LL-L "Language varieties" 2002.04.07 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 07.APR.2002 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian L=Limburgish
 LS=Low Saxon (Low German) S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
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From: "Randy Elzinga" <frisiancow at hotmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2002.04.06 (02) [E]

>From: erek gass <egass at caribline.com>
>Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2002.04.04 (09) [E]
>
>As many (perhaps, most of you) know, "American" spelling is essentially
>Noah Webster's personal determination that America should have its own
>system of spelling the same language used in the UK.  And, perhaps, I'm
>not alone in hoping that the day will come when Americans will revert to
>spelling the ways our other English-speaking neighbours spell.

For some reason I don't foresee this happening.  Canadian English, for
example, I would think, is more likely to convert gradually to American
English in terms of spelling.  I say this, not from any linguistic
expertise, but simply because it seems that Canada or Canadians follow
what
the USA or Americans do more often than the other way around.  I don't
think
I've ever heard any outcry from Americans over losing political autonomy
to
Canada, for instance, but threat to our political autonomy is a
recurring
theme in Canada.  In terms of pop culture, there are many more American
tv
shows, movies, rock groups, etc. at our disposal than there are
Canadian,
and Canadian media seem to have comparitively little success outside of
Canada.  I could list other examples, but this is not really the point.
I
would think conversion to the American system is much more unlikely in
other
English speaking countries, since they are not next door like Canada is.

Real
>differences should be cherished (as the Swiss do in each of their own
>dialect areas), but purely arbitrary and silly artifices only create
>nuisance or confusion.

English spelling doesn't seem to be capable of cherishing real
differences,
at least not for formal, or even semi-formal purposes.  Our spelling
seems
to be more matter of giving represenations of words rather than
representing
pronunciations.  There's the classical example of the string(grapheme?)
"ough" which has about nine different pronunciations, if I remember
correctly.  Even the spelling of words like "colour/color" and
"labour/labor" are illogical in terms of representing the pronunciations
of
the words.  Until recently, I didn't know that the Swiss had their own
spelling system, but I assume it's based somewhat on the German system
which
is much more consistent than that of English so far as I can tell.  I
think
that anything that would allow English writers to cherish real
differences
would require a near total abandonment of both British-based, and
American
spelling systems.

I've often wondered why Noah Webster didn't go for a more radical
approach
in defining American English spelling, something that did a better job
the
both current systems do.  As you point out, things like eliminating a
'u' in
words like colour are "purely arbitrary and silly artifices only
[creating]
nuissance and confusion".  They don't add to the readability of the
word.

Given your feelings that these things are purely arbtitrary and so
forth,
why would you prefer one(British) over the other(American)?

Randy Elzinga
frisiancow at hotmail.com

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