hrs@houxb.UUCP (H.SILBIGER) (11/07/84)
It is possible to legislate phonetic spelling. In the Ntherlends, there have been a series of spelling reform laws. The first of these had just taken effect when I started first grade. I therefore learned a different spelling from my father, who wrote in old speeling. The spelling revision eliminated for example the use of "sch" in places where it was pronounced "s". It also eliminated the use of double consonants in spelling where they were pronounced identical to single consonants. In the sixties there was another revision which changed "c" to "k", it it was pronounced as a "k", such as in oktober, and many other changes. I admit that even before these changes Dutch was in general phonetically spelled, unlike English, and thus the changes were much smaller. The whole notion of "correct" spelling is relatively new, vide even US documents from the 18th and early 19th century. Since there is no "legal" spelling in the US, one is presumably free to spell in any way one wishes. Still, it has become the mark of an educated person to spell and use words correctly, using a recent dictionary ( or "spell" ) as a guide. Herman Silbiger
hrs@houxb.UUCP (H.SILBIGER) (11/09/84)
There are no penalties for not spelling the official way, except for those meted out by your grade school teacher.
David Smallberg <das@ucla-cs.ARPA> <das> (11/10/84)
...
But English spelling *IS* almost phonetic -- all you have to do is pronounce
the words as English speakers did in the fifteenth century. :-)
--Committee to Reverse the Great Vowel Shift
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-- David Smallberg, das@ucla-cs.ARPA, {ihnp4,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!das