DEC 7 1988
[Whole Number 202
BUREAU OF EDUCATION.
RCULAR OF INFORMATION NO. 8. 1893.
THE SPELLING REFORM.
BY
FRANCIS A. MARCH, LL. D., L. H. D.,
Professor of the English Language and Comparative Philology, Lafayette College,
Easton, Pa.: President of the Spelling Reform Association.
A REVISION AND ENLARGEMENT OF THE AUTHOR'S
PAMPHLET PUBLISHED BY THE U. S.
BUREAU OF EDUCATION IN 1881.

WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.

1893.
PRESENTED TO
THE ENGLISH LIBRARY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
BY
Prof. Calvin Thomas
1996
[Whole Number 202
BUREAU OF EDUCATION.
CIRCULAR OF INFORMATION NO. 8, 1893.

THE SPELLING REFORM.
BY
FRANCIS A. MARCH, LL. D., L. H. D.,
Professor of the English Language and Comparative Philology, Lafayette College,
Easton, Pa.; President of the Spelling Reform Association.
A REVISION AND ENLARGEMENT OF THE AUTHOR'S
PAMPHLET PUBLISHED BY THE U. S.
BUREAU OF EDUCATION IN 1881.
WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1893.
CONTENTS.
Lettor of the Commissioner to the Secretary of the Interior
Introduction....
The American Philological Association
The standard phonetic alphabet.
Transition letters and printing.
History of spelling reform..
Amended spelling with old types..
The Modern Language Association of America..
The Spelling Reform Association.
Illiteracy and education.
The teachers....
State legislation....
Spelling reform before Congress.
Regulation of geographic names by the United States Board.
Regulation of chemical words..
The Press, discussion...
Printing with new types
Amended spelling with old types.
Spelling reform in England..
Spelling reform in France, Germany, and other countries
Forerunners
APPENDIX.
Rules for amended spelling adopted by the Philological Society of England
and the American Philological Association...
List of amended spellings recommended...
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LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
BUREAU OF EDUCATION,
Washington, D. C., July 7, 1893.
SIR: I have the honor to present herewith for publication a revised
edition of a circular of information on the subject of the spelling
reform. It is prepared by the eminent Anglo-Saxon scholar and phi-
lologist Prof. F. A. March, of Lafayette College, Easton, Pa. Inasmuch
as Prof. March is the president of the Spelling Reform Association, it
is natural to expect that this circular will be found entirely favorable
to the proposed reform. But, doubtless, as in all cases of proposed
change, there are arguments on both sides, for and against change.
The fact that a system exists and is in use is a strong conservative argu-
ment. On the other hand the arguments in favor of a change are in
the present instance many in number, and some of them are entitled to
careful consideration.
The irregularities of English spelling are too well known to need
more than brief mention. According to Mr. A. J. Ellis, the distin-
guished specialist in the pronunciation of Old English, the letter a is
used to represent eight different sounds; e, eight; i, seven; o, twelve;
u, nine; y, three. Twenty-one consonants have seventy sounds, aver-
aging three and a third apiece; but while there is much difficulty in
determining the proper pronunciation from the spelling it is still more
difficult to ascertain the proper letters with which to represent the
spoken word. The sound of e in be has no less than forty equivalents
in the language; a in mate has thirty-four. Mr. Ellis has shown that
the single word scissors, which is composed of six elementary sounds
(s, short i, z, short u, r, and z), could be spelled in a vast number of
ways; for example, the person familiar with the words schism, sieve,
myrrh, visor, scourge, suffice, might spell the word scissors schiesourrhce.
The fact that one is never quite sure of the pronunciation of a new
printed word he has only heard pronounced and not seen in print is
sufficient to prove the illogical and capricious character of English
spelling.
5
6
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.
In the last century Dr. Franklin wrote a paper on the subject that is
marked with his eminent good sense. In the first half of the present
century Noah Webster, the pioneer of American lexicographers, repeat-
edly urged the same reform. To him is due the fact that American
spelling differs slightly from the spelling in England in such words as
honor and traveler.
If, however, the spelling reform were merely a matter of logical con-
sistency its claims would not entitle it to much attention. The strong
ground is that of saving the time of those who have to learn how to
write the language and read it, and a saving of expense to all who have
to buy or make books. One-sixth of the population of the country is
foreign born or from foreign-born parents. The importance of an easy
method of teaching reading to this class of our population is obvious.
About 15 per cent of the cost of typesetting and of presswork and
paper would be saved in books and periodicals if the reform were
adopted.
The saving of time in learning to read and spell is a matter of even
greater importance. Very few adults can write a long letter without
making a mistake in the spelling of some word. Dr. Morrell, one of the
English inspectors of schools, reports that out of 1,972 failures in the
civil-service examinations in Great Britain, 1,866 candidates owed their
failure to poor spelling. Dr. Hagar compiled the results of the exam-
ination in spelling of 1,000 candidates for admission for a State normal
school in Massachusetts. They were proposing to become teachers, and
yet these young women averaged only 80 per cent of correct spelling in
the examination in that branch. Upon an average one word in five was
misspelled. This indicates fairly the obstacle in the way of scholar-
ship. In order to attain to a high degree of excellence in spelling many
years must be devoted to study and practice in writing the difficult
words of the language, and a corresponding amount of time taken from
studies in science and history and literature.
Experiments have been made in different parts of the country since
1845 to ascertain the amount of time required to learn to read the
English language when printed in a phonetic alphabet. The average
results have shown that about two years may be saved in learning to
read by the phonetic method. These two years are taken from the
time which might be given by children to learning history, geography,
science, and literature, and it is worthy of mention that the president
of Harvard University, who has investigated the rate of progress on
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.
7
the part of students in the high schools of France, finds them at a given
age, say fourteen or sixteen, to be two years in advance of American
youth in regard to substantial studies in literature and science.*
In 1866, in St. Louis, an experiment was made with a modified alpha-
bet invented by Dr. Edwin Leigh. The silent letters in the language
were printed in hair-line type (skeleton type); the other letters were
printed in type of a modified form, showing by the modification the
sound of the letter used. This alphabet of modified letters amounted
to some seventy or seventy-five characters, but when the sound of a
character was once learned the child on seeing the letter again could be
sure that it represented the same sound as before. Previous to the
introduction of the new alphabet the children required a year to finish
the First Reader and another year to finish the Second Reader. No
child began the Third Reader before the third year. With the new
alphabet two books were printed instead of one (a primer and a First
Reader), doubling the amount of reading matter. One hundred and
fifty primary teachers commenced teaching the books printed in Dr.
Leigh's type at the beginning of the year, and in ten weeks' time all
reported the primer finished and well learned. A second ten weeks
finished the First Reader with similar thoroughness. In the second
half-year the entire Second Reader was finished by many pupils and at
least one-half of it by all. The bright pupils, who were promoted from
class to class and not kept back for the dull pupils, were found to be
able to complete in the first year the primer and First Reader in Leigh's
type and the Second Reader and one hundred pages in the Third
Reader in the ordinary spelling. This showed a saving from one and
a half to two years in learning to read. It was found, moreover, that
these children not only learned to read rapidly, but that they learned
to spell the ordinary spelling much more correctly than other pupils.
This was due to the fact that they noticed the silent letters more care-
fully. The children learned logical habits of analysis and were more
intelligent in regard to the meaning of what they read than others.
This system was used about twenty years under my observation, and
is, I doubt not, still in use in St. Louis. It was noted that the children
found learning to read so easy a task by Leigh's method that they took
more pleasure in reading books and newspapers at home, and yet
Leigh's system would be called a very difficult method of learning to
read as compared with any perfectly phonetic alphabet; for the pho-
*See Proceedings of the National Association of Educational Superintendents, 1888.
8
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.
netic alphabet for English should have only forty letters, while Leigh's
alphabet had more than seventy. Leigh's alphabet was intended only
as a transition alphabet, to be used in learning how to read the ordinary
spelling. It was seen that the child could learn the forms of words by
the phonetic system first and then recognize the words in their ordinary
spelling by their general resemblance to the words printed phonetically.*
*
By courtesy of the publishers, The American Book Company, I am enabled to
present here a page of a reading book printed in Leigh type:
100
Eclectic. Primary Reader.
and jump and frisk about as
though he were very happy, as
no doubt he is.
6. One day Dash came trotting
up stairs with a fine large pear in
his mouth.
7. He held it by the stem, and
looked up at James, as much as
to say,
"Dear master, I have got
something very nice for you."
8. James rose up in the bed,
and reached out his hand for the
pear. Dash gave it to him, and as
James said, "Thank you, Dash,”
the dog barked, as much as to say,
are very welcome," and
bounded out of the room.
66 You
9. Is not Dash a fine dog? I
am sure James will be kinder to
him than ever when he gets well.
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.
9
American children are thus weighted with the heavy load of learning
the spelling of words written without regard to any consistent system.
It is not strange that they are not able to make so rapid progress as
German, French, and Italian children, who are taught consistent sys-
tems of orthography. It should be mentioned that the spelling of the
Spanish, French, Italian, and German languages has been modified
from time to time and simplified by national academies or commissions
of learned men acting under government sanction.
The effect of the teaching of English spelling has been in all English-
speaking nations to force the primary education into the work of verbal
memorizing. In China a separate character of complicated shape must
be learned for each word; hence Chinese learning is proverbial for the
stress it lays upon verbal memory. Next to China among the nations
stand the English-speaking nations as regards the stress which is laid
upon verbal memory in school. All great educational reformers who
have looked into the methods of instruction in English and American
elementary schools have condemned the amount of memory work which
they have found and called attention to the smaller amount of think-
ing and investigation which is secured by the training of the average
elementary school, and it is claimed by some advocates of the spelling
reform that this radical defect in our schools is occasioned solely by
the irregularities of English spelling and the consequent severe labor
of the child in acquiring a sufficient knowledge of the forms of words
to enable him to read and write.
