The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-08-29
kINGSBURY LIKES
PHONETIC WAY
President of University of Utah
Says Changes Will Be
Adopted Generally.
ENGLAND WILL FOLLOW
LANGUAGE BEING SIMPLIFIEp
AND STRENGTHENED.

Dr. j t. Kingsbury, president of the
University of Utah, is an enthusiastic
advocate of the reformed spelling ad-
y2nced by the Carnegie Reformed
Spelling society. and believes that in
a short time the greater number of the
300 words, the spelling of which have
been changed by the society, will be
| in general. use in this country.
7 certainly believe in the reform
| spelling movement" ne said last night.
You see L am OF a practical turn of
mind, and believe that the new system
proposed is eminently practical
'One can see in the study of the
history Of the language that the spell
ing has changed materially in recent
years. For example, it was not long
ago that in England, slow was spelled
Stowe; grow was spelled g-r-o-w-e
and child was spelled c-h-y-l-d-e In
the Thirteenth century Henry was
spelled HENRI, though pronounced
the same as today
If you look over the literature of Eng
land, say from the Twelfth and Thir-
! teenth centuries to the Eighteenth CEN
fury. you will find that changes have
gradually taken place in the orthog-
raphy. 1t would seem TO me that it
would work no very great hardship on
the writer's and readers of today 10
change the spelling Of these 300 words
gradually as suggested by the prime
movers in the reform movement.
Suggests Some Changes.
Take a few words that are in ordi-
nary use. They are cumbersome and
it IS difficult, in view of the spelling. to
properly pronounce them without in
struction. There is pneumonia for
example. 1t would seem much simpler
and more sensible to spell it 'n-u-nl-o-
MIA The same would apply TO
pneunatics, n-u-m-a-t-i-c-s': and
'pneumoSastric,' 'n-u-m-o-g-a-s-t-r
There is PROBABLY no more deceiv-
ing word in the language than 'phthis-
ic. The meaning would not be changed
and the pronunciation would be made
easier, and the spelling as well if it
were spelled as it is pronounce
't-i-s-i-c &.
Language is means to an end
vehicle for the expression Of ideas i'm
an intelligent form. I believe i'm ex-
pressing ideas in the best way posi-
BILE The method of spelling is not so
important We should arrive at a
method by which ideas may be as
clearly, or more clearly expressed than
under the present system, without
wasting so much time in learning TO
spell, that might be better spent in
increasing ones vocabulary
"A great deal of time is spent i'm
learning to spell words that seem but
a jumbied section of the alphabet. Such
words should be simplified so that a
child hearing them spoken, could cas-
lily learn 10 spell them. Children would
then be given the opportunity Of add
ing many words to their ocabuIary
that they would not otherwise use.
Magazines Adopt 1t.
The editors of some of the leading
magazines of the country have taken
to the reform method. Prominent
among these is the Literary Digest
which has incorporated many of the
suggested changes in its text.
The spread of the system will be ac-
CELEBRATED by the use of the changed
words in the magazines, and later bv
the newspapers. The changes will not
be radical, but I believe they will be-
permanent.
The editors Of one of the most re-
liable and important dictionaries now in
course of revision are taking to the re-
formed method. They have Joined the
Carnegie society, and are now making.
for their forthcoming edition. the old
and new spelling optional with the
reader. but suggesting that the new
spelling he given the preference.
Il have noticed that President Eliot
OF Harvard opposed the reform move
ment. President Eliot is an aged man
and his habits of thought have become