New Spelling System in Spanish

[Tom Zurinskas]

It's interesting to see the spelling of other languages evolving.  I've been a member of the Simplified Spelling Society for years and they've had many ideas on the subject for English since 1906.  It's called the "Spelling Society" now.

If there were such a thing as a quest for simplified spelling of USA English I would go with changing a few popular words first in line with reasonable phonetics.  For instance, "uv" for "of" would be very good.  It would make consistent the spelling of the ~v sound with letter "v".  Also "frum" for "from" would be good.  That would trend on the letter "u" for the short u sound (uh).  In fact the word "the" could as well go to "thu".  And another would be changing word "a" to being spelled "u", for consistency with the "uh" sound.  These four changes don't look like much but would be over 7% of the words on a text page.  Good enough for year 1.

Coincidently these changes are in line with truespel phonetics.  It makes no sense to change things unless you know where you're going.


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



>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Federico Escobar
> Subject: Re: New Spelling System in Spanish
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> FWIW, the reform of spelling in Spanish has now made it to the NYT:
> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/26/world/europe/26spanish.html
>
> A copy editing nightmare will be under way (unless of course the book is
> ready by now and waiting for a mere wink): the New Orthography's 800 pages
> will be debated and approved this weekend, and, if approved, they will be
> out in stores by December 24th. From my experience in the field, a veritable
> legion of copy editors and designers will be needed to get so much text in
> shape in just a couple weeks.
>
> F.
>
>
> On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 10:30 AM, Federico Escobar <
> federicoescobarcordoba at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: Federico Escobar
> > Subject: Re: New Spelling System in Spanish
> >
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Wilson, the comment you quoted was quite pertinent, but it turns out that
> > Microsoft's spell-check in Spanish is very accommodating. It is not wedded
> > to any particular system, so it tends to have both what the Academy
> > recommends and what other institutions (and tradition) suggest.
> >
> >
> >
> > Paul, there was a discussion on this list about the possibilities of
> > reforming English spelling, sparked precisely because of spelling bees, a
> > few months ago. It starts here:
> >
> >
> > http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=3Dind1006A&L=3DADS-L&D=3D0&P=
> > =3D57653
> >
> >
> >
> > A language as decentralized as English (or at least as multipolar) will
> > hav=
> > e
> > a hard time accepting a single spelling system. The further obstacles you
> > mentioned, Paul, are also formidable. If my life can be spared by sharing a
> > small anecdote, someone I know says that the ultimate proof that English
> > phonetics is mad comes in three simple words: bomb, comb, tomb. Historical
> > and linguistic reasons notwithstanding, this person argues it's madness for
> > the -omb part in these four-letter words to have such radically different
> > sounds. (Wait till this persons finds out about through, enough, and
> > bough)=
> > .
> >
> >
> >
> > I agree with Michael that Spanish has a long history of reform, but it's
> > much more difficult to engage in those massive reforms now, especially
> > sinc=
> > e
> > the headquarters for reform, Spain, now accounts for just a small fraction
> > of Spanish speakers worldwide. In spite of the demographics, a significant
> > reform is under way, and people will more readily accept it than if, say,
> > the OED were to propose a new spelling system for 21st-century English. The
> > silent h is, in fact, one of Spanish=92s small traps, and some communities,
> > despite admonitions coming from the Academy, have come to differentiate "b"
> > and "v." There's a further trap, when you=92re outside non-Anadalusian
> > Spai=
> > n,
> > and it is the difference between s, z, and in some cases c.
> >
> >
> >
> > FWIW, I do find ADS discussions very stimulating and fascinating,
> > especiall=
> > y
> > when new words and new meanings are brought up.
> >
> >
> >
> > F.
> >
>
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