an interesting obituary

[Tom Zurinskas]

>From http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/us/30rondthaler.html

"In promoting SoundSpel, Mr. Rondthaler cast his lot with some eminent spelling-reform advocates of the past. One was George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), who established a bequest for the design of a new English alphabet. Another was President Theodore Roosevelt, who in 1906 decreed that 300 English words be officially respelled. (After a vitriolic, highly literate national debate that raged in the newspapers for months, the House of Representatives rejected the plan.)"

And the president had the help of the wealthiest man in the world at the time, Andrew Carnegie.  So is it possible to change English spelling toward a more consistent orthography?  Apparently not through those channels.

Yet it's a good thing.  It can help kids read.  Studies show that orthographies that are minimally phonetically consistent such as French and English have twice the number of dyslexics as more consistent ones, such as Italian (Paulesu 2000?).

There actually does exist a truly phonetically spelled English (USA accent) -  Truespel.  See the converter at truespel.com.  It's function is as a pronunciation guide, but if English were to transition to a phonetic spelling it shows an end game.  Learning to read the 40 sounds of English would then be all one need to know to read English (standard broadcast accent) in truespel.

Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL7+
see truespel.com phonetic spelling



----------------------------------------
> Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 21:53:15 -0400
> From: Mark.A.Mandel at GMAIL.COM
> Subject: Re: an interesting obituary
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Mark Mandel
> Subject: Re: an interesting obituary
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> By the way: Even if you don't care about the subject at all, read the last
> three paragraphs.
> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/us/30rondthaler.html
>
> m a m
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
_________________________________________________________________
With Windows Live, you can organize, edit, and share your photos.
http://www.windowslive.com/Desktop/PhotoGallery

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