Sometimes English spelling doesn’t make much sense.
But even though many influential people have tried to reform our wacky orthography, the anomalies persist. Will English spelling reform ever work?
Linguist Daniel Midgley spells it out on this episode of Talk the Talk.
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Show notes
Facebook Reactions, the Totally Redesigned Like Button, Is Here
http://www.wired.com/2016/02/facebook-reactions-totally-redesigned-like-button/
Facebook: Emojis to beat words with ‘Reactions’ icons
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/technology/in-other-news/260216/on-facebook-emojis-beat-words.html
Mark Zuckerberg Asks Racist Facebook Employees to Stop Crossing Out Black Lives Matter Slogans
http://gizmodo.com/mark-zuckerberg-asks-racist-facebook-employees-to-stop-1761272768
Mark Zuckerberg Chastises Employees Who Crossed Out ‘Black Lives Matter’ on Facebook’s Signature Wall
https://www.good.is/articles/zuck-stands-up-for-black-lives-matter
Wikipedia: German orthography reform of 1996
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_orthography_reform_of_1996
English Spelling Society: What is wrong with English spelling?
http://www.spellingsociety.org
Stan Carey: A brief history of English spelling reform
http://www.historytoday.com/stan-carey/brief-history-english-spelling-reform
Yes, English can be weird. It can be understood through tough thorough thought, though.
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) May 1, 2015
History of Spelling Reform
http://www.barnsdle.demon.co.uk/spell/histsp.html
RationalWiki: English spelling reform
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/English_spelling_reform
Wikipedia: English-language spelling reform
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-language_spelling_reform#Spelling_reform_proposals
26 of Noah Webster’s Spelling Changes That Didn’t Catch On
http://mentalfloss.com/article/53723/26-noah-webster’s-spelling-changes-didn’t-catch
Cut Spelling (CS)
http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/cutspellingterm.htm
NPR: Changes To French Spelling Make Us Wonder: Why Is English So Weird?
http://www.npr.org/2016/02/24/467218639/new-changes-to-french-beg-the-question-why-are-english-spellings-so-weird
Failed Attempts to Reform English Spelling: 8 Spelling Suggestions That Didn’t Stick
http://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/spelling-suggestions-that-didnt-stick/kist-instead-of-kissed
What is the origin of the silent ‘b’ at the end of English words such as lamb, comb, crumb and bomb?
“The b-sound was lost by about 1300.”
http://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-1417,00.html
Etymonline: limb
“The parasitic -b began to appear late 1500s for no etymological reason”
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=limb&allowed_in_frame=0
Etymonline: indict
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=indict
Oxford: 11 spelling changes that would make English easier
http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2015/06/spellings-changes-that-would-make-english-easier/
Trying to change English’s complex spelling is a waste of time
https://theconversation.com/trying-to-change-englishs-complex-spelling-is-a-waste-of-time-38027
Oxford Owl: What is synthetic phonics?
http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/home/reading-owl/expert-help/what-is-synthetic-phonics
Panicum v panic
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=Panic
Pellie: Steve Price under fire as Tim Minchin rejects George Pell’s sick note
http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/02/17/06/24/steve-price-takes-on-tim-minchin-as-cardinal-george-pell-faces-visit-from-survivors
Australian Christian Lobby condemns Sydney school’s ‘rainbow politics’ for allowing male students to wear female uniforms
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-23/australian-christian-lobby-condemns-sydney-school-uniform-policy/7191908
SBS Backburner: Safe Schools Course Teaches Shorten To Stand Up To Bully
http://www.sbs.com.au/comedy/article/2016/02/24/safe-schools-course-teaches-shorten-stand-bully
As it happened: Unicorns, pixies and politicians hurling abuse over claims of homophobia
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-24/federal-politics-live-coverage-feb-24/7194712
A Rainbow Marriage: How did the rainbow become a symbol of gay pride?
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/explainer/2012/06/rainbows_and_gay_pride_how_the_rainbow_became_a_symbol_of_the_glbt_movement_.html
Malcolm Turnbull Issues Language Warning to MPs Over Safe Schools Debate
https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/arts-and-culture/malcolm-turnbull-issues-language-warning-to-mps-ov/9840567e-adaf-4a36-a499-52ac2135afd1.htm
Support the Safe Schools Coalition
http://campaigns.greens.org.au/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1792&ea.campaign.id=48027&ea.tracking.id=fb&en_chan=fb&en_ref=17768456
Myths debunked: Sadly, Theodore Roosevelt never rode a moose
https://blogs.harvard.edu/houghton/2013/09/20/myths-debunked-sadly-theodore-roosevelt-never-rode-a-moose/
Gizmodo: That Famous Photo of Teddy Roosevelt Riding a Moose Is Fake
http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/that-famous-photo-of-teddy-roosevelt-riding-a-moose-is-1355349896
Transcript
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7 March 2016 at 12:51 am
I have a suggestion on how to reform the spelling of the English language in a way that may look intuitive: I have this dictionary, The Grosset Webster Dictionary, published by Grosset & Dunlap, from New York City, that a feature called, “Pronunciations-at-a-Glance”, which is a way to spell out the pronunciation of difficult word without phonetic symbols; that would be a good starting point on how the new spelling should look like. While most of single-word entries have a transcription, many don’t, so if the spelled pronunciation would not affect all of the words. However I don’t think that a spelling reform should be systematic, and usual words, that most people know how to spell should be untouched, as the goal of the orthography, in my opinion, is that people should not depend on the dictionary to know how to pronounce new words that they encounter.
In the dictionary I mentioned, by example, “blood” is transcribed as /bluhd/, “blossom,” as /blos-‘m/, “blouse,” as either /blows/ or /blowz/, and “blow,” as /bloh/, whereas words like “bloom,” “blot,” and “blotch” are not transcribed. However, since “blow” and “blood” are too common a words, their spelling should never change.
That’s is my proposal.