In a Nutshell x

CRESS Cheat Sheet

CRESS is simple to learn and use.

Don’t judge by first appearance

It looks different from traditional spelling but is magically simple and related

Every piece makes sense, simplifies, and saves time

 

How

1. Learn a few simple facts about pronunciation, e.g. how your tongue moves to make sounds
2. This guarantees full phonemic awareness, the holy grail of reading education
3. Use the regular alphabet but in a simple easy to learn way
4. Just write as you speak, one symbol for each sound… regularly and consistently
5. No exceptions to learn

 

The Alphabet

Use the same alphabet as standard English.

It’s readable without even knowing it.

Most consonants require no learning:

• • p as pot
  • b as in bought
  • t as in taught
  • d as in daughter
  • k as in caught
  • g as in got
  • f as in fat
  • v as in vat
  • s as in sap
  • z as in zap
  • h as in hat
  • l as in lot
  • r as in rot

Vowels are extremely simple

Use just the 5 basic vowels: A E I O U

1. 1. 1. Just memorize 5 basic pronunciations
      2.  i as in pit, e as in pet, u as in put, o as in pour, a as in pot or father
      3. Nothing else, the rest is simple logic

Tips:

1. 1. 1. Say the vowel letters with these individual sounds when reciting the alphabet
      2. Say the phrases: i as in pit, e as in pet, u as in put, o as in pour, a as in pot
      3. Just memorize these

A Simple Trick Simplifies Everything

1. Learn a few simple facts about how your tongue moves to make sounds
2. Use 3 simple movement arrows < > ^ to show the direction of movement
3. The extra arrow symbols make sense in terms of tongue position
4.             < = move the tongue frontward, > = move the tongue backward, ^ = move the tongue upward
5. These are already on your keyboard
6. Imagine seeing the tongue in an x ray from the left side. It can help to make a sketch.
   • For raised tongue, just point up with the ^ arrow
   • For raised tongue, just point up with the ^ arrow
   • For raised tongue, just point up with the ^ arrow
7. This works for consonants and vowels.

Benefits:

1. Reading and spelling become easy.
2. Words look similar to standard English spelling.
3. Computer translation (transliteration) exists, both to and from standard English spelling.
4.  The length of text is shorter, with fewer keystrokes, and taking up less paper or screen space.

Basic vowel tongue movements:

•             i^ as in Pete not i as in pit
•             e^ as in bate not e as in bet
•             u^ as in boot not u as in put
•             o^ as in boat not o as in bore
•             a< as in bat not a as in pot
•             a^ as in but not a as in pot

You can hear and feel these yourself so no need to memorize

Tips

1. 1. Say them super super slow stretching them out
   2. Pay attention to how your tongue moves
   3. Practice sliding your tongue back and forth with and without the arrow

Basic consonant tongue movements:

•             t as in tin, t< as in thin
•             d as in dough, d< as in though
•             s as in sin, s< as in shin
•             z as in buzzer, z< as in measure

You can hear and feel these yourself so no need to memorize

Tips

1. Say them super super slow, stretching them out
2. Pay attention to how your tongue moves
3. Practice sliding your tongue back and forth

In a few cases, two sound symbols are joined because the pronunciation involves two distinct sounds:

•             ai as in bite
•             au as in bout
•             oi as boy
•             ts> as in chin not ts as in pits
•             dz> as twice in judge not dz as in ‘The lids in…”

You can hear and feel these yourself so no need to memorize

Tips:

1. Say them super super slow stretching them out
2. Pay attention to the two parts that you pronounce separately

Notes

1. For simplicity, the symbols represent a general area of tongue placement without fine detail
2. This is evident in a^r as in hurt where the tongue is a bit higher than in the a^ in but.  It might even be written a^^ but detail complicates and clutters.
3. Some letter combinations might be optional alternatives after basic phonetic learning. These could make CRESS look even more like traditional spelling
   •  th, sh could be retained for s< and s> respectively
   • ch, j could be retained for ts> and dz> respectively
   • These would be less systematic, less analytic, and less phonetically indicative but visually conservative