ɔːr}}
|fore{{efn-lr|name=o-heavy-tense-r}}
|-
! rowspan="2" | u
|{{IPAc-en|ʌ}}
|hug
|{{IPAc-en|juː}}
|huge
|{{IPAc-en|ɜːr}}
|cur
|{{IPAc-en|j|ʊər}}
|cure
|-
|{{IPAc-en|ʊ}}
|push
|{{IPAc-en|uː}}
|rude
| colspan="2" |{{efn-lr|name=u-heavy|{{vr|u}} in the {{IPAc-en|ʊ|,_|uː|,_|ʊər}} pattern does not have a heavy vowel.}}
|{{IPAc-en|ʊər}}
|sure
|}
{{notelist-lr}}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|-
! rowspan="2" | Digraph
! colspan="2" | Lax
! colspan="2" | Tense
! colspan="2" | Heavy
! colspan="2" | Tense-R
|-
!IPA
!example
!IPA
!example
!IPA
!example
!IPA
!example
|-
! rowspan="2" | ai, ay
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" | – || rowspan="2" |{{IPAc-en|eɪ}}
|bait|| colspan="2" rowspan="2" |–|| rowspan="2" |{{IPAc-en|ɛər}}
| air
|-
|essay
|Ayr
|-
! rowspan="2" |au, aw
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" | –
| rowspan="2" |{{IPAc-en|ɔː}}
|audio
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" | –
| rowspan="2" |{{IPAc-en|ɔːr}}
|aura
|-
|draw
|rawr
|-
! ea
| {{IPAc-en|ɛ}}
|dreamt||{{IPAc-en|iː}}
|dream||{{IPAc-en|ɜːr}}
|learn||{{IPAc-en|ɪər}}
|hear
|-
! ee
| colspan="2" | –
|{{IPAc-en|iː}}
|see|| colspan="2" |–
|{{IPAc-en|ɪər}}
|beer
|-
! rowspan="2" |eu, ew
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" | –
| rowspan="2" |{{IPAc-en|juː}}
|feudal
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" | –
| rowspan="2" |{{IPAc-en|j|ʊər}}
|neurotic
|-
|few
|Newry
|-
! oa
| colspan="2" | – ||{{IPAc-en|oʊ}}
|boat
| colspan="2" | –
|{{IPAc-en|ɔːr}}
|soar
|-
! rowspan="2" | oo
|{{IPAc-en|ʊ}}
| foot||{{IPAc-en|uː}}
| goose|| colspan="2" |–
|{{IPAc-en|ʊər}}
|poor
|-
| colspan="2" |–
| colspan="2" |–
| colspan="2" |–
|{{IPAc-en|ɔːr}}
|floor
|-
! rowspan="4" |ou, ow
|{{IPAc-en|ʌ}}
|southern
| rowspan="2" |{{IPAc-en|aʊ}}
|south||{{IPAc-en|ɜːr}}
|scourge|| rowspan="2" |{{IPAc-en|aʊər}}
| hour
|-
| colspan="2" | –
|now
| colspan="2" | –
|dowry
|-
| colspan="2" | –
| rowspan="2" |{{IPAc-en|oʊ}}
|soul
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" | –
|{{IPAc-en|ɔːr}}
|four
|-
|{{IPAc-en|ɒ}}
|knowledge
|know
| colspan="2" |–
|-
! rowspan="2" |oi, oy
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" | –
| rowspan="2" |{{IPAc-en|ɔɪ}}
|point
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" | –
| rowspan="2" |{{IPAc-en|ɔɪər}}
|coir
|-
|boy
|Moyra
|}

For instance, {{vr|a}} can represent the lax vowel {{IPAc-en|æ}}, tense {{IPAc-en|eɪ}}, heavy {{IPA|/ɑː/}}, or tense-r {{IPA|/ɛə/}}. Heavy and tense-r vowels are the respective lax and tense counterparts followed by {{vr|r}}.

Tense vowels are distinguished from lax vowels with a [[Silent e|"silent" {{vr|e}}]] that is added at the end of words. Thus, {{vr|a}} in ''hat'' is lax {{IPAc-en|æ}}, but when {{vr|e}} is added in the word ''hate'' {{vr|a}} is tense {{IPAc-en|eɪ}}. Heavy and tense-r vowels follow a similar pattern, e.g. {{vr|ar}} in ''car'' is heavy {{IPAc-en|ɑːr}}, {{vr|ar}} followed by silent {{vr|e}} in ''care'' is {{IPAc-en|ɛər}}. {{vr|u}} represents two different vowel patterns, one being {{IPAc-en|ʌ|,_|j|uː|,_|ɜː|,_|j|ʊə}}, the other {{IPAc-en|ʊ|,_|uː|,_|ʊə}}. There is no distinction between heavy and tense-r {{vr|o}}, and {{vr|u}} in the {{IPAc-en|ʊ|,_|uː|,_|ʊə}} pattern does not have a heavy vowel.

Besides silent {{vr|e}}, another strategy for indicating tense and tense-r vowels is the addition of another orthographic vowel forming a [[Digraph (orthography)|digraph]]. In this case, the first vowel is usually the main vowel while the second vowel is the "marking" vowel. For example, ''man'' has a lax {{vr|a}} ({{IPAc-en|æ}}), but the addition of {{vr|i}} (as the digraph {{vr|ai}}) in ''main'' marks the {{vr|a}} as tense ({{IPAc-en|eɪ}}). These two strategies produce words that are spelled differently but [[Homophone|pronounced identically]], which helps differentiate words that would otherwise be [[homonym]]s, as in ''mane'' (silent {{vr|e}} strategy), ''main'' (digraph strategy) and ''[[Maine]]'' (both strategies).

Besides the 20 basic vowel spellings, {{harvp|Rollings|2004}} has a [[Unstressed and reduced vowels in English|reduced vowel]] category (representing the sounds {{IPAc-en|ə|,_|ɪ}}) and a miscellaneous category (representing the sounds {{IPAc-en||ɔɪ|,_|aʊ|,_|aɪ}} and {{IPAc-en|j}}+V, {{IPAc-en|w}}+V, V+V).