kfa is a phonetic alphabet system that uses only the characters available on a standard QWERTY keyboard (uppercase and lowercase letters) to represent the 44 distinct sounds of English. The goal is to create an intuitive mapping where the most frequently used English sounds are represented by the letters that English speakers already associate with those sounds, making it easy to read and learn.
Unlike traditional phonetic alphabets that use special symbols, kfa constrains itself to the 52 letters (A-Z, a-z) available on any standard keyboard, making it practical for digital communication and typing.
kfa is designed to achieve two primary goals:
- Phonetic enough that spelling bees would make zero sense (no arbitrary spelling rules)
- Simple enough that users don't need to overthink pronunciation decisions
This balance is achieved through deliberate design choices that prioritize practical phonetic representation over academic precision.
One key example is our treatment of the schwa sound (ə) and the "strut" vowel (ʌ). In traditional IPA, these are distinct symbols representing subtly different sounds:
- banana: /bənɑnə/ vs /bʌnɑnə/
- cup: /kəp/ vs /kʌp/
- love: /ləv/ vs /lʌv/
However, for most English speakers, the acoustic difference between /ə/ and /ʌ/ is often imperceptible or contextually variable. Different speakers and even different TTS voices (like Amazon Polly's Salli vs Joanna) may pronounce these sounds differently, but the distinction requires careful listening to detect.
kfa's approach: Always use u (representing schwa) for both sounds:
- banana: bunanu
- cup: kup
- love: luv
Benefits of this simplification:
- Eliminates guesswork: No need to decide between nearly identical sounds
- Maintains phonetic accuracy: The sound is captured adequately
- Natural variation: Readers will naturally produce contextual variations
- Consistent system: One symbol, clear mapping
This philosophy extends throughout kfa: where phonetic distinctions are too subtle for practical daily use, we choose the simpler representation that still captures the essential sound. The result is a system that's phonetic but practical - achieving spelling bee impossibility without requiring phonetic expertise.
kfa is designed around Western American English pronunciation patterns, which reflect how millions of Americans actually speak. A key example is the low back merger, where sounds like /ɑː/ (car), /ɔː/ (caught), and /ɒ/ (hot) are pronounced identically as a single vowel sound.
kfa approach: All three sounds use o:
- car, father, palm: kor, foTur, polm
- saw, caught, bought: so, kot, bot
- hot, dog, wash: hot, dog, woS
For speakers who distinguish these sounds (primarily Eastern/International accents), unused uppercase letters could provide alternative mappings while preserving the core Western American system.
kfa prioritizes meaning-making sound differences over academic phonetic precision. The guiding principle: if changing a sound creates a different word, it needs a different symbol. If it's just an accent variation of the same word, one symbol works.
Examples:
- bat vs bot: Different words → need different symbols (a vs o)
- car, saw, hot: Same vowel sound in Western American → all use "o"
- buk vs bUk: Different words (buck vs book) → need different symbols (u vs U)
This phonemic approach makes kfa practical across regional variations while maintaining essential word distinctions.
