The carefully signposted text and detailed contents listing will allow the reader pursuing a specialist interest to access specific information with ease. Harpercollins australia, 2011 why spelling reforms fail why has spelling reform in english not met with greater success, considering the number of proposals for reform. Quite simply, the body of library books on the shelves and text on the. Spelling reform proposals can be divided into two main groups. Learn english spelling test and vocabulary builder. It describes the criteria that should govern the choice among alternative reforms and considers in detail the relatively easily reformed consonants and the much more difficult vowels. Reform definition, the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc social reform. Definition and examples of spelling reform in english. With view on its grammar, english might be an easy language to learn. Apr 17, 2015 later this year, the english spelling society will host the first international spelling congress to come up with proposals to update the english spelling system. Sudden ones need power behind them, such as a governments, yet may still fail. Figures by cookson 1996 show that a book can contain from 56 percent up to. Spelling reform 1 or spelling reform step 1 more commonly known as sr1 is an english spelling reform proposal advocated by britishaustralian linguist harry lindgren. When words have been introduced from a foreign language into the english, they have generally retained the orthography of the original, however ill adapted to express the english pronunciation.
English orthography and an indepth examination of four spelling proposals for. There are no popular proposals for a more phonemic spelling of english. It occurred to me that it might be worth sharing a couple of essays that i wrote on topics directly relevant to english spelling reform. The long history of attempts to reform english orthography. So i started inventing phoneticallyprecise alphabets, ending up with results like this. But it is only just to his memory to point out that, to his work as a pioneer, is to a large extent due the revived interest in simplified spelling manifested in our own time. Noah webster proposed the removal of all silent letters and regularization of certain other common sounds.
Discover the amazing history of english spelling how it came to be the way it is, and what happened to previous attempts to put it right. Definition and examples of spelling reform in english thoughtco. Why english spelling reform is doomed quick and dirty. As i became more of a book reader, grand spelling reform started to rankle the. A 21 st century proposal for english spelling reform.
There have been almost as many proposals for spelling reform as there are rewrites of esperanto. Jun 16, 2014 some linguistic magazines in usa even supported the proposal and printed the papers using new orthography. D to help coordinate proposals for english spelling reform across both englishspeaking and nonenglishspeaking countries. Sanderson chambers iii associate professor of english at an elite northeastern university that costs more in tuition and fees for one semester than most people earn in a lifetime.
When germany and portugal tried to reform their spelling there was a lot of resistance, both inside the country and from places like austria and brazil where the language was also spoken. History of spelling reform this is a history about spelling reform efforts in the u. In germany, a reform of the spelling system has provoked a constitutional crisis. Within a century, several dedicated spellingreform groups had sprung up on either side of the atlantic, among them the spelling reform association 1876, simplified spelling board 1906 and simplified spelling society 1908, now the english spelling society. Inspired by henry sweet, skeat decided to switch from good old complex spelling to phonetic spelling and well, though his reform failed, it was a very interesting suggestion indeed. The english spelling society exists to repair our broken spelling. English spelling reform is a perennial favorite subject for the more harmless.
Standardization and spelling reform a survey of english. Why should spelling not be open to reform in the same way as currency, weights and. It sounds different now because all human languages, everywhere, are in a constant state of change, and there is nothing anyone can do about that. It calls for the short e sound as in bet to always be spelt with e. What is the most popular proposal for english spelling reform. The materials and references in this book can provide a basis for teaching the history of spelling changes and spelling reform efforts. The only one with any traction is the very slight reform by noah webster. The english spelling system can and should be reformed because it is flawed half its lexicon is and what is flawed is very costly andor takeswastes a lot more timemoney, which takes a lot of time and effort away from oth. The best general treatment of the subject is in lounsburys english spelling and spelling reform. In america and britain every day, members of the public write to the media on spelling issues, and take part in spelling contests. Nowadays digitalisation has much more of an influence on the language than the spelling reform ever had. These changes have happened gradually and without any planning. This interesting phonemic notation and font was copied from a 1970 book by g.
However, since the middle of the last century, both in britain and the united states, there has been a long succession of individual scholars, writers and even politicians with strong views on spelling reform and offering a wide spectrum of proposals for change. While spelling reform doesnt sound all that revolutionary, i appreciate websters american view of questioning the way things had always been done. How might such materials be useful to a teacher of english. For example, friend would become frend and head would become hed. English spelling and spelling reform by lounsbury, thomas raynesford, 18381915. Noah websters 1828 an american dictionary of the english language was the first great dictionary published in north america, and was enormously influential. A 21 st century proposal for english spelling reform by h. For instance there is no longer a k on the end of many words like musick and frantick. But it seems the committee which featured john dryden, john evelyn and a score of other luminaries lasted just a few meetings. Accounts of earlier proposals of reform in english spelling are to be found in sayces introduction to the science of language, vol. Many proposals to change english spellings have been ventured from the 16 th century to the present. Robert bridges, as poet laureate, had enough clout to persuade oxford. English spelling reform is a perennial favorite subject for the more harmless variety of cranks.
