On Mon, 8 Oct 2007 01:30:27 +0100, Philip Baker <news@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:
>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.
Much more sensible, as that would simply be a reversal of the
pronunciation trends of the last half milennium or so. Well done!
Padraic
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