Sympol  

The Sympol alphabet was invented by Charles McLaughin, who tried to
make as simple and intuitive as possible. It has only 12 basic symbols
and the few people he has shown it to found it quite easy to pick up.

The letters are built up of symbols representing the tongue, teeth
and lips with accents (hard, soft, nasal etc.), to indicate the position
and level of stress so that the overall effect of the text is a diagram
of how to pronounce the word. The spelling is phonetic and silent letters
are not shown.

Vowel sounds are indicated with single or combinations of accents at
the base of the main symbol, except when they come at the beginning a
word when they are placed above the start of the first letter. If no vowel
sound is indicated then the symbol is pronounced as a single letter.

Notable features

• Type of writing system: alphabet
• Direction of writing: left to right in horizontal lines.
• Used to write: English

Sympol alphabet

Sympol letter names

Sympol vowels

Sample text

Transliteration

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They
are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another
in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)