, 1865-11-14
ORTHOaRAPHIC REF0RN.
A Reply, II aenae. .ohisss1aas a2& CFtts-
e,.15sef<aefses n.4la4.e<* -

, |
"Spanish language as either Mr. Mcdi,l or
"WQu1d propose, but only such. as has beer
"gradually introduced into the English Ian
"guage within the Last century, and half,
Mr.. Balance is very greatly mistaken. III
fncts arc these
With the authorization Of tho Spanish Go,
crument, the Royal Academy Of Madrid n
yisel the Spanish orthosraphY, simplifying 4
| abo1ishiDg Its irresulaI!.iea and rendering
almost phonetic. The first treatise upon ii
reformation Of Spanish photography was put
lished In 174l, and received the sanction OF Il
| Spanish orthography by the Madrid Academ
| were more numerous uud radical than al
those made OIL English orthography duriu
I the last 100 years. And this was done a
once. There was nothing gradual about II
In 176I, q third edition Of this treaties wa
published, in which the accent rules were es
pecialIy developed, and some additiona
changes were made in the orthog1aphy in th
phonetic direction. In H9aa; the seventh edi
{ lion of this treaties, or Spanish dictionary
was published, still further simplifying an'
purifying the orthoe,aphy Of that tongue
The full title Of this work Is: "0rtogfaH
Ia real aeadema E.panola." ''Orthogra
ply Of the castilian Langans,
compressed BY the Royal Spanish ACADEMY
The "Casli!ian" tongue Is spelled so nearly
phonetic that German adult can learn r
spell, read, pronounce and accent 1t, with ont
hundredth part Of the labor 1t win require o.
him to learn 10 spell, read, pronounce and &C.
cent the English. Indeed, hc never could &C
quire the latter until he first learned to spcas
the language. ANY person Of ordinary capa-
city can learn to spell and read the Spanish
language accurately, In fortnight; though
he may not know the meaning OF q word be
| IN IN 17hr ho ~ he
Spanish letters, snd few simple rules for pro
nuncfation and accent, and the work ls done
How different 1t Is with the English! The
student has no rules Or ana1ogtes Tor his guild
ing, pronunciation and accent Of each word
separately There Is no Typographical
marks or notation employed in English book:
Or newspapers, 10 Indicate On what syllable
the accent fills. :. Not one word In hundred
i pronounced g It IS spelled, nor spelled q
vantage OF m alphabet. are defeated, and the
Language Is written in hleroglyphics or ide.
| ographics, in which sound il attributed tC
tancitul or arbftrary collection Of Letters,
while the letters whfch would naturally spell
or constitute the. sound, ,:arn carefully sup.
pressed. -:
But the Spanish Is not the only languase
which has been simplitled and improved BY
commissions acting under Government au-
thority. The Dutch language has still more
recently been reduced to system Of orthog-
raohy upon strictly phonetic basis. TIE
retnodelling the Dutch orthography were SO
highly estimated By his countrymen,
that his system Of orthogrsphy re-
ceivcd the sanction Of the Dutch
Government In 1905. Since that1 time,
for the sake OF uniformity and regularity In
law that every public document shal be writ
ten Ia strict accordance with the Professors
| photographed system. ).
The Polish, Bohemian and Hungarian Ian
guages ate now printed IN orthosraphics
vastly more phonetic thnn they were two
| centuries ago.
The Italian orthography Is perhaps more
phonetic than oven the Spanish, and only re-
quires the disCl fmiDation Of the double mean.
ing Of Z. O. and 3 the long vowels, and the
place OF accent, to be perfectly phonetic.
and read the Italian. Would that Eng lab
orthograph was half as regular and phonetic
as either Spanish orItalian, Dutch or German.
| Mr. Ballancc Is very greatly In error
in saying that, j" Franklin can not be
properly quoted as authority IN favor
"of the great change proposed, and
| culing the present mode of Bpelling." II
Mr. Balance viii look into Pafton's Life of
Franklin, Vol. !, PAGE 527, he will not only
sec that he strongly advocated phonetic reform,
but actually invented new alphabet, intro
dueing q number Of new characters. Parton
! biography. Professor E. J. Ellis, Of England,
says that franklin wrote eighteen quires OF
| manuscript IN his proposed system, besides
/ numerous letters to his friends. He inserta
| several pages in hia plea tor Phonetic spell
ing" Of DE-. Frankiints arguments ID behalf
and replies to objections, which I should
! Like to reproduce here, il my space would per-
| nit. The reader has only to turn to the iu-
production" 10 Wcbstef's Unabridged Die
! lloEary TO perceive that be was warmly In
| favor Of radical reforms in our orthoeraphy.
lie actually succeeded in chaugfn. the spell
ing Of more than ], GOO words, and his Innova-
iions--with few exceptions, arc now accepted
as standard photography In the United States.
retain lie letters 'ss ana nc any reso9n SC SC
instituted. He follows the American Pho
netic School, which also rejects the disrnphs
ch, sh, til aud ne, and substitutes therefor new
characters, including new character for the
sound Of IT, IN vision, and The as pirate th, In
/ The difference between the Pitnan system,
which Mr. Balance fnyors, and that which
propose is simply this: Ny system, while It
retains tho phonetic principle Is ehaped for
The acceptance Of ndults, aud the Pitnan
system Is calculated for children whose pliable
minds will accept whatever mode OF spelling
may be dictated to thcm- The child being
ta6uta ras1, the teacher has no liked aud
established habits, prej1dices and practices
to combat and remove. He may therefore
teach orthography on scientific principles
But the Permission of the parents must first
lie obtalned, and there is the rub. Adults
who have LETT school and completed their edu-
cation, have been taught IN atrpcious1y un-
scientific mode Of spelling. Nevertheless, 1t
has been drilled and pounded into them, md
Dhnu T,rfnt u -Hfffaronra hnf,roaY% I
the common seems 80 great, and there
are 60 many new and atrange-looking
letters, that they reject 1t with
laugh or sneer, and no reason or
adopt the new system. They stubboruly re-
fuse to allow 1t TO be taught in school to their
children, and :ridicule or denounce its adyo-'
Gates. And yet hive never conTersed with
man or woman who did not admit the ne
cessity Of q simplifcatlon Of our orthog.n-
ply. The common remark Is, .'tlat silent
letters ought to be omitted, md those letters
s0uld Of the word" It Is on this hint I have
been acting. The problem Is not, tsWhat is
the purely scientific mode Of spelling the
English language, III it were, Pitman has
solved IL. Hut rather, "What IL the nearest
approximation 10 the 1j..::oonetlc SYSTEM which
adult people will accept and adopt: -
aa maae e end Smee
taxing man though fool, eau understand it.
The ldioms- and 1and-maEks should be re-
tained- We must seek for the best change of
established psuage that will substantially re-
form our vicious and 1awless orthography,-f If
we would hope to accomplish any thing As
said, the question Of the adoption Of any
reform Is in the hands OF prejnaiced adults,
aud not with impresable, goveznable chlld.
rcn. Hence, retain the letter because
there Ia no difficulty In knowing when to use
1t. True, we spell fox with an +, md rocks
with ks but the former Is In the singular, aud
.he latter In the plural: rox don't spell rock,
though roc or 1ok will spell it. When word
ends with I It is always In the singular, but
when a word ends In ks or e.