The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1906-09-18
THE SIMPLIFIED
SPELLING SCHEME
A STATEMENT BY SIMPLIFIED
SPELLING BOARD OF WHAT 1T
PROPOSES AND WHY.

The following is a statement about
simplncd spelling issued' by the Sim
pifcd Spelling Board:
Much of the opposition which every
forward movement meets is due to a
failure to perceive exactly what its
supporters desire -his is the case
with the movement for the simplifica-
ton of English spelling Many of the
articles which have appeared i'm the
newspapers with reference to the
movement. and to the Simplified Spell
ing Board. reveil serious .hisconcep-
lions and in some cases a complete
lack of information. In order to clear
away these misunderstanding and to
supply some necessary information
the Board calls attention to the fol-
lowing facts.
1. This Board does not propose any
radical or revolutionary scheme
of reform. or any sudden and violent
change of English spelling. Any pro-
posal to upset suddenly and violestly
the accepted spelling Of any literary
language is foredoomed to failure. The
Board does not intend to advocate any
modification of English spelling that is
not temperate and reasonable. IT IS
not in favor of any freallish orthog-
raphy>uf any kind, like the misfit spell
ing of Josh Billings and of the Co
mic" photographers. 1t does not desire
to relax the existing rules and ana
logies of English spelling. 1t desires
rather to make them mere certain, to
extend them and enforce them, so as
to get rid of needless exceptions, and
produce a greater regularity than now
exists.
.. The Boards chief aim, in view of
the fact that the English language bids
fair to become the world language of
the future, is to arouse ID wider inter-
est in English spelling, and to call at
tention to it's present chaotic condition
"a condition far worse than that ex-
listing in any other modern language.
The Board believes that when the peO-
pie who speak English are fully awake
to the many disadvantages of their
present spelling, they will be glad to
help every effort to better it, as it has
been slowly bettered, by individual eff
fort, in the past.
8. The Board has not yet proposed
gun by selecting from the several
thousand words now spelled in two or
more ways, three hundred of the most
common, and it has urged the public
to adopt, now, the simpler of these two
forms, and therby establish the princi-
pie of simplification. 1t believes that
this is a natural and easy first step to-
ward further simplifications, such as
have been proposed and accepted from
time to time, even in the nineteenth
century and within living memory.
Macaulay, for example spelt phaeno-
menon, Thackeray CIPHER, and Park
man engulph, although every one now
spells phenomenon, cipher, engulf. So
esthetic and program are now estab-
lished, and catalog and altho are cer-
tain to win acceptance in the immed
ate future.
4. But the Board willy in due time
make suggestions of it's own. It will
propose further simplifications of the
same sort. 1t will advocate the cast
ing out of certain letters which are not
sounded now, which do not affect the
pronunciation according to existing
analogies, and which merely cumber
the photography. This simplification
by omission is nothing new; it is a
process which has been going on ror
centuries and which has given US to-
day, for example, almanac, era, fan
tasy, public, and wSson instead of al
manack, AGRA, phantasie, publick, and
Wagon; and, to go a little farther
back bat, set, dim, sum. fish. true,
civil, fatal etc, instead Of the Eliza
bethan bate, settle, dimme, summe,
fysshe, trewe, ciuill, fatal, etc. There
is nothing radical nothing dangerous,
in urging the acceleration of this nor
NAL process.
3. The Board does not propose to
make or to recommend any change in
the spelling of proper names, especial
ly of surnames. That matter is out of
its chosen province. Geographic names
often need regulation, but there are
societies and boards which take care
of this.
g. The Board does not pretend to be
consistent" in the spelling of its pub
LEGATIONS. For obvious reasons, the
spelling of its publications is made to
conform to the lists or rules the Board
issue. The spelling will therefore be-
come progressively simpler, and hence
less inconsistent. The remaining Gin
consistencies" belong to the old SPELL
ing, and not TO the, Hew. Until all of
the old spelling is improved, some Of
it will remain unimproved.
Z. This Board can assure all who
cherish the sentiment of loyalty to
their mother-tongue, that simplifca-
tions of spelling will not obscure the
meaning or the origin of a single
word. In this statement all scholars
agree, photographers and etymologists
first Of all The proposed simplifca-
lions will not make it more difficult
for any one to read the masterpieces
of English literature; and they will not
render useless the books now In print.
But they will save the time of all who
write and the m/ney of all who print;
and they will make the language
40 .go Rr,,.