In the last generation when the English spelling reform began to be
agitated it was contended by the scholars and directors of higher edu-
cation that great advantage lay in the present mode of spelling; that
our spelling preserves in each word some clew to the history of its adop
tion into the English language. More careful investigation on the part
of philologists has, however, discovered that these historical clews do
not so much relate to the true derivation of our words as to the attempts
on the part of the schoolmasters of the seventeenth and eighteenth cen-
turies to indicate by the form of spelling such derivations as were cur-
rently supposed to be historical. Scientific philology has found that a
large proportion of the supposed derivations are unhistorical, and that
a strictly phonetical spelling of the English language indicates the his-
tory of its words more accurately than does the ordinary spelling. The
caprice of the Norman scribes who patched up the Anglo-Saxon lan-
guage without any proper knowledge of its origin led to very absurd
10
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.
combinations of letters to represent words which they were scarcely
able to pronounce correctly. Prof. Max Müller, of Oxford, has said
that "if our spelling followed the pronunciation of words it would in
reality be of greater help to the critical students of language than the
present uncertain and unscientific mode of writing." In this statement
he is followed by the Philological Society of London. The American
Philological Association has taken the same position in regard to the
value of our present method of spelling and has declared a reform to
be highly desirable. The names of Prof. March of Lafayette College,
Profs. Whitney and Trumbull of Yale College, Prof. Child of Har-
vard College, and Prof. Haldeman of the University of Pennsylvania,
stand side by side in the advocacy of this reform with the names of the
great English scholars, Sayce, Murray (editor of the New English Dic
tionary), A. J. Ellis, Max Müller, Dr. Angus, Mr. Gladstone, and their
coadjutors.
Notwithstanding this the selection and adoption of a phonetic alpha-
bet is impossible by any agency known to the English-speaking people.
The principle of local self-government prevails wherever Anglo-Saxon
is spoken and there is a jealousy on the part of the people with regard
to the use or usurpation of dictatorial powers; hence neither national
nor international commissions can be expected that will decide upon
the question of a particular alphabet and phonetic spelling. The
method by which reforms are brought about in English-speaking coun-
tries is therefore that of a gradual process of growth; a very small
item of reform is recommended and brought into usage by degrees.
The English and American Philological Societies, composed as they
are of very conservative men, have united in recommending a few emen-
dations to the present mode of spelling. The most important of these
relates to the dropping of the silent e in words where it is at present
misleading. There is something of logical reason in using the silent e
at the end of words in order to indicate a long vowel in the same syl-
lable. For example, we distinguish the short sound of a in hat from the
long sound of a in hate, etc. But it is inconsistent with this reasonable
usage of the silent e to place it at the end of words with short vowels;
for instance, the word live with the short i should be spelled without
the silent e. So of all those words ending in tive in which the i is short.
Proposing slight changes in spelling to make the present system of
spelling more logical and more nearly phonetic, the Philological Society
has, through its committees, taken great pains to prepare a few rules
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.
11
which if adopted will advance the cause of phonetics a very much
larger step than was made (through the influence of one man-Noah
Webster) in the first half of this century. Other recommendations
relate chiefly to the dropping of those silent letters which are not only
useless but misleading in regard to the pronunciation like those men-
tioned, or in regard to derivation (etymology).
Some of the best new dictionaries are leading the way in this reform
by giving the new spellings recommended by the Philological Society
as alternatives. Of course all changes in spelling look odd at first
and are more or less offensive to the eye. But a few years of familiarity
with the new form of spelling entirely removes this objection. Such
words as music, physic, and public were formerly spelled with a k (mu-
sick, physick, and publick), but the old spelling now looks as offensive
to the eye as the new spelling looked fifty years ago.
In conclusion, I beg leave to refer to a symposium on "Simplified
Spelling," held last winter under the auspices of the Anthropological
Society, of Washington, and participated in by Messrs. F. A. March,
A. R. Spofford, Alexander Melville Bell, John M. Gregory, W. B. Owen,
E. T. Peters, Charles P. G. Scott, James C. Pilling, Benjamin E. Smith,
W. D. Whitney, J. W. Powell, myself, and others. Mr. A. R. Spofford,
Librarian of Congress, ably led the opposition to change in several
papers abounding in learning and wit. The discussion excited much
interest among the literary and scientific people of the capital, and the
speeches and papers were published, several of them spelled according
to the Ten Rules of the Philological Societies, in The American An-
thropologist for April, 1893.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
W. T. HARRIS,
Hon. HOKE SMITH.
Secretary of the Interior.
Commissioner.
THE SPELLING REFORM.
By Prof. FRANCIS A. MARCH.
A revision and enlargement of the author's pamphlet published by the U. S. Bureau of Educa-
tion in 1881.
INTRODUCTION.
The students of the science of language, the filologists, hav been
for twenty years the most efficient promoters of the rational reform of
spelling. The American Philological Association in 1874 consisted of
230 members (in 1893 it has 379), most of them professors of languages,
including the most eminent professors in all our great universities and
colleges. The Modern Language Association of America is composed
mainly of professors of English, French, German and other modern
languages in our universities and colleges, with officers from Harvard
(James Russell Lowell was president at his deth in 1891), Yale, Johns-
Hopkins, Princeton, Columbia, the State universities of Michigan,
Virginia, Texas, California, and the like.
The Philological Society, whose hedquarters ar in London, is also
general hedquarters for the experts in linguistic study in Great Britain,
and especially, of late years, in the study of English. From them cums
the Historical Dictionary of English, which is in progress of publica-
tion by the University of Oxford, the supreme achievment of our day
in language studies. They counted among their members when they
took their most important action on English spelling in 1882, Alexan-
der J. Ellis, whose huge volumes upon erly, English pronunciation ar
the thesaurus of all investigators; F. J. Furnivall, esq., the founder
and director of the Early English Text Society, the Chaucer, the New
Shakspere, the Browning Society; Dr. Murray, editor in chief of the
great dictionary; R. Morris, of King's College; Kington-Oliphant; J.
Peile, master of Christ College, Cambridge; A. H. Sayce, professor of
filology at Oxford; H. Sweet, the hed of all the students of Old English
in Great Britain; W. W. Skeat, professor of Anglo-Saxon at Cam-
bridge and author of the English Etymological Dictionary. These
and their comrades ar known to everyone as experts and authorities
in language. It may be added that the spelling reform associations had
13
14
THE SPELLING REFORM.
and hav among their officers and members many statesmen, literators,
and scientists; Darwin and Tylor and Tennyson and Max Müller wer
vice-presidents. W. E. Gladstone, Herbert Spencer, Senators Sumner,
Stephens, and Marsh hav writn in favor of the reform.
These societies ar good authority for improvements in spelling, the
rational authority for English-speaking men, as the French Academy
has been for Frenchmen, and as other lerned academies hav been for
other cuntries of Europe.
THE AMERICAN PHILOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION.
At the annual meeting of the American Philological Association in
1874, at Hartford, the president spoke in the opening address at sum
length on the reform of English spelling. He said, among other things:
It is of no use to try to characterize with fitting epithets and adequate terms of ob-
jurgation the monstrous spelling of the English language.
The time lost by it is a large part of the hole scool-time of the mass of men. Count
the hours that each inan wastes in lerning to read at scool, the hours which he
wastes thru life from the hindrance to easy reading, the hours wasted at scool in lern-
ing to spel, the hours spent thru life in keeping up and perfecting this knowledge
of spelling, in consulting dictionaries, a work that never ends, the hours that he
spends in writing silent letters; and multiply this time by the number of persons
who speak English, and we shal hav a total of millions of years wasted by each
generation. The cost of printing the silent letters of the English language is to be
counted by millions of dollars for each generation. And yet literary amateurs fall
in luv with these squintings and lispings. They try to defend them by pleading their
advantage in the study of etymology. But a changeless orthografy destroys the
material for etymological study, and writn records ar valuabl to the filologist just
in proportion as they ar accurate records of speech as spoken from year to year.
Next year, 1875, at Newport, the subject was resumed by the presi-
dent, Hon. J. Hammond Trumbull. He said:
In the devious mazes of American linguistics it is easy to lose one's way and forget
the time. Let us return homeward, to say sumthing about a language in which mem-
bers of the Association hav a more direct and selfish interest than in the Algonkin-
a language which in spite of the predictions of Noah Webster, that a "future sepa-
ration of the American tung was necessary," Americans still luv to call English.
There ar indications of increasd interest in this subject. The popular mind seems
awake, as never before, to appreciation of the difficulties, eccentricities, and absurdi-
ties of the present standard-English cacografy. The remarks of Prof. March in
his address to the Association last year hav been extensivly copied, and apparently
meet very general approval. Prof. Whitney's discussion of the question, "How
shal we spel?" has helpt expose the weakness of the stereotyped objections urgd
against reform. Legislators ar beginning to look at the subject from the economic
point of view, as related to popular education, and ar considering how much bad
spelling costs the cuntry per annum. A bill is now before the legislature of Con-
necticut for the appointment of a commission to inquire and report as to the expe-
diency of employing a reformd orthografy in printing the laws and jurnals. The
"spelling maches" which, last winter, became epidemic, had their influence, by
bringing more clearly to popular apprehension the anomalies of the current orthog-
THE SPELLING REFORM.
15
rafy, and disposed many to admit (with Mr. A. J. Ellis) that "to spel English is the
most difficult of human attainments."
Among scolars there is litl difference of opinion on the main question, Is reform
of the present spelling desirabl? The objection that reform would obscure etymol-
ogy is not urgd by real etymologists. "Our common spelling is often an untrust-
wurthy guide to etymology," as Prof. Hadly averd; and Prof. Max Müller's dec-
laration that "if our spelling followd the pronunciation of words, it would in
reality be of greater help to the critical student of language than the present un-
certain and unscientific mode of writing," receive the nearly unanimous assent of
English scolars.
Equally unfounded is the objection that words when decently speld would lose
their "historic interest." The modern orthografy is, superlativly, unhistorical.
Instead of guiding us to, it draws us from, the "well of English undefyled.” The
only history it can be trusted to teach begins with the publication of Johnson's
Dictionary.
