Spelling Reform

http://www.xibalba.demon.co.uk/jbr/ortho.html

by tokenadult • 17 years ago

5 11 17 years ago

xibalba.demon.co.uk

tokenadult2• 17 years ago

For a somewhat contrary view, see the webpage with poems showing the absurdities of English spelling.

http://www.spellingsociety.org/news/media/poems.php

grellas• 17 years ago

The most radical proponent of English spelling reform was, of all people, Noah Webster.

In 1789, he wrote "An Essay on the Necessity, Advantages, and Practicality of Reforming the Mode of Spelling and of Rendering the Orthography of Words Correspondent to Pronunciation" (reprinted at http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/DKitchen/new_655/webster_langua...).

The problem with all such attempts at spelling reform is that language is not "top down" but rather "bottom up."

From ancient Saxon/Germanic words that defined much of the Old English to Latin words that flooded in via the various Romance languages such as French to Greek words that often came in via academic roots to scientific words that were coined as new developments occurred, English has absorbed all manner of word forms over many centuries - word forms that are ingrained in real-world usages that define how people speak, think, and write, not just in learned circles but in the street. Such words have taken on spelling characteristics connected with their origins (e.g., words of French origin that have many silent letters) and hence may vary significantly from one type to another.

It is a desirable goal to make English spelling more consistent but, if the very guy who came up with the leading American dictionary used for over 200 years could not even made a dent in the system, what chance does anyone else have?

Dilpil• 17 years ago

This would be the largest legacy system overhaul ever attempted. God help us all.

xiaoma4• 17 years ago

Foreign-language placenames can ignore the reform, but many places have English names independent of the forms used by their inhabitants. <Spain, Munich, Peking> are English words, and so get reformed («Speyn, Myunik, Piykinh») no matter what the locals call them.

I wouldn't be caught dead calling Beijing "Peking".

tokenadult2• 17 years ago

What do you call London or Washington when you speak Chinese? That is the quoted author's point.

xiaoma4• 17 years ago

Here in Taiwan, at least, the Chinese for London is 倫敦 and Washington is 華盛頓, both of which are phonetic transcriptions of the way the residents of those cities pronounce them. Unless the city has a special Chinese significance, such as San Fransisco (舊金山), there's people attempt to keep city names in sync with what locals call them to the extent permitted by Chinese phonetics.

Calling Beijing "Peking" or Mumbai "Bombay" may be what older people are used to, but it's not what's on any map I've seen this century.

sunburnt• 17 years ago

= A Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling =

For example, in Year 1 that useless letter c would be dropped to be replased either by k or s, and likewise x would no longer be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which c would be retained would be the ch formation, which will be dealt with later.

Year 2 might reform w spelling, so that which and one would take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish y replasing it with i and Iear 4 might fiks the g/j anomali wonse and for all.

Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants.

Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi ridandant letez c, y and x -- bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould doderez -- tu riplais ch, sh, and th rispektivli.

Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.

Mark Twain

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Spelling Reform

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