While Samuel Johnson was aware of I need for reforming I relations of English spellings to
sounds, he despaired of getting this kind of change accepted. Others before n since have explored
what might be done, with occasional partial success in I process, I problems, I factors affecting
this effort, n alternate possibilities have become far more clearly defined.
In 1569, John Hart produced a phonetic alphabet. In 1570 he emphasized I need for spelling reform
as an aid to learning to read.
A century later, John Milton "deliberately used spelling to convey the sound and meaning of his
words." (Darbishire, 1952; xi) N he used some types of simplifications:
1. dropping final silent e: "climat, temperat, doctrin, determin, fertil";
2. apostrophe for indistinct vowel before final n: "oft'n, op'n, spok'n";
3. apostrophe for indistinct vowel after soft "g, c," or long vowel before final "d": "advanc't,
oppos'd";
4. dropping "e" from "-ed" endings where apostrophe was not needed as in 3 above: "turnd, heapt,
armd";
5. dropping some other silent letters: "forren, iland, suttle."
6. Other distinctive spellings included: "buisness, childern, farder, hunderd, perfet; apeer, neer;
cheif, conceal, receave."
Two samples from Milton's "Paradise Lost" printed according to his instructions are:
I should be much for op'n Warr, O Peers,
As not behind in hate; if what was urg'd
Main reason to perswade immediat Warr,
Did not disswade me most, and seem to cast
Ominous conjecture on the whole success.
First, what Revenge? the Towrs of Heav'n are filld
With armed watch, that renders all access
Impregnable; oft on the bordering Deep
Encamp thir Legions, or with obscure wing
Scout farr and wide into the Realm of night.
Benjamin Franklin
A century after Milton, in I American colonies, Benjamin Franklin in 1768 developed "A scheme
for a new alphabet and a reformed mode of spelling." Franklin proposed abandoning six letters, "c,
j, q, w, x, y," n replacing them with six new letters. These were:
1. A modified "a" for two sounds: I short vowel in "John" n I long vowel in "ball";
2. an inverted "h" for two sounds; short schwa (I indistinct vowel before "r", as in "under," n I
longer "u" in "unto";
3. a modified "s" for "sh" sound;
4. a modified "n" for "ing" sound;
5. an unvoiced "th" sound, using a crossed "h" in lower case, n I Greek "theta" for I capital letter;
6. a "dh" combination for I voiced "th" sound.
Apparently Franklin only used this revised alphabet n spelling in a few letters to his friend Polly
Stevenson, tho he did cast type for I new symbols. Unfortunately, his modified "a" n "s" symbols
are hard to distinguish from I regular letters, n his "dh" looks more like our "ch" than I "th" it was
intended to be used for.
A sample, with transliteration (Willcox, 1972; 217), follows:
Your third inconvenience is that "all the books already written would be useless." This
inconvenience would only come on gradually, in a course of ages. You and I, and other now
living readers, would hardly forget the use of them. People would long learn to read the old
writing, tho they practice the new. And the inconvenience is not greater, than what has
actually happened in a similar case, in Italy. Formerly its inhabitants all spoke and wrote
Latin: as the language changed, the spelling followed it.
Noah Webster commented on Franklin's efforts in 1806, in I preface to his first dictionary (vi):
In the year 1786, Dr. Franklin proposed to me to prosecute his scheme of a Reformed
Alphabet, and offered me his type for the purpose. I declined accepting his offer, on a full
conviction of the utter impracticability, as well as inutility of the scheme. The orthography
of our language might be rendered sufficiently regular, without a single new character, by
means of a few trifling alterations of the present characters, and retrenching a few
superfluous letters, the most of which are corruptions of the original words.
Noah Webster
Noah Webster's "Dissertation on the English Language" in 1789 proposed many improvements in
spelling. Some of these he used I next year when he published "A collection of essays and fugativ
writings," a sample of which follows (long s rendered here as "f"):
In the next place, our forefathers took mezures to prezerve the reputation of fkools and the
morals of yuth, by making the bufinefs of teeching them an honorable employment. Every
town or diftrict haz a committee whoze duty iz to procure a mafter of talents and karacter;
and the practice iz to procure a man of the beft character in the town or naborhood. The
welthy towns apply to yung gentlemen of liberal education, who, after taking the bachelor's
degree, usually keep fkool a yeer or two, before they enter upon a profeffion.
