Editing English-language spelling reform (section)

==History==
Modern English spelling developed from about 1350 onwards, when—after three centuries of [[Norman conquest of England|Norman French rule]]—English gradually became the official language of England again, although very different from before 1066, having incorporated many words of French origin (channel, tenor, royal, etc.). Early writers of this new English, such as [[Geoffrey Chaucer]], gave it a fairly consistent spelling system, but this was soon diluted by [[Court of Chancery#Chancery's role in development of Standard English|Chancery clerks]] who re-spelled words based on French orthography.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Upward | first1=C. | last2=Davidson | first2=G. | title=The History of English Spelling | publisher=Wiley | series=The Language Library | year=2011 | isbn=978-1-4443-4297-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fNfebt79zdwC&pg=PT103 | access-date=2019-09-29}}</ref> English spelling consistency was further reduced when [[William Caxton]] brought the [[printing press]] to London in 1476. Having lived in mainland Europe for the preceding 30 years, his grasp of the English spelling system had become uncertain. The Belgian assistants whom he brought to help him set up his business had an even poorer command of it.<ref>{{cite book | last=Brown | first=A. | title=Understanding and Teaching English Spelling: A Strategic Guide | publisher=Taylor & Francis | series=ESL & Applied Linguistics Professional Series | year=2018 | isbn=978-1-351-62186-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lEBvDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT80 | access-date=2019-09-29}}</ref>

As printing developed, printers began to develop individual preferences or "[[Style guide|house style]]s".<ref name=handbook>{{cite book|author=Henry Gallup Paine|url=https://archive.org/details/handbooksimplif00boargoog|title=Handbook of Simplified Spelling|publisher=[[Simplified Spelling Board]]|location=New York|date=1920}}</ref>{{rp|3}} Furthermore, typesetters were paid by the line and were fond of making words longer.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Williams|first=Eran|title=The Challenge of Spelling in English|journal=English Teaching Forum|volume=46|number=3|pages=2–11, 21|year=2008}}</ref> However, the biggest change in English spelling consistency occurred between 1525, when William Tyndale first translated the New Testament, and 1539, when [[King Henry VIII]] legalized the printing of [[English Bibles]] in England. The many editions of these Bibles were all printed outside England by people who spoke little or no English. They often changed spellings to match their [[Dutch language|Dutch]] orthography. Examples include the silent ''h'' in ''ghost'' (to match Dutch {{lang|nl|gheest}}, which later became {{lang|nl|geest}}), ''aghast'', ''ghastly'' and ''gherkin''. The silent ''h'' in other words—such as {{lang|enm|ghospel}}, {{lang|enm|ghossip}} and {{lang|enm|ghizzard}}—was later removed.<ref name=handbook/>{{rp|4}}

There have been two periods when spelling reform of the English language has attracted particular interest.

===16th and 17th centuries===
The first of these periods was from the mid-16th to the mid-17th centuries, when a number of publications outlining proposals for reform were published. These proposals ranged from expansive systems of respelling (e.g. John Hart's) to essays calling for nonspecific change (e.g. Sir Thomas Smith's). Some of them are detailed below:
* {{lang|la|De recta et emendata linguæ angliæ scriptione}} (''On the Rectified and Amended Written English Language'')<ref>{{cite book|author=Thomas Smith|title=De recta & emendata lingvæ Anglicæ scriptione, dialogus: Thoma Smitho equestris ordinis Anglo authore|trans-title=Correct and Improved English Writing, a Dialog: Thomas Smith, knight, English author|location=Paris|publisher=Ex officina Roberti Stephani typographi regij [from the office of Robert Stephan, the King's Printer]|year=1568|oclc=20472303}}</ref> in 1568 by [[Thomas Smith (diplomat)|Sir Thomas Smith]], secretary of state to Edward VI and Elizabeth I.
* ''{{lang|en-emodeng|An Orthographie}}'' in 1569 by [[John Hart (spelling reformer)|John Hart]], [[Chester Herald]].
* ''{{lang|en-emodeng|Booke at Large for the Amendment of English Orthographie}}'' in 1580 by [[William Bullokar]].
* ''{{lang|la|Logonomia Anglica}}'' in 1621 by [[Alexander Gill the Elder|Alexander Gill]], headmaster of [[St Paul's School (London)|St Paul's School]] in London.
* ''{{lang|en-emodeng|English Grammar}}'' in 1634 by [[Charles Butler (beekeeper)|Charles Butler]], vicar of [[Wootton St Lawrence]].<ref name=wijk/>{{rp|17–18}}

