HSE Active

Holeman Simplified English
(3.1)

Table of Contents

1. The Need and Solution
2. Current Implementation
   1. Repeating Letters
   2. Addition, Removal, and Modification of Letters
   3. Digraphs
   4. Treatment of Vowels
   5. Punctuation & Glyphs
   6. Boxed Commons
3. Future Versions

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The Need and Solution

The English language is a fractured conglomeration that has been mashed together from a wide variety of disparate languages, including though not limited to German, French, Greek, Latin, and more. The Scandinavians, Normans, & the Dutch influenced English as well. This has led to massive internal conflicts and a dizzying array of rules and exceptions. Even life-long native English speakers often have difficulty with some less-than-clear spellings.

HSE was created with three primary aims:

1. To clear out as many internal inconsistencies as possible.
2. Reduce the physical size of written texts.
3. Remain close enough to standard English to allow any English speaker to learn it quickly and easily.

The 64,000 foot picture of the changes made to standard English to create HSE include:

• Numerous letters have been added and removed. (Q removed, ch = {ch} added, etc.)
• Spellings have been made consistent. Hard and soft sounds: Goat, Jelly, GJeneric; etc.
• The form of vowels have been simplified to allow for smaller, more legible letters.
• Vowels are positioned for compactness.
• Several existing punctuation marks are borrowed from existing languages (¿, ¡, «, »).
• Several new Glyphs are added. (⋒, ⊣, etc.)
• Standard existing symbols are often allowed as words. (3 rather than three, @ rather than at, ♀ rather than woman or girl, etc.)
• Numerous Boxed Commons are used for quick abbreviation of frequently used words.

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Current Implementation (3.0)

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Repeating Letters

Rather than writing a letter twice in a row (Feet, Letter, etc.) simply write it once, and underline it, thus: tt = t. In the case of more than two letter in a row, for an even number, underline 1/2 the original quantity (Hooot = Hoot). For an odd number, do the same as for an even number, with the final etter not underlined (Yipeee! = Yipee!).
Non Diagraph: Wood = wod.
Diagraph: Cooperate = Cöperate. (A diagraph is the junction between two syllables.)

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Addition, Removal, and Modification of Letters

Modern English has a number of diagraphs; multiple letters used to form a single phoneme (sound). HSE strives to remove each of these. As of HSE 2.5, six have been removed:

Handling C, K, S, & Q.

The letters C and Q are removed. The Letters C and Q are redundant and only add confusion to language. Is that scent, cent or sent? What about your questions? Why not cuestions, or kuestions? The soft "C" is replaced with the now universal "S." Both the hard "C" and all uses of the letter "Q" are replaced with the now common "K." Hards become "K", softs become "S".
Cat = Kat.
Excel = Exsel.
Queen = Kueen.

The Soft G

The soft G is replaced in all cases with a J:
Giant = Jiant.
Orange = Oranje.

The Letter X is Redundant

The letter X makes 4 separate sounds (5 if you count it when silent). Each of which is more accurately represented by other letters. Therefore, the letter X is removed form the HSE alphabet. It is replaced by the appropreate letters in each context:

• GZ (Exam)
• KS (Box)
• K{sh} (Complexion)
• Z (Xanthan)
• {-si} (Faux)

Fixing the exasperating Y

In standard English, the letter Y makes one of four different sounds, depending on its usage. In HSE, this is reduced to one. In every case where a Y is present, it makes the "yuh" sound, as in Yes. All other uses of the letter are replaced with whichever letter makes the given sound: I, or E.

• Yam = Yam.
  
• Gym (rhymes with him) = Gim.
• Fly (rhymes with SciFi) = Fli.
• Quickly (rhymes with me) = Quickle.

The Letter Y as a Consonant and a Vowel

In standard English the letter Y is sometimes a consonant (Yogurt, Yes), and other times a vowel (Cycle, My). The rule for telling the two apart in standard English is: The letter Y is a consonant when it is the first letter of a syllable that has more than one letter. If Y is anywhere else in the syllable, it is a vowel.

In HSE this has been simplified to the following: The letter Y is a consonant.

Silent Letters

All silent letters are replaced with The Silence, {-si}. Silences are never repeated/doubled. The Silence does not have an uppercase & lowercase.

• Yacht = Ya{-si}t.
• Knight = {-si}ni{-si}t.
• Autumn = Autum{-si}.
• Folk = fo{-si}k.
• Rhyme = R{-si}yme.

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Digraphs

CH : The "Chaw." {CH}, {ch}

The "CH" combination is eliminated, and replaced with by the Chaw "{CH}", a single "K," or a shaw "{SH}", as appropriate.

• Chase = {CH}ase.
• Chaos = Kaos; technical = teknical.
• Cache = Ka{sh}e; machine = ma{sh}ine.

SH : The "Shaw." {SH}, {sh}

The "SH" combination is eliminated, and replaced with the new Shaw {SH}.

• Should = {SH}ould.
• Flashlight = Fla{sh}light.
• Bash = Ba{sh}.

TH: The ancient Thorn revived. {TH}, {th}

The Thorn is an ancient part of the English language, reaching as far back as Old English, that fell out of use (partly due to a limited number of letter blocks being available on the early printing press, which you can learn more about here). When it was revived for HSE, the trasitional symbol used to represent the letter "þ" was deemed too similar to the letters p and b, particularly in the hand-written form. Therefore the new symbol was created to represent the old letter. The "TH" combination is eliminated, and replaced with the Thorn.

• The = {TH}e.
• Anthem = An{th}em.
• Thirteenth = {TH}irteen{th}.

The GH & PH Combinations

"PH" and "GH" never make an "F" sound. They are replaced with the appropriate letter. That would be either an "F," or a Silence ({-si}). In the case of words such as uphold, or haphazard the separate P & H letters are still used.

