1. How do you pronounce this word?
Orthography Lesson 2
How do you pronounce this word?
o as in ‘women’
ghoti
ti as in ‘station’
gh as in ‘cough’
In conclusion…English spelling is very odd!

2. 44 / 26 = 1.7 l is pronounced differently in walk and in life
z is pronounced differently in pizza and zoo
c is pronounced differently in cell and call
English has 26 letters
English has 44 sounds
44 / 26 = 1.7
So, each letter in the English alphabet has about 1.7 possible ways of being pronounced
English has a complex sound to spelling correspondence system
Highly irregular due to homophones
Doubling consonants (sit/sitting)
Our spelling heritage reflects old pronunciations
Some spelling rules resulted from the influences of other languages on the evolution of English

3. Most of these reforms have come to nothing – why do you think this is?
Spelling reform
As English moved further and further away from a phonetic spelling system, the desire for reform arose, especially in the 19th century, although as we know from Caxton this attempt did begin earlier.
Two types of reformists:
Until the 18th century there was some concern over whether ‘i‘ and ‘j’ should be separate letters as in much of Europe ‘j’ is pronounced as ‘y’.
Those who believe that the current alphabet should be enlarged to ensure adequate sound/letter correspondence
Those who believe the existing alphabet should be trained but trickier spellings should be addressed.
Do we need ‘c’, ‘q’ and ‘x’ if these letter sounds can be made with other combinations of letters?

4. Attempts to reform spelling
British
American
-our in ‘colour’
-or in ‘color’
-re in ‘theatre’
‘er’ in ‘theater’
-ise in ‘realise’
-ize in ‘realize’
‘c’ in ‘defence’
‘s’ in ‘defense’
Diagraphs in ‘anaemia’ and ‘anaesthetic’
Los of digraph – ‘anemia’ and ‘anesthetic’
Double consonants ‘worshipping’, ‘traveller’
Single consonant in unstressed syllable ‘worshiping’ ‘traveler’
Consonant clusters ‘plough’, ‘draught’
Use of simple consonant ‘plow’ or ‘draft’
The English Spelling Society (formed 1908) – look them up online. What are their reasons for wanting to reform English spelling?
In America, attempts to reform spelling have been more successful: Noah Webster’s mission was to establish a model of American English that was equal to British English. To this end he set out to ‘ascertain the true principles of the language…to purify it from palpable errors, and reduce the number of its anomalies’ (1832). Have we heard arguments like this before?
Why do you think Webster succeeded where English equivalents have failed?

5. Concerns about spellings

6. Contemporary concerns
Some people (prescriptivists) believe that spelling standards have fallen
Widespread recognition of Dyslexia in schools now
Text language has had a massive influence on our language – many people think that texting is responsible for the falling standards of spelling. Watch the video by David Crystal who explains the ‘truth’ behind the ‘myths’. MAKE NOTES
When we see non-standard spellings, why (often) is this? Use the images on the next slide to help you.

8. Punctuation concerns Read this article from the Telegraph 2009.
What are the main ideas expressed?

9. What reasons are offered for abolishing the apostrophe?
What arguments are presented in favour of keeping the apostrophe?
The noted, widely read, widely performed, and highly quotable playwright George Bernard Shaw did away with most apostrophes in published editions of his plays, which include Major Barbara, Arms and the Man, and Pygmalion—which My Fair Lady was based on. 
It is an example of ‘dumbing down’

10. https://www. theguardian
your-language-english-spelling
Homework: read the article and the comments section underneath. Find a comment that is particularly interesting a) in terms of attitudes b) in terms of language levels and annotate thoroughly.
You might want to copy and paste it into the middle of a sheet to annotate thoroughly.