SoundSpel is a regular and mostly phonemic English-language spelling reform proposal. It uses a 26-letter alphabet that is fully compatible with QWERTY keyboards. Though SoundSpel was originally based on American English,[1] it can represent dialectal pronunciation, including British English. With roots extending as far back as 1910[2] but largely complete by 1986, SoundSpel was developed "in response to the widely held conviction that English spelling is more complex than it needs to be."[3] The American Literacy Council has endorsed the reform[4] because anglophones can easily read it.[5] Additionally, according to its proponents, "[SoundSpel] is fully compatible with traditional spelling and can be mixed with it in any proportion desired."[6]
History
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In 1910, philologist Alexander John Ellis played a major role in developing an English-language spelling system now known as "Classic New Spelling". Walter Ripman and William Archer wrote the system's first dictionary, New Spelling (NuSpelling), which was republished in 1941 by the Simplified Spelling Society.
In the early 1960s, Sir James Pitman developed the Initial Teaching Alphabet, which would become one of SoundSpel's predecessors.[7]
In 1969, Godfrey Dewey improved upon Ripman's and Archer's work, producing World English Spelling. Dewey and Edward Rondthaler, a prominent typesetter and CEO of the International Typeface Corporation, corresponded from 1971.
In 1986, the American Language Academy published the Dictionary of Simplified American Spelling, a book written by Rondthaler and Edward Lias. It calls for the improvement of English spelling, with clearer rules and better grapheme/phoneme correspondence. Its guidelines are less strictly phonemic than Classic New Spelling. For example, the sounds /θ/ and /ð/ are represented by the grapheme ⟨th⟩ in order to follow traditional spelling. Classic New Spelling opts instead for ⟨th⟩ and ⟨dh⟩, respectively.
The system was further reformed from 1987 on and became SoundSpel.
Description
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- ^ Rondthaler 1999, p. 2.
- ^ Rondthaler 1999, pp. 1.
- ^ Rondthaler & Lias 1986, p. viii.
- ^ Petersen.
- ^ Rondthaler 1999, pp. 2–4.
- ^ Rondthaler & Lias 1986, p. 21.
- ^ Rondthaler & Lias 1986, p. 16.