, 1877-05-12
SPELLING REFORM.

the amusement of our readers, PSnch's
view Of Spelling Reform aa set forth in o
letter supposed TO be received from =
rustic who wishes to extend the refJrm
from spelling to gramma~." The fol.
loving tier ruOlised in the Bedf5rd 1Im1
aud headed "Fonetik Spelling" might
also b. a first sight be taken for Joke. It
will b' seen however that it 10 quite se-
rious, being written by 80 other than
Isaac Pitma1 himself, tta well known
leader OF the spelling reforners. Strange
ns the style may look to tho unsnIighten-
ed, it is after all only a CO npromiso i; for
he uses existing letters only, and not q
single one of the doz IN or more OF his own
invention. It will be observed that he
writes the flax 18th" in the usual WY,
while for the sharp 9Th" he writes g IS"
inverted.
TO THE EOIrOR.
Ser,-Everi spelling reformer hoo seeE
the last number Ov the Bsdforashsr Teime
will enjoi thu wit and forgiv the wilful
errorz ov the reiter ov tho akount 0v
"Dhi Yung Mems improvement in SpSl-
ing" AiOu me tn 0bserv that the elk
zisteas oy the spelling difficult IL not
tCRiOA WI tnoS NALA
amendment ov our orlogra6 haz bekum
imperativli %nesesari. AZ Dr.. franklin aed,
about n hundred ySerz ago, when he nd.
ded several leterz tn the aItabet and kores-
pended with hiz friend Mis- Stevenson in
fonetik speling-"Sumliog must be dun"
1t il for the Inglish and American pspel
tn sal wtot shall be dun.
I reit moi Letter in Semifouotipi, that il,
q steil ov tonetik spelling without nSu
lcterz. However inkompleet, az q repre-.
zsntashon ov the spoken Iangwaj, it will
sho that its anomaliz me be graitli redeust.
Thai mai be enterIi remoovd bel FOnotipi,
with al enlarged alfabet Ov 80 leterz.
Your correspondents fuDigrophi il founded
on an artikel in "glosik," contributed
bei Mr.. Ellis u tAe Akademi, but it kon-
tainz numerus spelings not sankOhond bel
that paper. Moreover that sistem ov fone-
tik spelling il a veri different 1ing from
the Spelling Reform advOkaIted in the
Fonetik J4rnat.
Bal, 90 March 1876.
This question Of spelling has been agi.
tated in England for many years /; but the
&C. called relormers have made little, ii
any progress.
Lately suggestion was made by the
London School Board that the Government
should appoint o Commission to fix the
spe ling OF certain doubtful words, referring
chiefly 1t would seem to those words the
spelling Of which was changed by Webster.
"a for example "wooIen" for "woollenr
"traveler" Tor d" traveller ." honor for
honour"
As Wabster's Dictionary has come into
use in England, it appears that some OF
the School-inspectOrS have sanctiOnedthe 50
new speIlings, while others have declined
to do so, and the teachers have been natu'
rally DESTROYS to get rid Of this uncertainty
in the examinations. This very small ques-
ton, which might we'll have been left to the
common sense of the persons concerned,
and certainly was no matter for q Govern
ment Commission, has been made the oc-
casion OF reviving the whole subject OF
changing the spelling, and given the pho
~nographers, who scarcely ever got . hear"
ing, an opportunity to come to the 'front.'
Our readers will perceive from the spe-
cinen given, that the English spelling re-
formers go q long way further than the
= 81. 49, = IL. nm nS@H