YAESRT: Enuf is Enuf: Some Peepl Thru with Dificult Spelingz

(Yet another English spelling reform thread.)

On 11/07/06, Christian Thalmann <cinga@...> wrote:
> --- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, daniel prohaska <danielprohaska@...>
> wrote:
>
> > Dalmátian Romanss and becám extinct when its lâst spéker Tuone
> Udaina díd in
> > a ród acsident in the 1890s.
>
> I must say I find this spelling rather easy to read, and less
> ugly to the eye than many others I've seen.  "Díd" required a
> double-take, though.
I think Benct's got something similar going? Tho I think it looks more
Old English/Icelandic. (Or am I confusing him with someone else? In
which case I apologise to you both.)

I personally can't get over that spelling of "Romance". "Rómance"
should adequately indicate the pronunciation, particuly given
"Dalmátian" (but "Dalmácian" would be an improvement too). The many
values of "c" really doesn't strike me as the worst part of our
orthography. (Maybe it should even be "Rómânce", at least in some
places, too? I don't know if anyone says it that way, but some people
pronounce "dance" with the broad vowel.)

> Unfortunately, this reform wouldn't remove spelling mistakes.
> For example, Americans would have to guess whether it's "lâst"
> or "last", since this distinction is purely British.
And Australian, South African, Kiwi, NYC American, and New England
American. Probably others besides (tho I understand it's on its way
out in NYC and the American New England?). On the other hand, the
Scots and Irish would have as much trouble as your average
Californian.

(Still, given that probably every dialect with more than one low
unrounded vowel has a different distribution, it's my opinion that the
best solution to this problem is either to leave the spelling alone,
or to allow people to spell exactly the way the pronounce but using
the same spelling rules. And only one of them is practical—but it's
still fun to create improved orthographies.)

>Also,
> you wrote "to some" as "tu sum", which is clearly not phonemic
> spelling...
The orthography already seems to be partially positional (e.g.
"Dalmátian"), but "tú sum" would've been more consitant. Maybe a
spelling error?

--
Tristan.

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