The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-12-06
SPELLING MADE EASY
A SKEPTIc ON THE THEORY OF RE-
FORM VENrILATeS HIS VIEWS.

lie shows a Combination OF over Thrcs
Million Ways In which the Elementary
Sounds which PORN the simple Word !.
Scissors May he Produced.
It is a remarkable feature connected with
thr various spelling reform movements
ih1t they have all failed, even that father
ri by the distinguished phouologist, Alex
Ander Ellis, aud indorsed by the leaders OF
linguistic scisnce-the pal@otype-w went
the way Of all such schemes and was final
'y rcpudiated by its originator himself
The fact is, when the people find that g
language needs reforming they reform ~
themselves, little needing the dictums OF
learned societies in the matter. The Eng
lish language suits the English speaking
races. II Is adapted to all the requirements
Of the most highly cultivated. In the Ian
guagc of Mark Twain. il Is ~ lanGpaesl
that can stand the straiH svern you .wanttsf
say something really worh saying, - and |.
the great mass Of the people object 10 pay-t
ing doctor bill where there is-no disease.
That is why spelling reform has not sue
cceded.
Every one admits that the English Ian
guage contains Irregularities aud incon-
sistencies So does every other language.
So does the constitution Of the vast bodg of
human society. Nothing is free from them.
our laws, our theology, our medisine, all
are crude aud imperfect. But violent rpvot
lutiouary measures are not admissiblesskpp- :,
provemeuts must be made slowly.-1 1fbe 1
laws Of natural selection and the saryiyaix
Of the flttestn operate here as in the resnoE
natures vast domain
The great error Of the spelling refQrmers
lies in the assumption that spelling isalog-
ical process It IS really AN exercise OF the i.
memory. \ word is apprrhended as a I.
whole, not as a collection of individual
joints. When we write "a word, we do hot
consider il As composed OF letters. It 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 meinoR 1t
is an axiom in psychology that rife sim
pier faculties attain a more perfect develop,
meut than the complex.
Is it reasonable to suppose that in cases
where the basic faculty of memory Is SO
poorly developed that the subiectspells cat
with "A the judgment can havefreached
that stage Of perfection which isF required
70 carry on the processes of inductfse aud
deductive reasoning in a satisfactory man
ner'
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 be spelled
about COCO 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 reforpet's. Cleft, who
cannot recall the way to spell scissors.
know about genealogical analogyi eLet
us see in how many ways he would spell
one word according to the ordinary brand
of analogy on tap in his brainpan seyen
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 lastsfre thessimple
sounds of''s." The second fs4short IL as
heard in thin The third is thep simple
sonnd Of ''z." The l0uAh issSbs- -obstsife.
sound Of "e," the will-oi. the.wisp OF thu
English language The fifth isthe sinpie
sound Of ''r,"
The first aud 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 eiIace BY rs, as in npsalm. BY 5. as
In single. BY see, as In coalesce. BY sch. rs in
schism. BY sc, in cause. BY ~. as In mass
By st, a. in listen. BY sth, As in isthmus. BY
Sw, as In sword.
This gives sum total of i2 ways by
which the sound OF = may be represented.
The second sound, that Of short Il " may
be expressed as follows:
BY i, as in scissors. BY al, as in captain. By
| ae. as In Hgeau. By e, as In English. BY ca,
as in guinea. BY &c, as in been. BY ei, as In
surfeit by ey, as In monkey. BY la, as in
parliament BY lie, as in sieve. BY o, as In
women. BY u'. osnanthic. by OF, az in tor
fs,.fv tr, ,g1a d
BY nj. rs in guinea. By ny, as in plaguy. by
y, a. In abyss.
! This yields sum total of 10 symbols
which are used to express the sound Of
short 81.
The third sound, that Of simple 'z.p NAV
] be expressed as follows:
| By SIS, as in scissors BY c. as in sufficipr.
! BY Ce, as in sacrihce. BY ca, as ia car BY :.
as in is. BY Sc, as in Chinese. BY X, as in
xebec. By z, As in zodiac. BY &c. as In adze.
/ by H. as in fuz2.
! Thus ~" may he represented ia itssiiffer-
ent ways.
The obscure sound Of "e" may be ex-
pressed as follows;
by o, as in s,issors. BY a. as in billiards. Nv
AZ, rs in diWrcs!s. BY al, as In murrain. By =.
| as In banner. By ca, as in sergeant BY eli. al
in heifer. BY 60, as in leopard. BY eou. as In
| righteous. BY eu, as in grandeur. BY l. as in
sir. By la, a in special BY 10. as in complex
ion. BY Of, As in avoirdupois. BY GU, as in
journal By u, os in turn BY ue. as In guess.
BY vi. as in circuit. BY y. as in myrtle.
This gives a total of 10.
The fifth sound, simple r, may be reprx,-
sented as follows:
BY r, as in scissors. BY re, as in yerdure. Nv
rh, as in rheum. BY rr, as in burr. BY IRE. 4.
in simarre, ~ rrh. as in myrrh. By ~r, as IN
wrong.
Here Is a sum total of seven WAYS 10 rem
resent this sound. The sixth sound that
of "s, we have already considered
To find the number OF com mbinations po~
sibe from this variety of symbols express
ing the same sounds we must find the
: product Of l2Xl9N l0xl9x5xl2 This Yields.
a grand total Of 3, ,tsiS, go ways In which the
word may be spelt--aecording 20 simple
analogy.
still we are not aware that any consider
able percentage of people that ever attended
school have any difficulty in spelling the
the word in the single way which is cor
rect. No con. plaints are heard except from
the spelling rformers, pathological anar&h
lists who want TO equalize all the differences
among words a. their political prototynes
strive TO do among men.- Rittsburg Dis
gatch
The Power OF Wealth.
Marys mother one day gave her can,
: to buy some candy, As the llttle girl wen,
down the street she discovered 4 be,rpn,
boy on the front steps of a neighbor's
, house.
She was years old, and a cent seemed q.