USAGE: di"f"thong (was: Tetraphthongs, Triphthongs, Dipht..)

>I apologize if you've addressed this before, and I certainly don't
>mean to be rude, but why do you consistently spell "diphthong" as
>"difthong"?  I find it quite distracting, not to mention aphonetic
>since I pronounce "diphthong" with a /p/ instead of an /f/ (a
>prescriptively sanctioned pronunciation, in case you're wondering :)).
>
>I can't find any support for "difthong" as an alternate spelling in
>English.  If you're trying to institute a reform, of course, more
>power to you, but if there's a specific reason I'd love to hear it. :)
>--
>Mark J. Reed
Yes, it is something of a reform. I've seen multiple spelling reform pages
suggest that spelling /f/ as <f> would be a good place to start little by
little, and I agree to some extent. (You may have also noticed me using
spellings such as "laff" or "enuff", which I hope everyone can agree to be
improvements.) As far as <ph> goes, I don't find it all that bad for a
variety of reasons, but I still sometimes end up simplifying; most commonly
medially or in clusters. "Diphthong" fits both of these. IMO [fT] also
sounds definitely better than [pT].

John Vertical

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