What words sound like they contain letters that they do not?
language/english/pronunciation/ghost Added material
Problem
What words sound like they contain letters that they do not?
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When we first learn to read, we are taught to pronounce words by
"sounding out" their letters. This strategy works fairly well since
most letters correspond to phonemes, and where they do not, many
exceptions are easy to learn. However, Dmitri Borgmann compiled a list
of words containing an Invisible Alphabet in "Beyond Language"
(Scribner's, 1967, p. 250). His list contains one word for each letter
in the alphabet, where each word contains the phoneme usually
associated with its letter -- but the letter itself is not in the
word. We call such letters "ghost letters."
A list of words for each letter in the alphabet makes sense if each
letter represents one phoneme, but this is the very assumption Dmitri
is having fun with. Below is a similar list, which instead contains
words for each phoneme -- but the letter or letters that are usually
pronounced as the phoneme are missing. We will call such missing
letters "ghost phonemes."
My choice of phonemes is entirely subjective, but I have been guided
somewhat by the International Phonetic Alphabet. In compiling the list
I preferred words in which no letter represents the phoneme (e.g.,
BURGH /bu-ro/, MBIRA /em-bir-a/), words that are common, and words not
recently borrowed from a foreign language (if the word was recently
borrowed, the language of origin is bracketed, except French). I do
not consider proper names or acronyms (e.g., POW for a word containing
the sound of L but not the letter L). I do allow mispronunciations
that have become common enough to be listed in Merriam-Webster's
Collegiate Dictionary without a substandard or dialect label (e.g., I
do allow GOVERNMENT with the V pronounced like a B, but I do not allow
OPERA pronounced like OPRY). Finally, I do not list words where it
makes more sense to consider a letter as silent than it does to
consider it as being pronounced unusually, e.g., PSALM.
Many people have seen the spelling GHOTI for FISH (GH sounded like F in
LAUGH, O sounded like I in WOMEN, TI sounded like SH in NATION). From
the list below we also have the spelling WAS for FISH (W sounded like F
in TAW, A sounded like I in AGATE, S sounded like SH in SURE). What
does CLOMP spell? (Answer at end of article).
Phoneme Normal Example Ghost Example
Spelling Spelling
------- ------- ------- ------- -------
schwa various - CHASM
\a\ A ADD E THRESH
EI CEINTURE
ER CHERT
I MERINGUE
UI GUIMPE
\a_\ A APE OI QUOIT
EI LEI EE GEEST [German]
ER FOYER OE ROEMER [German]
EY PREY UI UITLANDER [Afrikaans]
\a.\ A AH I LINGERIE
E ENTREE U FURTHEST
O COT
\b\ B BABY P MUNICIPAL
V GOVERNMENT
\ch\ CH CHIN SE RINSE
SI TENSION SH WELSH
TE RIGHTEOUS TH POSTHUMOUS
TI QUESTION CK KOLACKY [Czech]
T NATURE CZ CZARDAS [Hungarian]
KY KYAT [Burmese]
TT AFFETTUOSO [Italian]
\d\ D DO T TAO [Chinese]
T PARTNER
TT BUTTINSKY
Z INTERMEZZO [Italian]
\e\ E ELF - MBIRA [Bantu]
A ANY I DOMINICK
