A logical, consistent way of spelling English would help to make the language as a whole more efficient and understandable.
Traditional spelling has so many inconsistencies that it affects even our spoken language. When a word is spelt in an illogical way, this can over time affect the way it is is spoken.
North Americans are particularly liable to pronounce a word the way it is spelt. In England, the word 'path' is pronounced 'parth'. But in America it is more often pronounced with a short 'a' sound, as in the word 'pat'. The same can be said for words like 'fast' and 'past'.
Because the 'j' sound is often represented in English by the letter 'g', there are some words that are commonly pronounced either way. For example, we hear 'gyroscope' and 'gyrate' being pronounced either with a 'j-' sound or a 'g-' sound (the dictionary says 'j-' is correct).
The word 'chamois' is French, and it is pronounced 'shammy' in English when it means a leather cloth. But the written word does not give a clear indication of this pronunciation. Similarly, words like 'quay' and 'queue' have misleading spellings.
Our knowledge of less common words is often based on our reading them than on our hearing them. But it is often difficult to know how to pronounce a word from the spelling. For example, people learning English will frequently mispronounce 'advertisement', 'chemist' and 'aesthetic'.
So illogical and inconsistent spelling has led to inaccuracies and confusions even in our spoken language. And differences in pronunciation between different English-speaking countries have been encouraged by the fact that written words often do not indicate the "accepted" pronunciation.
A logical, consistent spelling system would overcome these problems. We would know exactly how to pronounce the word 'jirascope' (gyroscope) and 'cemmest' (chemist). And people in different countries would eventually enjoy a common way of speaking, as well as a common way of writing.
And then books and magazines written in America would not need to be reprinted in England or Australia in order to take account of differences in spelling (for example 'colour' instead of 'color').
So a logical, consistent way of spelling would help to improve our spoken language as well as our
written one, making them both less confusing and less prone to errors, and at the same time
overcoming the serious problems caused by differences in spelling in the various English-speaking countries.
Return to Home Page