A survey of english spelling will be an invaluable reference book for students, professionals, teachers and academics in all areas of english language, linguistics and speech pathology. Tellingly, there has been precisely one success in each category noah webster and ido and neither caught on universally. However, formatting rules can vary widely between applications and fields of interest or study. Unlike new spelling which did not respell unstressed syllables, this. In 2009, before starting university, i stumbled across a book called cut spelling upward, 1992 which has had a lasting impact on my career choice and interests. Within a century, several dedicated spelling reform groups had sprung up on either side of the atlantic, among them the spelling reform association 1876, simplified spelling board 1906 and simplified spelling society 1908, now the english spelling society.
Mar 21, 2020 much of websters influence came from his spelling reform. Spellbound considers the reasons for this opposition to reform. It was founded in 1908 as the simplified spelling society. In this website you can discover the past, present and future of english spelling. It seeks to change english spelling so that it is more consistent, matches pronunciation better, and follows the alphabetic principle. The mormon alphabet experiment newyork historical society. While spelling reform doesnt sound all that revolutionary, i appreciate websters american view of questioning the way things had. To help coordinate proposals for english spelling reform across both englishspeaking and nonenglishspeaking countries. The term spelling reform refers to any organized effort to simplify the system of english orthography. Everybody agrees that english spelling is horrible. In his book, hart remarks that, although this is considered as a kind of duty by his.
Since the controversy over the adequacy or inadequacy of english orthography is still alive, a comparison between present and past reform proposals is suggested. Later, it was reissued under the title the american spelling book and in this form went through edition after edition baugh 360. Thus, fatigue, marine, chaise retain their french dress, while, to represent the true pronunciation in english, they should be spelt fateeg, mareen. With that information, and the picture of the salt lake temple on the cover, i deduced that it was a mormon publication. Englishlanguage spelling reform proposals have been regularly made since the 16th century, but have made little impact apart from a few spellings preferred by noah webster having contributed to american and british english spelling differences. However, none of them have made significant headway. The english spelling society is an international organisation, based in the united kingdom. This title narrates the history of english spelling from the anglosaxons to the presentday. The english spelling society was founded in 1908 as the simplified spelling society, by philanthropists and educational reformers. Most of these proposals spend their energy fixing what isnt broken. And even earlier proposals to reform british english had led jonathan swift, in 1712, to condemn what he called the foolish opinion advanced of late years that we ought to spell exactly as we speak. Reform proposals vary in terms of the depth of the linguistic changes and. This study is an approach to the works of richard mulcaster and john hart, who can be considered as the best representatives of the english renaissance spelling debate. The spelling is fairly phonemic, especially in comparison to more opaque orthographies like english, having a relatively consistent mapping of graphemes to phonemes.
Sep 09, 2019 there are no popular proposals for a more phonemic spelling of english. You have to reform simple english wikipedia or it has to stop existing, its that simple. In case youre wondering, no, i dont believe that this sort of wholesale spelling reform would be a workable proposition, but im so sick of watching aunt sally reform proposals being pelted with ridiculously inadequate arguments that i thought it would make a nice change if i wrote something equally biassed and unfair in the other direction. Noah websters 1828 an american dictionary of the english language was the first great dictionary published in north america, and was enormously influential motivated both by nationalist fervor and a desire to reform spelling, webster proposed numerous spelling changes in his work. English spelling reform history arguments for the reform ov spelling variant spellings spelling reform proposals and reformed spellings dyslexia the symptom ov a crazy spelling system organizations for spelling reform spell. Publication date 1909 topics english language orthography and spelling, spelling reform publisher new york. Many proposals to change english spellings have been ventured from the. Does anyone think that with the status english currently has as an international language, that it should undergo a spelling reform in order to make the spelling more phonetically consistent, and thus easier for foreigners and native englishspeaking children, for that matter to learn. Proposals for a simplified spelling of the english language.
Books about spelling reform a list, with descriptions. You cant tell the spelling from the pronunciation, and you cant tell the pronunciation from the. Back in college, i obsessed over english spelling reform. It is described in the book simple phonetic english spelling introduction to simpelfonetik, the singlesoundperletter writing method, by allan kiisk. Why deal with silent ghs, i figured, when things can be so much cleaner. Noah webster was struck by the inconsistencies of english spelling and the obstacles it presented to learners young and old alike and resented that american classrooms were filled only with british textbooks. Written dialects n spelling reforms english spelling society. It describes the criteria that should govern the choice among alternative reforms and considers in detail the relatively easily reformed consonants and. Proposals for reforming english spelling go back way before the spelling society was founded, but the momentum for change increased in the 20th century.
