Traditional Spelling Revised (TSR) is a conservative English-language spelling reform which seeks to apply the underlying rules of English orthography more consistently. It was created by Stephen Linstead and chosen by the International English Spelling Congress (IESC) as the preferred alternative to English orthography in March 2021.
The English Spelling Society, sponsor of the congress, afforded TSR a degree of support and publicity which was due to be reviewed in March 2025. TSR has consequently been mentioned several times in the media.
Changes TSR is broadly spelt the same as traditional English orthography, but some rules and spellings are applied more consistently.
'Magic e' rule Where a single consonant separates a vowel and a silent word final e, the first vowel is 'lengthened'. Unlike the doubling rule, the consonant is not doubled when 'lengthening' is undesired. Instead, the 'magic e' is dropped (unless it indicates soft or hard ⟨c⟩ or ⟨g⟩, then the consonant is doubled).
e.g. ⟨win⟩ / ⟨wine⟩, ⟨sad⟩ / ⟨sadist⟩, ⟨bit⟩ / ⟨biter⟩, ⟨fun⟩ / ⟨fuming⟩ The graphemes ⟨ar⟩ and ⟨or⟩ do not straightforwardly take on the "lengthened" forms. Instead ⟨-are⟩ represents and ⟨-ore⟩ is unchanged.
Doubling rule The doubling rule dictates that when a stressed vowel is followed by a single consonant and another vowel (which isn't 'magic e'), the stressed vowel is 'lengthened'. This can be negated by doubling the consonant between the two vowels, thus keeping the vowel short. Therefore letters are dropped or doubled from traditional spelling.
e.g. ⟨swim⟩ → ⟨swimming⟩ but ⟨fail⟩ → ⟨failed⟩ e.g. ⟨accommodate⟩ → ⟨⟩, ⟨committee⟩ → ⟨⟩ e.g. ⟨deddicate⟩, ⟨edducate⟩, ⟨perrish⟩ Doubled ⟨g⟩ before ⟨e⟩ may be spelt ⟨dg⟩ or ⟨gg⟩ to indicate whether it is soft or not.
e.g. ⟨flange⟩ → ⟨flandge⟩, ⟨hanger⟩ → ⟨hangger⟩ There is an exception for the letter ⟨i⟩, which does not lengthen itself unless it is part of the ⟨-ing⟩ suffix. e.g. ⟨lipid⟩, ⟨limit⟩ but ⟨wining⟩, ⟨winning⟩
Disambiguation of graphemes Where graphemes ambiguously represent more than one sound, they are rewritten to be less ambiguous.
e.g. ⟨ow⟩ represents completely different sounds in the words ⟨low⟩ and ⟨town⟩, so TSR uses ⟨ow⟩ for // and rewrites the other spellings thus: ⟨low⟩ → ⟨lo⟩, ⟨own⟩ → ⟨oan⟩.
Silent letters Where letters are rendundant to pronunciation, they are removed. This includes uses of word-final e that suggest "lengthening" when there is none (unless it suggests soft c as in ⟨office⟩). The homographs that this creates are distinguished using apostrophes, hyphens or diaereses.
e.g. ⟨wrong⟩ → ⟨rong⟩, ⟨gnash⟩ → ⟨nash⟩ e.g. ⟨love⟩ → ⟨luv⟩, ⟨dove⟩ → ⟨duv⟩, ⟨live⟩ → ⟨liv⟩ e.g. ⟨hour⟩ → ⟨'our⟩, ⟨write⟩ → ⟨'rite⟩, ⟨know⟩ → ⟨'no⟩, ⟨create⟩ → ⟨cre-ate⟩ / ⟨creäte⟩ e.g. ⟨though⟩ → ⟨tho⟩, ⟨through⟩ → ⟨throo⟩
Importantly, the following spellings are not redundant to pronunciation.