Webster's friends ridiculed many of his reformed spellings. Hence, when he published his first
dictionary, in 1806, he included far fewer of them. But many of I remaining ones, such as "labor"
for British "labour," still differentiate American from British spellings.
Webster's plan for reforming English spelling centered on 10 main classes of words (Shoemaker,
1936; 267-271):
1. Omitting I "u" in: "candor, error, favor, honor, labor, odor, vigor."
2. Changing from "-re" to "-er" in: "caliber, center, luster, meter, theater." These came from I
French, n followed I example of "chamber, cider, number," already spelled this way. However,
this change introduced a difference between root words n their derivatives, in "central, lustrous,
theatrical," which could formerly follow I rule of dropping final "e" before suffixes. It
apparently did not occur to Webster to drop I "e" entirely, thus making root n derivative agree.
3. Drop I final "k" in "-ck" words such as "cubic, music, public, rhetoric." However, I "k" was
retained in participles before "e" or "i," to fit I Romance language rule of softening "c" in these
situations: "frolicking, trafficking."
4. Change "c" to "s" in: "defense, offense, pretense." These followed "expense," n fit root to
derivative.
5. Avoid doubling I final consonant before derivative endings: "appareled, canceled, dueling,
traveled." He propounded I rule:
"when a verb of two or more syllables ends in a single, unaccented consonant, preceded by a
single vowel, the final consonant is not doubled in derivatives." He used "limiting, pardoning,
delivering," as precedents. But to apply this rule, one must know where I accent falls, count
syllables, vowels, n consonants, before arriving at a spelling conclusion!
6. Somewhat inconsistently, he doubled I final consonant in: "appall, befall; fortell; distill, fulfill;
dull, full, skill," to be consistent with their derivatives. It apparently did not occur to him to
change I derivatives instead. He also specified that I "a" before "-ll" is broad, as in "mall." This
is again an example of English changing I consonant to influence a vowel sound, rather than
changing I vowel spelling itself. M latter would be more logical, n easier to decypher.
7. Webster changed Johnson's "-er" to "-or" in: "instructor, suitor, survivor, visitor," to fit their
derivatives.
8. Webster's 1806 dictionary omitted final "e" in: "ax, determin, envelop, famin, medicin, opposit,
steril." These were still listed in his 1829 edition.
9. He used a single final "f" in, "balif, mastif, plantif, pontiff" following I French, n single "f" in
their derivatives. But he retained double "f" in; "cuff, miff, muff, stiff," because their derivatives
had it.
10. He kept I Latin "-ize" endings in: "generalize, legalize, moralize," but I French "-ise" in:
"surprise, devise, merchandise," even tho French was derived from Latin.
In I introduction to his 1806 dictionary, Webster argued (vi) against I effort to "freeze" spellings;
Every man of common reading knows that a living language must necessarily suffer gradual
changes in its current words, in the significations of many words, and in pronounciation.
The unavoidable consequence then of fixing the orthography of a living language, is to
destroy the use of the alphabet. This effect has, in a degree, already taken place in our
language; and letters, the most useful invention that ever blessed mankind, have lost and
continue to lose a part of their value, by no longer being the representatives of the sounds
originally annexed to them. Strange as it may seem, the fact is undeniable, that the present
doctrine that no change must be made in writing words, is destroying the benefits of an
alphabet, and reducing our language to the barbarism of Chinese characters insted of letters.
Shorthand
M major effort to achieve faster writing has undoubtedly been I development of I various shorthand
systems. M first was invented by Tiro in 63 B.C. These appeared at I rate of almost one a year, from
that of John Willis in 1602 til Isaac Pitman's in 1837. Shorthand systems almost universally aim at
representing I sounds of I words. As early as 1766 it was recognized that 40 sounds were needed to
represent English speech.
sounds, he despaired of getting this kind of change accepted. Others before n since have explored
what might be done, with occasional partial success in I process, I problems, I factors affecting
this effort, n alternate possibilities have become far more clearly defined.
