Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1907-07-23
Greenwood.
S1MPLlFIED SPELLING.
By Rev. George e. TUFTS.

us the full text, since none Of 1t should
be omitted.
sIMPLIFIED SPELLING.
By Rev. George E. TUFTS.
The efforts of Mr.. Carnegie to improve
the barbarous spelling of the English
language are truly commendable. Some
who object to reform think that II any
change in spelling Is to be made, 1t must
be purely phonetic, and that many new
letters must be added to the alphabet.
Why not make the spelling of English
as phonetic as the Latin and Greek, or
the German with the alphabet we now
have? Would not such change be an
improvement? When twenty-eight emil
nent scholars, such as now compose the
Simplified Spelling Board, say that a
word should be spelled thus and 30,
their authority carries weight, and even
IL they make radical changes persons
who adopt them cannot be accused OF
illiteracy.
The members of the board are: Prof.
Brander Matthews, Columbia university
f. B. Andrews, chancellor OF the uni
versity of Nebraska, and formerly presi-
dent of Brown; N. N. Butler, president
of Columbia; D. s. Jordan. president OF
Leland Stanford; VIM. James, professor
in Harvard; T. R. Lounsbury, professor
in Yale; Calvin Thomas, professor in
Columbia; Fl. L. Seeley, president Iowa
State Normal School; Geo. Hempel,
professor in University of Michigan; Da-
vid Brewer, justice of the supreme court
of the United States; /. K. Funk, editor
of Standard Dictionary; b. E. Smith,
editor of Century Dictionary; R. w.
Glider, editor of Century Magazine;
w. H. Ward, editor of Independent; W.
F. Harris, commissioner of education,
Washington; R. S. Woodward, president
of Carnegie institute; Samuel L. Glenn
ems, Thos. w. Higginson, Henry Holt,
Lyman j. Gage and other men of note
There is a tendency however to cling
to the antiquated' forms, which Lord
Lyttou calls sour accursed spelling,
and no one wishes to be the first to lay
aside the old. and adopt the new
Alexander Pope we'll says:
"In words az fashion the same rule will hold.
Alike fantastic II too new or old;
Be not the first by whom the new is tried,
At present English speaking children
are compelled to undergo years of use
less drudgery memorizing long lists Of
peculiar combinations of letters without
reference to sound or analogy. There !.
no reason for this waste.
The expunging of silent letters is one
step in making the change; as, fol
example, "a" from breath, breakfast
deaf, endeavor, instead, meadow
spread; "b" from crnmb, dumb, debt
doubt; sc" from abscess, sceptre, scis
sors, scent, victuals; sc" from hearken
hearth, forfeit, luncheon, luncheon
"i'' from bruise, cruise, friend, heifer
juice, sluice; 80" from flourish, journey
leopard, yeoman, young, enough; ~
from guard, gauge, build, built, smould
or, victuals; "l' from salmon, solder
IN" from solemn, autumn, column, con
denim; Ssh" from rhetoric, rhubarb
rhyme, catarrb, gherkin, ghoul, aghast
"k" from knee, knock, knit, knife; "g'
from gnat, gnaw, gnarl, gneiss, gnostics
gnomon, phlegm; Ugh" from caught
taught, thigh, slough, sigh, naughty
slaughte ugh" from bought, thought
wrought, fought; IS" from aisle, isle
puisne, viscount; sch" from drachm
schism; "w" from wrap, wrinkle, wrig
gle, wreath, sword, whoop, toward
change s'ph" to "f'' in such words a.
ldiphtheria, hyphen, siphon, nephew
trophy, phlegm, graphic, pamphlet
blaspheme, paragraph; omit I'm" or "n'
in words having short vowels, as, g. G.
flannel, channel, pommel, to correspond
with panel, camel, level, etc. Sucl
changes as the above would simplify tn
spelling.
There are about 1900 words of ex
treme difficulty, not spelled according
to any analogy; and the child is com
PEELED to memorize hundreds of these
peculiar combinations of letters. Thel
there are about 1900 words, some of th'
letters of which have irregular or I'm
usual sounds, causing difficulty to tn,
young learner. The removal of silent O.
redundant letters from most of these
words would make the spelling virtual!
phonetic, or as phonetic as the German
There are about 600 words differing IL
meaning that are now fortunately spell
ed alike, Q. g., August, the eighth
month; august, majestic; club, stick
club, a society. Then there are abou
800 words pronounced alike. having
different meanings and spelled different
ly, as, g. e., auger, tool for boring
augur, a soothsayer; bury, to inhume
berry, fruit; ode, poem; owed, indebt
ed. These 800 should be brought into
accord with the above 900. That is
words pronounced alike should be spell
ed alike, as the 600 above mentioned
Such would cause no confusion; for VIZ
are not confused with the spelling o.
such words as "angle," a point where
two lines meet; "angle," to fish witt
hook and line; "base," mean; "base,'
foundation. The French are not con
fused with "ete," been, and "ete," sum
mer, though spelled and accented alike
The letters Tea" occurring in score,
of words, and having various sounds
are a trouble to children. In heart
"ea'' has the broad sound of "a'' in
father; in great, the sound ga" in fate
in near, the sound of long "e;" in death
the sound of short "e;" in learn, the
sound of "u" in fur, etc. Slight changes
would remedy this confusion.
If the Simplified Spelling Board
would issue small dictionary, embody-
ing a change in the spelling of ten OF
twenty thousand words, their form
would gradually be adopted and the end