Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site mit-eddie.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxn!ihnp4!mit-eddie!barmar
From: barmar@mit-eddie.UUCP (Barry Margolin)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: Re: Credibility
Message-ID: <4593@mit-eddie.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 2-Jul-85 02:08:10 EDT
Article-I.D.: mit-eddi.4593
Posted: Tue Jul  2 02:08:10 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 3-Jul-85 08:20:57 EDT
References: <271@sri-arpa.ARPA> <483@oliveb.UUCP>
Reply-To: barmar@mit-eddie.UUCP (Barry Margolin)
Organization: MIT, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 28


I'm not sure whether this directly answers the questions about
"expressive" and "lyrical" qualities of the English language.  However,
the current, inconsistent spelling rules DO provide information to a
reader running into a new word.  I can tell by looking at the word
"phoneme" that it probably has something to do with sound, as it
contains the root "phon", which is a common Greek root relating to sound
or hearing.  If it were spelled "fone" I would not guess this relation,
since Greek-derived words use "ph" for the "f" sound.

True, in spoken English this information is lost.  This also is the case
for "to", "two", and "too", but we manage due to the addition of
inflection and body language.  In addition, in many cases of spoken
language, the listener can ask the speaker what is meant, which is not
possible in written language.  In general, written and spoken languages
are necessarily different, and decisions about one should not be based
on the other.

Another way in which retaining the old spellings helps is in learning
foreign languages.  For instance, it is more obvious that the German
word "nicht" is the translation of "night" than it would be if the
latter were spelled "nite".  Unfortunately, this only really works when
the word comes from that language; for instance, the latter spelling
looks closer to the French work "nuit".
-- 
    Barry Margolin
    ARPA: barmar@MIT-Multics
    UUCP: ..!genrad!mit-eddie!barmar