In article <t522g39rv1s9j32j0b8lnurc27vld18uer@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
Dana Nutter \ deinx nxtxr <reply-to-newsgroup@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
[big snip]
> FWIW:
> There are a few minor reforms that could be done without
> upsetting things too much. Then we could apply a new set of
> reforms every 25 years or so to gradually transition into a
> system that is more phonetic.
I have to wonder about the possibility of keeping a movement alive that
produces one change every quarter of a century. (Also the possibility
of convincing anyone to make official or unofficial spelling changes...)
> The hardest part would be the vowels because they vary greatly
> from on dialect to the next, and vowel-reduction doesn't help
> the situation. So let's start by working mostly on consonants.
>
> 1. Get rid of all "silent" consonants like <gh> in
> <high>.
> 2. Respell all exceptions like <ch>=/S/ or /k/.
> 3. <x> -> <ks>
> 4. <q> -> <k>
> 5. "Soft" <g> -> <j>
> 6. "Hard" <c> -> <k>, "soft" <c> -> <s>.
> 7. Now that <c> is free, the digraph <ch> -> <c>
> 8. Since <x> is free, the digraph <sh> -> <x>
> 9. Voiced <th> -> <dh>
You are perhaps thinking of _MEIHEM IN CE KLASRUM_ by Dolton Edwards
(pseudonym of W. K. Lessing) printed in Astounding Science Fiction,
Street and Smith Publications, Inc (now "Analog Science Fiction and
Fact"). l946.
I'm not sure of its copyright status so I won't repost the whole thing,
but it's only 105 lines in ASCII. The last paragraph is:
"Kontinuing cis proses, year after year, we would eventuali hav a reali
sensibl writen languag. By l995, wi ventyur tu sei, cer wud bi no mor
uv ces teribl trublsum difkultis, wic no tu leters usd to indikeit ce
seim nois, and laikwais no tu noises riten wic ce seim leter. Even
Mr. Yaw, wi beliv, wud be hapi in ce noleg cat his drims fainali keim
tru."
(Hints: soft "c" -> "s, hard "c" -> "k", so "c" is available to become
"th"...)
Thanks --
David
(Remove "xx" to reply.)
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