English spelling
Irregularities
While the spelling of most English words is regular, irregularly-spelled words are among the most commonly-used. Dr David Crystal in his The English Language (Penguin, London, 1988, 0140135324) says that English spelling is problematical because:
- the language has some 40 sounds while the Roman alphabet has just 26 letters
- the Norman invaders changed spellings to make them like French
- pronunciation of English has changed radically since it was first printed and thus standardised
- 16th century writers altered the spelling of some words so that they resembled related words in foreign languages
- foreign words came into English without their spelling being changed.
American reforms
There are very few differences between American English spellings and other types. Examples of these differences are:
| type | American | other |
|---|
| o/ou | color | colour |
| er/re | center | centre |
| single/double letters | traveling | travelling |
| s/c | defense | defence |
| i/y | tire | tyre |
American "reforms" do not make sense phonetically. Neither o nor ou conveys the actual sound of the second, unstressed vowel in color/colour. The same goes for er and re in center/centre. Replacing double letters with single ones only makes sense if done in all words (such as letters and all). Similarly, changing c to s in defense would need to be accompanied by corresponding changes to ceiling, center and fence.
A proposal for reform
While the Roman alphabet contains enough letters to represent each English consonant with a single symbol, most English vowels would need to be represented by two letters. For example, the vowels presently represented by a in pat and part could be respelled as a and aa. The a in mate might be changed to ei and the final e dropped because it is not pronounced. Follow this link to a description of the proposed scheme.
If English spelling were phonetic, which accent would it be based on?
Two English accents are prime candidates for being the standard pronunciation on which reformed spelling would be based, namely:
- "middle" American, as spoken in much of the United States except New England and south-east (example speaker: former president Bush, though not president Clinton)
- southern British English, the modern descendant of received pronunciation (example speaker: Ms Emma Thompson, actress).
One of these accents would need to be chosen in order to decide whether, for example, to spell heart with an r.
Bibliography
- A History of the English Language, Albert Baugh and Thomas Cable, 1935, classmark 420.9
- The American Language (chapter 8), H L Mencken, fourth edition 1936
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