Dieing languages and "easy to learn" spelling

Sat Apr 12 01:07:25 UTC 2008

We talked about changing pronunciation to meet spelling awhile back  OK it's a bit crazy.  But then again, there isn't too much sense in pronunciation changes anyway.  It would be a terrific thing if the letter/sound correspondence in English were regular.  The easiest thing to change is pronunciation to meet spelling.

If UNESCO is looking for an "easy to learn" phonetic spelling as an alternate spelling as indicated below, then I think we'd rather an English based one rather than a Korean based one.

Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
See truespel.com - and the 4 truespel books plus "Occasional Poems" at authorhouse.com.

> Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:09:50 -0700
> From: jsmithjamessmith at YAHOO.COM
> Subject: Re: Dieing languages and "easy to learn" spelling
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> Maybe we should try pronouncing words the way they're
> spelled; let's start with "been", "again", and
> "Worcestershire", then see where we can go from there!
>
>
> --- Tom Zurinskas  wrote:
>
>> If English speakers don't adopt an English-friendly
>> phonetic spelling NOW, will they be forced to use
>> one based on another language in the future? Should
>> future language respelling be done in the "easy to
>> learn" alphabet of "Nuriguel” or in an "easy to
>> learn" English based script - truespel?
>>
>> The world is thinking about respelling. I suggest
>> that English-based would be the best choice, being
>> the "lingua franca" of the world. What English
>> needs is an English based phonetic system. Truespel
>> is mature and fits the bill now. See below copied
>> from another emal:
>>
>> An organization in Korea has persuaded some
>> language-planners in China and UNESCO to seriously
>> consider an expanded version of the Korean alphabet
>> for use as an international script.
>> Google-search "Nurigeul" and/or visit
>>
>>
> http://www.korea.net/news/issues/issueDetailView.asp?board_no=18140&menu_code=A
>> and watch
>>
>>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtGhiz5V8Yg&feature=related
>>
>> U.N., China eyeing Hangeul-based alphabet to combat
>> illiteracy
>>
>> Korea News: October 13, 2007
>> Dr. Kim-cho Sek-yen, Director of Sejong Studies
>> Institute.
>>
>> Of the roughly 7,000 languages worldwide, on
>> average, one goes extinct every two weeks, according
>> to the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered
>> Language in Australia and the U.S. National
>> Geographic Society.
>>
>> In words of K. David Harrison, an assistant
>> professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College and
>> author of "When Languages Die" (2007), losing a
>> language means losing a vast repository of knowledge
>> accumulated by generations of people. Videos,
>> recorders, journals, storybooks and other basic
>> literacy materials are being used to slow this
>> decline.
>>
>> Recently Korea has joined the efforts to rescue
>> languages with a unique method -- lending the
>> speakers of dwindling languages Hangeul, Korea’s own
>> easy-to-learn alphabet. Hopefully, this will be one
>> of Korea’s biggest contributions to the world.
>>
>> "But Hangeul is not enough," says Professor Kim-Cho
>> Sek-yen who came to Korea for a speech at the WOGA
>> 2007, International Women Leaders Mission
>> Conference. Living in New York with her husband and
>> daughter, she has devoted over three decades
>> completing "Nuriguel” - an alternative Hangeul
>> system with additional letters that allow an even
>> wider range of pronunciation that can cover sounds
>> like "f" and "th" that are absent in Korean and
>> hence difficult to transcribe accurately. Below are
>> the newly added letters after Hangeul;
>>
>> "The principle of Hangeul is that it can transform
>> and regenerate itself,” she said. “I didn’t just
>> create letters out of the blue. I merely restored
>> the lost Hangeul letters of the 15th century and
>> formed additional letters based on the movements of
>> speech organs just like King Sejong, the inventor of
>> Hangeul, did.” She said. “That’s why I call it a
>> visible speech sound. You can see clearly why
>> certain Nurigeul letters are shaped as they are in
>> accordance with the pronouncing organs.”
>>
>>
>> Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
>> See truespel.com - and the 4 truespel books plus
>> "Occasional Poems" at authorhouse.com.
>>
>>
>>
> _________________________________________________________________
>> Going green? See the top 12 foods to eat organic.
>>
> http://green.msn.com/galleries/photos/photos.aspx?gid=164&ocid=T003MSN51N1653A
>>
>>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society -
>> http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
> James D. SMITH |If history teaches anything
> South SLC, UT |it is that we will be sued
> jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com |whether we act quickly and decisively
> |or slowly and cautiously.
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
> http://mail.yahoo.com
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

_________________________________________________________________
Pack up or back up–use SkyDrive to transfer files or keep extra copies. Learn how.
hthttp://www.windowslive.com/skydrive/overview.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_Refresh_skydrive_packup_042008

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org