In article <fe6d8a$8gv$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, David Wolff
<dwolffxx@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> writes
>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
We could reform pronunciation to make it more consistent with spelling.
--
Philip Baker
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