, 1877-11-18

| ttpoFtaut CHauge IN lts WHY'S and customs. In nd
dltlon to photography, Pitmau invented an alpha
ophy, and large number Of volumes, among thcu
d'eoenary, ena;c haye stap esen printed il that FORM
Of Comstock's Elocution and other text-books. in
vented similar alphabet over thirty years ago,
with. Both he aud Pltman used our present nlnl,a
bet as far as it would 70 {omitting the three re-.
dundant 1etters) and invented now letters for tho
remaining sounds. In hoth cases the new letters,
being nearly onc-half the entire number. pavc to
the printed page foreign ani unfsu1iliar appear-
ancc and rendered i unattractive to the educated
| american or Enslishnan. Hence, while 05 pcr
cent Of those who gave the matter attention recog
nized tns correctness OF the principle on which
| makc themselves Ut home IN tho structure
| THE MEDlLLfAN SYSTEM.
! Probably the most feasible and therefore in ry
ut the best proposition ever made fot re-.
] forming our spelling, wa. that made in lBtj5 by
| Joseph Mcdil, Of this city. His plan was to rec
osn1zc our nfescnt alphabet as fixed fact. and to
make no ehanss that wonld materially modify the
no change could bc made without the Consent Of Il
majority 81 educated adults, and that 1t is useless
! ~ wonlo be involved iu tue introduction Of new
! Alphabet but that they PROBABLY could be per-
| tuadcd to 'lse our present alphabet sensible
| readily he shown TINT they would be consulting
| Their own convenience in dong His system
spplsc each OF our letters to the reprcaenato Of
ITS own propcs sound and provided for the re,,ai,-
| ing sounds by assigning to each the digraph now
most commonly employed for the purpust or
! by slightly modified form Of the let
| have borrowed. Out OF Difference to present GUS
tom the redundant letters were retained in conncc-
lions in which their use is uliambguous an ucarly
nniforln. His system, WIS nat purely phonetic, us
indeed no system can be with deficient alphabet
| but he showed that few simple rules would be
sufficient to dspel all uncertainty in the matter Of
spelling aud pronunciation. Several specimens Of
the proposed system were given at the time in The
| cHtcAao TKteGxE. They presented Il familiar ap-
I pearance, and could be read without hesitation.
| even by the uninitiatcd-
II the Medillian or some similar system. could
be at once adopted. the advantages would be incal
| cuiabic. In til. simple matter Of dscardns silent
letters the saving Of paper ink. and type alone
would DC matter OF small Importance. To
those already educated the time now lost in looking
up the pronunciation OF words and in recovering
to that gained by greater brevity Hereafter every
child vond end the task of learning TO read bricf
the labor OF learning to spell would disappear. AT
the advantages combined would gave the working
time Of years in the life OF every wcll-educatcd
person who shouidf reach anywhere near to mans
allotment OF three score years and ten. Tue
foreigner, SO constantly coming amongst us could
learn a3 to reg our ang1aEe IN few weeks be
won3d adapt himself to his new surroundings to
much better advantage than now. Among both
COMMON than now and a. illiteracy and crime 20 70
hand IN hand We might reasonably expect dihnu-
tion in the numhes of criminals In consequence
OF punitive and rcfolmatory institutions. and
hence that other consumnation must earnestly de-
sirea-reduced ia1ution- Great aid would be rem
dered by the new system in eleratlng and enli.ht
enlng that mass OF ignorance and iucomretcncy
admitted to share IN our politics ny the Fifteenth
Amendment The Enslfsh language. now spoken
by more people than any other outside Of Asia.
wo1ld spread anlony other nations and become
common where it il now little knowu. Another
advantage Of phonetic system wish to cmpha-
size. Its natnralncss would lead child. almost
from the first to perceive certain sequence Of
th,nss and this would tend to derelop his logical
faculty. from the very beginning of his COURSE
j. positively and decsiyey dstrimen1a thereto 1T Il
surditcs. I doubt not that many one who has
come to nothing might hare developed into ripe
scholarship and added to the worlds knowlcdse,
him at the very threshold Of learning.
OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED.
will next consider some of the objections that
q!s n,fS to any osaaG }eS IN ar
quantities OF books and other publications already
printed in our present form would be useless. 10
@ new systen fully established SO 20 wholly unliSe
our present one as to have entirely new alpha
bet. it il plain that for an eaucsted person to learn
fractional part Of the labor that would be
required to MASTER foreign language;
for he wonld not have to study meanings, gram
spelling But, instead OF an entirely new a|pha-
bet, the fact has just now been presented that
thorough reform can be ELECTED with 70 little
change IN the general appearance that the new sys
tem can be read at sight by any one familiar with
the old. 1t is true the old, account Of its bar
bsrons es9g1sRh Togd h not be 80 readily i feaa
known to all Of you that many distinguished edu-
Gators behave that the easies, way to learn our
system first; and afterwards fiji in thc supcrluous
and contradictory. II this be 70, what is in our
present books would be more easily acquired |
book. and all new editions Of old |
ones were printed in reformed orthography. in |
oil the reading matter they desired i'll the new
style, and would care nothing for the old. The |
few antiquarian and scholarly persons who desired
readily enough learn to reud them. and we may
we'll believe they would do so with constant
Of satisfaction thss such heterogeneous method
in consequence OF which they were spared the
hopeless task Ut trying to master It.
It is objected that we would lose the advantage |
Of Different selIings for words Of the same suund
put different meanings. The paltrincss Of this OBJ
|estion is apparent & when hen We consider der that 10
in speech. Indeed. but 4 small portion Of the
words that sound alike bnt have different meanings
these differences distinguished by Heir SPELL
n@. Spelling itself has three nnal!1ed meanings bur
only one spelling The context determines the
particular meaning. The following mol very elc-
CANT sentence viii illustrate: OF all the SAWS
SAWS. In this sentence we see several SAWS OF |
SAME spelling, but obscuriry OF sense, |
But We may even claim au advantage for phonetics
n the matter OF different speiiings and meanings. |
For while We would lose the benefit il it be
9nc, OF two epelhngs for the same word, VIC
words for the same sspellinses,-probably as
arge q class as the other. Tue following
words will sufficiently illustrate this: bow. dove,
ill., bass, lower tear. read, wind. slough. chose.
end. stlngy. singer, premise, with. minute. use,
sbuse refuse, swln.es, bellows, wound. present. |
Zach spelling gives us two words or wholly differ
mt sound and meaning. and which Theoretically |
,ther. .
1t IS objected TINT We are constantly incorporat-
ne new words from other languages, and it is
sked with an air Of being unanswcrabte how these
re to be spelled. answer, Let them retaln their.
us, foreign spelling as long " they are regarded
Is foreigners. When they become natnralizcd, !
pell them Theoretically, Of course. 1t should be
cc,ncmbcred that word in phonetic apparel will
lways mean to the eye whas it does 10 the car
shen spoken
Auolher objection il that pronunciation changes, !
nd il Our spelling were phonetic to day it would
lot be Tomorrow. Why noty II we once deter
nine that sonEG and symbol must harnlonize, q
hange in pronunciation would involve change Of
pcl}ius as il always should. l claim, however,
S one ct the benefits OF phonetic spelling, that
here would be far less fcklcncss in pronunciation |
han now, There would be something to hold to-
o settle the spelling Of word would be to deter
nne its pronunciation, which ls not now the case.
When Or. johnson was asked whether neither
hould be pronounced naythcr or nyth.r. he an
erned it may be pronounced IN any Of these WAYS I
rith about equal proricty and in this regard 1t Is
ot different from numbcrless other words. Even |
be dictionaries show much uncertainty about the