What is one advantage of spelling reform in English?

The advantages to be derived from these alterations are numerous, great and permanent. 1. The simplicity of the orthography would facilitate the learning of the language. It is now the work of years for children to learn to spell; and after all, the business is rarely accomplished …

What is the problem with English spelling?

English spelling is littered with irregularities: lurking mute letters, treacherous doubled consonants or slippery spellings with multiple pronunciations, which are, in most cases, far more confusing than those of French spelling, a close second when it comes to languages with a low graphy to sound correlation.

What can you say about spelling reform?

A spelling reform is a deliberate, often authoritatively sanctioned or mandated change to spelling rules. Proposals for such reform are fairly common, and over the years, many languages have undergone such reforms.

What is the importance of spelling reforms?

It seeks to change English orthography so that it is more consistent, matches pronunciation better, and follows the alphabetic principle. Common motives for spelling reform include quicker learning, cheaper learning, and making English more useful as an international auxiliary language.

Why are spelling rules problematic?

The Problem With Spelling Rules And as dialects change and drift apart, and language as a dynamic organic system evolves, the rules stay the same, making them a bad fit for the changing sounds.

Why is English spelling such a mess?

The unlucky thing for English spelling is that during the very same time, huge changes in pronunciation were happening. Middle English was becoming Modern English. So we get one spelling for many vowel sounds—ea in knead, bread, wear, and great—and multiple spellings for one vowel sound—due and dew, so and sew.

What is the importance of spelling and spelling reform?

What is the historical reason for the English spelling being haphazard?

With no schools and monasteries teaching ways of writing Old English, any incipient norms were swept away and people hardly literate in the language just tried to spell as the words sounded, with predictably irregular results. Second, after the conquest many scribes were French or French-trained.

Why spelling reform is important?

Common motives for spelling reform include quicker learning, cheaper learning, and making English more useful as an international auxiliary language. Reform proposals vary in terms of the depth of the linguistic changes and by their implementations.

Should the spelling of the English language be reformed?

For centuries, there has been a movement to reform the spelling of the English language. It seeks to change English orthography so that it is more consistent, matches pronunciation better, and follows the alphabetic principle.

Why should we change the spelling of English words?

For centuries, there has been a movement to reform the spelling of English. It seeks to change English spelling so that it is more consistent, matches pronunciation better, and follows the alphabetic principle. Common motives for spelling reform include quicker, cheaper learning, thus making English more useful for international communication.

How did the printing press affect the English spelling system?

English spelling consistency was dealt a further blow when William Caxton brought the printing press to London in 1476. Having lived in mainland Europe for the preceding 30 years, his grasp of the English spelling system had become uncertain.

Why do Bibles have different spellings in different languages?

The many editions of these Bibles were all printed outside England by people who spoke little or no English. They often changed spellings to match their Dutch orthography. Examples include the silent h in ghost (to match Dutch gheest, which later became geest ), aghast, ghastly and gherkin.