These proposals generally did not attract serious consideration because they were too radical or were based on an insufficient understanding of the phonology of English.<ref name=wijk/>{{rp|18}} However, more conservative proposals were more successful. [[James Howell]] in his ''Grammar'' of 1662 recommended minor changes to spelling, such as changing ''{{lang|en-emodeng|logique}}'' to ''logic'', ''{{lang|en-emodeng|warre}}'' to ''war'', ''{{lang|en-emodeng|sinne}}'' to ''sin'', ''{{lang|en-emodeng|toune}}'' to ''town'' and ''{{lang|en-emodeng|tru}}'' to ''true''.<ref name=wijk/>{{rp|18}} Many of these spellings are now in general use.

From the 16th century AD onward, English writers who were scholars of [[Ancient Greek literature|Greek]] and [[Latin literature]] tried to link English words to their Graeco-Latin counterparts. They did this by adding silent letters to make the real or imagined links more obvious. Thus ''{{lang|en-emodeng|det}}'' became ''debt'' (to link it to Latin {{lang|la|debitum}}), ''{{lang|en-emodeng|dout}}'' became ''doubt'' (to link it to Latin {{lang|la|dubitare}}), ''{{lang|en-emodeng|sissors}}'' became ''scissors'' and ''{{lang|en-emodeng|sithe}}'' became ''scythe'' (as they were wrongly thought to come from Latin {{lang|la|scindere}}), ''{{lang|en-emodeng|iland}}'' became ''island'' (as it was wrongly thought to come from Latin {{lang|la|insula}}), ''{{lang|en-emodeng|ake}}'' became ''ache'' (as it was wrongly thought to come from Greek {{transliteration|grc|akhos}}), and so forth.<ref name=handbook/>{{rp|5–7}}<ref name="etymonline">{{Cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php |title=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=2011-10-23 |archive-date=2015-12-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151205085150/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[William Shakespeare]] satirized the disparity between English spelling and pronunciation. In his play ''[[Love's Labour's Lost]]'', the character Holofernes is "a [[pedant]]" who insists that pronunciation should change to match spelling, rather than simply changing spelling to match pronunciation. For example, Holofernes insists that everyone should pronounce the unhistorical ''B'' in words like ''doubt'' and ''debt''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Horobin|first=Simon|title=Does Spelling Matter?|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=2013|pages=113–114}}</ref>

===19th century===
{{multiple image
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| image1            = 1879 SpellingReform Bulletin Boston.png
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| caption1          = An 1879 bulletin by the US Spelling Reform Association, written mostly using reformed spellings (click to enlarge)
| image2            = 1880 SpellingReform Bulletin Boston.png
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| caption2          = An 1880 bulletin, written wholly in reformed spelling (click to enlarge)
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}}
The second period started in the 19th century and appears to coincide with the development of phonetics as a science.<ref name=wijk/>{{rp|18}} In 1806, [[Noah Webster]] published his first dictionary, [[s:A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language|''A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language'']]. It included an essay on the oddities of modern orthography and his proposals for reform. Many of the spellings he used, such as ''color'' and ''center'', would become hallmarks of [[American English]]. In 1807, Webster began compiling an expanded dictionary. It was published in 1828 as ''[[An American Dictionary of the English Language]]''. Although it drew some protest, the reformed spellings were gradually adopted throughout the United States.<ref name=handbook/>{{rp|9}}

In 1837, [[Isaac Pitman]] published his system of [[Pitman shorthand|phonetic shorthand]], while in 1848 [[Alexander John Ellis]] published ''A Plea for Phonetic Spelling''. These were proposals for a new phonetic alphabet. Although unsuccessful, they drew widespread interest.