The greatest obstacl to reform is the want of agreement among scolars as to the
best mode of effecting it. What seems an improvement to one is regarded by another
as an undesirabl innovation, or, perhaps, as a new deformity. Few men ar with-
out a pet orthografical prejudice or two, and the more unreasonabl these ar the more
obstinately they ar held fast.
Perhaps the most that can be hoped for at present is sum approximation to gen-
eral agreement as to the words or classes of words, for which an amended spelling
may be adopted, concurrent with that which is now in use. A list of words "in
reference to which present usage in the United States or England sanctions more
than one way of spelling," is prefixt to Webster's and Worcester's dictionaries. A
similar list, prepared under judicious limitations, exhibiting side by side the pres-
ent and a reformd spelling, and an agreement of prominent scolars in England and
America that the use of either form shal be recognized as allowabl spelling, would
go far towards ensuring the success of reform.
It is in compliance with suggestions repeatedly made, and from various quarters,
that this subject has been brought to the consideration of the association. It is for
you to decide whether it is advisabl to take any action for promoting and directing
the popular movement for reformd orthografy.
Prof. F. A. March, of Lafayette College; Prof. S. S. Haldeman, of the
University of Pennsylvania, and Prof. L. R. Packard, of Yale College,
wer appointed a committee upon this part of the president's address;
and on the third day of the session they reported:
FIRST REPORT, 1875.
It does not seem desirabl to attempt such sweeping changes as to leav the general
speech without a standard, or to render it unintelligibl to common readers; but the
changes adopted in our standards of the writn speech hav lagd far behind those made
in the spoken language, and the present seems to be a favorabl time for a rapid reform
of many of the wurst discrepancies. The committee think that a considerabl list of
words may be made, in which the spelling may be changed, by dropping silent let-
ters and otherwise, so as to make them better conform to the analogies of the lan-
guage and draw them nearer to our sister languages and to a general alfabet, and yet
leav them recognizabl by common readers; and that the publication of such a list
under the authority of this Association would do much to accelerate the progress of
our standards and the general reform of our spelling.
They recommend that a committee be raised, to consist of the first president of the
Association (Prof. W. D. Whitney) and other recognized representativs of our great
16
THE SPELLING REFORM.
universities and of linguistic science, to whom the hole subject be referd, and who
may prepare and print such a list of words if they think best, and who be requested
to report at the next meeting of the Association.
A committee was accordingly appointed, consisting of Prof. W. D.
Whitney and J. Hammond Trumbull, of Yale College; Prof. F. J.
Child, of Harvard College; Prof. F. A. March, of Lafayette College,
and Prof. S. S. Haldeman, of the University of Pennsylvania. At the
annual meeting in July, 1876, the chairman presented the following
report, known as the "Principls of '76":
SECOND REPORT, 1876.
(1) The true and sole office of alfabetic writing is faithfully and intelligibly to
represent spoken speech. So-calld "historical" orthografy is only a concession to
the weakness of prejudice.
(2) The ideal of an alfabet is that every sound should hav its own unvarying sign,
and every sign its own unvarying sound.
(3) An alfabet intended for use by a vast community need not attempt an ex-
haustiv analysis of the elements of utterance and a representation of the nicest
varieties of articulation; it may wel leav room for the unavoidabl play of individ-
ual and local pronunciation.
(4) An ideal alfabet would seek to adopt for its characters forms which should
suggest the sounds signified, and of which the resemblances should in sum mezure
represent the similarities of the sounds. But for general practical use there is no
advantage in a system which aims to depict in detail the fysical processes of utter-
ance.
(5) No language has ever had, or is likely to hav, a perfect alfabet, and in chang-
ing and amending the mode of writing of a language alredy long writn, regard must
necessarily be had to what is practically possibl quite as much as to what is in-
herently desirabl.
(6) To prepare the way for such a change, the first step is to break down, by the
combined influence of enlightend scolars and of practical educators, the immense
and stubborn prejudice which regards the establisht modes of spelling almost as
constituting the language, as having a sacred character, as in themselvs preferabl
to others. All agitation and all definit proposals of reform ar to be welcumd so far
as they work in this direction.
(7) An alterd orthografy will be unavoidably offensiv to those who ar first calld
upon to uze it; but any sensibl and consistent new system wil rapidly win the harty
preference of the mass of writers.
(8) The Roman alfabet is so widely and firmly establisht in use among the leading
civilized nations that it can not be displaced; in adapting it to improved use for
English, the efforts of scolars should be directed towards its use with uniformity and
in conformity with other nations.
The report was accepted, and, on motion of Prof. Whitney, the com-
mittee was continued another year, with Prof. F. A. March as chairman.
This report was widely publisht and commented on and assented to, but
there was a loud call for more: a definit application of these principls
to English spelling was demanded.
In the next month, August 14-17, 1876, an International Convention
for the Amendment of English Orthografy was held at Philadelphia,
"to setl upon sum satisfactory plan of labor for the prosecution of the
THE SPELLING REFORM.
17
+
work so happily begun by the American Philological Association and
various other educational associations in this cuntry and England."
The convention was wel attended from all sections of this cuntry and
from England; it was presided over by Prof. S. S. Haldeman, of the
University of Pennsylvania, president that year of the Philological
Association.
On the fourth day, August 17, the convention resolvd itself into the
Spelling Reform Association, Prof. F. A. March being chosen president.
In the convention leading advocates of the principal schemes of new
alfabetic notation wer present, and redy to urge their schemes. It was
soon evident that no one coud convert a majority of the others. In
this emergency it was proposed that the decision upon a reformd alfa-
bet should be referd to the American Philological Association. The
proposition was receivd with universal and cordial assent. All the
different propositions and schemes wer referd to the committee of that
association.
The committee accepted the trust, and during the year gave an ex-
haustiv consideration to all the plans proposed. As a result of this
examination and of their expert knowledge of the matters involvd,
they presented to the Philological Association in July, 1877, the fol-
lowing report, which was adopted:
THIRD REPORT, 1877.
The attempt to prepare an English alfabet according to the principls laid down in
the report of last year brings out the following facts:-
1. There ar 18 Roman letters which commonly represent in English nearly the
same elementary sounds which they represented in Latin: a (father), b, c (k, q), d,
e (met), f, g (go), h, i (pick), l, m, n, o (go), P, 1', s (so), t, u (full).
2. The consonant sounds represented in Latin by i and u ar now represented by y
and w, and the sonants corresponding to ƒ and s ar now represented by v and z.
3. There ar three short vowels unknown to the erly Romans which ar without
proper representativs in English: those in fat, not, but.
4. There ar five elementary consonants represented by digrafs: th (thin), th=dh
(thine, then), sh (she), zh (azure), ng (sing); to which may be added ch (church), g (j).
It seems best to follow the Latin and other languages writn in Roman letters in
the use of a singl sign for a short vowel and its long, distinguishing them, when
great exactness is required, by a diacritical mark.
The alfabet would then hav 32 letters.
Twenty-two of these hav their common form and power as described abuv in state-
ments 1 and 2.
The three vowels in fat, not, but need new letters. Without laying any stress on
the exact form, it is recommended to try sum modification of a, o, u, such as a, e, U.
For the consonants now represented by digrafs new letters would be desirabl, but
no particular forms ar now recommended. The following ar mentiond:-
%, đ, Đ (then); }, ∈ (thin); f, fn, [š] (sh); 3, [ž] (zh); Đ (ng); % (ch).
The use of these letters with only these powers and the dropping of silent letters
wil so change the look of large numbers of words that they wil not be recognized at
sight. It seems necessary, therefore, that there should be a transition period, and
for that the following suggestions ar made:—
439-2
18
THE SPELLING REFORM.
(1) Transition characters may be uzed, resembling, if possibl, two letters :-
For a in fate,
"mete,
8
may be uzed in place of ē
(6
แ
e
ė
(C
1.
((
i
((
fine,
į
((
((
ai.
(C
U
pure,
ü or q
(C
((
iu.
66
"
as,
a
Z.
((
(
<<
((
gem,
g
j.
(( " cent,
(6
Ç
S.
(4
8
J
C
(2) The digrafs now representing singl consonants may be named and otherwise
treated as singl letters.
(3) New letters can be easiest introduced by uzing them only for the old letters
which they resembl in form.
(4) Long words bear changes best, and vowels ar more easily changed than con-
sonants, which project more abuv and below the line. Dropping final silent e is the
easiest change.
The following exposition of the alfabet of this report was given by
the chairman in "Spelling," Vol. 1, No. 3.
ELEMENTARY SOUNDS IN ENGLISH.
The first thing the Philological Association's committee seem to hav proposed to
themselvs is to determin the number of elementary letters, sounds distinguisht as
simpl and significant, in the English language.
That the sounds mentiond by them in statements 1, 2, 3, 4, namely, (1) a (father),
b, c (k, q), d, e (met), f, g (go), h, i (pick), l, m, n, o (go), P, r, s (so) t, u (full); (2)
Y, w, v, z; (3) a (fat), o (not), u (but); (4) th (thin), th=dh (thine, then), sh (she), zh
(azure), ng (sing), ch (church), g (j), ar really such elementary sounds, is universally
admitted. Ar there others? It is wel known that the vowel sounds shade into
each other liko culors, and that in scientific fonology a very large number of these
ar distinguisht. In arranging this national alfabet, proposition 3 of the principls
of 1876 is a controlling principl: "An alfabet intended for use by a vast community
need not attempt an exhaustiv analysis of the elements of utterance and a repre-
sentation of the nicest varieties of articulation; it may wel leav room for the un-
avoidabl play of individual and local pronunciation." In view of this it is decided
to recognize no new elementary letters for special sounds of unaccented syllabls, or
for what ar commonly calld long vowels, or for difthongs, but to treat the long
syllabls as combinations of the recognized short elements, or modifications of them
not constituting new elements.
ROMAN TYPES PREFERD.
