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Re: English diglossia

From:John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Date:Thursday, January 30, 2003, 23:20
Peter Clark scripsit:

> None, really. I've heard the arguments and I just don't buy them. The plain > and simple fact is that English dialects have diverged on such a wide scale > that it would be impossible to invent a phonetic system to cover all of them.
Very true, hence RI is not a phonetic system.
> No offense to the supporters of English spelling reform, but it's a lot like > auxlanging in my mind; interesting in theory, but annoying, futile, and > pointless in real life. I have no problem with toying with different schemes > (much like the ideal auxlang discussion, rather than the usual flame-fest), > but hypothetical simulations are as far as these proposals are ever going to > get.
Probably true, but I like them for the same reason I like making up auxlangs. Spelling reform is a species of engelanging. -- John Cowan jcowan@reutershealth.com http://www.ccil.org/~cowan Is it not written, "That which is written, is written"?