Template:ITA+


 * See Initial Teaching Alphabet+ and Initial Teaching Alphabet+ (restricted character set)

See Initial Teaching Alphabet in Wikipedia.

Here we represent i.t.a. symbols using similar (or not so similar) Unicode characters.

the correct symbols see in Wikipedia.

Example

 * Example using the i.t.a. alphabet

t radiʃhonally wun ov ɟhe fiяst tsks ov ɟhe infant scl wo tω tĉh ĉhildren tω rd. i t i still, kwîet rîetly, a mæjoя prioccûepæʃhon, sins rdiŋ i a k tω muĉh ov ɟhe leяning ɟhat will cum læteя.
 * Example using the Unicode adaptation invented in Teflpedia

Note that "mæjor" should be "mæjoя" and "preoccûepæʃhon" should be "prioccûepæʃhon".

Consonants
Double consonants mean exactly the same as single consonants. The same is valid for "ck", "tĉh", "dj", and "dʒ".

Non-rhotic vowels
cute is a new lexical set, with the sequence /juː/.

goose is a new lexical set, with /uː/ not preceded by /j/.

GOOSE = goose + cute

Rhotic vowels
cure is a new lexical set, with the sequence /jʊə/.

poor is a new lexical set, with /ʊə/ not preceded by /j/.

CURE = poor + cure

Non-rhotic vowels followed by /r/
In these cases the vowel sounds with its normal sound, at least in Received Pronunciation. In General American there are exceptions for a, o and u (Mary-marry-merry merger, ɒr-ɔːr merger, and hurry-furry merger).

r vs я
In i.t.a. r is never silent, and я in Received Pronunciation is silent unless it is followed by a vowel. Below we can see all valid combinations of a vowel followed by r or я.

Uppercase letters
Uppercase letters are simply bigger versions of the lowercase ones. However, since most letters look bold when made big (with big>x ), in some cases it is preferable to use standard uppercase.

The CLOTH lexical set
Initially i.t.a didn't have a letter for the BATH lexical set, wich is pronounced /ɑː, æ/. Later, to be compatible with the General American accent, the "half-hook a" was invented (an "a" with a big loop, which for the lack of a Unicode character, we represent as ).

A similar situation happens with the CLOTH lexical set, pronounced /ɒ, ɔː/. The lack of special character is not problematic for several reasons:
 * Apparently there are no minimal pairs between CLOTH and LOT.
 * Words pronounced with /ɒ/ in Received Pronunciation and /ɔː/ in the United States can be divided in more than one set. Below we put some examples taken from Oxford Learner's Advanced Dictionary.
 * /ɔː/: belong, cloth, cost, cough, cross, dog, gone, moth, soft, song, strong, wrong
 * /ɔː, ɑː/: across, alcohol, along, boss, coffee, donkey, fog, log, long, loss, lost, off, offer, office, often, warranty
 * /ɑː, ɔː/: chocolate, golf, on, upon, wash


 * In the United States the Mary-marry-merry merger is very common, and in that accent LOT and CLOTH are pronounced with the same vowel, /ɑː/.

The only problem generated by the lack of CLOTH vowel is the /ɒrV-ɔːrV/ split. The i.t.a. sequence "or" as in "forest" is o+r in Received Pronunciation and o+я in General American. Therefore, the children being taught i.t.a. in American English must know an exception, wich is that "or" actually sounds "oя" (with the exception of "sorry", "sorrœ", "borrœ", and "tomorrœ", wich have a regular pronunciation).

An alternative would be to have another letter (e.g. "ø" to spell "førist"). In this case "or" could be used for "sorry". We even could use "ø" for all of the CLOTH lexical set (assuming we can agree on one).

The FORCE lexical set
i.t.a. can manage the FORCE lexical set very easily: fœяs, stœяy. However in "Winny ɟhe magpie" we see the spelling "story" (with an unlikely LOT vowel), which should be "stoяy" ( NORTH vowel). Similarly, in the cover of "Stoяi about j  zus ɟhe helpeя" we see "Stoяi" instead of "Stœяi".