What shal be the types to print the elementary characters? The Roman types
as far as they wil go. But they wil not go far enuf. The simplest concrete state-
ment in the Report of 1876 is No. 8, on the Roman alfabet. It states abundant prac-
tical and historical reasons for the use of Roman letters. Another reason can now
be drawn from their greater legibility, as recently establisht by the psychofysicists,
compared with simpl strokes like the stenografic characters. It seems that bredth
and body ar essential to easy legibility. (See investigations by Dr. James M.
Cattell, of the Psychological Laboratory of the University of Leipzig, reported in
Bulletin No. 22 of the Spelling Reform Association, pp. 68-70.)
Types for short vowels.—There ar three new elementary vowels. Beside the old a
in father, is a in fat; beside o in obey, o in not; beside u in full, u in but. Three new
types ar proposed, a, e, u.
THE SPELLING REFORM.
19
How shal they be assigned? The real reason for assigning a to the vowel in father
and a to that in fat was that the sound in fat is so much more frequent. Filologists,
as such, would probably hav preferd the Anglo-Saxon a as in father and ≈ as in fat.
But it is to be said also that a is like the old Greek, Italian, and German type for the
a of father, and like our English script a; and the German reformers uze it. The old
type o is left for its current European sound as in no, and the new form e is givn to
the new sound in not, as is uzual in manuscripts and books of crly English in which
the sound is distinguisht. For a similar reason, the old u is left for the old sound
in full, and the new sound in but takes the new type u.
Types for long vowels.—The elementary vowels being thus designated, how shal the
long vowels be denoted? According to fonetic principl (No. 2 in the principls of
1876), by the same types as their elements. The vowel sound in eat being a pro-
longation of the element in it, should be denoted by ii, or i with sum sign of pro-
longation. A preference is exprest for i. This has the advantage of compactness.
It is known everywhere, uzed in all dictionaries and spelling-books and in the
periodicals treating of fonology and comparativ filology. It has also a scientific
advantage in not committing the uzer of it to any views about the precise fonetic
constituents of the so-calld long vowels. It is wel known that they differ from the
corresponding shorts not only in length but in closeness, and often in ending with a
vanish, which in sum dialects is difthongal. But the relation between the members
of each of the pairs is similar, and the macron is to be considerd the sign of that re-
lation: a: ī
ɑ: ã=a:ã—e:~—i: ï=0:5=0:5=u: ù=v: ū; i. e. as to their vowel
sounds, ask: fār=fat: fare-then: they in: machine—obey: nō=not: nēr=full:
rule-but: būrn..
Three ways of printing the long vowels ar thus suggested: 1, dubl vowels; 2,
difthongs; 3, types with diacritics.
Short:
Long:
a ask a fat e fell i fill o obey
far fare e fail
Dubl vowel: aa faar aa faar ee feel
Difthong: au faur ae faer ei feil
Diacritic: ū für ā fārē fel
feel vote
ii fiil oo voot
iy fiyl ou vout
1.fil ō vōt
As a fourth, may be added new types, like Mr Pitman's.
nor
not u full v but
fruit
☺☺ neer au fruut
ou nour uw fruwt
ōnēr ū frut U für
fur
uu fuur
ue fuer
The two first ar cumbrous and unfonetic. The second favors an unhappy dialectic
tendency in Suthern England. Mr Pitman's letters would also be defectiv, if they
wer not modifications of the short letters. They ar inferior in not being uniform
modifications, like his own shorthand signs and the standard characters here pro-
posed.
Use of a diacritic.—Objection is felt by many to accented letters. Where there ar
a number of slightly different accents with varying meanings, as in French, they ar
undoutedly a nuisance; but one distinguishing mark, plain like the macron and of
uniform meaning, does not seem open to objection. Scientific investigation has
establisht that the line of chief legibility runs horizontally near the tops of the short
letters on a printed page. Legibility is the first, second, and third point with
print. It is best, then, to put our diacritic marks at the tops of the types. Script
need not be exactly the same as print, but may vary the forms so as to run on with-
out lifting the pen if that seem best to the writer. A printer can set up one type
as wel as another.
Difthongs.-The proper difthongs ar also to be represented by their elements.
These ar, according to Webster and other authorities,
a + i
a + u =
ai, as in aisle, ice.
au, as in out, how.
• + i
oi,
as in oil, boy.
i+ u = iu,
as in music, feud.
20
THE SPELLING REFORM.
This fonetic writing of long vowels and difthongs makes a very considerabl
change in the appearance of many words, and would be a bold attempt for immedi-
ate general use. This alfabet, however, makes less change than any other fonetic
alfabet, and as an ideal to be aimd at is easily defended.
Types for consonants.-There is no question that the elementary consonant sounds
ar correctly selected; ch in church, which may be analyzed into tsh and j in judge,
which may be analyzed into dzh, ar, however, admitted. As to the types for them,
all the old types hav one singl power givn them; but duplicates ar not ruled out.
C must always sound as k, but the committee coud not agree to rule out k. We
may use x as an abbreviation of cs. Six new types or digrafs must be uzed. The
Pitman types and the national types of the Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians and
Slavs make the following sets:-
Digrafs th (thin), th=dh (thine) sh (she), zh (azure), ch (church), ng (sing).
Pitman D
Ç
National þ
a
୪
S
3
אי
The filologists did not see promis enuf in either of these sets, or in any other, to
make it wurth while to recommend them. It should be mentiond, perhaps, that
sinse their action was taken there has been in English printing-houses much print-
ing of Anglo-Saxon texts and of filological discussions involving Scandinavian and
Slavic words, so that most large establishments in England and America now hav the
national types abuv mentiond, and all linguistic scolars ar familiar with them.
Digrafs.—The preference, however, for the digrafs has a solid basis in economy of
mental effort and of muney. Many theoretical economists think it would be a great
saving to set up one new type insted of two old ones. Our spelling reformers had
the digrafs connected into ligatures and cast as singl types. In that way they
made the consonant system perfectly fonetic. But in practice it has been found
to deform the page and to ad greatly to the cost and embarrassment of the new
printing. After a certain number of boxes hav been put in the printer's case,
another box ads to the labor of the type-setter in mastering and managing his
case more than enuf to balance the gain in the number of types he handls, while
every new letter ads immensely to the cost of printing-house stock. This is so litl
understood that it may be wurth while to reprint a passage from the printer's pre-
face to Max Müller's "Outline Dictionary for the Use of Missionaries, Explorers,
etc."
"All experience, past and present, shows us a tendency, not toward greater refine-
ment by increasing the alfabetical signs, but towards greater simplicity by reducing
them. The erliest English had two letters [þ, d] distinguishing the hard and soft th;
and yet, useful as these wer, they hav been abandond in favor of simplicity in writing.
So with the Greek digamma, and so at this very moment with the French accents.”
In practice a singl accented letter "would make a difference in a large imprimerie
of from one hundred to one thousand different additional sorts." "The universal adop-
tion of the system of Professor Lepsius would necessitate the cutting, not of a few
hundred, but of many hundreds of thousands of new sorts of type!"
Types wer immediately cut for the new letters and papers ar printed
in the Transactions of the Philological Association in amended spelling
with new types if the authors wish. The alfabet and specimens of
printing with it follow.
THE SPELLING REFORM.
21
THE STANDARD FONETIC ALFABET.
The following is the standard fonetic alfabet as formd by the com-
mittee of the American Philological Association in accordance with
the principls set forth in their second and third reports as heretofore
explaind.
VOWELS.
SHORT.
Form.
I i i (i)
Name.
Sound, as in-
Form.
Name.
it (it)
I ī
ī (ce)
E e
e (ě)
met (met)
E ē
ẽ (ay)
A a
a (ă) at (at)
Ā ā
ā (ai[r])
LONG.
Sound, as in-
pique=peak (pic)
they (dhē), veil (vēl)
air=ere=heir (ār)
ā ā
ú (ah)
arm (ārm), far (fār)
Ɑ a a (ah) ask (ask)
Ꮎ Ꮎ → (ŏ) not (net), what (hwet)
Ooo (oh) obey (obē)
U U ʊ (ú) but (but)
U u
u (oo) full (ful)
ⱭI ai ai (eye, I
au au au (ou)
OI ei ei (oi)
IU iu iu
ē ē ō (awe)
ōōō (oh)
Ū ū
ū (u[r])
t̃ ū ū (00)
DIFTHONGS.
aisle isle (ail)
nor (nēr), wall (wōl)
no (nō), koly (hōli)
burn (būrn)
rule (rūl), ooze (ūz)
out (aut), our-hour (aur)
oil (eil), boy (bei)
feud (fiud), few (fiu)
CONSONANTS.
SURD
SONANT
P
T
p_pī (pee) pet (pet)
B b
bī (bee)
bet (bet)
t
tī (tee) tip
tip (tip)
D
d
dī (dec)
dip (dip)
CH ch
chi (chee) chest (chest)
J
j
jē (jay)
jest (jest)
C (K) c (k) cī (kee) come (cum)
G
g
gī (ghce)
gum (gum)
F
f
ef (eff) fat (fat),
V ▼
vī (vee)
vat (vat)
TH
th
ith (ith) thin (thin)
DH dh
dhī (thee)
thee (dhĩ),
S. S
es (ess) sown (sōn)
Ꮓ
Ꮓ
zī (zee)
zone (zōn)
SH
sh
ish (ish) she (shī)
ZH zh
zhī (zhee)
azure (azhūr)
H h hi (hee) he (hī), hat (hat)
W
W
wū (woo)
we (wī), wit (wit)
L 1 el (ell)
lo (lō), ell (el)
R
r
ar (ar)
rat (rat), are (ār)
Y
y
yī (yee)
ye (yī), year (yīr)
M
m
em (em)
me (mī), my (mai)
N n
en (en)
no (nō)
NG ng ing (ing) sing (sing)
Script forms as in common use, the forms for a, a, o e, u u, being distinguished
thus:-
A a A a
O o O o
Uu Vv
22
THE SPELLING REFORM.
Besides the standard alfabet abuv set forth, there ar transition letters, as follows:
a for ē, è for ī, į for ai, ü or y for iu, a for z, g for j, ç for s. (See p. 18.)
