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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">===========================================<br>
L O W L A N D S - L - 17 December 2008 - Volume 01<span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
From: <span class="ep8xu"><span><span style="color: rgb(121, 6, 25);">Sandy Fleming</span></span></span><span class="hccdpe"> </span><span class="ldacoc"><<a href="mailto:sandy@scotstext.org">sandy@scotstext.org</a>></span><br>
Subject: <span class="hccdpe">LL-L "Orthography" 2008.12.15 (06) [E]</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">> From: Heiko Evermann <<a href="mailto:heiko.evermann@googlemail.com">heiko.evermann@googlemail.com</a>><br>
> Subject: LL-L "Orthography" 2008.12.15 (04) [E/LS]</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">> How abowt teeching the English e propa sistem of
raiting first, one<br>
> that aims for consistency and integrity, one that is not based on a<br>
> way of writing that became obsolete with the Tudor sound shift. Mait<br>
> meyke lerning English a lot esier for all the world. And good lack for<br>
> teeching that sistem in Scatland.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">I think
that this illustrates one of the problems with English spelling<br>
reform, as indeed any attempt at writing English more systematically<br>
tends to do.<br>
<br>
The thing is, we could never be in agreement about this because:<br>
<br>
mait: I pronounce this diphthong differently and make the distinction<br>
between, eg, "five" ("faiv") and "nine"
("nein") in English.<br>
<br>
mayke: all vowels like this are pronounced as pure diphthongs in my<br>
English.<br>
<br>
Scatland: this flags your English as American in pronunciation for me.<br>
There's no way left to spell, for example "cat" in my English, unless<br>
you want to make it "caht" or something.<br>
<br>
Of course there are many semi-regular and irregular differences between<br>
American and English English that would be difficult to cover in one<br>
spelling, for example, "serehnity" (American), "sereenity"
(English),<br>
garahdge/gahridge and so on.<br>
<br>
Then Scottish English brings a whole new set of problems, for example,<br>
as a Scottish speaker of English I would need the distinction between<br>
the vowels in "five" and "nine", and between "w"
and "wh", I would want<br>
most of my vowels pure and I need a clear spelling of the letter "r"<br>
independent of the surrounding vowels (so Shavian is completely<br>
impossible for me to write unless I learn a whole new dialect of<br>
English).<br>
<br>
I think that in its expansion English has perhaps reached a point of no<br>
return where it's only held together as one language by the common<br>
orthography bolstered by a vast literature and a widespread familiarity<br>
with accents other than ones own due to the film and TV industries.<br>
There seems to be no way to spell it so that it can be written by all<br>
native English speakers without it making even less sense to a large<br>
fraction of them.<br>
<br>
I'm not saying some reforms wouldn't be possible, such as the abolition<br>
of "gh" and suchlike. But it can only be taken so far.<br>
<span style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"><br>
Sandy Fleming<br>
<a href="http://scotstext.org/" target="_blank">http://scotstext.org/</a><br style="">
<br style="">
</span></span></p>