National spellings
If i.t.a. were used in just one country (as it is now, because it is used only in the United States) it could be adapted to the local pronunciation. For a global alphabet this is absurd, because i.t.a. was modified (adding and я) specially to accommodate for different accents.

The following national adaptations could be done. However accents are not uniform in all of the same country, so there is some risk of alienating even a minority of the local population.

Variant words
Some words don't follow a pattern, just like currently we have "carburettor" and "carburetor" (cɑяburettoя and carburætoя in i.t.a). The following words either have different spellings in Received Pronunciation and General American, or a compromise spelling must be selected. See also American English v. British English § Variant words.

Redundant symbols
Several symbols are redundant, and the one preferred is the most similar to traditional spelling.

Homophones
(*) speculation. Maybe they're is spelled ɟhæя in i.t.a.

Contextual or ambiguous symbols
Several symbols have a different meaning depending on the context
 * i
 * Stressed it is /ɪ/: kit
 * Unstressed it is /i/ or /ɪ/ (the happ Y vowel): taxi, matяial


 * y
 * Before a vowel it is /j/: yes, biyond
 * Stressed it is /ɪ/: myţh
 * Unstressed it is /i/ or /ɪ/ (the happ Y vowel): copy, polynœmial

Note that "polyandrous" either is ambiguous (polyandros = /pɒliːˈændrəs/ or /pɒlˈjændrəs/) or it must be written "poliandros").

The following symbols have two values only in General American accent.

Number of symbols
It is usually said that i.t.a. has 45 symbols, 24 letters of the alphabet and several special symbols and ligatures:


 * 24 letters of the alphabet: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, u, v, w, y, z
 * 8 special symbols:, ɑ, ω, , ŋ, я, , ʒ
 * 13 ligatures: æ,, îe, œ, ûe, âu, ôi, ôu, ĉh, ʃh, ţh, ɟh, ŵh

However the symbol я ("r" with left tail) should be considered part of a digraph.

The "e" of "teяm" /ɜː/ is different from the "e" of "ĉheriʃh" //. This means that "eя" must be considered a digraph, and not two symbols. In the spirit of i.t.a. these digraphs should be ligatures, and the "tail" that is part of the я symbol easily blends with the previous letter.


 * 11 rhotic digraphs and trigraphs: eя, iя, oя, uя, ωя, æя, я, îeя, œя, ûeя, ôuя
 * 2 optional digraphs and trigraphs: ɑя, âuя

In the case of "ɑя" and "âuя" the vowel sound is the same as "ɑr" and "âur", and therefore it is not necessary to consider these as digraphs or ligatures.

Comma gets a cûeя
Well, hя’ a stœяy foя y: Sara p  erry wo a veterinary nuяs h had bn wuяkiŋ dæly at an œld z in a dieяted district ov ɟhe territory, sœ ʃhi wo very happy tω stɑяt a nûe job at a sûepeяb prîevit practis in  n  oяţh Skwæя nя ɟhe  d  ûek Strt  t  ôueя. ɟh at æяia wo muĉh nяeя foя heя and mœя tω heя lîekiŋ. ven sœ, on heя fiяst moяniŋ, ʃhi felt stresst. ʃhi ate a bœl ov porrij, ĉheckt heяself in ɟhe mirroя and woʃht heя fæs in a hurry, ɟh  en ʃhi pωt on a plæn yelœ dress and a fls jackit, pickt up heя kit and hedid foя wuяk.