The society publishes leaflets, newsletters, journals, books and bulletins. To persuade the public, opinionformers, policymakers and relevant agencies of the need for and practical possibilities of reforming english spelling. May 21, 2014 the new york historical society museum and library the mormon alphabet experiment. Upward and davidson also explore events in the sociopolitical history of england as an explanatory setting for developments in spelling, along with the works of a number of lexicographers especially johnson and webster, and various proposals for spelling reform. Spelling project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks read. Some are the basis for orthographic differences between american and british english. Spanish orthography is the orthography used in the spanish language. Proposals for a simplified spelling of the english. C to promote research and debate on ways of reforming english spelling, and to prepare a graded set of proposals for relating wordforms more predictably to speechsounds. Spelling reform anthology 6 the english spelling society. Spelling reform is any organized effort to simplify the system of english orthography.
It explores why the conventional english voweldiphthong correspondences are so. Threatenedmarginalised languages also have to have community on opening, so your point is moot. As we saw last week, the main reason that spelling is not a onetoone correspondence of soundtoletter is because our writing system was created a long time ago, when english sounded different than it does now. A brief history of english spelling reform history today.
Closing a wiki that was created not according to the common sense, that exists simply because english community is too big to others, is more than warranted. He did not live to see success attend his proposals for a drastic reform of english spelling on a strictly phonetic basis. It now has a worldwide membership including people from the united kingdom, the usa, canada, australia, new zealand and other english speaking countries. Alices adventures in wonderland in nspel orthography. The book then turns to current proposals for the reform of english. It soon created a committee for improving the english language, including spelling reform. For centuries, there has been a movement to reform the spelling of english. They will be especially useful to teachers, and to students, where many students speak a non. Why should spelling not be open to reform in the same way as currency, weights and measures and other institutions. The spelling reform featured in his first dictionary, a compendious dictionary of the english language, was based on the authors combined vision of logic and aesthetics. Over the years, organizations such as the english spelling society have encouraged efforts to reform or modernize the conventions of english spelling, generally without success. It also examines the changing attitudes to spelling, including numerous proposals for spelling reform, ranging from the introduction of new alphabets to more modest attempts to rid english of its silent letters, and the differing agendas they reveal.
The history of english spelling reveals the richness of the complex and often. The first 10 pages will likely become a chapter in a book intended for the general public hence the casual writing style. Some of this information comes from the research of kenneth ives, who has published it in a book called written dialects. Projects to reform the spelling of american english predated the declaration of independence. Noah websters 1828 an american dictionary of the english language was the first great. The former are more conservative and do not introduce any new letters or symbols. Reform proposals vary in terms of the depth of the linguistic changes and by the ways they are implemented.
In terms of writing systems, most spelling reform proposals are moderate. English spelling has seen only minor changes since johnson, but there have been many of them. While the implementation of such recommendations is likely to face major obstacles, the case for simplification has been made compellingly in a 2003 study which investigated literacy acquisition rates in languages, and concluded. Spelling reforms are attempts to regularise english spelling, whether by enforcing a regular set of rules, or by replacing the basic english alphabet with a new one. Motivated both by nationalist fervor and a desire to reform spelling, webster proposed numerous spelling changes in his work. Clearly, english spelling has had the same problems for many generations. Emeritus professor of english in yale university new york and london harper 6 brothers publishers mcm i x books by thomas r.
The most popular american book of its time, ben franklin used taught his granddaughter to read by using websters book. How spelling keeps kids from learning the atlantic. English spelling and spelling reform thomas raynesford lounsbury on. Failed attempts to reform english spelling merriamwebster. For hundrets of years there were different attempts to reform and simplify english spelling.
Lounsbury english spelling and spelling reform post 8vo. Proposals for closing projectsclosure of simple english. His proposals and reasoning are surprisingly modern given that they were written over 200 years ago webster, 1789. Sr1 was part of a 50stage reform that lindgren advocated in his book spelling reform. The text is accompanied by john tenniels marvellous illustrations. Its aims are to raise awareness of the problems caused by the irregularity of english spelling, and to seek remedies to improve literacy, including spelling reform. More radical proposals involve adding or removing letters or symbols, or even creating new alphabets. It is a new, simple and easytolearn method of writing, spelling words, in english. William bullokar was a schoolmaster who published his book english grammar in 1586, an early book on that topic. The english spelling reform in the light of the works of. And english is a much more international language why should one englishspeaking country have the right to bring in changes and make others follow them.
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