U BURY AOI TAOISEACH [Irish]
\e_\ E EAT A BOLOGNA
I SKI AY QUAY
Y PRETTY OIS CHAMOIS
J FJORD
AGH SHILLELAGH [Irish]
\f\ F FAN V LEV [Bulgarian]
PH PHASE W TAW [Hebrew]
GH LAUGH
\g\ G GO C ECZEMA
X EXAM K KIP [Lao]
\h\ H HAT - THRESHOLD
WH WHO G GILA MONSTER [Spanish]
J JUNTA [Spanish]
X QUIXOTE [Spanish]
\hw\ WH WHO JU MARIJUANA [Spanish]
HU AYAHUASCA [Spanish]
\i\ I IS A AGATE
E AGED O WOMEN
U BUSY
Y GYM
\i_\ AI AISLE AE BRACCAE
AY AYE
EI HEIST
EY EYE
I ICE
UY BUY
Y SLY
\j\ J JOB CH OSTRICH
G GEM SI TRANSIENT
D PROCEDURE
\k\ K KID G LENGTH
C CAB GH LOUGH [Irish]
Q QUEUE
X FIX
\kh\ GH AUGHT H HAZAN [Hebrew]
CH OCH TH CLARSETH [Scottish]
X XAT [Haida]
\l\ L LOW - KU KLUX KLAN
\m\ M ME ND GRANDPA, SANDWICH
N BOYSENBERRY, DAVENPORT
\n\ N NO MP COMPTROLLER
M MUSHROOM
\o\ O OFF U CRITERIUM
A ALL
AU HAUL
OU FOUR
\o_\ O OPEN - BURGH
EAU EAU A QUAHOG [Narraganset]
EW SEW
AU HAUT
\oe\ EU BLEU OE OEILLADE
\oi\ OI OIL AW LAWYER
OY BOY AU FRAULEIN [German]
EU KREUZER [German]
\ou\ OU OUT O COMPT
OW NOW
AU KRAUT
\p\ P PORT - HAMSTER
F CHAMFER
GH HICCOUGH
B ABLAUT [German]
\r\ R RED LO COLONEL
F NEUFCHATEL
U MILIEU
Y BOGEYMAN
J JEN [Chinese]
H SHA-SHIH [Chinese]
OE LOESS [German]
\s\ S SAY Z LOZENGE
C CELL TH HETH [Hebrew]
X WAX
\sh\ SH SHY S SURE
TI NATION X LUXURY
CH CHEF
CI APPRECIATE
\t\ T TEA Z PALAZZO [Italian]
D WUNDERKIND - MARZIPAN
ED PASSED
- ABUNDANCE
- ANSWER
\th\ TH THIN GH TROUGH
D AMADAN [Irish]
T TAOISEACH [Irish]
\dh\ THE D CAID [Spanish]
DD EISTEDDFOD [Welsh]
\u\ U UP WO TWOPENCE
O OF OO BLOOD
A WAS
E THE
I BIRD
\u_\ U GNU - GEODUCK [Chinook]
O DO W CWM [Welsh]
OO OOZE WO TWO
EW EWE
\ue\ UE BIENVENUE U GUDE [Scottish]
\v\ V VERY B HABDALAH [Hebrew]
F OF
GH TROUGHS
PH NEPHEW [British]
W WAGON-LIT
\w\ W WAY - ONE
U QUA O COIF
V PECCAVI
JU MARIJUANA [Spanish]
\y\ Y YARD G LASAGNA
U UNIT J HALLELUJAH [Hebrew]
I OPINION J JAEGER [German]
EW EWE H SENHOR [Portuguese]
LL BILLION
\z\ Z ZONE TH CLOTHES
S IS G PARMIGIANA
X XYLOPHONE
\zh\ Z AZURE G GENRE
S VISUAL J BIJOU
SI ASIA X LUXURY
TI EQUATION
Answer: CLOMP spells GROAN (C sounds like G in ECZEMA, LO sounds like
R in COLONEL, nothing sounds like OA in BURGH, and MP sounds like
N in COMPTROLLER).
Additional material
[ Editor: from an earlier version of the ghost-phoneme list, posted by
Chris Cole <chris@questrel.com> to rec.puzzles in December 1996. Only
entries not in the list above are given; that version used SRI
instead of SURE in the "WAS spells FISH" example and listed THES (not
TH) as the ghost spelling in CLOTHES. ]
The question marks represent substandard entries, for which I invite
submissions.
Phoneme Normal Example Ghost Example
Spelling Spelling
------- ------- ------- ------- -------
\a\ A AIR ?
E ERE
\b\ B BABY P PAKCHOI [Chinese]
\f\ F FAN U PILAU [Persian, Turkish]
\j\ J JOB CH CHUNGCHIA [Chinese]
\k\ K KID G GINEP [Spanish]
\l\ L LOW W W-SHAPED ?
\o\ O OFF ?
A ALL
\r\ R RED S PAS SEUL
\sh\ SH SHY S SRI [Sanskrit]
\v\ V VERY B SHIBAH [Hebrew]
PH STEPHEN?
U QUASS [Russian]
W WUNDERKIND [German]
\w\ W WAY V VIDE?
\y\ Y YARD LL FILLE? [?]
\z\ Z ZONE THES CLOTHES
\zh\ Z AZURE J JABOT