⟨easy⟩ not ⟨esy⟩, ⟨high⟩ not ⟨hi⟩, ⟨letter⟩ not ⟨letr⟩, ⟨lie⟩ not ⟨li⟩, ⟨pack⟩ not ⟨pak⟩, ⟨switch⟩ not ⟨swich⟩ Silent ⟨g⟩ is retained to preserve the long vowel: ⟨benign⟩, ⟨design⟩, ⟨sign⟩ Silent ⟨gh⟩: ⟨high⟩, ⟨bough⟩, ⟨bought⟩, ⟨eight⟩ Change ⟨gh⟩ /f/ to ⟨ff⟩: ⟨coff⟩, ⟨enuff⟩, ⟨laff⟩ Retain ⟨ph⟩ /f/: ⟨phone⟩
Homophones There are cases in which spellings of homophones will not merge (and therefore not be disambiguated using an apostrophe). Some phonemes have several different permitted spellings, which helps to distinguish homophones visually.
e.g. ⟨main⟩ / ⟨mane⟩, ⟨buy⟩ / ⟨by⟩ / ⟨bye⟩, ⟨stare⟩ / ⟨stair⟩, ⟨sight⟩ / ⟨site⟩ / ⟨cite⟩, ⟨none⟩ / ⟨nun⟩, ⟨scene⟩ / ⟨seen⟩, ⟨tail⟩ / ⟨tale⟩
Some words are respelt where an alternate spelling can be used instead of an apostrophe. However, neither ⟨or⟩ / ⟨ore⟩ / ⟨oar⟩ nor ⟨pore⟩ / ⟨pour⟩ are differentiated.
e.g. ⟨bear⟩ → ⟨bair⟩ (to distinguish from ⟨bare⟩), ⟨great⟩ → ⟨grait⟩ (to distinguish from ⟨grate⟩).
New graphemes Two new letter combinations have been introduced to unambiguously represent ⟨aa⟩ and ⟨uu⟩.
Exceptions The spellings of some common words that do not otherwise comply with the rules of TSR are preserved so as not to drastically change the look of text. These exceptions, called "sign words" in the documentation, are given in groups, though not all the words in these groups are changed.
personal pronouns and adjectives: I, you, he, she, we, me, us, they, your, their(s), them variations of verbs to be and to have: are, was, were, have, having names of numbers: none, once, one, two, four, seven, eleven, twelve, fourteen, seventeen days of the week: Monday, Wednesday, Saturday months and seasons of the year: January, February, April, July, Autumn demonstrative adjectives, pronouns and adverbs including ⟨th⟩: than, that, then, thence, there, these, this, those, thus interrogative pronouns beginning ⟨w⟩: what, where, who, whose other common words with unusual spellings: the, of, to(day/gether), any(one), (e)very, eye, nothing, some, with, woman, women, yes, either, (n)ever Some common suffixes are retained.
involving : -cean (ocean), -cial (special), -cian (musician), -cient (prescient), -cience (conscience), -cion (suspicion), -cious (spacious), -ssion (passion), -tial (partial), -tient (patient), -tion (nation), -sure, -ed involving : -sion (invasion), -sure (pleasure), -sual (casual)
Some common letter sequences, called "sub-groups" are retained even when irregular. (bald), (talk, walk), (falter, halt), (danger, angel), (taste, waste), (benign, sign), (find, mind), (old, gold), (folk, yolk), (therefore, shore), (brother, mother), (could, would), (warm, warn), (worm, worst). Proper nouns are kept the same, unless alternative spellings become accepted. Loan words are indicated in italics.
Sound-to-spelling correspondences Each phoneme has its own spelling patterns.
Vowels Phoneme Lexical set Grapheme Examples Notes /æ/ a pan, laff(au)auntc.f. ⟨ant⟩ /ɛ/ e pen, frend(a)manyBy association with ⟨any⟩(ai)again, againstNo note in word list /ɪ/ i pin, bisness, pritty, sistem(o, e)women /ɒ/ o pot, wosh /ʌ/ u pun, cum -otheranother, brother(o-e)none, nothing, some /eɪ/ a-e faceailaid, braik, gaige, baisseiveineighneigh -aystay -eythey, survey /iː/ e-e sceneeefeedealead"ea" /iː/ doesn't indicate /eɪ/ or /ɛ/: steak → staik, weapon → weppon.(e)me, he, she, weUsually /∅/, though /iː/ in monosyllables(ei)eitherCan also be pronounced with /aɪ/ /aɪ/ i-e side iedie, iedeäl -ywhy -yedye -uybuy -ighsigh(aye)ayeWould be /eɪ/ otherwise. Official respelling unknown. (eye)eyeWould be /iː/ otherwise. ⟨y⟩ and ⟨ie⟩ were suggested then rejected(ei)eitherCan also be pronounced with /iː/ /oʊ/ o-e boneoamoan -obanjoMany ⟨-ow⟩ forms are changed to ⟨-o⟩: low → lo, show → sho. -oefloe /juː/ u-e tune uedue, buetifulu-unitewfeweuEuropeFor words of Greek origin only /ʊ/ uustuud, puuding(oul)could, should, wouldUsually /aʊl/(o)womanUsually /ɒ/ /ɔɪ/ oi boiloyboy, deploying /uː/ oo food, throo(u-e)superUsually /juː/ /aʊ/ ou proudownow, gownoughbough /ɛər/ air stair, bair -arebareeirtheir(ere)there, whereUsually /ɪər/ /ɑːr/ ar star Double the ⟨r⟩ to change the vowel: ⟨harry⟩. "Harry" and "starry" don't rime. /ɑː/ a bath Undisambiguated from /æ/alpalmaafaather, tomaato, vaaz, draamaUsed for British-American differences in pronunciation and ⟨faather⟩ /ɔːr/ , or or, for, bord Double the ⟨r⟩ to change the vowel: ⟨horrid⟩(ore)oreKept for contrast in a few words, but mostly respelled ⟨or⟩(oar)oar(our)fourUsually /aʊ.