Pronouncing Print

Pronouncing prints are specialized alphabets or diacritical markings used to help show the pronunciation of sounds in words. In the 1800’s, several different pronouncing prints were used to help children learn to read. 

Unlike Sir James Pitman’s Initial Teaching Alphabet used in the 1960’s, pronouncing prints do not change the underlying spelling of the words. This makes transitioning to regular print easier while not harming spelling development.

Leigh Print

Leigh Print was a self-pronouncing print successfully used in the late 1800's. It allowed students to learn to read faster. Students also easily moved on to regular print. Dr. Edwin Leigh designed and refined the system over a period of 20 years, releasing it in 1866. Leigh Print is shown in the header and the pictures below.

Leigh Print was found to save time in teaching beginning reading, as Boston's Annual Report of the Board of Education, 1873, states of Leigh's phonetic print, 

"Within six months ordinary pupils under this system get nearly through the second reader; - a point which pupils by the old method are always eighteen months, and often two years in reaching. This is a constant, unvarying result."

An account of Leigh's system in St. Louis, by Hon. W. T. Harris, superintendent in St. Louis, 1868-1881:

“It is found to be a great saving of time to learn to read by a phonetic alphabet first, and then change to the ordinary alphabet by degrees. The modified alphabet invented by Dr. Edwin Leigh has now been in use with us many years and still give as great satisfaction as in the first years of its adoption.”

Bowdoin College, Leigh's Alma Mater, has made several of his books available to view or download thanks to The Internet Archive: 

Hillard's Primer: edited in Pronouncing Orthography by Edwin Leigh

Franklin First Reader: edited in Pronouncing Orthography by Edwin Leigh

Franklin Second Reader: edited in Pronouncing Orthography by Edwin Leigh

Gospel according to Saint Luke, edited in Pronouncing Orthography by Edwin Leigh

Gospel according to Saint John, edited in Pronouncing Orthography by Edwin Leigh.

Leigh also wrote a book for older German speakers to more easily learn to read and pronounce English. It is called "The New Guide to Modern Conversation" and is available to view from Google Books.

The 1879 McGuffey Readers used diacritical markings to help show pronunciation of difficult words. Once the markings were taught, the students could much more easily read passages on their own. The McGuffey Readers can be downloaded for free from Gutenberg Press. You need the PDF versions to see the markings.

The McGuffey Readers were a successful series in their time. They are also available in this century. There are reprints of several different versions of the McGuffey Readers. The 1879 version with diacritical markings has a blue and orange cover. The 1830 Mott Media edition lacks the diacritical markings and has a brown cover.

Libro Primario De Ingles y de Español (First Primer in English and Spanish) has diacritical markings that are similar to the markings in the McGuffey readers. It has the same text in both Spanish and English to help native Spanish speakers learn English. The diacritical markings show the English pronunciations, shown below. You can see more and download copy of Libro Primario on our Español page or its English translation.

The Rational Method in Reading, 1895, used markings that were similar to the McGuffey markings but had strikethroughs for silent letters instead of a lighter or grayed out font. The words were introduced in lists for drilling sound spelling patterns, they are not used in stories or sentences.