Spelling: Method of Writing Words by Means of Letters

Since letters are in origin phonetic symbols, it follows that at some time every spelling must have been more or less phonetic, the reservation more or less phonetic, the reservation more or less deriving from the fact that generally the letters are inferior in number to the phonemes they have to represent, which the result that one letter may frequently have more than one phonetic value.

The pronunciation of the modern English words has now so little relation to the spelling that these words have to be learned one by one, no on he basis of any general rule of pronunciation.

The main reason for the peculiarity of English spelling lies in the very formation of the English language, for it has kept or reintroduced the old historical spelling of the four principal languages of which it is formed: Old English, Latin, Greek and Old French.

In general, a part from Greek words, English spelling reflects the pronunciation of English as it was several centuries ago.

The eccentricity of English spelling is clearly demonstrated by two sets of facts. First, the same sound is expressed by two or more different symbols. It even happens frequently that two different words, with different sounds and meanings, are written in the same way. Secondly, the same symbol often represents two or more sounds. Many believe that the complicated system of English spelling has few, if any, advantages, and many great disadvantages. Many systems of simplified spelling or phonetic have been advocated, of varying degrees of merit, none has found much acceptance.    

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