The Americai Speak Alphabet


This is Ruby Olive Foulk's alphabet, with the IPA equivalents in red as far as I can determine. Some of her key words leave me puzzled: "floor" is one of the words she gives for O, along with 7 other words with a clear [ou] value. But for A she gives "all, born, ought," so I assume she normally spells this sound with A, not O. She also uses "aunt" for a keyword along with "father, army, not, and guard." This is appropriate for only a few Americans, most people using the vowel she spells as C, with the key words "hat, plaid, guaranty" instead.

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