Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-10-22
SPELLING MADE EASY
> sKePTlo ON The THEORY or RE-
FORM VENTlLATEs HIS VIEWS.

rOhM VEN iLNi 20 ITO FiGWo.
he Shows a Combination Of over Three
million way. In which the Elementary
Sounds which Form the Simple Word
Scissors May lie Produced.
lisa remarkable feature connected with
the various spelling reform movements
that they have all failed, even that father
ed by the distinguished phonologist, Alex
ander Ellis, and indorsed by the leaders Of
linguistic seence-the paliHotype-went
the way Of all such schemes and was final
ly repudiated by It's originator himself
The fact is, when the people find that
language needs reforming they reform IL
Themselves, little needing the dictums OF
learned societies IN the matter. The Eng
lish Language suits the English speaking
races. It's adapted to all the requirements
Of the most highly cultivated. In the Ian
guage OF Marx Twain, II is "a language
that can stand the strain when you want to
say something really worth saying and
tho great mass OF the people object 70 pay
ing doctor bill where there is no disease.
That IS why spelling reform has not sue
ceeded
Every one admits that the English Ian
guege contains Irregularities and incon-
sistencies. So does every other language.
So does the constitution Of the vast body Of
human society. Nothing IS free from them.
Our laws, our theology, our medicine, all
are crude and imperfect. But violent reyo-
lutionnry measures are not admissible. I'm
proycments must be made slowly. The
laws OF natural selection and the survival
OF the fittestn operate here as in the rest Of
natures vast domain.
The great error Of the spelling reformers
lies in the assumption that spelling lisa log
ical process. II j. really an exercise Of the
memory \ word is apprehended us
whole, not as n collection of individual
joints. When we write word, we do not
consider 1t as composed Of letters. 1t is to
us simply the picture OF nn idea, and the ac-
curacy Of our spelling depends upon the
viyidness OF the image in our memory. 1t
is an axiom In psychology that the sim
pier faculties attain more perfect develop
ment than the complex.
Is II reasonable to suppose that in cases
where the basic faculty Of memory is so
poorly developed that the subject spells cat
with a the judgment can have reached
that stage Of perfection which Is required
70 carry on the processes Of inductiye and
deductiye reasoning In a satisfactory man
neri
To illustrate the argument take theword
scissors, which Alexander Ellis has already
made the subject OF computation. Ellis
figured out that this word could be spelled
about 5000 different ways. But he admit
ted only such signs for the sounds OF the
word rs were consistent with the etymo-
logical analogy. But what does that block
head, the spelling reformer's client, who
cannot recall the way to spell scissors,
know about genealogical analogy Let
US see in how many ways he would spell
one word according to the ordinary brand
of analogy on tap in his brainpan seven
days Ia the week, Sunday included.
The word scissors contains six elementary
sounds-to wit;
s-I-Z-E-R-s.
The first aud the last are the simple
sounds OF as" The second Is short "a d" as
heard in thin" The third Is the simple
sound Of 'z.n The fourth is the obscure
sound Of "e," the will-o' -the-wisp OF thu
English language. The iifth is the simple
sound of "r"
The first and last sounds may be repre-
sented by any of the following letters and
combinations, rs will be seen from the ex-
amples given:
by seas In sclssors. BY c, as In circle. BY
W. h5 ~ NllANts ~ lst Us IN psalm. b} 9, la
IN single. by hce, az IN cOaesce. BY sch. MS in
Sehism. b. Sc as IN cause. By S. a. IN mass.
BY St, as In listen. By sth, as In lsthmus. BY
sw, "a 10 sword.
This gives sum total OF IL ways by
which the sound Of may bO represented.
The second sound, that OF short ii p may
be expressed as follows:
By g., as in scissors. By al, as In captain. BE-
ae, as in SEgean. BY o, as in English, BY ca
az Ia guinea. BY ee, as in been. BY Ell, as In
surialt BY ey. as In monkey, By la, Rs In
parliament. BY lie, as in sioye. BY Q, as in
women. By CT, mnnnthic. BY oil, as In tor
toiso, by ois, as IN chamois. By u, as In busy
By nj, as In guinea. by ny, as In plaguy. by
y a. in abyss.
This yields n sum total OF 10 symbols
which are used TO express the sound of
short 81"
The third sound, that of simple ~" may
be expressed as follows;
BY IS. as in scissors. BY c, as in suficinr
by &C, as In eaeriGoe. BY cz, us In car. By !,
us in IS. by 60, as In Chinese. BY <, as in
Sebec. Bye, rs In zodiac. BY &c, as in adzo.
BY ~, as in fuzz.
Thus ~ may DO represented in 10 differ
ent ways.
The obscure soand of re" may DO ex-
pressed as follows:
laA O, as IN ttlshuta. ny H. rs IN bllliurdG. by
te, as In diprosls. By al, as in murrain BY e.
as IN banner. By ca, "a In sergeant. BY Of, as
IN hrifcr. BY 60, as in leopard BY eou, as in
righteous BY Gu, rs in grandeur. By I, us In
sir by Ia, AZ in special By 10. as in complex
ion. by OF, as In Gyolrdupols. BY GU, as IN
journal. By u, us In turn. by ne, as In guess.
BY vi, as in circuit by, as in myrtle.
This gives total of 10.
The fifth sound, simple r, may be repre-
sented as follows;
Byr.. jas In scissors. By re, as In verdure. BY
ri. AS IN rheum. b. rr, as in burr By RE, as
IN simarre. BY rrh. as ia myrrh. By wr. as In
wrong.
Here is a sum total of seven ways to rep
resent this sound. Tho sixth sound, that
OF IS" we have already considered.
To find the number of combinations pos
sible from this variety of symbols express,
ing the same sounds we must find the
product OF l2xl9xlo xl9X1x12. This Yields
grand total OF Boss, $50 ways in which the
word may be spelt--aecording to simple
analogy.
Still we are not aware that any consider
able percentage Of people that ever attended