The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-11-06
SPELLING MADE EASY
A sKePTlc ON THE THEORY OF RE-
FORM VENTlLATeS HIS VIEWS.

ht Shb"b n VI ONeT
Million Ways In which the Elementary
Sounds which Form the Simple Word
Scissors May lie Produced.
1t is a remarkable feature connected with
the various spelling reform movements
that they have NIL failed, even that father
I'd by the distinguished phonologist, Alex
under Ellis, and Endorsed by the leaders of
linguistic science--the palaotype-went
the way of all such schemes and was final
ly repudated by its originator himself
The fact is, when the people find that a
language needs reforming they reform 1t
themselves, little needing the dictums Of
learned societies in the matter The Eng
lish language suits the English speaking
races 1t Is adapted to all the requirements
of the most highly cultivated. In the Ian
guage Of Mark Twain, it is "a language
that can stand the strain when you want to
say something really worth saying" and
the great mass of the people object to pay
ing a doctor bill where there is no disease.
That is why spelling reform has not sue
ceeded.
Every one admits that the English Ian
guage 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 revo-
lutionary measures are not admissible. I'M
provements must be made slowly. The
laws of natural selection and the survival
of the fittest" operate here as in the rest of
natures vast domain.
The great error of the spelling reformers
lies in the assumption that spelling is a log
ical process. II is really an exercise of the
memory. y word is apprehended as a
whole, not as a collection Of individual
joints When we write a word, we do not
consider it as composed of letters 1t is to
us simply the picture of an idea, and the ac-
curacy Of our spelling depends upon the
vividness 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 it reasonable to suppose that in cases
where the basic faculty of memory is so
poorly developed that the subject spells cat
with the Judgment can have reached
that stage of perfection which is required
TO carry on the processes of inductive and
deductive reasoning in satisfactory man
ners
To illustrate the argument take the word
scissors, which Alexander Ellis has already
made the subject of computation. Ellis
figured out that this word could lie spelled
about 5000 different ways. But he admit
ted only such signs for the sounds of the
word as We're 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 tue ordinary brand
Of analogy on tap in his brainpan seven
days in the week, Sunday included.
The word scissors contains six elementary
sounds-to wit;
S-I-Z-E-.R-S.
The first and the last are the simple
sounds of IS" The second is short 81 ;" as
heard in thin" The third is the simple
sound of -" The 10 nth is the obscure
sound of re-" the will-o'- the wisp of TIL
English language The fifth is the simple
sound of 81"
The first and last sounds may be repre-
sented by any of the following letters and
combinations, as will BE- seen from the ex
amples given:
BY sc, as in scissors. BY C, as in circle. By
ce. as in efacc. e. ps, a. il psalm. By S, .!
in single. BY sec, Is il coa.esce. BY sch. as il
schism. By Sc, rs in cause By ss, as in mass
By st, as in listen. BY STA. Us in isthmus. By
sw. as in sword.
This gives a sum total of 10 ways by
which the sound Of may be represented.
The second sound, that of short 81, may
be expressed as follows:
By /, as in scissors. BY al, as in captain. By
ae, as in Egean. BY c, as in English. BY ca,
as in guinea. By &c, as in been. By eli, as in
surfet. By ey, as in monkey. By ia, as in
parliament. BY ie, as in sieve. BY o, as in
women. BY ue, Gnauthic. BY OIL as in tor
toise BY ois, rs In chamois By u, as in busy
BY vi, as in guinea. BY ny, as in plaguy. BY
y, as in abyss
This yields sum total of 10 symbols
which are used to express the sound OF
short ii.
The third sound, that of simple w." may
be expressed as follows:
BY IS, as in scissors. By c, as in suffcing
By ce, rs in sacrifice. BY cz, as in car. BY 5
as in is. By Sc, rs in Chinese. By X, as in
xebec By as in zodiac. BY re, as in adze
By ~, as in fuzz.
Thus ''z'' may be represented in 10 differ
ent ways.
The obscure sound of sc" may be ex
pressed as follows:
By o, as in scissors. BY "a, as in billiards. BY
Ie, as in diBres.s. By al, MS in murrain. BY e
as in banner. BY ca, as in sergeant. BY eli, al
in heifer By co, as in leopard. By ecu, as il
=
sir. BY ia, as in special. By TO- as in complex
ion. BY OF, as in avoirdupois. By on, as IL
journal BY u, as in turn. By ne, as in guess
By vi, as in circuit. Byy, as in myrtle.
This gives a total of 10.
The fifth sound, simple +, may be repre-
sented as follows:
Byr, as in scissors. By re, as in verdure. B!
rh, as in rheum. By TT, as in burr. By IRE, a
in simarre, BY rrh, as in myrrh. BY VT, as il
wrong.
Here is sum total of seven ways TO rep
resent this sound The sixth sound, tina
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 tn
product of 12xl9xl0xl9X7X12. This yield
a grand total of 3,G3S, $50 ways in which tn
word may be spelt-according to simple
analogy.
. Still we are not aware that any consider
able percentage of people that ever ATTENDED
school have any difficulty in spelling tn
the word in the single way which is cor
rect. No complaints are heard except from
the spelling reformers, pathological anarch
lists who want TO equalize all the difference
among words as their political prototype
strive to do among men.-Pittsburg Dis
patch.
A Foretaste of Death.
A foreshadowing affecting its subject as
with foretaste OF death was that recorded
by Charles Mackay of his friend, Mr.. In