Obstacles and criticisms English-language spelling reform

1 obstacles , criticisms

1.1 writing conveys meaning, not phonemes
1.2 cognates in other languages
1.3 accent differences
1.4 false friends

obstacles , criticisms

there number of barriers in development , implementation of reformed orthography english:

public resistance spelling reform has been consistently strong, @ least since 19th century, when spelling codified influential english dictionaries of samuel johnson (1755) , noah webster (1806).
english vocabulary melding of germanic, french, latin , greek words, have different phonemes , approaches spelling. reform proposals tend favour 1 approach on other, resulting in large percentage of words must change spelling fit new scheme.
some inflections pronounced differently in different words. example, plural -s , possessive - s both pronounced differently in cat( )s (/s/) , dog( )s (/z/). handling of particular difficulty distinguishes morphemic proposals, tend spell such inflectional endings same, phonemic proposals spell endings according pronunciation.
english 1 of top ten major languages lacks worldwide regulatory body power promulgate spelling changes.
the spellings of words – such tongue , stomach – unindicative of pronunciation changing spelling noticeably change shape of word. likewise, irregular spelling of common words, such is, are, have, done , of makes difficult fix them without introducing noticeable change appearance of english text. create acceptance issues.
phonetic spelling reform result in multitude of different versions of written english, largely unintelligible across different accent-groups. scottish writers might not read indians. americans write whut , british wot same word.
spelling reform may make pre-reform writings harder understand , read in original form, necessitating transcription , republication. today, few people choose read old literature in original spellings of has been republished in modern spellings.

writing conveys meaning, not phonemes

the main criticism of many purely phonemic reform proposals written language not purely phonemic analog of spoken word. while reformers might argue units of understanding phonemes, critics argue basic units words. of phonemic spelling reform proposals might re-spell closely related words less alike spelled now, such electric, electricity , electrician, or (with full vowel reform) photo, photograph , photography. argument applies more technical words appear more in writing in speech, , words similar or identical corresponding words in other languages.

however, there great number of words in current lexicon related in orthography, not semantically related @ all. these words respelled differently , remove ambiguity in such words , area, rein , reinvent, river , rival, ampersand , ampere, caterpillar , cater, ready , readjust, man , many, , nowhere, etc. false-positives bound occur no matter system used. reformers want words spelt more closely how pronounced , spelling rules adhered more regularly , consistently across whole lexicon.

cognates in other languages

english west germanic language has borrowed many words non-germanic languages, , spelling of word reflects origin. gives clue meaning of word. if pronunciation has strayed original pronunciation, spelling record of phoneme. same true words of germanic origin current spelling still resembles cognates in other germanic languages. examples include light/ german licht, knight/ german knecht; ocean/ french océan, occasion/ french occasion. critics argue re-spelling such words hide links.

spelling reformers argue that, although of these links may hidden reform, others become more noticeable. example, axel wijk s 1959 proposal regularised english proposed changing height hight, link more closely related word high.

in cases, english spelling of foreign words has diverged current spellings of words in original languages, such spelling of connoisseur spelled connaisseur in french after french-language spelling reform in 19th century.

the orthographies of other languages not pay special attention preserving similar links loanwords. english loanwords in other languages commonly assimilated orthographical conventions of languages , such words have variety of spellings difficult recognise english words.

accent differences

another criticism reform might favor 1 dialect or pronunciation on others. words have more 1 acceptable pronunciation, regardless of dialect (e.g. economic, either). distinctions in regional accents still marked in spelling. examples include distinguishing of fern, fir , fur maintained in irish , scottish english or distinction between toe , tow maintained in few regional dialects in england.

reformers point out learners learn accents before see spelling. throughout life, learners have natural tendency acquire , use accent hear around them. later, learners learn read, naturally use , assign correct allophones or accent have learned right phonemes or words, happening , has been centuries, spelling system phonemically more accurate or not much. moreover, dialectal accents exist in languages spelling called phonemic, such spanish. if reform happen, learners use correct accent right letters or combinations of letters (words), whether spelling phonemic or not. reform make match more intuitive, possibly more regular or systematic case. spelling reform affect how spell words, not how them. after reform, english still allow multiple pronunciations of standard spelling, case, no 1 struggling use correct pronunciation ambiguous spelling. reformers suggest reform make spelling more inclusive of regional dialects allowing more spellings such words.

false friends

some reform proposals try make many spelling changes @ once , not allow transitional period old spellings , new may in use together. problem overlap in words, particular word unreformed spelling of 1 word or reformed spelling of another, akin false friends when learning foreign language.

for example, reform re-spell wonder wunder , wander wonder. however, both cannot done @ once because causes ambiguity. during transitional period, wonder unreformed spelling of wonder or reformed spelling of wander? resolved using old wander new wunder. other similar chains of words device → devise → *devize, warm → worm → *wurm , rice → rise → *rize.

some reformers avoid these confusions completely. no literate person familiar current system required learn new system. reform generational , happen in parallel 1 generation. reform introduced in schools first, starting @ grade 1 level in first year. next year, cohort go school , taught new spelling system, , previous year s grade 1 continue learn using spelling system learned in first year. reform take 12 years implement, giving time programmers make transcoding programs transcode text (on internet or digital files) old or new spelling system, needed. of course require vastly improved image-to-text technology (such ocr) available currently, demonstrated appalling standard of accuracy in scanning , converting text books not published using modern fonts, or including foreign language passages using accents , other marks other regularly occurring in common languages best developed graphics-to-text technologies. means that, until problem solved, have learnt new system not have access such books. first cohorts need learn read public signs not transcoded. people in workforce not familiar new code or old code able use transcoding programs transcode on fly whatever documents needed decoded.