The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1906-10-28
Prof. Matthews Gives Rea-
sons for Present Move.
PHONETIC CHANGE IMPOSSIBLE
SimPIiaed Spelling Board Aims Mere
" to Drop Useless Letters-Hords
Natural Process-ObjectiOns to the
Reform Answered in Detail.

English Spelling before the Rhode Is
land Institute Of Instruction. Mr.. Mat
thews said in part:
English is the worst of all the mod
ern languages. because its ortho5raPhy
is not r6ducible TO rule. Its spehIng Is
so freakish. so violent and 50 absurd
that it rejects all analogies
The ideal spelling Of any language
wogId be that in which there was one
sound for one symbol There are forty
sounds in English and only twenty-three
possible symbols But that is not the
worst II we had loaded almost every
one Of our twenty-three symbols Win
the duty Of representing only two separ-
ate sounds, that would be bad enough.
but it would not be so bad as the situa-
ton which confronts us.
Let me illustrate what I mean Here
is list Of English words, short Anglo
Saxon words. in which the spelling Is
perfectly satisfactory: Sad, slap, self
smash. strong. strength. Here is a sec
Ond group Of longer words derived from
the Greek which are also satisfactory;
Evident, ability, peculiar, memorial, mo-
nopoly. biology.
But when we look at certain other
groups we are brought almost To the
brink of despair. Take this group. for
example, perhaps the most famous eX-
ampIes of the absurdity Of our spell
ing which exist. Cough, dough. thorough,
rough, through, hOugh. sough, plough.
And here again are four words b. gin
ning with the sound of m NnOw,
pneumonia. gnaw, mRemOniCs. 1nere are
seven words in which the sound Of ''e"
in let" is represented by seven different
symbols, or combination of symbols. Let
heifer, says, many, head, leopard, said.
The sound "sh" in ship is repre-
scented by eight distinct combinations:
Ship suspicion. ocean, anxious, sure. con
science. notion, issue.
PhOaetic Reform Hopeless.
Phcne &c reform of any kind is hope
less. To spend time in setting forth its
possible advantages is to waste time.
This is one reason why the simplitied
spelling board has not advocated any
scheme Of phonetic reform. And it does
not intend to advocate anything OF the
sort J say this emphaucaIIy, because 80
many Of the opponents of our movement
nave accused us of being phonetic reform
Crs. If they do so hereafter, in spite of
eur formal disclaimer, they win be dis
honest, for there is a dishonesty of care
lessness, as we'll as "a dishonesty of inten-
ton.
Now what is the simpifed spelling
board urging ii IL is not urging phonetic
reform? There is at least one thing that
can be done. Every. one who knows any
thing at all about tho growth Of the Eng
lish language. knows that the English
language has been slowly changing It's
spelling. that the spelling of to-day is
simpler, more accurate, and on the whole
better than the spelling of yesterday, and
that the spelling cf yesterday is, on the
whole. simpler and more accurate than
the spelling &C the day before yesterday
Here arc few words which have been
changed. In StaEfsDea rs time "sun
was spelled sumo, ''5Ft" was spelled
bate: fish was spelled "fysshe''
music" was spelled ~muSicke; "fsn-
fasy' was spelled ''phantasie'', ERA" was
spelled AGRA" and economic" was spell
81 "CecorCmicle. The changes IN these
wCrds are only a few examples Of thou
lands of others that have been made. and
al these changes are in accord with thu
principle Of siTplifcation by omission
which has been ut work from the begin
Minis. It is at work now. II is the pria-
oipIe which has led the National Educa-
ton Association 20 recommend the 0mis
sion of enc 5r1m program of tn,
''uc' from ''cataI1g. It viii be active III
the future. hut il has been Irregular
casual intermittent IF only il could Do
a-ct l.ratet. somcthiuC might he done tC
make English spelling loss uf q roprOact
.r JI.1 people Hlo Use d.
simplifying OPr Spelling.
The task of aoceIeTauug. that ancient
and honorable process of simplifying Eng
Ish spelling by casting ont silent and
useless letters Is the task which IN.
eimplt.ed spelling board has Undertakou
Jt Eas t1r that special purpose that tn.
board vaa organized. and that purpos.
is shown IN iJe utl. IT is the 'simplifc.
spelling board to simplify, and to sim
rlify by omission. But the board was s.,
conservative that it began by making n,
recommendation of its own. Il selecte,
GO words where the simplest spelling. tn
more logical aad more compact spellin,
was more or less in use. 1t asked thos
who wished to show their sympathy witt
this movement 10 better English orthog
raphy 10 agree 20 use these 500 simple
forms OF as many 0f>thcm as they chose
This is the list Of so words which PTesi
dent Roosevelt has approved. This
the list which has been approved by tn
board of superintendent Of the city O
New York. This is the list which ha
been warmly welcomed and promptly &C
cepted by an immense number of bushes
houses throughout the whole Unite
States. Sooner or later the board vii
issue other lists. all based on the prin
ciple Of siuplitication by omission 0
silent letters
Now what are the objections 10 sim
plihed spelling? There are several, an
some Of them at first sight seem rattle
plausible.
Objections 10 Change.
The first objection is that by striking
out needless letters we shall have a 10
Of words spelled alike and yet meaning
different things. There might be som
weight in that objection, if this was
new thing. if no such pairs Of words ex
listed now. But the English language a
the present time has hundreds Of word
different in meaning and alike in spelling
and there is no confusion whatever j.
actual practice Neither in speech nor il
writing is there any confusion in the f0u
meanings, when I write, "a fast ma
rarely fasts." or the fast horse is tie
fast" There is a "scuttle' OF coal.
SCutues on the roof, the crabs "scuttle
away. and the pirates cutie" a ship.
The second objection is that By strikin
out needless letters We shall hide the his
tory Of the word. This is known as tn
etymOlOgy objection. The first answer {
that is that the present spelling in a grea
many cases suggests false origin.
rhyme" the III" suggests that rhyme
is derived from the Greek and has counec
ton with rhythm" In island" the IS
suggests that island is. III some way
derived either from the Latin or tn
French. IN tongue" the ''ue" and i