Editing English-language spelling reform (section)

===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>