New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1848-06-22
THE Lnnrnaae Reform.

Sneeci is the gift of God Written Language
ar ,be expression Of IDEAS by means Of written or
,rirted characters is the invention Of Man. Like
an other inventions IN its early stage, it was very
far from perfect; unlike most OF ers it has pro
crossed very slowly or scarcely al all. toward
perfection The impeachment 70 progress is or
ganic and almost msupe-fblc. Whoever makes
an improvement on a.y mans invention or dis
co,ery beside, may use it and profit by it at once
but with regard % this. an improvement until
generally adopted can scarcely be used at all.
The greatest conceivable improvement in Written
Language would have little effect or influence
until generally adopted and by whom must It be
adopted By those who have been trained IN the
old. vicious way; who have mastered It's Difficult
ties aud become reconcilcd 10 its abuses and
who have little thought or taste for going back to
the tasks ofinfancy and learning their letters again
So Reform in Letters must ever be slow work
What Is the radical idea Of Written language
Is it not the representation OF sounds by chaac
ters '-ofideas by words And does it not follow
that each character should represen. one distinct
sound and that only each word be susceptible Of
one pronunciation onlyl We ought 70 have for
instance. ia the English Language about forty let
tiers as there are so many distinct sounds each let
ter expressing one unmistakable sound. Instead
Of this we have twentysix letters, some OF which
stand for one sound only others two, three four
or FIVE: while two or three have no distinct sound.
and serve no purpose whatever except to confuse
and perplex the learner. No student knows on
seeing the letter or . in word, what be ought to
make Of it it may mean one thing, and It may
mean another. Who pretends to know, ON seeing
the word ,riad. for example. whatit sounds like 70
the writer or printer Of It The six or seven dis
tiuct sounds of ough are familiar to all teachers and
pupils. Aud this, though an extreme IS by no
means an exceptionalVase. In English Orhogra-
pbv imperfection is the rule accuracy the rare
exception OF the sixty thousands words compos-
ing our language not more than one huHdred are
spelt by the exact and only letters that would have
answered the purpose.
The consequences Of these anomalies loi which
the iutermingling of languages or the corruption
Of one bv another, is q chief cause are very sen
Gus and deplorable. Learning to read aud spell
is generally an irksome task, and consumes far
more time than it ought to-probsby five times as
much. The pupil. bcwildered amid thousand
contradictory Tulea ahu 4htciihioS'S ~N~~ F'''-'
is stopped on the threshold Of the temple Of
knowledge, aud often stops there discouraged. Il
he sees the letter in any word unfamiliar to
him. how can he tell what it means-whether to
pronounce il as in taie or fat, or far, or taHf 1t
is a more srduous task to learn how to pronounce
this one letter correctly in all cases than 1t need
be 10 learn how to read and spell correctly the
whole American Encyclopedias
These facts long since attracted attention and
provoked criticism. Attempts at Reform are not
novel but until recently they have been eban
doned in despair as soon MS the magnitude Of the
enterprise stood revealed II was not destined to
| be always thus however. Some ten years since
an Englishman Isaac PTMAS commenced in
earnest the work OF Language Reform, and has
persevcred In it ever since with decided and III
crcasing success. His labors soon attracted at
tenton ia this country, and here number OF
disciples or imitators soon appeared. Conspicu-
Gus among the former were Messrs. Andrews *
Boyle. who have labored in the cause with sig
nal energy and ability through the last five or SIX
years over year age they established in this
City Weekly newspaper THr ANGLoSAXoS.
which has been so conducted as to have acquired
already list of SIX Thousand subscribers, In good
part teachers and literary men We shall speak
Of their enterprise aud it, objects more fully as
soon as we can recur to the subject