SCRIPT FORMS OF NEW AND TRANSITION LETTERS.

a a

of
far, Arm
Ab
a a ot take libl.
lu
a li
tabl,
5 b
açich Cent
i b b
f
mi. Era
в

Grone
g. 9 thang, Gems
& II friters Prone
king ink,
[
7
Ө

ર
not Or
haz. haz
27

th the loveth; Thins
th th
ü Ü
И
Y
Y
نرخ
then, Thin,
müsic, Us.
mysic, Yp
bot Urn.
FONETIC PRINT.
:
The first fonetic printing of the Associations was in accordance with
the third recommendation of the filologists: "New letters can be easiest
introduced by uzing them only for the old letters which they resembl
in form." The following ar specimens:-
THE SPELLING REFORM.
23
EARLIEST TRANSITION FONETIC PRINTING, 1876.
We are met to referm orthography, not orthoepy; we have to do with writing,
net pronunciation. There are all sorts of English people, and words are pronounced
in all sorts of ways. It is the work of the orthoepist to observe all these different
weya, and to decide which is the prevailing pronunciation of the most cultured, to
decide which is the standard English pronunciation. The orthographer tells how
to represent this pronunciation in writing. The orthoepist has many nice and
difficult questions to selve. We enter into his labors. We take for granted that
there is a standard pronunciation of English. We wish to see it represented by
simple and reasonable alphabetic signs. (Address before the International Conven-
tion for the amendment of English Orthografy, 1876.)
In the dictionariea empty, tempt, sempster, are all given aa having p
silent, and sume of the specülatora say that p can not be pronounced between m
and t er m and s. It often happena that phonetic theorists who know only their
own language, or perhaps two or three kindred laŋguegez, affirm combinationa to
bė unpronounceable, which are amung the most frequent in uther languages.
Sounda which one tried all last week and could never make, may be caught
to-morrow and cume easy ever after. (Transactions of the American Philological
Association, 1877, p. 152.)
TRANSITION FONETIC PRINTING, 1879.
(1) S. R. A. Alfabet: 32 saunda distinggwisht.
Bị thẻ fonetic alfabet a child ma be tot the art ev reding, net flüentli but wel,
both in fonetic and in ordineri bucs, in thrè munths-ai, efn in twenti aura ev fhuro
instrueshun;—a tasc hwich ia rarli acomplisht in thre yera ov teil bj the old alfabet.
Hwet fafhur er techur wil net gladli hal and urnestli wure for this grat bun tu
edücashun,—this pauurful mashen for the difüshun ov neleg.
(2.) S. R. A. Alfabet: ōl the saunda distinggwisht.
Bi the fonetic alfabet a child ma be tōt the art ov reding, net flüentli but wel,
both in fonetic and in ordineri bucs, in thrè munfhs-ai, efn in twenti aura ev thuro
instrucshun;—a tasc hwich ia rārli acomplisht in thrè yėra ov toil bị the old alfabet.
Hwet fūthur ēr techur wil net gladli hal and urnestli würc for this grat būn tu
edüceshun, this pauurful mashën for the difüshun ev neleg.
Carful atenshun ia invited tu thèa specimena ev fonetic printing. It ia belevd
that so clōs a resemblanç tu the ĕrdineri printed pag can not be obtand bį eni uther
fonetic alfabet that has ever bin devjad. It ia therfor les ofensiv tu the rider than
eni uther, and me be celd the Alfabet ov lest Rezistanç. (S. R. A. Bulletin, No. 8,
Jan., 1879.)
FONETIC SPELLING, 1888.
The following articl is printed in complete fonetic spelling, without transition
letters. Proper names ar givn only in the common spelling. Long vowels ar
markt. Short unaccented vowels, of uncertain or wavering quality, ar left unalterd.
HISTORY OF SPELLING REFORM.
BY PROF. F. A. MARCH, LL. D., L. H. D.
Wi hav elwēz had speling reformerz. Dhi mixtyur ov Anglo-Saxon and Norman,
hwich grū intu yus in dhi för sentyuriz foleing dhi Norman congewest, wez at fürst
a despaizd and uncultivēted daialect, õlmost egzactii laik aur, Pennsylvania Dutch.
In dhōz long jenerēshunz ov turmoil and straif, everibedi tēkt acōrding tu hiz
hwim, and ecsplend himself widh hiz sōrd. . Az sūn az literatyur began tu bi
24
THE SPELLING REFORM.
•
prodiust in dhi niu spīch, dhi ōthorz began tu wuri at dhi scraibz fer dhār bad
speling.
Adam Scrivener," sez Chaucer, "if ever it thee befalle,
Boece or Troilus for to write new,
Under thy long locks thou most have the scalle,
But after my making thou write more true."
Dhi mixtyur ev French and Anglo-Saxon würdz, ēlmōst ēl ev dhem manggld in
dhi uterans, wez enuf tu giv eni scraib such disgust and contempt and distres, az nō
pür rīder ev dhi Fonetic Niuz ēr printer ev fonetic manyuscript can nauadēz fārli
atēn tū. Hwen printing wez begun bai Caxton in 1474, it wez widh a fōrs ev Dutch
printerz, hū set up the English manyuscripts az best dhē cud, after dhar Dutch
fashun, widh meni an objurgēshun ev aur gramarles tung. But in dhi grēt printing
ofisez rūlz, ēr habits ecwivalent tu rūlz, sün began tu grō up. Mōr er les sailent
e'z mait bi yūzd tu spēs aut dhi lainz, but asaid from dhis wī seldum faind a würd
spelt in mōr dhan faiv or six diferent wez in a wel-printed buk ov dhi taim ev
Elizabeth, and dhi number ev vēriēshunz gradyuali diminisht. Sum edishunz ev
dhi English baibl wer veri carfuli spelt, and fainali Dr. Johnson gev dhi stamp of
ētheriti tu dhi prevalent habits ev dhi London printerz, and wī araivd at a standard
orthografi. Net widhaut protest, hauever. Dr. Johnson wez nō scolar and no
refermer, but a literari man, an extrīm conservativ and a vaiolent Tōri. Dhār wer
meni atacs on him in England, but dhi printerz tuk hiz said so far az speling iz
censūrnd, and sins hiz dē buks ār net printed bai dhi speling ev dhi ōthor, but bai
dhi speling ev dhi printing-ofis. Thingz went sumhwet diferentli in America. Dhi
ōld Tōri'z nēm did not recomend hiz buk on dhis said ev dhi wēter. aur anses-
torz rejoist in Horne Tooke's expōzhur ev hiz ignorans, and sum ev dhem thet wī
had beter hav an American langgwej, az wī wer tu hav an American nēshun. Dr.
Franklin and Noah Webster ar dhi best-nōn promoterz ev dhis mūvment. Dhe
fēvord thuro reform ev dhi langgwej on a fonetic bēsis. Dhis wez dhi den ev
saientific comun sens in dhi relm ev langgwej; but dhi printerz prūvd tū streng
för dhem.
Webster'z dicshunari haz, indīd, in nēm, supersīded Johnson's az a pepyular
gaid, but ecsept in dhi endingz -or and -ic, dhi lēter edishunz ov Webster hav fōrgetn,
ēr remember widh fēnt prēz, dhi refērmd spelingz bai hwich hī set such stōr. After
the revolūshunari ārdor past, dhi literari clas turnd widh reniud afecshun and delait
tu dhi ōld cuntri, dhi ōld hōm. Hapi wez hĩ hū grū up in a haus hwar dhār wer
copiz ov Shakespeare and Milton, ov Addison and Locke, Pope and Dryden, and
Burke and Junius. An ōld fōlio ev Ben Jonson, Spenser, Chaucer, Piers Plowman,
ēr wun ev Gervase Markham's les stētli cwērtoz, widh a grandfādher'z nēm en it,
mēd a man fil az dhō hĩ had blū blud in hiz vēnz. Dhi veri pēper and bainding and
dhi speling wer swit and venerabl tu him. Bai and bai arōz Sir Walter Scott and
Byron, Wordsworth and Coleridge, and ēl dhi hōst ev dhat wunderful jenerēshun.
Dhi tōk ev an American langgwej past awē ēr retaird tu dhi bacwudz. And hwen-
ever scīmz ov refermd speling wer brōcht, az dhe wer nau and dhen, dhi literari clas
tuk dhem az a kaind ov pūrsonal insult, and ōverhwelmd dhi reformerz widh
immezhurabl reprōch and inextinggwishabl lafter. * * *
Widhin dhi last fifti yīrz, hauever, a complīt revolūshun haz tēku plēs in dhi
aidīalz and pūrpusez ev dhi scolarli clas. Dhi haiest wūrdz ev dhi ōld scolarz wer
'cultÿur” and “biuti.” Dhē sēt tu mōld dhemselvz intu biutiful caracterz. Dhē
sēt tu dwel widh biutiful ebjects. Dhe wer fend ev sẽing dhat biuti iz its ōn excius
for bīing, dhat a thing ev biuti iz a jei ferever.
pauer."
Dhi haiest würdz ev dhi niu scelarz är "progres" and "pauer." Niu trūth dhē
wẽnt, and niu früt everi dë in dhi imprüvment ov dhi stēt ov man. Cultyur tūrnz
frem ficshun tu fact, frem põetri to saiens. Linggwistic studi shārz dhi spirit ov
dhi ēj. It haz tūrnd frem drīming ōver ōld luv stōriz tu dhi studi ev nēshuns and
THE SPELLING REFORM.
25
ev man az recōrded in langgwej. Dhi filelojist raivalz dhi jīelojist in rīding dhi
recordz ev dhi res in dhi fesilz ov langgwej. Hī iz a histōrian ev dhi taimz
befōr histori. He givz us dhi pedigrî ev nēshunz hūz nēm and plēs nō modern man
cud ges. And he wishez tu dū sumthing for hiz feloz, tu bār hiz pārt in imprūving
dhi cendishun ev dhi rēs, and natyurali in imprūving langgwej. Dhi faundēshun
ev dhi saiens ev langgwej iz lēd in dhi saiens ev vōcal saundz. Everi stiudent ev
dhi modern saiens studiz foneloji. Dhi mīnz ev reprezenting saundz bai vizibl
sainz ār ēlsō pārt ev hiz studi, and dhi speling ev dhi English langgwej amung
udher things. And so dhi speling ev dhi English langgwej haz becum dhi eprōbrium
ev English scolarz. Dhi grēt scolarz wer natyurali dhi fürst tu spīk aut bōldli.