Example Format: english/ipa/kfa
- english: The English word
- ipa: International Phonetic Alphabet transcription
- kfa: kfa (QWERTY Phonetic Alphabet) transcription
| IPA | kfa | Sound Description | Frequency | Example 1 | Example 2 | Example 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ə | u | Schwa | 11.49% | about/əbaʊt/ubaOt/ | sofa/səʊfə/suOfu/ | banana/bʌnɑnə/bunanu/ |
| ɪ | i | Short I | 6.32% | bit/bɪt/bit/ | ship/ʃɪp/Sip/ | gym/dʒɪm/Jim/ |
| iː | y | Long E | 3.61% | see/siː/sy/ | tree/triː/try/ | key/kiː/ky/ |
| ɜː | ur | UR sound | 2.86% | bird/bɜːd/burd/ | word/wɜːd/wurd/ | nurse/nɜːs/nurs/ |
| æ | a | Short A | 2.10% | cat/kæt/kat/ | bat/bæt/bat/ | hand/hænd/hand/ |
| uː | O | Long U | 1.93% | moon/muːn/mOn/ | blue/bluː/blO/ | food/fuːd/fOd/ |
| e | e | Short E | 1.79% | bed/bed/bed/ | red/red/red/ | bread/bred/bred/ |
| ʌ | u | Schwa-like | 1.74% | cup/kʌp/kup/ | love/lʌv/luv/ | blood/blʌd/blud/ |
| eɪ | ay | Long A | 1.50% | day/deɪ/day/ | make/meɪk/mayk/ | rain/reɪn/rayn/ |
| aɪ | uy | Long I | 1.50% | my/maɪ/muy/ | time/taɪm/tuym/ | fly/flaɪ/fluy/ |
| ɑː | o | Long A | 1.45% | car/kɑːr/kor/ | father/fɑːðər/foTur/ | palm/pɑːm/polm/ |
| ɔː | o | Long O | 1.25% | saw/sɔː/so/ | caught/kɔːt/kot/ | bought/bɔːt/bot/ |
| əʊ | uO | Long O | 1.25% | go/gəʊ/guO/ | home/həʊm/huOm/ | boat/bəʊt/buOt/ |
| ɒ | o | Short O | 1.18% | hot/hɒt/hot/ | dog/dɒg/dog/ | wash/wɒʃ/woS/ |
| aʊ | aO | OW sound | 0.50% | now/naʊ/naO/ | house/haʊs/haOs/ | cloud/klaʊd/klaOd/ |
| ʊ | U | Short U | 0.43% | book/bʊk/bUk/ | good/gʊd/gUd/ | put/pʊt/pUt/ |
| ɪə | ir | EER sound | 0.30% | here/hɪə/hir/ | beer/bɪə/bir/ | deer/dɪə/dir/ |
| eə | er | AIR sound | 0.25% | hair/heə/her/ | care/keə/ker/ | bear/beə/ber/ |
| ʊə | ur | UUR sound | 0.15% | sure/ʃʊə/Sur/ | cure/kjʊə/kjur/ | pure/pjʊə/pjur/ |
| ɔɪ | oy | OY sound | 0.10% | boy/bɔɪ/boy/ | coin/kɔɪn/koyn/ | voice/vɔɪs/voys/ |
| IPA | kfa | Sound Description | Frequency | Example 1 | Example 2 | Example 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | n | N sound | 7.11% | no/nəʊ/nuO/ | dinner/dɪnər/dinur/ | sun/sʌn/sun/ |
| r | r | R sound | 6.94% | red/red/red/ | sorry/sɒri/sory/ | car/kɑːr/kor/ |
| t | t | T sound | 6.91% | ten/ten/ten/ | better/betər/betur/ | cat/kæt/kat/ |
| s | s | S sound | 4.75% | sun/sʌn/sun/ | lesson/lesən/lesun/ | bus/bʌs/bus/ |
| d | d | D sound | 4.21% | dog/dɒg/dog/ | ladder/lædər/ladur/ | red/red/red/ |
| l | l | L sound | 3.96% | love/lʌv/luv/ | yellow/jeləʊ/jeluO/ | call/kɔːl/kol/ |
| k | k | K sound | 3.18% | key/kiː/ky/ | school/skuːl/skOl/ | book/bʊk/bUk/ |
| ð | T | TH (this) | 2.95% | this/ðɪs/Tis/ | mother/mʌðər/muTur/ | breathe/briːð/bryT/ |
| m | m | M sound | 2.76% | man/mæn/man/ | summer/sʌmər/sumur/ | time/taɪm/tuym/ |
| z | z | Z sound | 2.76% | zoo/zuː/zO/ | music/mjuːzɪk/mjOzik/ | eyes/ɔɪz/oyz/ |
| p | p | P sound | 2.15% | pen/pen/pen/ | happy/hæpi/hapy/ | cup/kʌp/kup/ |
| v | v | V sound | 2.01% | very/veri/very/ | river/rɪvər/rivur/ | love/lʌv/luv/ |
| w | w | W sound | 1.95% | water/wɔːtər/wotur/ | away/əweɪ/uway/ | quick/kwɪk/kwik/ |
| b | b | B sound | 1.80% | book/bʊk/bUk/ | table/teɪbəl/taybul/ | job/dʒɒb/Job/ |
| f | f | F sound | 1.71% | fish/fɪʃ/fiS/ | coffee/kɒfi/kofy/ | leaf/liːf/lyf/ |
| h | h | H sound | 1.40% | house/haʊs/haOs/ | perhaps/pərhæps/purhaps/ | hello/heləʊ/heluO/ |
| ŋ | ng | NG sound | 0.99% | sing/sɪŋ/syng/ | thinking/θɪŋkɪŋ/Tyngkyng/ | long/lɒŋ/long/ |
| ʃ | S | SH sound | 0.97% | ship/ʃɪp/Sip/ | washing/wɒʃɪŋ/woSyng/ | fish/fɪʃ/fiS/ |
| j | j | Y sound | 0.81% | yes/jes/jes/ | music/mjuːzɪk/mjOzik/ | few/fjuː/fjO/ |
