James E. Henderson wrote:
Ralph Shumaker wrote:
I consider "tho" to be an improvement over "though". But I also see
it as something in common enough use to be not too awfully far from
adoption. I think I might even intermix the two just to show that
it's *not* ignorance compelling me to do it, *nor* laziness, but
rather a deliberate choice.
Ah, but remember that "though" was likely pronounced as it is written,
the pronunciation having changed since Chaucer's time while the spelling
has remained the same. Likewise, "two" was likely pronounced as "duo" or
"dvo", the 'k' in "knight" wasn't silent, and so on. Written language is
far more conservative than spoken language. If the written forms changed
as rapidly as their spoken counterparts, we wouldn't be able to read
documents older than a couple of centuries.
Words like debt (among others) never had the "b" sound. Island didn't
used to have the "s" in it at all but was added as a convention to
associate it with the word "isla", the two of which were otherwise not
connected. (See link below.)
The spelling only looks funny because we don't use the funny
pronunciation of earlier times.
Be that as it may. There is little chance of the spoken language
migrating back to match the written forms. Ever increasing is the gap
between the two. Currently there is greater disparity between them than
in Noah Webster's time. And even he was arguing for spelling reform.
And the longer we go without spelling reform, the bigger the gap will be
between what we speak and what we write. The inevitable result will be
akin to a region that needs minor earthquakes and doesn't get them.
When they finally do come, the changes will approach the catastrophic.
But unlike the absence of earthquakes, we feel the strain as the gap
continues to increase. Ever increasing are the exceptions to the rules.
http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/DKitchen/new_655/webster_language.htm
--
It will be readily admitted that the pleasures of reading and
conversing, the advantage of accuracy in business, the necessity of
clearness and precision in communicating ideas, require us to be able to
speak and write our own tongue with ease and correctness.
--Noah Webster, 1789
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