Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1906-08-02
FOR PHONETIC SPELLING.
ENGLISH AUTHORITY SIDES WITH
AMERICAN REFORMERS.

Methods the Result OF Awkward
Lack of Early Printing Facilities
Rather Than Historical Develop
ment
Andrew Carnegie, Mark Twain and
the other leaders Of the recent agita-
ton in the United States in favor OF
phonetic spelling viii be glad to hear
that they have an ally on the other
side of the water in the person Of
Prof. W. W. Skeat, Of Cambridge Uni
versity, who is undoubtedly one Of the
greatest living authorities On the Eng
lish language. Up to now, the Am
erican suggestions regarding the re-
form Of spelling have been subjected
to wholesome ridicuIe in England, but
possibly some Of the writer's who
made merry over them will conclude
to change their tune after reading the
vigorous address in support Of the
American arguments delivered by Pro
fessor Skeat before a gathering of the
British Academy at Burlington House.
Besides being Professor of Anglo
Saxon at Cambridge, DR.. Skeat is the
founder and president of the English
Dialect Society, and the titles of his
works on English literature occupy
something like ten pages in the cata-
lOgue of the British Museum Library.
So iC was rather striking to find him
beginning his address to the British
Academy by declaring that all of what
he called the "scientic arguments"
were on the side of those who want to
reform the spelling of English, and that
dense ignorance was the chief char
acteristic of those who opposed it.
EtymoIogy and phonetics, Prof Skeat
said were the two sciences which the
British Press, in particular, could not
understand to be such, and he went
on to assert that the English language
as at present spelt was full of the
most absurd contradictions, warranted
neither by history nor by common
sense
Then he proceeded to give a num-
Der of examples of useless letters in
spelling, and declared that the final
''e' in have, live, solve, adze, awe and
aXe-words that he would spell hav
llv, sOlv, adX, aw and ax-was the
chief delinquent. 1t had, Professor
Skeat said, no right to it's place 1t
had been introduced at the end of
have" at the time when that word
was spelt ''haue, and its purpose then
was to distinguish the otherwise I'M
distinguishable and v Again, the
letter 20 in comfort, which histori-
cally should be "cumfOrt in donkey,
which should be "dunkey" and i'll
money, which should be ''muney' was
another unjustifable innovation, call
ed into being because in script the
Normans did not like an IN" or n" to
follow ''u'' because of the want OF
legibility.
Professor Skeat also provided a sur
prise by ridiculing the idea that the
shortening of ''labour" to labor" was
an American innovation. Labor" he
said, is found in the 5O4h line of The
Pearl" which was written before Co.
lumbus discovered America and in
deed before he was born. Similarly
he went on, there were the best of
pathological reasons for spelling Ear
rive with only one +; affair-which
was the French a faire-with only
one f; attack as ''atak;" commence
without its double m, and lamb, limb
and plumber with their b. In conclu-
sion the Professor showed by phil
| illogical science that the spelling of
language was altered originally to
conform with phonetic utterance ana
! commended that we ought to reform
and alter it now according to the same
principle. Thus, he said, a race gradu-
| ally would spring up which would per-
ce1Ve that the best spelling for a
given word was that which gave most
reasonably the sound of it.
Apropos. another interesting uues-
ton OF spelling suddenly has come up.
and that in connection with Mark
TWain's recent gift of the manuscript
OF his magazine article on Joan of
Arc to the municipal museum at
Rouen, the ancient town in which the
French heroine met her death. 1t is
demanded by a welEknOwn English
antiquarian why both British and Am
erican writer's spell the maids name
as Joan d Arc" when, as he points
out, we have the authority of Niche
let, the historian; of Dean Kitchin.
and other historians that the Young
Woman's name was actually Jeanne
Dare. Not only" says this writer,
were her parents peasants, but there
was no Arc anywhere near of which
she could be ID" He adds, though
it is easy to see how the mistake or
iginally arose, the twentieth century.
in the interests of accuracy. should
not countenance t.-PhiIadelnhio
Record.