User:Jnestorius/i before e except after c

Words in the left-hand columns obey the rule "I before E except after C"; those in the right-hand columns break it.

The green and red cells are the true and false instances of the restricted case in which the rule is most reliable, namely cases where the sound of the EI/IE grapheme is "EE": i.e. the lexical sets FLEECE, NEAR, or happY which spring from a common underlying archiphoneme (EE is the most unambiguous spelling for this archiphoneme: BEE, BEEF, BEER, CHEERFUL, COFFEE, COMMITTEE).

The thicker-bordered cells are words always pronounced with EE; the thinner borders have varying pronunciation.

The darker-bordered cells are for the broader codicil "or when sounded with A, as in neighbor or weigh". That version is misleading in particular with regard to spelling the PRICE vowel, where EI is more likely than IE except morpheme-finally.

Sound	IE not after C: common	IE not after C: proper	EI after C: common	EI after C: proper	EI not after C: common	EI not after C: proper	IE after C: common	IE after C: proper
FLEECE	achieve believe bonhomie bourgeoisie brief chief diesel fief field fiend frieze grief klieg lied lief liege lien mien niece piece priest relieve reprieve retrieve reverie shield shriek siege sortie spiel thief wiener wield yield	Baddiel Brie Dnieper Frieda Friel Galashiels Genevieve Gielgud Gottlieb Kiefer Kiel Liebermann Marie Niemoller Nielson Piedmont Schliemann Shiel Siemens Siegfried Van Diemen	ceiling conceive conceit deceive deceit perceive receive receipt		buddleia meiosis plebeian seize -p(o)eia (pharmacopoeia onomatopoeia ...)	Cassiopeia Eid Keith Leibowitz Leigh Leith McLeish Monteith Neil(l) Reid Sheila
NEAR	bier fierce pier pierce tier tierce -ˈier (bombardier brigadier cashier cavalier chandelier frontier fusilier gondolier grenadier vizier)	Algiers Kieran Kierkegaard Tangier			madeira oneiric speir weir weird	Keir	financier
happY	aerie boogie caddie calorie camaraderie caries collie coterie eerie hygiene prairie rabies series zombie -ie (auntie cookie goalie indie movie nightie sweetie yuppie ...)	Aries Geordie Indies McKenzie Siegfried Sophie Tolkien -ie (Charlie Jackie Julie Maggie ...)			counterfeit forfeit surfeit	Burleigh Raleigh	specie species -cy>-cies/-cied (policies fancied ...)	Gracie Runcie
FACE			ceilidh		abseil beige eight feign freight neighbour reign rein reindeer seine skein sleigh surveillance veil vein weigh	Hussein Leighton Leila Meiji Nikkei Pompeii Taipei Teignmouth
SQUARE					capoeira cruzeiro heir their	Beirut Perreira
FLEECE or FACE	lingerie				heinous obeisance sheikh
NEAR or SQUARE						Deirdre
PRICE	die lie magpie pie tie -y>ied/ies (tried sties ...)	Fiennes			apartheid deixis edelweiss eider eidetic eigenvalue Geiger counter height kaleidoscope poltergeist rottweiler seismic sleight zeitgeist	Alzheimer Durkheim Eiffel Eileen Einstein Fahrenheit Heidi Heineken Heinz Klein Leipzig Poseidon Reich Reigate Reilly Streisand
PRICE before /r/	fiery hierarchy				eirenic epeiric
FLEECE or PRICE					either neither	Pleistocene Stein -stein (Bernstein ...)
DRESS	friend				heifer	Leicester Leinster
FLEECE or DRESS	hygienic				leisure
KIT	handkerchief mischief sieve
FLEECE or KIT		Davies Menzies
FLEECE or TRAP+nasal						R(h)eims
FLEECE or separate segments	medieval		-cein(e) (fluoroscein)		-ein(e) (protein caffeine ...)
NEAR or separate segments	brassiere premier	Napier Rainier
reduced vowel					foreign sovereign	Blenheim Madeleine Suleiman	-cient (sufficient ancient ...)
separate segments of a single morpheme	alien client colliery crozier diet dossier faience fiesta milieu orient quiet science sienna sierra siesta soldier soviet spaniel view ˈ-ier (barrier clothier courier courtier dossier glazier haulier hosiery hotelier sommelier terrier)	Amiens Ariel Dalziel Damien Daniel Dieppe Gabriel Pierre O'Brien Olivier Oriel Vienna Vivien Xavier			eus>ei (nuclei) lei		concierge hacienda science	Lucien
separate morphemes	bi- (biennial) di- (dielectric) -ety (gaiety moiety piety society ...) -er (harrier skier supplier ...) -y>-ier/-iest (easiest happier ...) -ient (convenient patient ...) -ience (experience ...) -iem (requiem per diem)				albeit wherein re- (reinforce reiterate ...) -ing (being eyeing ...) -ist (ageist atheist) -ity (deity)		-cy>cier/-ciest (juicier raciest ...)
multiple non-EE variants	pimiento variegate hotelier				gneiss seigneur	Alexei Beijing Brunei Khomeini Marseille(s) Sergei	glacier
other sound or longer grapheme	lieutenant					Beirne