Dhi grētest jīnyus amung gramērianz, Jacob Grimm, but a fiu yīrz agō cengratyu-
lēted dhi udher Europeans dhat dhi English had net med dhi discuveri dhat a
hwimzical anticwēted ērthegrafi stud in dhi we ev dhi yūniversal acsēptans ev dhi
langgwej. Nau wĩ cud fil a velyum widh expozishun and objurgēshun ev dhi
unaprōchabl badnes ev aur speling, from dhi penz ov eminent Englishmen and
Americanz.
Hwail dhis mūvment wez gōing en amung dhi scolarz, anudher strim ov influens
tuk its rais amung ticherz. Fiu chēnjez ov dhi last sentyuri är grēter dhan dhōz
in dhi trītment ev children. Dhi methodz ev disiplin and ev tiching and dhi
aparētus fōr dhem är ōl chēnjd. Dhi mēn aparētus yūzd tu bī dhi red. And dhār
wer hārdli eni buks speshali adapted tu dhi capasiti and nīdz ev dhi yung. Dhat
ēbl men, grēt men, shud mēk a studi ev dhem, invent methodz ev instrucshun, rait
buks, mēk ōl ārt and nētyur tribyutari tu dhār enjoiment and imprūvment, iz a
hōlli medern afar. Hapi ār dhi yūth ev dhi prezent jenerēshun; dhē hav dhi wūrld
at dhār fīt. Dhat sum we must bĩ faund ev tîching rīding widhaut tīrz wez plēn.
Nēr iz tendernes för aur children ōl. Wī hav cum tu recegnaiz dhi rait ev man-
hud, and sum ev us ev wumanhud, tu a vois in dhi guvernment. Wi trust aurselvz
tu dhi masez. Dhen dhi masez must bī edyucēted. Dhe must lūrn tu rīd cwicli
and īzili. Ignorans iz blaind and bad.
* Dhi problem ev illiterasi haz leng
bin familyar tu Americanz az wun ov dhi mōst impērtant ev sõshal saiens. It haz
lētli cum up fresh and firful in England. And it iz fuli recegnaizd dhat dhi trubl
laiz in dhi irregyular and unrīzonabl speling ev English. (Address before the
American Institute of Instruction, 1878.)
* *
AMENDED SPELLING WITH OLD TYPES.
It appears from the reports that the committee of the Philological
Association, when they attempted to make a list of amended words,
found it necessary first to determin the ideal alfabet, so as to hav a
guide in accepting particular changes. Could is a markt exampl of un-
pardonabl spelling; the l is sheer blunder, the ou has a wrong sound.
Shal we write cud, cood, kud, kood, kuud, or what? Before it can be de
cided the ideal English alfabet must be fixt. Having reported upon
that in 1877, the committee began upon the list of amended words. In
July, 1878, at the annual meeting at Saratoga, the following report was
made:
FOURTH REPORT, 1878.
In accordance with the plan of preparing a list of words for which an amended
spelling may be adopted concurrent with that now in use, as suggested by Presi-
dent J. Hammond Trumbull at the session of 1875, and favorably reported upon by
the committee of that session, the committee now present the following words as
26
THE SPELLING REFORM.
the beginning of such list, and recommend them for immediate use: Ar, catalog,
definit, gard, giv, har, infinit, liv, tho, thru, wisht.
The committee in their fifth report, at Newport, R. I., in 1879, and
in their sixth report, at Philadelphia, in 1880, recorded the progress of
the movement, but made no further recommendations. They had
enterd into correspondence with a like committee of the Philological
Society of England, with the view of reaching an agreement on the
course to be pursued. The progress of these negotiations is recited in
their subsequent reports. The next meeting was at Cleveland, Ohio.
SEVENTH REPORT, 1881.
The Philological Society of England has just issued a pamflet entitled “Partial
Corections of English Spellings aproovd of by the Philological Society." These
corections ar the result of a discussion introduced by the President, Dr. Murray, in
his retiring adress, on the 21st May, 1880, and continued thru six meetings. Mr.
Sweet was authorized to prepare a statement of the results, and this was finaly
adopted at a special general meeting on January 28th, 1881. The corections ar made
in the interest of etymological and historical truth, and confined to words which
the changes do not much disguize from general readers.
Your Comittee finds that the corections of the Philological Society's pamflet ar
such as ar contemplated in the report of your Comittee of 1875, and in subsequent
reports; and it recomends the imediate adoption of the following corections which
ar therein set forth, and which ar uzed in this report.
Then followd the Rules for Amended Spelling. as givn below.
These corrections were discust in a paper by Prof. March in the
Transactions of the Association for 1881.
In February, 1882, the Philological Society of England took further ac-
tion, as is reherst in the following report of the American Committee:-
EIGHTH REPORT, 1882. (Cambridge, Mass.)
The Philological Society of England has past a resolution requesting H: Sweet,
Esq., to communicate with us, in order to ascertain whether it is practicabl to effect
a complete agreement with the American Philological Association, so that "a joint
scheme might be put forth under the authority of the two chief filological bodies of
the English-speaking world."
Mr. Sweet has communicated with your committee. This agreement on a joint
scheme has been before this Association since 1875, and it is presumed that the Asso-
ciation wil stil regard it as desirabl. As to the manner of preparing the joint list of
amended words, the committee recommend that the work be intrusted to a commit-
tee of the Association, and, since the meetings of the Association ar only annual,
and successiv ratifications and amendments might delay the final agreement very
long, that power to act be granted to the committee within the limits of former
accepted reports, and in accordance with such other instructions as may be givu at
this meeting.
Their report was approved, and they wer authorized to continue the
correspondence with the English society. The committee, which had
previously consisted of five members,-Prof. Thomas R. Lounsbury, of
Yale College, having been chosen in 1881 in place of Prof. S: S. Hal-
deman, deceast—was now increast to seven, by the election of Prof. W:
THE SPELLING REFORM.
27
F. Allen, of the University of Wisconsin, and Prof. Thomas R. Price,
of Columbia College, as additional members. The committee then con-
sisted of Professors March (Chairman), Whitney, Trumbull, Child,
Lounsbury, Allen, and Price.
NINTH REPORT, 1883. (Middletown, Conn.)
In the exercise of the power to act, which was givn to the committee at the last
meeting in response to the communication of the Philological Society of England,
inquiring whether it was practicabl to effect a complete agreement upon amendments
of spelling, so that "a joint scheme might be put forth under the authority of the two
chief filological bodies of the English-speaking world," the committee submitted to
the Philological Society of England, as a basis for the joint scheme, the lists of
amended words and the rules for amendment contained in their report for 1881, as
interpreted by the pamflet on "Partial corrections" issued by the Philological
Society in 1881.
At a meeting of the Philological Society, April 20, 1883, it was voted unanimously
to omit certain of the corrections formerly recommended, so as to bring about an
agreement between the two societies in accordance with the proposal of your com-
mittee. The following scheme of partial reform is now jointly approved by the Phil-
ological Society of England and the American Philological Association, and is rec-
ommended for immediate use:
1.
2.
e.-Drop silent e when foneticaly useless, as in live, vineyard, believe, bronze,
single, engine, granite, eaten, rained, etc.
ea.—Drop a from ea having the sound of č, as in feather, leather, jealous, etc.
Drop e from ea having the sound of a, as in heart, hearken.
3. eau. For beauty uze the old beuty.
4. eo.-Drop o from co having the sound of ě, as in jeopardy, leopard.
5.
6.
For ycoman write yoman.
i.-Drop i of parliament.
o.-For o having the sound of ŭ in but write u in above (abuv), dozen, some
(sum), tongue (tung), and the like.
For women restore wimen.
7. ou.-Drop o from ou having the sound of ŭ, as in journal, nourish, trouble, rough
(ruf), tough (tuf), and the like.
8.
9
10.
11.
12.
13.
u.-Drop silent u after g before a, and in nativ English words, as guarantee,
guard, guess, guest, guild, guilt.
ue.--Drop final ue in apologue, catalogue, etc.; demagogue, pedagogue, etc.; league,
colleague, harangue, tongue, (tung).
y.—Spel rhyme rime.
Dubl consonants may be simplified:
Final b, d, g, n, r, t, f, l, z, as ebb, adā, egg, inn, purr, butt, bailiff, dull, buzz
(not all, hall).
Medial before another consonant, as battle, ripple, written (writn).
Initial unaccented prefixes, and other unaccented syllabls, as in abbreviate,
accuse, affair, etc., curvetting, traveller, etc.
b.-Drop silent b in bomb, crumb, debt, doubt, dumb, lamb, limb, numb, plumb,
subtle, succumb, thumb.
c.-Change c back to s in cinder, expence, fierce, hence, once, pence, scarce, since
source, thence, tierce, whence.
14. ch.-Drop the h of ch in chamomile, choler, cholera, melancholy, school, stomach.
Change to k in ache (ake), anchor (anker).
15.
d.—Change a and ed final to t when so pronounced, as in crossed (crost), looked
lookt), etc., unless the e affects the preceding sound, as in chafed, chanced.
16. g.-Drop g in feign, foreign, sovereign.
28
THE SPELLING REFORM.
17. gh.-Drop hin aghast, burgh, ghost.
Drop gh in haughty, though (tho), through (thru).
Change gh to f where it has that sound, as in cough, enough, laughter,
tough, etc.
18.
1.-Drop l in could.
19.
p.-Drop p in receipt.
20. s.-Drop s in aisle, demesne, island.
Change s to z in distinctiv words, as in abuse verb, house verb, rise verb,
etc.