By the 1870s, the philological societies of Great Britain and the United States chose to consider the matter. After the "International Convention for the Amendment of English Orthography" that was held in [[Philadelphia]] in August 1876, societies were founded such as the English Spelling Reform Association and American Spelling Reform Association.<ref name="wijk">{{cite book |last=Wijk |first=Axel |author-link=Axel Wijk |title=Regularized Inglish |publisher=Almqvist & Wiksell |year=1959 |location=Stockholm}}</ref>{{rp|20}} That year, the American Philological Society adopted a list of eleven reformed spellings for immediate use. These were ''are→ar, give→giv, have→hav, live→liv, though→tho, through→thru, guard→gard, catalogue→catalog, (in)definite→(in)definit, wished→wisht''.<ref name=handbook/>{{rp|13}}<ref name="barnsdle.demon.co.uk">{{cite web |author=Cornell Kimball |url=http://www.barnsdle.demon.co.uk/spell/histsp.html |title=History of Spelling Reform |website=Barnsdle.demon.co.uk |access-date=2010-06-19 |archive-date=2010-06-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100626091721/http://www.barnsdle.demon.co.uk/spell/histsp.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> One major American newspaper that began using reformed spellings was the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', whose editor and owner, Joseph Medill, sat on the Council of the Spelling Reform Association.<ref name="barnsdle.demon.co.uk"/> In 1883, the American Philological Society and [[American Philological Association]] worked together to produce 24 spelling reform rules, which were published that year. In 1898, the American [[National Education Association]] adopted its own list of 12 words to be used in all writings: ''tho, altho, thoro, thorofare, thru, thruout, catalog, decalog, demagog, pedagog, prolog, program''.<ref name=handbook/>{{rp|14}}

===20th century onward===
[[File:A few shots at the king's English. Theodore Roosevelt spelling reform cartoon.JPG|thumb|290px|President Theodore Roosevelt was criticized for supporting the simplified spelling campaign of [[Andrew Carnegie]] in 1906.]]

The [[Simplified Spelling Board]] was founded in the United States in 1906. The SSB's original 30 members consisted of authors, professors and dictionary editors. [[Andrew Carnegie]], a founding member, supported the SSB with yearly [[bequests]] of more than US$300,000.<ref name=wijk/>{{rp|21}} In April 1906, it published a [[Simplified Spelling Board#First 300 words|list of 300 words]],<ref>{{cite web
 |title       = Simplified Spelling Board's 300 Spellings
 |url         = http://www.childrenofthecode.org/code-history/300words.htm
 |access-date  = 12 July 2009
}}</ref> which included 157<ref>{{cite book
|last=Wheeler
|first=Benjamin
|author-link=Benjamin Ide Wheeler
|title=Simplified Spelling: A Caveat (Being the commencement address delivered on September 15, 1906, before the graduating class of Stanford University)
|date=September 15, 1906
|publisher=B.H.Blackwell
|location=London
|page=11
}}</ref> spellings that were already in common use in American English.<ref>{{cite web
 |title       = Start the campaign for simple spelling
 |url         = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A0CE7DD113EE733A25752C0A9629C946797D6CF
 |work        = The New York Times
 |format      = PDF
 |date        = 1 April 1906
 |access-date  = 2009-07-12
}}</ref> In August 1906, the SSB word list was adopted by [[Theodore Roosevelt]], who ordered the Government Printing Office to start using them immediately. However, in December 1906, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution and the old spellings were reintroduced.<ref name="barnsdle.demon.co.uk"/> Nevertheless, some of the spellings survived and are commonly used in American English today, such as ''anaemia/anæmia''→''anemia'' and ''mould''→''mold''. Others such as ''mixed''→''mixt'' and ''scythe''→''sithe'' did not survive.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.johnreilly.info/trlist.htm |title=Theodore Roosevelt's Spelling Reform Initiative: The List |publisher=Johnreilly.info |date=1906-09-04 |access-date=2010-06-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100609185050/http://www.johnreilly.info/trlist.htm |archive-date=2010-06-09 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1920, the SSB published its ''[[Handbook of Simplified Spelling]]'', which set forth over 25 spelling reform rules. The handbook noted that every reformed spelling now in general use was originally the overt act of a lone writer, who was followed at first by a small minority. Thus, it encouraged people to "point the way" and "set the example" by using the reformed spellings whenever they could.<ref name=handbook/>{{rp|16}} However, with its main source of funds cut off, the SSB disbanded later that year.

