jon (07/09/82)
I don't equate language and spelling. I do equate written language and spelling. I don't see how the two can be divorced. Understandability is one thing, accepted usage another. Island has an 's' in for the same reason many other words have silent letters: that's how the word is spelled. (typically, the spelling dates from days when the letter was pronounced, but that is no longer relevant) Jon (jon is not an uncommon name) Mauney (you don't want to know how I pronounce THAT)
thomas@utah-gr.UUCP (07/29/83)
I'm writing my dissertation, and decided it to reread Strunk and White (Elements of Style). In it is a remark on the use of correct spelling I thought would be good to share with the net. How many of you remember a certain ex(?)netter who persisted in spelling "of" as "ov"? He annoyed a number of readers (myself included) enormously. The quote (V.10 "Use orthodox spelling"): The spelling of English words is not fixed and invariable, nor does it depend on any other authority than general agreement. At the present day there is practically unanimous agreement as to the spelling of most words. ... At any given moment, however, a relatively small number of words may be spelled in more than one way. Gradually, as a rule, one of these forms comes to be generally preferred, and the less customary form comes to look obsolete and is discarded. From time to time new forms, mostly simplifications, are introduced by innovators, and either win their place or die of neglect. The practical objection to unaccepted and oversimplified spellings is the disfavor with which they are received by the reader. They distract his attention and exhaust his patience. He reads the form "though" automatically, without thought of its needless complexity; he reads the abbreviation "tho" and mentally supplies the missing letters, at the cost of a fraction of his attention. The writer has defeated his own purpose. =Spencer {harpo,hplabs}!utah-cs!thomas thomas@utah-cs