The sounds of words, and their written representations, are stored in separate areas of the brain. We need the storehouse of word-sounds so that we can recognise what words mean when we hear them, and we need the storehouse of written words so we can recognise them when we see them written. Most people store about 10,000 to 20,000 or more words in each of these areas. And in another area of the brain we store meanings, ideas and concepts. When we recognise a spoken or written word we can link it to the meaning - for example, we can link the word 'cat' to the idea, or picture, of a four-legged furry animal that purrs.
So there are links in our minds between the word-sounds and the meanings, and between the written words and their meanings.
When we speak, we use the idea, meaning or concept to extract the corresponding word-sound, and our brain then instructs the speaking mechanisms (including breathing, larynx and lips) to say the word.
When we hear words, our brain searches the storehouse of word-sounds for a match to the word that is heard, and then extracts the meaning, which it relays to the conscious part of our brain.
When we write, our brain links the meaning or idea to the written word-pattern in the storehouse of written words, and then our hand receives the necessary instructions to form the word on the paper (or typewriter or keyboard etc.).
When we read, we look at a word and then search the storehouse of written words in our brain for a match - then we can extract the meaning and this is directed to our consciousness.
Human beings are the only animals with a developed capacity for language. Studies of chimpanzees have shown that their capacity to learn vocal or symbolic styles of language is, in comparison, extremely limited.
Learning to read and write is one of the hardest things that humans ever do. A significant proportion of people never learn to do it effectively, even with good educational facilities.
So it important for the human race that we strive to get our system of writing to be as efficient as possible. This would allow children to learn to read and write more quickly and more effectively. It would even reduce the amount of mental effort needed to read or write - for example, we would be able to read a newspaper more quickly and with less mental effort if our representation of words was more efficient and logical.
The idea sometimes put forward by educators that it is good to have words that are hard to spell (for example: 'diarrhoea'), in order to get young people to "exercise their minds" is a principle to be strongly rejected. Rather, we should strive to make the storehouses of words, word-sounds and meanings that are stored in that wonderful organ - our brain - to be as efficient, well-ordered and integrated as possible.
The oral (spoken) form of the English language is very efficient indeed. Words with similar sounds can be stored in our brains in a related or associated way - for example: 'bum', 'dum', 'sum'. Consequently we seem to be able to match words that we hear with the storehouse of word-sounds in our brain with great ease and speed.
But the way that we store written (symbolic) words in our brains is regrettably - and tragically - inefficient. The words 'bum', 'dumb' and 'some' - which were stored so efficiently in the word-sound section of our brain - are laboriously etched into our children's memories only after a difficult, time-consuming and frustrating learning process. Some words with different spellings (for example, 'night' and 'knight') which had been stored just once in the word-sound section of our brains must be stored twice in the word-symbol section. Consequently, even for an adult, reading and writing involve more mental effort in comparing and extracting words and meanings than is necessary.
If words were spelt in a logical and consistent way, and taking due regard of the sounds of the words, then the storage of words in the written (visual) part of the brain would be much more efficient. Then the letter-patterns 'bum', 'dum' and 'sum' could be stored "near" each other - with the symbolic representations closely related - like the sounds that they represent. And words like 'nite' would only need to be stored once - just like the sound that it represents.
Then, learning to read and write would be much easier - in fact, more than twice as easy as at present. The learning process would be much less frustrating and much more enjoyable. And even adults would be able to read and write more easily, accurately and effectively.
And since there would be a much closer relationship between the word-sounds and their written forms (that is, the spelling of a word would be based on its sound), then better links could be made in the brain between the two representations (sounds and symbols). For example, the sound of the word 'nite' would be linked more directly to the letter-pattern 'nite'.
Then, the whole structure of the English language that is stored in our brains would become not only more logical and efficient, but more integrated - with effective links between sounds, symbols and meanings.
Such a process would be a significant step in the cultural evolution of English-speaking people.
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