The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-12-13
AN ADVOCATE OF
PHONETIC SPELLING
Prof. Chamberlain of Clark Uni
versity Believes in That and
Other Reforms in the English
Language

Other Reforms in the English
Language
Prof Alexander F. Chamberlain of
Clark University, writing in Science on
the English language and its moditica-
lions, comes out as an advocate of
phonetic spelling and other reforms in
the tongue. He says. in part
Phonetic spelling must triumph in
the end, and as complete a victory
waits for free speaking and free writ
ing-i. e., language untrammelled by
grammatical artifcialities. Not al
backward looking Volapuk, but English
with it's face to the future, foreshad
ows the true world-language. Phonetic
| spelling has already made a good be-
ginning, which suggests the possibility
of similar intentional reforms in Eng
fish grammar The present writer will
content himself with specifying certain
ameliorations of grammar, which, per-
| haps, may serve, like the ten rules
for amended spelling proposed in 1888
/ by the English and American Philolog-
/ ical Associations, or the list reported by
the American Committee in 1886, as
starters for more ambitious movements
of reform. The list is as follows:-
I'D. Drop the so-called subjunctive
mood altogether 1t is moribund in
much Of our best prose, and can be
allowed to die out of our poetry with
no injury to rhyme or reason, strength
or beauty.
"(2). Drop the infected forms for
the past tense and past participle, max
ing all new verbs, whether introduced
| from foreign tongues or made within
the language itself, conform to the type
of hit let, etc. In America, in partic-
ular, drop gotten.
J "(S). Avoid the use Of differing
| forms for verb and noun. Follow the
model of boycott under rule two.
20. Avoid the use of plural forms
of nouns, making all new substantives,
whether borrowed from other Ian
guages or born of the mother-tongue,
conform to the model of sheep, deer
etc.
90. Avoid the use of Greek or Lat
In names for new things Follow the
good example of certain scientists, and
name them after their dscoverer, the
place of origin, etc. Make new words
! here conform to the model OF gatllng,
ampere, and the like.
"(6). Avoid the use of feminine
| forms of nouns previously employed
with reference to males, letting the
thought control the grammar. Drop
particularly authoress, poetess, etc.
"CO. Avoid forming adverbs by in
| Election, using for all new words OF this
class the same form for adjective Cor
other world and adverb.
"(8). Omit the conjunction that
wherever possible. For example, in
such cases as Il know that he is
dead"
"O). Use but and as as full-fedged
| propositions.
"dW. Drop whom, using who for
| both cases.
"QD. Ceasing the attempt to dis
| tinguish between who and that and
| that and which, let the fittest survive
| in each instance.
| "QO. Use the pronouns compounded
of self and their plurals both as sub
jects and objects
"d3). Drop the apostrophe in thu
possessive case.
"Other suggestions might be made,
but these cover sufficient ground for
the present" 81.
The New York Evening Post, jour
nal whose opinion has much weight in
scientific and literary matters, in
long editorial on DIR. Chamberlain's
| article comments upon 1t thus:
what the theorists, like Prof.
Chamberlain, fail to do is to determine
just what the English language which
is to be reformed means to the aver
age English-speaking person. If it
means spoken English, then there is
no escaping the contention Of the great
| phonetician DR.. Henry Sweet that
every person should spell as he pro-
nounces. Our books, according to
their authors recommendations. should
be read in the nasal twang of New
England the mellow drawl of the
South or the rasping utterance of the
! West But as matter OF fact, does
not each of us understand by the
term English something which in
; cludes everything from the Irish
brogue to the Chinese Pidgin English,
but is better and other than all sub
varieties which it includes-in short.
| literary English, the language of
| Shakespeare and of King James tran
slators of the Bible? If this is what
| all Of us mean by English, and If we
| constantly refer the language we hear
to the language we see in our minds
| eye, the cause of the reformers is
! hopeless in the extreme. for there is
| bound up in this visible language q
whole series Of associations of the
most durable sort. Language is not
as the reformers vainly imagine, an
! individual possession, but a corporate
/ tradition Righteousness is not the way
| the first man in the street acts, nor is
| the English language merely the in
| dividual manner of speech of Tom,
| Dick and Harry.
1t is the ignorance Of so fundamental
| a fact which sets amiable persons Of
| severely logical bent upon such wild
| goose chases as endeavuring to impose
| upon the great reading public those
methods of phonetic notation which
| have a limited usefulness for the stu
| dy of foreign languages and the re-
! cording of dialects. There is no argu-
/ ing with these persons, and they are,
! In fact generally condemned out of
J their own mouths. If Professor Cham
/ berlain really desires the desuetude Of
so valuable a stylistic resource as the
''moribund subjunctive,' the subjunc-
! tive might retort in a swifter and no
| bier phrase than Prof. Chamberlain
/ would let US use. Though he Stay me,
/ yet viii I trust in him" Would any
one really prefer in this case, Though
| he should slay me?"
| Just how insensible the promoters Of
! these reforms are to the instinct which
/ the cultivated have for the look of the
| English language is best shown by an
! example. Here. then, is the first stanza
4 Of ShelIey's beautiful song. ITO Night"
/ both in reformed" English and in
I "unreformed" English:
| REFORMED ENGLISH
| swiftle waok ouvedhe western weiv
I spirtev matt
/ auteovdhe miste iysteen kew
[ whaer aoldhe loqen(d) loun del lait
I -dhau wouvest driymzve joion file
-whic meikdhiy terebelen die
swiftbiydhai flat
UNREFORMED ENGLISH
swiftly walk over the western wave,
Spirit of Night
I Out Of the misty eastern cave,
! Where all the long and lone daylight,
/ Thou wovest dreams Of joy and fear,
Which make the terrible and dear