OrthographicPrinciples

Here are some principles of Gaelic orthography, in descending order of priority:

=1. No homographs=

A (heterophonic) homograph is a written word which has more than one possible pronunciation and meaning. Examples from English include "lead" and "read", both of which can be pronounced as rhyming with both "bleed" and "bled". The problem with homographs is that the mapping from orthography to pronunciation is non-deterministic. A reader cannot be sure of the pronunciation of a written word in isolation, without knowing its meaning.

A non-homographic spelling system ensures a simple, deterministic mapping from the way a word is written to the way it is pronounced.

This is a very strong principle of Gaelic orthography, with relatively few cases where a written word has an unexpected pronunciation. Exceptions: lenis/fortis versions of n, l, r. =2. No homonyms=

A homonym is a word with a single written and spoken form but more than one distinct meaning. Examples from English include "stalk" (part of a plant, follow/harass somebody) and "left" (past tense of "leave", opposite of "right"). The problem with homonyms is that a reader is that a reader cannot interpret the meaning of a written word in isolation, needing to infer it from its context.

=3. No homophones=

A (heterographic) homophone is a spoken word which has more than one possible written form and meaning. Examples from English include "piece" versus "peace", and "mail" versus "male". The problem with homophones is that the mapping from pronunciation to orthography is non-deterministic. A writer cannot be sure how to write a spoken word in isolation, without knowing its meaning. The advantage of homophones is that a reader can interpret the meaning of a written word more quickly, without needing to infer the meaning of a homonym from its context.

ciad versus ceud