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From: cmb@ihima.UUCP (Christine M. Buss)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Spelling Reform
Message-ID: <216@ihima.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 19-Oct-84 18:06:10 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihima.216
Posted: Fri Oct 19 18:06:10 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 21-Oct-84 12:18:52 EDT
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 20

In the ongoing discussion of the inconsistencies between English
spellings and English pronunciations, I haven't seen the following point
made.  Although having spelling conform well to pronunciation would make
English much easier to learn, it would not necessarily make it easier
for native speakers to read.  Because many homonyms (e.g. knight and
night) are spelled differently, reading is fascillated.  The reader
doesn't need to apply context to determine the meaning of "nite".  
Where we have words with different meanings that are spelled the same 
(for example, the present and past tenses of read) we sometimes require
a lot of overhead to process a sentence correctly, as we try to figure
out which word is meant.

In some ways, the two goals of having a language that is easy to learn
and easy to use are at odds with each other.  The large number of words 
in the English language, with their subtle differences in connotation, 
add to the richness and expressiveness of the language but make it much 
more difficult for a beginner.

Christine Buss
soon to be ihnp4!ihlpm!cmbuss