Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1896-05-09
To Remodel the Alphabet

Ing people experience IL ths ac-
quirement Of English is In large
measure due to the diverse pronun-
citation accorded to the same vowel
| in different words. There have been
perhaps a hundred attempts to rec
tify this, but none has achieved any
degree of universally whatever, or,
indeed, much popularity A sug-
gcsticn las been brought to the
attention of The Newspaper Maker
in which the elements of comrlexlty
and strangeness which have hitherto
characterized such schemes Ito their
destruct'on), are lacking.
Tie plan is the Invention OF
Robert W. Mason, and consists
briefly in remodeling the alphabet
zeal characters of the written Ian
guage. He proposes to make a
series of forty-fve characters an
swer all the practical demands of pro-
nunciation. The chief hindrance to
a proper acquaintance with written
English appears to be that but five
vowel characters are made to do
duty for some twenty distinctly diff
ferent sounds For example, some
discrimination should be made be-
tween the long and short sounds of
the vowels, as instanced by these
FIVE couplets: bate, bat; beet, bet |;
bite, bit; bloat, blot; fruit, fruit.
BY the introduction Of new letters
to discriminate between these
sounds Mr. Mason proposes to sur
mount the difficulty. His alphabet
also contains characters standing
for th, oh, sh, VIII, ng, and allied
and other sounds of which space
docs not permit of detailed mention
here.
Now the real ingenuity OF Mr..
Mason's system consists in his choice
of characters to represent the sounds
for which he pleads special charac
terization. In bis printed alphabet,
for instance, all the various pronun-
Citations now grouping themselves
under our heavily taxed letter "a"
are each represented by some slight
modification Of the actual character
now in use. Again, the hard pro-
nunciation of the letter "cn as in
cup, is provided for by substituting
for the ordinary "cn now in use
character cleverly compounded of
the letters sc" and ok which lat
ter letter represents the actusl sound
of the letter sc" in that place.
This idea of using slight modif-
cations Of the letters at present in
use to represent the various sounds
which each has to do duty for at
different times, would make a page
printed in Mr.. Mason's alphabet by
no means so cranky looking" as
any attempt to modify our alphabet
has proved so far.
The linotype machines now in
such general use throughout the
country present means for the in
PRODUCTION of such an innovation
not enjoyed by any previous similar
attempt, and Mr.. Mason has sue
ceeded in interesting the Mergen-
thaler Linotype Company ia his
plan. He is now visiting the prin-
oipal Eastern newspaper offices
using the linotype machines and is
meeting with very general favor in
the presentation of the idea. He
has already received rather com
handing list of signatures of news
paper men who are ready to take the
lead in the general introduction of
his vowela. The Boston Transcript
recently devoted considerable space
to Mr. Masons idea and the New
York Tribune also has printed a
commendatory article on the subject.
Whatever may be thought of the
probability of its successful intro
duction one cannot help but admire
the great ingenuity of Mr.. Mason's
idea and the laborious thought which
he must have given to it.