Shavian alphabet Shavian alphabet The Shavian alphabet (also known as the Shaw alphabet) is an alphabet conceived as a way to provide simple, phonetic orthography for the English language to replace the difficulties of conventional spelling. It was posthumously funded by and named after Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. Shaw set three main criteria for the new alphabet: it should be (1) at least 40 letters; (2) as "phonetic" as possible (that is, letters should have a to phonemes); and (3) distinct from the Latin alphabet to avoid the impression that the new spellings were simply "misspellings". The Shavian alphabet consists of
Portrait of a Young Woman with a Fan painting was documented by Hofstede de Groot in 1914, who wrote; "881. A YOUNG LADY WITH A FAN. Bode 253; Dut. 285; Wb. 217; B.-HdG. 101. Three-quarter length; life size. She sits, seen in full face, in an arm-chair, and looks straight out of the picture. She holds her right hand, grasping a black feather fan by its gold chain, to her bosom ; her left hand rests on a table beside her to the right. She wears a black silk gown with puffed and slashed sleeves, a triple close-fitting lace collar and lace wristbands. Round her neck is a