(Edward Carney)
Jun 26, 2015
(Edward Carney)
British Worker: I can’t work today. I’ve got diarrhoea.American Boss: Diarrhea? That’s dreadful. You could have sent me a sick note.Bristish Worker: but I can’t spelling it.
Letter Spell
<said><text>
/sed//tekst/
Vowel letterConsonant letter
Five Vowels
aeio
u
Lick Lack
5 pairs of vowels can have single-letter spellings:
<e> <i> <o> <u><a>
Scrap Scrapi
ng
Met Meter
Pip Piper
Cop Coping
Rub Rubby
Keeping a constant spelling may involve the use of so- called “silent” letters.
Sign resignation, signal, signature.
In some cases the “g” and “k” are quite empty letters.
“g” gnarled, gnat, gnome.
“K” knee, knife, knock, know.
<-e>Bathe, breathe, loathe, wreathe
Bath, breath, loath, wreath.
Voiced
Voiceless
<e>
Browse
Copse
Lapse
Please
Tease
Tence
Cops
Laps
Pleas
Teas
Tens
Brows
Prevent confusion
LOOK-ALIKES AND SOUND-ALIKE
MINUTE
<vain> <vane> <vein><foul> <fowl><meat> <meet>
<mete>
Bark,, Crricket, Flat, Leaves
May be an
adjective
A really minute insect.
Or a noun Half
minute
/ə/About AsparagusAuthor CaravanDriver PoliteTogether courageous
“Schwa”
Life - DeathEarth - HeavenSun - MoonDay - NightBlack - White
Broad - NarrowTeach - LearnSeek - FindEat - Drink
A SYSTEM OF SUBSYSTEMS
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English spelling has to cater for a wide range of English accents, which differ in their goodness of fit with present spelling conventions.
CourtCoresFloorFormelly
Southern England
Without /r/
Scottish, Irish and American
Have Kept their /r/
The spelling system has to cater as best it can for phonetic differences between speakers.
If people were encouraged to spell as they spoke, there would emerge a number of different written dialects of English.
THE PRICE OF HISTORY
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