ə/ /ɔː/ au fraudawlaw, lawyerallcallal- and implying totalityalwayscf. algebraaughdaughterough(t)bought /ɜːr/ er her Double the ⟨r⟩ to change the vowel: ⟨herring⟩, ⟨stirrup⟩, ⟨hurry⟩.irfirurfur(or)word, work, worshipUsually /ɔː/ /ɪər/ -eer beer -earhear -erehere /i/ happ -y fairy -ie(s)faries⟨-y⟩ becomes ⟨-ies⟩ for plurals. /ə/, /ɪ/ comm a, e, i, o, u afraid, defence, invisible, wonnton, opus Schwa. The indeterminate sound in many unaccented syllables. TSR usually retains the graphemes used in TS for these phonemes.
Consonants The following table lists the consonants that don't always represent the same phoneme, so /b/, /d/, /h/, /l/, /m/, /n/, /p/, /r/, /t/ and /v/ are omitted. Phoneme Grapheme Examples Notes/dʒ/jjamgginBefore /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /iː/, /aɪ/dgedgeDoubled before /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /iː/, /aɪ/ /f/ f frogphphoneIn words of Greek origin only/g/ggunExcept before /e/, /ɪ/, /iː/, /aɪ/ with no u (c.f. guide)/j/yyetibastion /k/ k kidccreamExcept before /e/, /ɪ/, /iː/, /aɪ/ ckflick, sockerWord-finally or doubledchchemistryIn words of Greek origin only/ks/xexterminateTreated as doubled (e.g. boxing)/kw/ququeen/s/ssunWord-initially, before or after /k/, /f/, /p/, /t/, as part of or after the prefixes ⟨dis-⟩, ⟨mis-⟩, ⟨con-⟩ and ⟨per-⟩ or beginning one part of a compound word (homesick)sshissccityBefore /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /iː/, /aɪ//ʃ/shshedcsociallyBefore in some dialects/tʃ/chchurch -tchswitch /θ/ th thing/ð/thbatheIn single syllable words before /ɛ/(o)th(er)otherIn subgroup /ʒ/ s(ure) plesureAs part of a common suffixsilesion
Inconsistencies
"Ch" with /k/ sound Words of Greek origin are supposed to retain "ch" for /k/, though these words are respelled in the word list:
technique → tecnique technological → tecnolodgical
Example text
Gettysburg Address Fourscor and seven years ago our faathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceeved in libberty and deddicated to the proposition that all men are creäted equal. Now we are engaged in a grait civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceeved, and so deddicated, can long endure. We are met on a grait battle-feeld in that war. We have cum to deddicate a portion of that feeld, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives, that that nation might liv. It is altogether fitting and propper that we should do this, but in a larger senss we cannot deddicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallo this ground. The brave men, livving and ded, who struggled here, have consecrated it far abuv our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the livving, rather, to be deddicated to the grait task remaining befor us that from these onored ded we take increassed devotion to that cause for which they gave the last fuul mesure of devotion - that we here highly resolv that these ded shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that guvvernment of the peeple, by the peeple, for the peeple, shall not perrish from the erth.
Reception
Notes and references
See also English Spelling Society List of reforms of the English language ENGLISH SPELLING SOCIETY Personal View 15 REGSPEL by Stephen Linstead (2014) English accents and their implications for spelling reform J.C. Wells, University College London 2022-08-16 accessed
External links Spelling Society Home page Further consultation 21-07-01