The Book of Spells and Misspells

14. The future of riting 80% of English spelling is sensible. Radical change is quite unnecessary. English spelling rules can be reduced to one page, and still leave the appearance of print pretty much as it is now – but the unnecessary difficulties are cut. HOW? Research and test the following: 1 Cut out the surplus letters in words, of no use to show meaning or pronunciation.

2 Adapt the BBC Text Pronunciation Guide as Dictionary Pronunciation Key and the first learning for beginner readers. This basic one-sound-one -spelling- includes à è ì ò ù for the ‘long’ vowels, that pair with ‘short’ vowels, a e io u, as a distinctive feature of the English language.

3 Rules on One Page are added quickly, by examples, to be able to read more easily, including present spelling, and to spell predictably. This reduces dozens of unpredictable spellings to order, while allowing some flexibility within the rules.

4 Keep 30-40 very common irregularly spelled words which appear all the time, to help maintain the appearance of print. These are not too many for beginners with phonic clues.

This basic learning is then modified by the other rules, which produce a morphemic-phonemic spelling, for ear, eye, and reasoning out. It allows variant spellings, within an easy range with rationale for use, so that readers are not held back by unpredictability, and changes can be established by democratic preferences Rules that fit on one page are no more tedious than a guide to doing anything else, and learners absorb them by reading and writing, not by abstract rote-memorizing.. It aids the e spoken language to be learned from the written, and the written language from the spoken.

Language changes from the bottom up. This has often been remarked in recent times, and now extends to its spelling. SMS texting is the most remarkable development.

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