LL-L "Orthography" 2005.06.24 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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From: Críostóir Ó Ciardha <paada_please at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2005.06.24 (01) [E]


Ron wrote:
"Is there anything like "etymological interference"? If not, there ought to
be."

I mentioned this phenomenon a while back in relation to "e-mail" versus
"email". I always write the former, because of what you call etymological
interference.

There is much confusion over spelling in English - not just in the more
obvious cases - based on how people _believe_ words _should_ be said and
what they represent. Hence habitual "renumeration" for "remuneration",
because most people know the practice has something to do with numbers. Then
of course there are the consistent mistakes, such as

separate > seperate (thus also seperatism, etc.)
surprise > suprise
superb > supurb
led > lead (caused by interference from the metal)

(Thats before we discuss the endemic difficulty's most writer's of English
have with apostrophe's.)

Nowadays one regularly sees in British and Irish English

licence > license
practice > practise
programme > program

and even

favour > favor (thus also favorite, etc.)

but (curiously) never

colour > color

all under the influence of, I suspect, the internet. There are some cases of
hypercorrection, such as

licensed > licenced (seen on a pub in Dublin)
licensing > licencing

In these cases the writer is putting down the spelling as he or she thinks
it _should_ be spelt. I am not criticising it: it is language in action. I
notice also there is confusion around past tenses. I would never use "dove"
for "dived", nor "pleaded" (I use a word that probably doesn't exist,
pronounced "pled" and spelt "plead"). But I do say "headed" for the past
tense of "to head down the town". I use "spelt" in preference to "spelled"
and "spilt" in preference to "spilled".

Go raibh maith agat,

Criostóir.

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Orthography

Hi, Críostóir, Lowlanders!

I'm getting your drift, a soce.

Of course you need to make a difference between a tendency toward
etymological spelling (influenced by the real or assumed origin and
composition of a word) on the one hand and a tendency toward phonetically
influenced regularization on the other hand.  Writing <practice> for both
<practice> and <practise> as well as regularizing <-ance> and <-ence> to one
or the other would be an example of the latter.

When I had just arrived in the United States from Australia, before I
moderated my pronunciation, people would tease me by means of spelling of
the following type: <secretrie> (['sEkrItri:] for <secretary> ['sEkrItæri]),
<strohbrie> (['stro:bri:] for <strawberry> ['strQ:bEri]), <rawsbrie>
(['rQ:sbri:] for <raspberry> ['ræsbEri]), <lebboratrie> ([l@'bOr at tri:] for
<laboratory> ['læb at r@tOri]) and <controvvesie) ([k at n'trOv at si:] for
<controversy> ['kOntr at v@rsi]).

> surprise > suprise

This would apply only in non-rhotic English varieties, of course.

> practice > practise

In American spelling it is now the other way around; it's <practice> in all
cases (though some people still distinguish them).

> programme > program

> favour > favor (thus also favorite, etc.)

I assume that these are orthographic Americanisms.

Australia has been fairly lax about all this since the late 1960s, ever
since many American teachers entered the country with massive teaching staff
immigration.  Australians have gotten used to the fact that the world
doesn't come to a grinding halt if foreign spelling is adopted and there is
a measure of inconsistency, as long as it does not seriously impede reading
comprehension.  American spelling is acceptable, and many people mix
systems.  For instance, the usual spelling is <labour>, but the political
party's name has been spelled (spelt) <Labor Party> for a long time.

As most of you surely know, American English consistently changed <-Cre> in
French-derived words to <-Cer> ("C" = "consonant").  Thus American <theater>
versus non-American <theatre>, though <theater> is rarely found outside the
United States as well, supposedly as an Americanism.  In recent years, the
spelling <theatre> is seen more and more often in the US.  I consider it an
"orthographic affectation" intended to add "class," based on Europhile
American naïve assumtion that everything European (including "low-class"
British "accents") is more classy, sopisticated, hip by default.  As Adam B.
Plourde writes:

<quote>
 Okay! I think I can live with this. From now on I will use "theater" to
refer to the building, and "theatre" as the art. Besides, I think it makes
me sound hip. ;-)
</quote>
http://webcdi.com/theater/theatre.php

Cheerio!

Reinhard/Ron

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