| g | g | G sound | 0.80% | go/gəʊ/guO/ | bigger/bɪgər/bigur/ | bag/bæg/bag/ |
| dʒ | J | J sound | 0.59% | jump/dʒʌmp/Jump/ | magic/mædʒɪk/maJik/ | bridge/brɪdʒ/briJ/ |
| tʃ | c | CH sound | 0.56% | chair/tʃeər/cer/ | teacher/tiːtʃər/tycer/ | watch/wɒtʃ/woc/ |
| θ | T | TH (thin) | 0.41% | think/θɪŋk/Tyngk/ | nothing/nʌθɪŋ/nuTyng/ | path/pɑːθ/paT/ |
| ʒ | Z | ZH sound | 0.07% | pleasure/pleʒər/pleZur/ | vision/vɪʒən/viZun/ | measure/meʒər/meZur/ |
🎉 All 44 English phonemes successfully mapped using only QWERTY keyboard letters!
Core vowels (8): u, i, y, a, O, e, o, U
Diphthong combinations (10): ay, uy, uO, aO, ir, er, ur, oy
All consonants (24): Complete mapping using intuitive letter assignments (including 'ng' for NG sound)
The kfa system elegantly represents complex sounds as logical combinations of core vowels, making it both practical and intuitive for English speakers.
kfa uses the same word boundary rules as English: words are separated by whitespace (spaces, tabs, newlines). This makes kfa text immediately readable and typeable without special formatting requirements.
Examples:
- English: "Hello world, how are you?"
- kfa: "heluO wurld, haO or yO?"
Punctuation and capitalization follow standard English conventions, making kfa text natural to read and write in any text editor or digital communication platform.
The following standard QWERTY letters remain unused in the kfa system, providing room for future expansion or dialect variations:
Uppercase unused (18): B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, V, W, X, Y
Lowercase unused (2): q, x
These unused characters could potentially be allocated for:
- Regional accent variations (British, Australian, etc.)
- Stress marking or tone indicators
- Non-English phonemes for multilingual support
- Alternative pronunciations or phoneme variants
Example: Spanish language extension
- R = rolled/trilled r ("perro" → peRo)
- N = ñ palatal nasal ("niño" → nyNo)
- X = Spanish j sound ("joven" → Xoven)
This would enable bilingual phonetic literacy with minimal additional complexity.
English:
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
kfa:
"for skor and sevun yirz ugo aOr foTurz brot forT on Tis kontunint, u nO naysun, kunsyvd in libirty, and dedukayted tO Tu propuZiSun Tat ol men or kryayted ykwul."
This iconic opening from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address demonstrates the kfa system's natural readability and comprehensive coverage of English phonemes. Notice how complex sounds like "years" (yirz), "fathers" (foTurz), "conceived" (kunsyvd), and "created" (kryayted) are represented through logical combinations of core vowels and consonants.
English:
"Which witch is which? They're at their house over there! Your dog ate you're dinner, but you're not sure whose dog it was or who's coming to dinner."
kfa:
"wic wic iz wic? Ter at Ter haOs uOvur Ter! jUr dog ayt jUr dinur, but jUr not Sur hOz dog it waz or hOz kumyng tO dinur."
This example showcases one of kfa's most powerful features: eliminating the confusion caused by English's inconsistent spelling. Notice how:
- which/witch = both
wic(identical pronunciation, identical spelling) - they're/their/there = all
Ter(same sound, same spelling) - your/you're = both
jUr(phonetically identical) - whose/who's = both
hOz(eliminates arbitrary apostrophe confusion)
The kfa system represents how words actually sound, not their historical spelling accidents, making it invaluable for language learners and eliminating common English spelling confusion.