The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-07-16
SPELLING MADE EASY
A SkEPTlc ON THE THEORY OF RE-
FORM VENTlLATEs HIS VIEWS.

He shows "a Combination of Over Three
Million Ways In which the Elementary
Sounds which Form the simple Word
Scissors May BE Produced.
II is a remarkable feature connected with
the various spelling reform movements
that they have all failed, even that father
ed by the distinguished phouologist, Alex
snder Ellis, and indorsed by the leaders of |
linguistic science-the palmOtype-went |
the way of ali such schemes and was final
ly repudated by its originator himself.
The fact is, when the people find that
language needs reforming they reform 1t
themselves, little needing the dictums Of
learned societies in the matter. The Eng
lish langU age 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 suc-
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-
lutiouary measures are not admissible. I'm
provemeuts must be made slowly. The
laws Of natural selection and the survival
of the fittest" operate here as in the rest Of
natures ysst domain.
The great error of the spelling reformers
lies in the assumption that spelling is II log
ical proc ass. 1t is really an exercise Of the
memory. A word is apprehended as a
whole, Ut as 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
vividnese of the image in our memory. It
is an a. ON in psychology that the sim
pier facu ties attain a more perfect develop
ment than the complex.
Is it ! asonable to suppose that in cases
where IL, basic faculty of memory is SO
poorly veloped that the subject spells cat
with a the judgment can have reached
that stal g of perfection which is required
to carry on the processes of inductive and
deductive reasoning in a satisfactory man
ner,
To illustrate the argument take the word
made tbs subject of computation Ellis
figured out that this word could be spelled
about 6,cOO different ways. But he admit
ted only 7uch signs for the sounds of the
word a. were consistent with the etymO-
log cal analogy. But what does that block
head, tLs spelling refOrmer's client, who
cannot scall the way to spell scissors,
know Elout genealogical analogy? Let
us see IN how many ways he would spell
one worl according to the ordinary brand
of analogy on tap in his braiupan 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 So" The fourth is the obscure
sound of Sc" the -o'-the-wisp of tn
English language. The fifth is the simple
sound of ''r."
The first and last sounds may be repre-
scented 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 efface. By ps, as in psalm. BY $, a
in single. By see, as i'll coaiesce. by sch, as il
schism. BY Sc, as in cause. By Sc, as in mass
BY st, as in listen. By sth, as in isthmus b!
sw, as in sword.
This gives sum total of 12 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 4Egean. By e, as in English. By ca,
as in guinea. By ee, as in been. By ei, as in
surfeit By ey, as in monkey. By ia, as in
arlta ~ 10 In afaN In
women. By oe, oenanthic. By OF, as in tor
toise. By dis as in chamois. By u, as in busy
By nj, as in guinea. By ny, as in plaguy. BY
y, as in abyss.
This Yields a sum total of 10 symbols
which are used to express the sound of
short SCI"
The third sound, that of simple So" may
be expressed as follows:
By SIS, as in scissors. By c, as in suflicing.
By ce, rs in sacrifice. BY CT, as in czar. By S,
as in is. By Sc, as in Chinese. BY X, as in
xebec. By z, as in zodiac. BY re, as in adze
BY zz, as in tuzz.
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 Il, as in billiards. BY
B, as in diGres!s. By al, as in murrain. By e
as in banner. BY ca, as in sergeant. By Ell, a.
in heifer. By go, in leopard. BY eou, as IL
righteous. By en-, as in grandeur By i, as II
sir. By ia, as in special. By 10, as in complex
ion. By Of, in avoirdupois. By GU, as il
journal. By u, as in turn. By ne, as in guess
By vi, as in circuit by, as in myrtle
This gives a total of 10.
The fifth sound, simple r, may be repre-
scented as follows:
Byr, as in scissors. By re, as in verdure. B
II In, IN. hV,rr d.,
in simarre, BY rrh, as in myrrh. By VT, as il
wrong.
Here IS a 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 Observation-Disclosures. This yield
grand total of 3,63s, $50 ways in which tn
word may be spelt-according to simpl
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 col
rect. No complaints are heard except from
the cling reformers, pathological anarch
lists who want to equalize all the difference
among words as their political prototype
strive 10 do among men.-Pittsburg Dis
patch.
Williams Little Plan.
81 d mt want to injure no mans bust
'' ness" said Wandering William as he en-
tered 10 barroom and leaned GRACEFUL
agains the rail, "but l do think that ther
ought o be an investigation as 90 the tru
charac er Of the ingredients used in max
ing al oholic liquors. | fear that there
adulte ants being used. If that is so
some ne should let the public know t,