21. sc. Drop c in scent, scythe (sithe).
22. tch.-Drop t, as in catch, pitch, witch, etc.
23.
w.-Drop w in whole.
24. ph.-Write ƒ for ph, as in philosophy, sphere, etc.
These recommendations ar known as the "Joint Rules for Amended Spelling," or
as the "Twenty-four Rules." They cuver the main points as to which there is sub-
stantially no further question between the two societies or among reformers in sym-
pathy with them. Points as to which the societies do not agree, or which it does
not seem expedient, in the present stage of the reform, to decide, ar expressly held
back for further consideration.
The rules thus derived necessarily differ in importance and in the extent of their
application. Sum ar very comprehensiv, sum affect only limited classes of words,
and sum ar mere lists of words to be amended. They ar arranged in the alfabetical
order of the letters omitted or changed. The rules proper may be reduced to 10, as
givn with the alfabetic list of words in Appendix A. All ar to be interpreted and
explaind by the reports and records abuv mentiond.
It should be noted that the rules do not apply to proper names, or to titles or
official designations like "Philological Association," or "Phonetic Journal," while
they may, nevertheless, apply to the individual words which enter into such desig-
nations, as filological, fonetic, jurnal.
There ar sufficient reasons against meddling with proper names and titles. They
may wel be left to adjust themselvs to a fonetic standard when such a standard is
establisht for common words.
The several changes ar all consistent with each other, and enabl any one who has
the spirit of progress in him to exhibit that spirit in practical action, not only free
from the risks of individual preference or caprice, but with the knowledge that he
is acting upon the advice, and in accordance with the practice, of scolars of the
highest eminence in English filology. The common law of English spelling, how-
ever burdensum it may be in sum of its applications, is not to be violently alterd by
the lynch-law of individual indignation. It must be amended in orderly fashion by
the accepted representativs of the peple in such matters, the leaders in lerning, in
literature, and in science, advizing and consenting to such change.
REPORTS FOR 1884-1885 (HANOVER, N. H., NEW HAVEN).
The committee of the American Philological Association corre-
sponded with that of the Philological Society of England upon the
preparation of an official list of all the words of which the rules
adopted in 1883 wil change the spelling, but without securing official
action, no one wishing to undertake the labor.
REPORT FOR 1886 (ITHACA).
Professor March, as chairman of the committee on the reform of
English spelling, presented an alfabetic list of words to which the
(
THE SPELLING REFORM.
29
joint rules apply, which wer recommended by the association and the
Philological Society of England in 1883. This list is a selection of
some 3,500 words to no one of which, it is believd, can reasonabl objec-
tion be made. The relations of each change to history, to etymology,
to popular recognition, to familiar associations, hav been weighd, and
all the words ar recommended for immediate use.
The list, with accompanying explanations, was printed in the trans-
actions of the association for 1885, reprinted by the Spelling Reform
Association in 1887, and in the Century Dictionary in 1892. It is here
givn as an appendix, so that it may be most easy of access.
With the printing of this list the expert work of the Philological
Association was finisht for the time. It still has yearly reports of the
progress of the reform. Its action has been taken nemine contradi-
cente.
THE MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA.
"
The Modern Language Association of America is composed mainly
of professors of English, French, German, and other modern languages
in our universities and colleges, with officers from Harvard (James
Russell Lowell was president at his deth in 1891), Yale, Johns-Hop-
kins, Princeton, University of Michigan, Virginia, Texas, California,
etc. At its annual meeting in Washington, January, 1893, the follow-
ing resolution was adopted after a good discussion, nemine contradicente:
Resolvd, That the Modern Language Association of America unites with the
Philological Society of England and the American Philological Association in rec-
ommending the joint rules for amended spelling and the alfabetical list of amended
words publisht in the transactions of the American Association and in the Century
Dictionary.
THE SPELLING REFORM ASSOCIATION.
After the organization of the Spelling Reform Association in August,
1876, and while waiting for the action of the filologists, its members
set themselvs to produce and concentrate dissatisfaction with the old
spelling. Quarterly meetings wer held at Philadelphia, Boston, and
New York. The membership was largely increast. A bulletin was
issued. The members wrote articls for newspapers and magazines and
visited and addrest teachers' associations and other organizations. The
result of these labors wil be set forth more in detail when we speak of
teachers, the press, and the State.
The annual meeting in 1877 was held at Baltimore immediately after
the adjurnment of the Philological Association. Profs. F. A. March,
S. S. Haldeman, and W. D. Whitney had been appointed a committee
on new spellings, and persons having new schemes had been requested
to submit them to the consideration of the committee. Scores of new
alfabets and sets of rules, accompanied often with voluminous exposi-
tion, wer sent in. The committee now made a final report upon them,
30
THE SPELLING REFORM.
which recited the action of the Philological Association and reported
for general use and for the publications of the Spelling Reform Asso-
ciation the alfabet therein set forth, and recommended the attempt to
bring it into immediate use in the manner set forth in the final sugges-
tions of the filological report. This report was adopted, no one dis-
senting.
The committee of publication proceeded to procure types and script
plates for the new letters and to make the alfabet known to the public.
Having setld the alfabet, so that it is clearly seen what should be
aimd at, it has been the policy of the Association to encurage all sorts
of changes which tend towards it. Many amendments ar plainly
possibl without the use of new types. The dropping of silent letters
affords the most obvious exampls. The Association has accordingly
recommended various special rules for spelling without new types.
The words hav, giv, and liv are its entering wedge. It givs them a
special indorsement such as the Philological Association givs to the
eleven words ar, catalog, definit, gard, giv, hav, infinit, liv, tho, thru,
wisht.
The following hav become widely known as "The five new rules:"
(1) Omit a from the digraf ea when pronounced as e short, as in hed, helth, etc. (2)
Omit silent final e after a short vowel, as in hav, giv, etc. (3) Write ƒ for ph in such
words as alfabet, fantom, etc. (4) When a word ends with a dubl letter, omit the
last, as in shal, clif, eg, etc. (5) Change ed final to t where it has the sound of t, as in
lasht, imprest, etc.
The Association also printed a more extended proper order of changes,
which is here givn in the original transition types and spelling. See p. 22.
New letters.-For redera the introduction of new letera ia the baiest chang.
Printera do the wurk for them. It is advįed to üa new letera at first only for thẻ
old letera which they resembl in form. It is not necesary to üe them all. Printera
ar urgd to üz one or two, if they think mor ar dangerus. Most important ar e and
u, then a. New g for g with the sound of j may be üed without disturbing the most
fastidius; so may ç and i.
Dropping letters.-Writing ia a diferent mater from reding. Old muscular habits
interfer with new letera or any uther changea in writing. Children wil lern the
new aa redily aa the old; but for grown persona, the eziest changes ar the droping.
of silent letera. Vowela ar éziest to drop, and amung vowela, e. When silent after
a short vowel it ia both west and blunder; hav spela the wurd intended; have shud
rịm with gave, slave, knave, etç.; genuin spelz the wurd, genuine ia a vulgar coruption
Long wurde bear changes beter than short wurda. So that we hav the folowing
order for dreping silent final e and uther silent letera:
I. Final silent e.
1. With short preceding vowel. (a) In long wurde: practicabl, accessibl, imbeçil,
periwinkl, mediçin, treatis, recompens, hypocrit, infinit, indicativ. Many hundreda
of wurda belong to this clas, in great part lerned terma from Greek or Latin, and
comun to many languages. To scholars they look mor natüral and scholarly, as
most languagea writ them, without the final c. (b) In shert wurds: hav, liv, giv.
2. With long vowel preceding. (a) The long sound represented by two letera in
the old speling: frontispieç, peaç, veiç, releas, believ, perceįv, praia, peia, etc. (b)
The long sound reprezented by a singl leter in old speling: imbib, glob, popüleç,
suffiç, undertak, provok, cenfiscat, constitüt, persecüt, and hundreda mor.
THE SPELLING REFORM.
31
Drop it olso in plurala and uther inflexiona: reprezentativa, giva, livd, compeld, etc.
II. T for ed.
Anuther bay chang comun in old English, and agen becuming so, ia to wrịt t fer
ed, when it ia so pronounçt: kist, wurshipt, lasht, imprest, approcht, etc.
III. Other letters.
1. Omit final ue in catalog, celeag, harang, etc.
2. Omit a from the digraf ea when pronounçt az e short: hed, heven, helth, welth,
zelus, etc.
3. Omit gh when silent, and suply its plac with ƒ when pronounçt aa f: dauter,
slauter, tho, altho, thru, enuf, ruf, etc.
4. Writ ƒ for ph in alfabet, fantom, camfor, filesofy, etc.
5. Writ i er c fer ch in all wurde in which ch ia pronounçt aa k: arkitect, monarc,
kemistry, caracter, crenicl, etc.
6. Omit b, c, d, f, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, w, z, ch, rh, and th when silent, aa in the
felowing example:
b in eb, det, lam, lim, etc.
c in abses, absind, acquies, coales, efferves, sent (scent), septer, simitar, sjon (scion),
vitla, etc.
d in Weneday, ad, od, etc.
ƒ in buf, bluf, clif, muf, scef, stif, etc.
g in apothem, arrain, campain, narl, nash, naw, eg, etc.
h in gost, agast, gastly, rįm, rubarb, retoric, burg, etc.; enest, enor, our, etc.
k in née (knee), nėad, nel, nịf, nec (knock), etc.
lin bam (balm), cam, pam, sam (psalm), shal, wel, etc.
m in nemonic, etc.
n in autum, condem, dam, selem, hym (hymn), etc.
p in nümatic, nümonia, sam (psalm), südonym, etc.
rin bur, er, pur, etc.
8 in apropo, įl (isle), įland, įl (aisle), vįcount, etc.; bras, ges (guess), fulnes, etc.
tin brunet, depo, glisen, lisen, ofen, mergeg, bach (batch), lach, etc.
w in hoop (whoop), sord (sword).
z in buz, fuz, etc.
ch in dram (drachm), siem, siamatic.
ph and th in tizic (phthisic), ismus, ete.
rh in catar (catarrh), etc.