• Tough = Touf.
• Daughter = dau{-si}ter.
• Phone = Fone.
• Cough = Kouf.
• Althou{-si}.

NG: The Engma

The "NG" combination is eliminated, and replaced with the alread-in-use "Engma": Ŋ, ŋ.

Note, this does not replace the usage of NG where the letters are distict, such as with ingenious. They generally have a separate IN, generally followed by a hard G.

• Going = Goiŋ.
• Ingots = Iŋots.

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Hiatus, & Tréma

A tréma is a horizontal pair of dots over a letter, for example an tréma on an o looks like this: ö. An tréma is used in English to indicate a hiatus (a break in the flow of a word). For example, in coöperate the tréma reminds the reader that the word has four syllables co-op-er-ate, not three, coop-er-ate. The use of a tréma is highly encouraged wherever applicable. A tréma can also be used in non-vowel situations as a reminder to the reader that HSE does not use digraphs (ph, etc.) as well as for consistency.

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Treatment of Vowels

The shape of the vowel letters have been modified in order to make them take up less space, and to make them faster to write. Capital and lowercase vowels are the same shape, but may be scaled differently. Multiple vowels, may be strung together, sharing lines-in-common.

Vowel Forms

• A, a = {A}, {a}.
• E, e = {E}, {e}.
• I, i = {I}, {i}.
• O retains its original forms.
• U retains its form. But u becomes the streamlined {u}.

Vowel Placement

Generally vowels are moved up and to the left, so that they rest above the consonant immediately preceding them. In the case of a vowel starting a word, they are left in the same position as a consonant.

Example of Proper Vowel Usage

• Get = ***.
• Above = ***.

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Punctuation and Special Modifier Glyphs

Punctuation Marks

For additional clarity, HSE borrows the Inverted exclamation mark (¡) and Inverted question mark (¿) from Spanish, the Title Marks (« & ») from Chinese, as well as adding the unique -though often sought- Sarcastic Marks ({sarc} & {isarc}).

• Inverted exclamation mark: ¡. Used at the start of a sentance.
  Example: "I love you!" = "¡I love you!"
• Inverted question mark: ¿. Used at the start of a sentance.
  Example: "Do you like fruit?" = "¿Do you like fruit?"
• Title marks: « & ». Used to identify a title, newspaper name, file name, opera name, song name, picture name, book name, the name of film and television programs, etc.
  Example: The book, «The Hobbit» was writen by J.R.R.Tolkien.
• Sarcastic marks: {sarc} & {isarc}.
  Example: {isarc}There is no way I would want someone to give me free money{sarc}

Pluralization & Possessive

• Plural: ⋺. (The Plah).
  Example: Boxes = Box⋺. Oxen = Ox⋺. Geese = Goose⋺. Things = Thing⋺. {Thingplah}
• Possessive: ⋒. (The Poh).
  Example: Alexsis' = Alexis⋒. John's = John⋒. {Johnpoh}

In the case of both pluralization and possessive, the sequence is pluralization then possessive: ⋺, ⋒.

Tenses

• Past Tense: ⊣. Sound, "pah."
  Example: "I called the store" = "I call⊣ the store." {callpah}
• Future Tense: ⊢ Sound, "fu.
  Example: "I will call the store" = "I call⊢ the store." {callfu}

Gender

• Male: ♂.
  Example: "A man ran." = "A ♂ ran."
• Female: ♀.
  Example: "Three girls." = "Three ♀⋺."
• Unknown Gender: Use {person}.
  Example: Some people went to the store. = "Some {people} went to the store. "
• Male & Female: ⚥.
  Example: They went on a date. = "⚥⋺ went on a date."

Usage of Numbers and Other Punctuation

Use of numbers in sentances is considered ideal, unlike standard English. For Example: "I love all 3 of those cars." vs "I love all three of those cars."

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Boxed Commons

General Explanation

In a further effort to reduce the physical size of written texts, each letter has been assigned to a letter-word pair. By placing a letter (or consecutive letters) in a box -always in the uppercase form- whole words can be reduced to a single character width. Thus, "About" (5 letters) becomes B, "Could" becomes K, and "Time" becomes T. Several Boxed Commons may be included in a single box. Thus: BT! holds the same meaning as "About time!" Punctuation marks are placed outside of boxings, but special modifiers may be placed inside a boxing if it would otherwise require two boxes.

The letters "A" and "I" each hold a standalone meaning already, and were therefore not included in the set of Boxed Commons. They may be included inside a boxing.

Boxed commons can be written on a computer by enclosing the captiol letter in square brackets "[" & "]". Such as "[{SH}]" meaning, "Water"; or "[BT]!" meaning, "About time!".

Example

1. Standard English:

   1. That about which people said could become other than it was would, in time, find themselves wrong.

2. HSE without boxing:

   1. **^at ab^out whⁱ**^e p^ers^o** s^aid k^ould b^ek^om^e o**^er **^an it w^as w^ould, in tⁱm^e, fⁱnd, **^ems^e** wr^ong.

3. English with Boxing:

   1. That BP**SK become O than it was W, in T, X themselves wrong.

4. Full HSE with boxig:

   1. **^at BP**­SK b^ek^om^e O **^an it w^as W, in T, X, **^ems^elfÃ�­ wr^ong.

Methodology of Selection

The words that were selected for inclusion as Boxed Commons were pulled from the most commonly used words (as shown in Oxford English Corpus) in the English language that were four or more characters long after converting to HSE. For example, "have" is the 9^th most commonly used word, and was therefore included. However, "that" is the 8^th most commonly used word, but was not included as a Boxed Common as it is only three characters long (**^at) when written in HSE.