In 1569, John Hart produced a phonetic alphabet. In 1570 he emphasized I need for spelling reform
as an aid to learning to read.
A century later, John Milton "deliberately used spelling to convey the sound and meaning of his
words." (Darbishire, 1952; xi) N he used some types of simplifications:
1. dropping final silent e: "climat, temperat, doctrin, determin, fertil";
2. apostrophe for indistinct vowel before final n: "oft'n, op'n, spok'n";
3. apostrophe for indistinct vowel after soft "g, c," or long vowel before final "d": "advanc't,
oppos'd";
4. dropping "e" from "-ed" endings where apostrophe was not needed as in 3 above: "turnd, heapt,
armd";
5. dropping some other silent letters: "forren, iland, suttle."
6. Other distinctive spellings included: "buisness, childern, farder, hunderd, perfet; apeer, neer;
cheif, conceal, receave."
Two samples from Milton's "Paradise Lost" printed according to his instructions are:
I should be much for op'n Warr, O Peers,
As not behind in hate; if what was urg'd
Main reason to perswade immediat Warr,
Did not disswade me most, and seem to cast
Ominous conjecture on the whole success.
First, what Revenge? the Towrs of Heav'n are filld
With armed watch, that renders all access
Impregnable; oft on the bordering Deep
Encamp thir Legions, or with obscure wing
Scout farr and wide into the Realm of night.
Benjamin Franklin
A century after Milton, in I American colonies, Benjamin Franklin in 1768 developed "A scheme
for a new alphabet and a reformed mode of spelling." Franklin proposed abandoning six letters, "c,
j, q, w, x, y," n replacing them with six new letters. These were:
1. A modified "a" for two sounds: I short vowel in "John" n I long vowel in "ball";
2. an inverted "h" for two sounds; short schwa (I indistinct vowel before "r", as in "under," n I
longer "u" in "unto";
3. a modified "s" for "sh" sound;
4. a modified "n" for "ing" sound;
5. an unvoiced "th" sound, using a crossed "h" in lower case, n I Greek "theta" for I capital letter;
6. a "dh" combination for I voiced "th" sound.
Apparently Franklin only used this revised alphabet n spelling in a few letters to his friend Polly
Stevenson, tho he did cast type for I new symbols. Unfortunately, his modified "a" n "s" symbols
are hard to distinguish from I regular letters, n his "dh" looks more like our "ch" than I "th" it was
intended to be used for.
A sample, with transliteration (Willcox, 1972; 217), follows:
Your third inconvenience is that "all the books already written would be useless." This
inconvenience would only come on gradually, in a course of ages. You and I, and other now
living readers, would hardly forget the use of them. People would long learn to read the old
writing, tho they practice the new. And the inconvenience is not greater, than what has
actually happened in a similar case, in Italy. Formerly its inhabitants all spoke and wrote
Latin: as the language changed, the spelling followed it.
Noah Webster commented on Franklin's efforts in 1806, in I preface to his first dictionary (vi):
In the year 1786, Dr. Franklin proposed to me to prosecute his scheme of a Reformed
Alphabet, and offered me his type for the purpose. I declined accepting his offer, on a full
conviction of the utter impracticability, as well as inutility of the scheme. The orthography
of our language might be rendered sufficiently regular, without a single new character, by
means of a few trifling alterations of the present characters, and retrenching a few
superfluous letters, the most of which are corruptions of the original words.
Noah Webster
Noah Webster's "Dissertation on the English Language" in 1789 proposed many improvements in
spelling. Some of these he used I next year when he published "A collection of essays and fugativ
writings," a sample of which follows (long s rendered here as "f"):
In the next place, our forefathers took mezures to prezerve the reputation of fkools and the
morals of yuth, by making the bufinefs of teeching them an honorable employment. Every
town or diftrict haz a committee whoze duty iz to procure a mafter of talents and karacter;
and the practice iz to procure a man of the beft character in the town or naborhood. The
welthy towns apply to yung gentlemen of liberal education, who, after taking the bachelor's
degree, usually keep fkool a yeer or two, before they enter upon a profeffion.
