New-York tribune., 1901-08-25
ABSURD SPELLING REFORM
PHONETIC SYSTEM UTTERLY IlfPRAc
TICABLE - EARS DO NOT HEAR
NOR TONGUES REPEAT THE
SAME SOUND.
To the Editor Of The Tribune.

your observations on it, and "Obscuritv q,
Phonetic Spelling" in your issue of TODAY r,a
fad for so-called reform in English spel,nv
breaks out periodically. / remember that a.
far back as the early days of the Civil Wa
a certain Boston physician. who was abla -
eschew professional practice for the indulgence
OF his hobby. haunted Washington with tba
avowed intention of enlsting the active svr,
pathy of President Lincoln-the helmsnan =,
the storm tossed ship Of state in its dirs,,
peril-in what he considered the paranoun.
question OF the epoch-of any epoch-rerornAd
photography. and the subversion Of iniouitou.
''compositOrs and proOfreaders" as we'll "a q.
certain literary men OF perverted Iasras.
who conspire. your first correspondent "a
sures US, to increase their ell gotten gains a.
10 per cent from the continuance of the pres
ent reprehensible system of English ortboe-
raphy- By the way. doctor OF forty wears
ago from the American modern Athens vbo
was also an adept in what an acute French
statesman called '1'Art de grouper les cbirrrsss
put at only half your correspondents nar-
centage the internal wrong wrought by thar
system TO the childhood OF his generation
Those who. for scientific purposes. hava
closely studied the subject OF phonetics aver
that 1t Is difficult TO find two persons who, To
the trained and sensitive ear pronounce tha
cisely alike How. then. IS phonetic spelling
possible? Like the learned and highly in
genious VOlapuk a universal language IL
has. in fact, already been tried and found i'm
practicable. About the period Of our Civil War
i forget the exact date-a phonetic journal
was started in New-Yor6 City, and dare saw
though 1 don't know it. in other centres OF
both the New and Old Worlds. Not long after
rival-and. tpso facto, It is safe to saw a
critic and censor-appeared with his serial
sheet and his improved phonetic spelling. Ths
conductor OF each doubtless sincerely regarded
the other fake" Though that word was
not in use then except as quoted from thieves,
argoo and corrupter Of the English language
simply because the ear Of each caught a slight
ly different impression Of the same spoken
word Both journals soon collapsed and so
would any literary medium Of human thought
and aspiration, IL the phonetic spoilers had
their way and set TO work. as they inevitably
would, to quarrel with and demoHsh each other
IN the fancied interest o: children and for
eigners trying to acquire the tongue over which
the former assume guardianship
One wonders If these phoreticaI enthusiasts in
preparation for their self-imposed mission. ever
handled any OF the black letter folios that ap-
peared in England. as elsewhere. subsequent to
the establishment OF printing-"the art preserva-
tive OF all arts''-but yet before the wicked min.
ions OF "the printing trade author, compositor
and proofreader. had won their diabolical sue
cess OF photographed uniformity The prayer
book authorized by Edward VI was issued from
the press good while after Caxton's time, but
recall noting. in a copy Of IL, on the same page
three or four variations in spelling OF the same
word.
Travellers know that in the Old World out
side OF the educated classes. who. with more or
less correctness. habitually use in colcquy well
~, vr-rfrf fha Ian 0S
country, every 1tion Of say. ten miles square
includes at least a slight and sometimes very
marked difference in the pronunciation Of the
dialect or patois used by the peasantry. The
cultivated urban Englishman. apart from his
own country, no less than the American visitor.
often finds 10 impossible to understand more
than tithe OF what a Iaborer in some English
district remote from town or railroad tries TO
/ tell him. Even in this country, which far sur
passes any other in the uniformity Of it's pro-
nunciation. and where the native born Ameri-
! can anywhere between the two oceans makes
himself perfectly understood by his tnterlocutor
/ Of the same vernacular-even here It IS easy
enough 10 distinguish by his speech the South
/ erner from the Northerrer and the Western man
/ from his Eastern kinsman.
{ For the preservation OF a literary tOngue-for
] the seleCtive processes of the scholar-lt is IN
: fnitely more important TO retain even the mute
/ roots OF word essential for employment on d
permanent literary plane than 70 strip II OF Us
aids TO the thorough understanding and aptest
use OF it's core in the supposed interest or the
J public school child For such selective processes
/ the eye of the scholar is about as important as
; is the ear OF the pupil in the classroom. or
{ course, one would not want TO see our Engllsn
! using author like one OF the Chinese Hterau
. with reference TO his books as fastidious about
, the appearance of a wOrd-or. in the latters
case even of a Characters about its real I'M
port or even its merely tonal value but unIiAs
/ tha Chinese who have petriied he compare
! lively uniformed literary vehicle or their Garner
/ epoch our language was fixed in superaoun1al-
I richness for all time and for all purposes tex
cept for the limited ones of the tabuIatlng sPe-
cialist in technical sCience) by SpenSer' ~ SnaA@
/ speaTe. King James's Bible ana Milton W. 80 "
be saved from seeing the stateIy measure - 80 -
/ OF these reduced TO t-e PrOcrustean usa51 u
! phonetic spelling. . ,-4,,ol
But in truth our iconoclastic phoneuea4
I caused by the few redundantS ana h.ulSS U
English CrthOgraphy. II they had tle rNuSSie'--
literary language IN hana, Win b1s - baIf Of
forty alphabetical characters-peIl95it l9tS +,,7s~
| which might be thrown out or noulLeu nou, : - -
I the woke OF phonetics-they might MAKE a., 80 -
ter show Of their theory. But ~ can I'd. L5 I1 IN
/ Jo,h+sd rbat TOlstoY would shake his head III
/ grave dissent If the poems OF ~ MS e.N 80 he
! patriot Karamztn, for instance, We're Ia t1-N nSo
/ fore him stripped TO their skeletons oS PN'
J. W. makes a good point with MS ,ingis sinsis
phonetic symbol "rit TO represent 'tboroTghIy
Of totally different meaning ana 1 srsIf,ng.
Girrsrentiated to The eye by the current spenats'
When 1 was a very young boy
IF YOU write wright rite.
Won won't write wright rlSnI,
Rut if YOU write wright wright
You'll write wright right
Rut at the same time found tnat IN aE,a setG- f
ona identical sound expresses at least nHe -s el,
Sra1t words each having meaning lhoIOGsr US
IL 1isttnct from that OF all the others. our EtS
Tsb words verse worm glass green ana SoTHt Isnts
are all represented In their FrS5itF I Ib verdi
OF yels, 5aSr vers And. moreover Ia is only tns
trerSt anu nurfst who would deny IN the case sts ~
the majority OF Tu,-tsit hara1dic term vair.
instance IN the nei'-N' A J. BLOOR
stonington. Conn. Aus. Il
g Fl. GROSTENOR BACK FROh hO"'1D'