, 1879-02-25
SPELLING REFORM. p


C1IIcAdo, Feb M.-Sunu onu signing himself
"WIn. N. D." disposes OF "VU1's" spelling
refDrtn suggestions very clrt1y, md With sncer
a,lu wnyo Of tile ltHnl coustgns them to
limbo. But tey are not TO he disposed Of 60
sllIltNarify. Moro thnn thlrty-tiyc years ago
rilnan a,si Ellis introduced their systciM Of
"Fhonotyly.h and commenced The publication
OF monthly HHonofHI,c Journal. The prlll-
cipal laid down WINS tlis: sin phonotyty each
distEuct sound anu articulation is represented
by distinct letter. Each luttcr represents only
one sound, a,ml ail words uro to no spelled by
tho letters or sounds Of which they are uctuully
composed" Then fullows their u!pllabctic
EclleIne. Three lcttcrs-k, 4, und x-wcro
thrown ont. To was assigned the power O! k,
n,ul aeycntccn new characters were addict,
tnakI,sE un alphabet Of forty letters. THIS was
In 1SiI, The uext year Andrews Il Boyle stnr1-
ID ,l'sr ,A'y'o.Suroa weekly newspaper h,
lltuau u,id Ellis, with u slight modification.
Quits d number Ut ht,oks Weru published III
Englunu anl America III thu 'low phou!c style,
aMl dletionury WIS brought out. For
interest IN iayor Of the new style Of spelling.
Atarr the nnyctty Of the thing wore otf nearly
wi iulcrcst IN II died out. Thu so-calIcd ire
inrM n was seen To he revolutions, nat, III !act,
humiliation Of thu orthodox orthography and
IT, since lien .sp1tonlc rcforluors," like aWm,
Vt. D.,n hay0 bren meeting III annual co,l-
yc,itlals und 1lsputilIg mud wrangllng oyer
sl,adcs OF vocal sound, ai1a quarrellnE as to
wlletIser they shuud employ thirty.etaht, Or
furty, or forty.thrce LETTERS u,d which must TO-
or X, whether this sound or that is q
snsa, sopuIn, MI asPrate, a cultural,
. suhtonfc ur an atonlc a palasal, q
lInguul. dental, lab!al, 0r cognate, or
what pot. nus they cat never na.es on their
alphahct. The 'carcst eollyord Ia, slat It SHOULD
hu aI uutlardish mlxturu uf RoMan, Greek, at,li
Invented elaraetess, but huw many there Are tu
be, or what shape a,A holsslds they stiall haye,,
tho reyulutIonists can Gryer aVrce upon; a1Ml 1t
matters not whether they ever agree, as tho
pub'!c w,!l nescr accept o tnougref. alnhnbo.:
eops sts'say w eyts esssn %'1sy " IT, A. A.
!ition or subtraction Ut even QUO lcttur.
1t IL possible they may consent TO rclorll In
lies 70 Pltlnan revolution. ft,ey. may permit
the elimination VI silent n,i,l supcrapous Dettgrs
III word. like ugh In though alIa 4, ", d, Q from
acknowledges, Or ua froIu tongue, and halE'4-
dozen letturs trom comptroller, They tnay
,..lat without tho "mph" alul no cnut to dIop
or substituted must bs In Roman, nml nut Ii,
lreck, Chinese. pr 1ongrcl characters. Tho
prcscat spelling analyses must also bs preserved,
simply beclnsu thu pcoptu will not consent to
a st4n that the vowel preceding the last con-
aonnut must bc pronounced 'loug." For ex-
AMPLE. iu the WuTl rat the a IL "shortn;
ndl and thu word becomes rats with
toug, 90 ptn becomes plne, not becomes
note. them becomes tI'enle The employment
Ut this hual dues away with tile excuse ?ol H.
yenllng aud interpolatlng fps ncw vowel lottees,
noue of which tho public wileyer auopt or llays
anything 10 do With. Where words end will !
yowcl no . need be &lded. ~ It Is uxel only