Webster's friends ridiculed many of his reformed spellings. Hence, when he published his first
dictionary, in 1806, he included far fewer of them. But many of I remaining ones, such as "labor"
for British "labour," still differentiate American from British spellings.
Webster's plan for reforming English spelling centered on 10 main classes of words (Shoemaker,
1936; 267-271):
1. Omitting I "u" in: "candor, error, favor, honor, labor, odor, vigor."
2. Changing from "-re" to "-er" in: "caliber, center, luster, meter, theater." These came from I
French, n followed I example of "chamber, cider, number," already spelled this way. However,
this change introduced a difference between root words n their derivatives, in "central, lustrous,
theatrical," which could formerly follow I rule of dropping final "e" before suffixes. It
apparently did not occur to Webster to drop I "e" entirely, thus making root n derivative agree.
3. Drop I final "k" in "-ck" words such as "cubic, music, public, rhetoric." However, I "k" was
retained in participles before "e" or "i," to fit I Romance language rule of softening "c" in these
situations: "frolicking, trafficking."
4. Change "c" to "s" in: "defense, offense, pretense." These followed "expense," n fit root to
derivative.
5. Avoid doubling I final consonant before derivative endings: "appareled, canceled, dueling,
traveled." He propounded I rule:
"when a verb of two or more syllables ends in a single, unaccented consonant, preceded by a
single vowel, the final consonant is not doubled in derivatives." He used "limiting, pardoning,
delivering," as precedents. But to apply this rule, one must know where I accent falls, count
syllables, vowels, n consonants, before arriving at a spelling conclusion!
6. Somewhat inconsistently, he doubled I final consonant in: "appall, befall; fortell; distill, fulfill;
dull, full, skill," to be consistent with their derivatives. It apparently did not occur to him to
change I derivatives instead. He also specified that I "a" before "-ll" is broad, as in "mall." This
is again an example of English changing I consonant to influence a vowel sound, rather than
changing I vowel spelling itself. M latter would be more logical, n easier to decypher.
7. Webster changed Johnson's "-er" to "-or" in: "instructor, suitor, survivor, visitor," to fit their
derivatives.
8. Webster's 1806 dictionary omitted final "e" in: "ax, determin, envelop, famin, medicin, opposit,
steril." These were still listed in his 1829 edition.
9. He used a single final "f" in, "balif, mastif, plantif, pontiff" following I French, n single "f" in
their derivatives. But he retained double "f" in; "cuff, miff, muff, stiff," because their derivatives
had it.
10. He kept I Latin "-ize" endings in: "generalize, legalize, moralize," but I French "-ise" in:
"surprise, devise, merchandise," even tho French was derived from Latin.
In I introduction to his 1806 dictionary, Webster argued (vi) against I effort to "freeze" spellings;
Every man of common reading knows that a living language must necessarily suffer gradual
changes in its current words, in the significations of many words, and in pronounciation.
The unavoidable consequence then of fixing the orthography of a living language, is to
destroy the use of the alphabet. This effect has, in a degree, already taken place in our
language; and letters, the most useful invention that ever blessed mankind, have lost and
continue to lose a part of their value, by no longer being the representatives of the sounds
originally annexed to them. Strange as it may seem, the fact is undeniable, that the present
doctrine that no change must be made in writing words, is destroying the benefits of an
alphabet, and reducing our language to the barbarism of Chinese characters insted of letters.
Shorthand
M major effort to achieve faster writing has undoubtedly been I development of I various shorthand
systems. M first was invented by Tiro in 63 B.C. These appeared at I rate of almost one a year, from
that of John Willis in 1602 til Isaac Pitman's in 1837. Shorthand systems almost universally aim at
representing I sounds of I words. As early as 1766 it was recognized that 40 sounds were needed to
represent English speech.