LL-L "Orthography" 2004.06.05 (05) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 05.JUN.2004 (05) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: jkrause <jkrause at old-sod-shanty.com>
Subject: Orthography

Regarding Englisch othografie, Ai think wie ott tuh yuhs sum sort ov Low
Sachsen  beyst spelling sistem.  After all, Englisch is a Loh German
dereiv'd languidge, not?  Abolisch the X, Q, and in mohst keyses, the C,
eksept for the ck kombineyschon, and Ai think wie wudd hav a verie gudd
orthografick sistem.

Yers with mei tung firmlie in mei tschieck,
Jim Krause

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From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at scotstext.org>
Subject: "Orthography" [E]

> From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Orthography
>
> Higher than the cost of maintaining an outmoded system that requires
> lifelong learning and enormous educational resources, and which
(allegedly)
> exacerbates the types of economic and educational problems and missed
> opportunities that result from functional illiteracy, even among native
> speakers of the language?

It's interesting that you need to prefix "allegedly" to this statement. So
far you have these allegations and you've quoted a newspaper article. It's
not really a scientific debate is it?

I feel that a lot of the debate in English spelling reform is based on what
amounts to no more than language myths. Some myths are:

"English speakers resist spelling reform."

It's true, but on the other hand radical reformists often take this to mean
that English spelling reform doesn't happen. English spelling isn't
standardised and reform is a gradual but continuing process. Ultimately it's
the people who use English who decide whether a particular innovation (by
the Chicago Tribune and other reforming publications) is accepted. It's hard
to see why the preferences of people who use it every day should be
overridden by those who use it only when international communication is
necessary.

"English literacy takes at least an extra year to learn in schools."

This myth arises because people forget that English is a two-tiered (or
three-tiered) language: there's the "perceived-Saxon" lexicon (I say
"perceived" because many Latin words in English are perceived by speakers to
be "Saxon" because they're short, everyday words lacking in Latin affixes)
and the "perceived-Latin" - and also a third tier of borrowings whose
original spellings or transcriptions are preserved. In English-speaking
countries a child learns to read before they have much in the way of
"perceived-Latin" vocabulary. Then the "latinate" spellings are absorbed in
later years as the child's vocabulary increases to embrace them. I suspect
that perpetrators of the myth are adding on years when a child is already
competent at reading and writing his own vocabulry because they haven't yet
learned spelling rules for a layer of vocabulary they're only beginning to
acquire.

"English belongs to everybody."

I'd be prepared to accept that English belongs to the Lowland Scots because
we're only taught in English in spite of going to school speaking a
different   language. I'm less prepared to accept that countries where
English is taught as a second language can lay equal claim to it.

Sandy
http://scotstext.org/

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