In Britain, spelling reform was promoted from 1908 by the [[Simplified Spelling Society]] and attracted a number of prominent supporters. One of these was [[George Bernard Shaw]] (author of ''[[Pygmalion (play)|Pygmalion]]'') and much of his considerable [[Will (law)|will]] was left to the cause. Among members of the society, the [[Shavian alphabet|conditions of his will]] gave rise to major disagreements, which hindered the development of a single new system.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Oh, (P)shaw! |first1=Godfrey |last1=Dewey |url=http://www.spellingsociety.org/uploaded_bulletins/spb66-3-bulletin.pdf |journal=Spelling Reform Bulletin |volume=6 |issue=3 |page=7 |date=1966 }}</ref>

Between 1934 and 1975, the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', then [[Chicago]]'s biggest newspaper, used a number of reformed spellings. Over a two-month spell in 1934, it introduced 80 respelled words, including ''tho, thru, thoro, agast, burocrat, frate, harth, herse, iland, rime, staf'' and ''telegraf''. A March 1934 editorial reported that two-thirds of readers preferred the reformed spellings. Another claimed that "prejudice and competition" was preventing dictionary makers from listing such spellings. Over the next 40 years, however, the newspaper gradually phased out the respelled words. Until the 1950s, [[Funk & Wagnalls]] dictionaries listed many reformed spellings, including the SSB's 300, alongside the conventional spellings.<ref name="barnsdle.demon.co.uk"/>

In 1949, a British [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour MP]], [[Mont Follick]], introduced a [[private member's bill]] in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]], which failed at the second reading. In 1953, he again had the opportunity, and this time it passed the second reading by 65 votes to 53.<ref>
{{cite web|title=The 50th anniversary of the Simplified Spelling Bill|author=Alan Campbell|url=http://www.englishspellingsociety.org/news/media/bill.php|access-date=2011-05-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110418092327/http://www.englishspellingsociety.org/news/media/bill.php|archive-date=2011-04-18|url-status=dead}}
</ref> Because of anticipated opposition from the [[House of Lords]], the bill was withdrawn after assurances from the minister of education that research would be undertaken into improving spelling education. In 1961, this led to [[James Pitman]]'s [[Initial Teaching Alphabet]], introduced into many British schools in an attempt to improve child literacy.<ref>
{{cite journal|title=The Initial Teaching Alphabet: Proven Efficiency and Future Prospects|author=Ronald A Threadgall|url=http://www.englishspellingsociety.org/journals/j7/itaproven.php|access-date=2011-05-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519220136/http://www.englishspellingsociety.org/journals/j7/itaproven.php|archive-date=2011-05-19|url-status=dead|journal=Journal of the Simplified Spelling Society|date=1988|pages=18–19}}
</ref> Although it succeeded in its own terms, the advantages were lost when children transferred to conventional spelling. After several decades, the experiment was discontinued.

In his 1969 book ''Spelling Reform: A New Approach'', the Australian linguist [[Harry Lindgren]] proposed a step-by-step reform. The first, ''[[SR1|Spelling Reform step 1]]'' (SR1), called for the short {{IPA|/ɛ/}} sound (as in ''bet'') to always be spelled with &lt;e&gt; (for example ''friend→frend, head→hed''). This reform had some popularity in Australia.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sampson|first=Geoffrey|title=Writing Systems|publisher=Stanford University Press|date=1990|page=197}}</ref>

In 2013, [[University of Oxford]] Professor of English [[Simon Horobin]] proposed that variety in spelling be acceptable. For example, he believes that it does not matter whether words such as "accommodate" and "tomorrow" are spelled with double letters.<ref name="www.thestar.com">{{Cite web | last = Taylor | first = Lesley Ciarula | title = Does proper spelling still matter? | url = https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/05/30/does_proper_spelling_matter.html | work = Toronto Star | date = 30 May 2013 | access-date = 3 June 2013 }}</ref> This proposal does not fit within the definition of spelling reform used by, for example, ''[[Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary|Random House Dictionary]]''.<ref>"an attempt to change the spelling of English words to make it conform more closely to pronunciation." [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/spelling+reform Spelling reform at dictionary.reference.com]. Merriam-Webster dictionary has a similar definition.</ref>