Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1879-02-12

per cent. of such letters silent; from
which he assumed that % per cent. of
the cost of every book is occasioned by
our vicious system Of spelling, and that
reformed photography would reduce
Webster's Dictionary from 1,70O pages
to ! $50 pages, and the price proportion
ately.
The proposed reform, based upon the
use Of a definite sign for every distinct
sound, and the rejection of all signs
which do not fulfill this office, practi-
cally requires the Punishment of at least
three letters from our present Romantic
alphabet, and the addition OF eighteen or
twenty new characters. Should such a
modification be adopted and agreed upon,
the contrast between the old and the new
photography would not be essentially
greater than that of the original text Of
Chaucer, or Shakespeare, or Milton, and
the text of any modern publication.
1t is not difficult to form an estimate
Of the practical possibilities gin this re-
spect, from the experience of the past.
In the first edition of the authorized
Give care, 0 we heauens and [ will
speake," etc. In Tyndale's New Tesla
ment, the pronoun IL is spelled in eight
different pays. Shakespeare spelled the
words pilgrim, certain, black, and agasn
with the final G. At more recent
period, at the dictatiOn of N oah Webster,
we have changed the spelling Of whole
classes of words, and we no longer write
honor with superfiuous u, or traffic with
a final Il, or trd0eler with an extra ].
Webster hoped for and attempted more
radical reforms, and at every step in this
direction was applauded by the learned
critics of Europe. Such reforms have
been made, and arc now being made, in
the languages of the European CONT
nent and are sustained by the universe
ties and by public opinion. That which
has been done in the past, or elsewhere,
can certainly be done in the future and
here. There the state lends its influence
to this line of progress, and here no con-
dition to continuous progress really
exists, but the exercise Of competent
authority to give expression to public
opinion already formed. The tendency
of this opinion is never backward into
darkness, but forward into Highland
English speaking peoples need but
slight encouragement, under existing
circumstances, to enable them to achieve
a greater advance than Webster dreamed
Of or dared to suggest, half a century
ago.
In limited degree, the proposed re-
form has been practicalized in many of
the public schools of the United States
and IN Europe, by phonic method of
teaching pupils to read and spell. By
this method, each letter having more
than one sound, is printed in various
forms, the number Of forms correspond
ing with the number of essential sounds;
while letters silent in the text are printed
in hair-line type, to denote their oral
uselessness and insignificance. BY this
method, the pupil who has learned the
letters of the alphabet, and their respec-
tive forms, can pronounce any printed
word in the text without hesitation, even
if be has never before seen the word, or
is Ignorant of its meaning. 1t is claimed
by eminent teachers, that this method
saves One-half the time usually occupied
by pupils in learning to read and spell
correctly. The diacrilical marks used
in readers as guide to the sounds of let
ters, is an imitation Of this method. Tn
fortunately for both eXpedients, no soon
er does the pupil leave school than the
facilities there provided him for the pro
nunciation of words are necessarily left
behind, and ever after he is doomed to
WleS'le Win Ills English alpndoet, Will
out the aid of special forms, hair-line
type, or diacritical marks, to denote the
special sounds of letters, or to distinguish
the valuable from the worthless. The
spelling reform, IN its perfection, means
nothing more, and nothing less, than to
generalize and popularize the principle
of those easy methods Of reading and
spelling, already demonstrated to be
wholesome and valuable by practical APP
plication in the restric ed degree stated,
and thus dispensing with that obnoxious
system of English photography described
by Lord Lytton as ''a lying, roundabout,
and puzzle headed delusOn.''