Re: English diglossia (was Re: retroflex consonants)

kendra wrote at 2003-01-31 17:46:39 (-0800)
 > Tristan wrote:
 >
 > > Becoz(?) it completely avoids aul that hassle ov having(havving?)
 > > to lern irregular spellings. If yoo donte hav too spend a year
 > > lerning how too spell 'all', 'were' and 'word', yoo can spend it
 > > lerning how to spell 'contrary', 'unfortunately' and
 > > 'antidisestablishmentarian' (or whatever it is).
 >
 > But, for instance, things like "whatever" and "word" would still be
 > irregular, to people who live where I live; wh and w are only
 > different if you're me and mess up sometimes. Though I suppose the
 > degree of irregularity would be reduced regardless.
 >

Well, it's not just a matter of the degree of irregularity (assuming
we're talking about RI here), but the kind.  There would remain
multiple spellings pronounced the same, but there would only be
one pronunciation for each spelling.

Reply