Generation Z’s Franklin Alphabet: Mimicking Ben Franklin’s Suggested English Reforms

Exploring the GenZamin Franklin Alphabet: A Playful Take on Language Evolution

Have you ever pondered how language might have sounded if Benjamin Franklin’s proposed spelling reforms had taken hold instead of Noah Webster’s more familiar standard? While such a radical linguistic overhaul remains a fascinating hypothetical, it’s intriguing to imagine what an alternative English alphabet might look like—especially if influenced by contemporary digital culture and emoji aesthetics.

Though actual attempts to incorporate new symbols directly into Unicode face significant hurdles, the idea of creating a semi-universal set of symbols or modified spellings remains compelling. By selectively replacing certain letters and sounds, we can craft a playful yet recognizable variation of English that offers both a challenge and entertainment for language enthusiasts.

In fact, a creative project was developed to simulate a stylized alphabet inspired by Franklin’s ideas combined with Gen Z emoji culture. This “GenZamin Franklin Alphabet” employs specific rules to transform standard text into a chaotic, visually distinct form. These rules prioritize maintaining the original sentence structure, but replace certain letters and sounds with creatively chosen symbols and emojis.

Key Principles of the GenZamin Franklin Style:

• Letters to Keep: A, B, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, R, S, T, U, V
• Letters to Replace:
• C becomes K (for “K” sounds) or S (for “S” sounds)
• J transforms into an emoji or “dge”/”zh” sound
• Q is replaced with “KW”
• W becomes “UU” or “OO”
• X turns into “KS”

• Y becomes “I” or “EE”

• Sound-to-Emoji Replacements:

• SH → 🤫
• CH → 🧊
• TH (voiceless) → 👅
• TH (voiced) → 👄
• NG → 🧠

• ZH (as in “vision”) → 🌀

• Optional Stylistic Choices:

• Long vowels represented with double letters or colons
• Emphasis markers like ✨ or 🌟
• Plural indicator 🐑

Sample Transformation:

Let’s take a classic piece of poetry by Robert W. Service, “The Men That Don’t Fit In