ŵh en ʃhi got ɟhæя, ɟhæя wo a wωman wiɟh a gs wætiŋ foя heя. ɟh e wωman gæv Sara an offiʃhal letteя from ɟhe vet. ɟh e letteя implîed ɟhat ɟhi animal cωd bi suffeяiŋ from a ræя foяm ov fωt and môuţh di, ŵhiĉh wo suяprîeiŋ, bico noяmally y wωd œnly ikspect tω s it in a dog oя a gœt. Sara wo sentimental, sœ ɟhis mæd heя fl sorry foя ɟhe bûetiful biяd.

b efœя loŋ, ɟhat itĉhy gs began tω strut arôund ɟhi offis lîek a lûenatic, ŵhiĉh mæd an unsanitary mess. ɟh e gs’ œneя,  m  æry  h  arison, kept câuliŋ, “Comma, Comma”, ŵhiĉh Sara ţhâut wo an odd ĉhôis foя a næm. Comma wo stroŋ and hûej, sœ it wωd tæk sum fœяs tω trap heя, but Sara had a difrent îeda. f iяst ʃhi trîed jently strœkiŋ ɟhe gs’ lœeя back wiɟh heя pɑm, ɟhen siŋiŋ a tûen tω heя. f îenally, ʃhi administeяd ţheя. Heя effoяts weя not fûetile. In nœ tîem, ɟhe gs began tω tîeя, sœ Sara wo æbl tω hœld ontω Comma and giv heя a relaksiŋ bţh.

Wuns Sara had manijd tω bæɟh ɟhe gs, ʃhi wîept heя off wiɟh a cloţh and læd heя on heя rîet sîed. ɟh en Sara confiяmd ɟhe vet’s dîeagnœsis. âu lmœst immdiatly, ʃhi rimembeяd an iffectiv trtment ɟhat rikwîeяd heя tω meʒuя ôut a lot ov medisin. Sara woяnd ɟhat ɟhis cœяs ov trtment mîet bi ikspensiv-ɟheя fîev oя siks tîem ɟhe cost ov penisilin. îe cn’t imajin pæiŋ sœ muĉh, but  m  rs. h arison-a millyonæя lâuyeя-ţhâut it wo a fæя prîes foя a cûeя.

Comma gets a cûeя and dirivativ wuяks mæ bi ûed frly foя eny purpos wiɟhôut speʃhal peяmiʃhon provîeded ɟhe preent sentens and ɟhe follœiŋ copirîet nœtificætion acompany ɟhe passij in print, if reprodûest in print, and in âudiœ foяmat in ɟhe cæs ov a sôund ricordiŋ: Copyright 2000 Douglas N. Honorof, Jill McCullough & Barbara Somerville. âu l rîets rieяvd.

Winny ɟhe magpie
See.

Original version
“ ɟh  is feɟheя will not lie doun!” cried Winny ɟhe magpie tω heя frend Sylvia, ɟhe robin. “I hav tried tω keep it flat.” just ɟhen Winny spîed a spottid cat. ɟh e cat was scratĉhing its toe-næl on a garden hœ. Winny nûe ɟhis cat was heя foe. b ut Winny cried, “ɟhe cat can’t creep up to ɟhis soft nest ov dried twig!"

was
 * f îend and copy from ɟhe story

wuяd with ie or oe in ɟhem


 * n æm and copy ɟhe pictûer

h av y seen a magpie? r îet abôut it.

Regularized version
“ ɟh  is feɟheя will not lîe doun!” crîed Winny ɟhe magpîe tω heя frend Sylvia, ɟhe robin. “ îe  hav trîed tω kp it flat.” j ust ɟhen Winny spîed a spotted cat. ɟh e cat wo scratĉhing its tœ-næl on a gɑяden hœ. Winny nûe ɟhis cat wo heя foe. b ut Winny crîed, “ɟhe cat can’t crp up to ɟhis soft nest ov drîed twig!"

wo
 * f îend and copy from ɟhe stœяy(*)

wuяd with îe or œ in ɟhem


 * n æm and copy ɟhe pictûeя

h av y sn a magpie? r îet abôut it.

(*) i.t.a can use the FORCE lexical set with no problems.