7. Omit a, e, i, o, and u when sįlent, aa in the wurda siv (sieve), forfit, counterfit,
mulin, surfit, etc.; adiu, purliu, frend, plad; lepard; bild, gard, garantė, ges, gitar,
biscit, condit, çircit, dant, lanch, stanch, etc.
8. And cheng eau to o in bo (beau), büro, etc.
A Leag was started in 1881 with a pledge now circulated and signd
in form as follows:
Spelling Reform Leag.
I hereby giv my name to be used in the list of advocates of spelling reform, and
agree to adopt for general use the simplified spellings indicated by the number fol-
lowing my signature. The numbers signify: I wil—
(1) Use the simplified forms allowd by standard dictionaries, as program, favor,
etc.
ar.
(2) Use the Two Words; tho, thru.
(3) Use the Ten Words: tho, thru, wisht, catalog, definit, hav, giv, liv, garð,
(4) Use the Two Rules: 1. Use ƒ for ph sounded as ƒ, as in alfabet, fantom,
filosofy, etc. 2. Use t for d or ed final sounded as t, as in fixt, tipt, stopt, clast, crost,
distrost, etc.
32
THE SPELLING REFORM.
(5) Use the Five Rules: 1 and 2 as in 4. 3. Drop a from digraf ea sounded as
short e, as in hed, helth, sted, etc. 4. Drop silent e final in a short syllable, as in
hav, giv, liv, forbad, reptil, hostil, engin, infinit, opposit, activ, etc. 5. When a word
ends with a double letter, omit the last, as in eb, ad, staf, stif, stuf, eg, shal, wil, tel,
wel, dul, lul, etc.
(6) Use the 24 Joint Rules of the American and English Philological Associations.
(7) Use all changes recommended by the Philological Associations.
The rules ar brief; changes that suggest a wrong pronunciation ar excepted. Ful injormation on re-
quest.
Signing binds to general use, but not to invariabl use. Send signd pledges, to be indext for
reference, to the Secretary of the Spelling Reform Association, Melvil Dewey, Columbia College,
New York.
[Sign here.]
Name.
P. O. Address.
No.
During the year 1877-'78 quarterly meetings wer held at New York,
St. Louis, and Boston. That at St. Louis was a general convention
introduced to the public by able articls in the leading jurnals and
addrest by Vice President Hon. W. T. Harris and Mr. T. H. Vickroy
in papers which wer printed in ful. The convention finally resolvd
itself into a branch of the Association.
The second annual meeting, July, 1878, was held in the White Moun-
tains in connection with the American Institute of Instruction.
The third annual meeting was held at Philadelphia, as a department
of the National Educational Association, and the annual meetings wer
held with that association until 1882, since which time they hav been
held at the same time and place as those of the American Philological
Association.
The addresses and papers, and proceedings generally, at these meet-
ings hav been addrest to the practical work of the reform and hav not
mooted alfabetic schemes.
The Association claims that the reference of all alfabetical questions to the Phil-
ological Association is wise in principl. The authority of experts [they say] is a
characteristic of our time. In it reason supersedes the warfare of prejudices and
stupidities, the so-calld strugl for life. Arbitration supersedes war. There ar
few better matters in which to apply this principl than alfabetic discussions. They
seem so easy that the most ignorant scool-boy thinks he can understand them.
The bright teacher or editor hears of the reform on Saturday, incubates Sunday, has
his scheme redy on Monday. And so conflicting ar the analogies of our spelling
that every scheme has sum good things to say for itself. But the facts ar so
numerous, their relations so complex and far-reaching, and the interests involvd so
numerous and peculiar, that a sagacious decision requires the most extensiv lerning
and penetration, and large, sound, roundabout sense. The study of fonology is the
foundation of the scientific study of language, and many of the best minds in the
world spend their days and nights in it. The decision of one such mind must over-
weigh a hole association of others. Then a bench of experts wil make a decision
speedily, while general discussion and voting on such a subject last forever, and
produce a chaos of conflicting decisions. The Spelling Reform Association in Eng-
land, founded in 1879, which has attempted to proceed by general discussion and
majority votes of preference, is stil debating its alfabets, and taking its plebiscita.
Another fundamental principl adopted at the first by the American Association is
that spelling reformers recognize a standard orthoepy. "We ar met," they said,
THE SPELLING REFORM.
33
'to reform orthografy, not orthoepy; we hav to do with writing, not pronunciation.
There ar all sorts of English peple, and words ar pronounced in all sorts of ways. It
is the work of the orthoepist to observ all these different ways, and to decide which
is the prevailing pronunciation of the most cultured, to decide which is the standard
English pronunciation. The orthografer tels how to represent this pronunciation
in writing. The orthoepist has many nice and difficult questions to solv. We enter
into his labors. We take for granted that there is a standard pronunciation of
English. We wish to see it represented by simpl and reasonabl alfabetic signs."
The alfabet of standard orthografy is recognized as different from an alfabet for
scientific fonology. "An alfabet intended for use by a vast comunity need not at-
tempt an exhaustiv analysis of the elements of utterance, or a representation of the
nicest varieties of articulation." "The general standard of a great nation must al-
ways be severely simpl. It is not desirabl to admit in it the ever-varying glides and
finishes and culorings of fashionabl or vulgar articulation; or even the more stable
and general culorings produced by adjacent letters, as long as they ar without
significance."
The American Association has acted on theze principls. It follows the pronounc-
ing dictionaries. It abjures peculiar orthoepy. This position is essential to spelling
reform in the English language. The Londoner has a different way of sounding
many of the elementary letters from that of a Scotchman, or that of an American-
the a in man, for exampl, the e in there, the o in note. If an alfabet is adopted which
goes behind the historical distinctions, and ads new characters which discriminate
the speech of London from that of Edinburgh and of Boston, it wil separate the
English language into several dialects, and no Londoner wil be able to read an
American book. The Londoners do not seem to think of any such impending priva-
tion. They take for granted that natural unsofisticated Londonese, the speech of
the gentleman and scolar of the metropolis, is what is ment by standard English;
that if it can only be set forth in print with all its glides and finishes, all its runs of
unaccented, indistinguishabl murmurs, and varied droppings and insertions, the rest
of the world wil accept and try to imitate.
So far as the spelling reform is concernd we may be sure this is not so. We shal
never be able to reform our spelling by substituting colloquial Londonese for the
present standard spelling. It ought to be one of the "General Principls" of every
spelling reform association that no new alfabetic distinctions shal be recognized
which wil promote division among the English-speaking nations.
The temptation to tamper with pronunciation, if not to thuroly overhaul it, is
almost irresistibl to the spelling reformer.
D
The practical reformer, shrinking from his queer-looking words, finds that he can
secure a comparativly natural-looking page by slight changes of pronunciation.
Mr. Isaac Pitman, whose alfabet is on the hole admirabl, has a queer-looking type
for a in father. He shuns the use of it. In a specimen of his printing issued as such
by himself we find ho uzes it but once, tho the pronunciation of the dictionaries would
call for it 22 times. And so this noble sound, the leader in all alfabets, is buried in
Pitman English.
In a similar manner Mr. Pitman favors the insular English o in nôt; mainly, it
would seem, because he uzes the common type o for it, and new types for o in no, for
au in author, nor, and for u in but, son. He lets the o stand in unaccented syllabls,
and sumtimes elsewhere, for all three of theze so different sounds. He prints it in
the specimen just referd to 53 times, where the dictionaries would giv it only 24.
If so eminent a leader as Mr. Pitman yields to temptation in this way, what can be
expected of the minor alfabetic inventors?
The young fonologists also find it hard to rest with the pronunciation of the dic-
tionaries. The microscopic investigation of living speech is just now the fashion,
is one of the most novel and inviting fields of original reserch. Why not uze the
spelling reform to prosecute such reserches? It is certainly important scientific
439————3
34
THE SPELLING REFORM.
work. Who knows whether spelling reform wil ever cum to anything else? Can it
ever cum to anything before these thuro investigations hav been made? With sum
such views, most likely, the English Spelling Reform Association has been sending
out elaborate circulars of inquiry about obscure and variant articulation. They
may perhaps accumulate data for science, tho the answers of the laity to such ques-
tions hav the same sort of value as their reports of meteors as big as barrels, or of
sea-serpents. But meantime the children ar wailing over the old spelling; filan-
thropy does not join in these excursions of fonology. Where spelling reformers
marshal their forces for fonologic achievment, filanthropists decline to enlist. Stand-
ard pronunciation and standard alfabets ar peculiar problems. A standard speech
is an ideal. It implies induction and history as wel as observation. It implies
authority abuv colloquial dialects. It has a right of possession which can only be
vested by the consent of the dialects.
The Association leaves these problems to experts. It has adrest itself mainly to
disseminating its views of the irrationality and mischievousness of the old spelling,
and to urging the use of the amended speilings recommended by the experts.
The Association acts as a literary bureau to provide lecturers and
procure and disseminate spelling reform literature and stationery. Au-
thors of pamflets or reform matter in any shape ar requested to
send copies to the repository in Boston for consultation and distribu-
tion. Orders may be sent to it for new types and printing in amended
spelling. It issues bulletins and a quarterly magazine called "Spell-
ing"; it solicits subscriptions to republish passages from the works
of the authorities on this subject and for reform A B C books, charts,
blocks, readers, and other scool books and apparatus; it urges the
reform specially upon teachers, the press, and the State. Dr. C. P. G.
Scott and Melvill Dewey hav done most of its work.
ILLITERACY AND EDUCATION.
The relations of spelling to illiteracy and education ar thus set forth
by a commission on amended orthografy authorized by the legislature
of Pennsylvania, in a report made April 8, 1889, to the senate and
house of representativs of that Commonwelth:
(1) It is currently stated by students of language that English words as com-
monly spelt contain a large proportion of letters which ar superfluous and mislead-
ing, and which greatly increase the cost of writing and printing.
(2) It is currently stated by leading educators that the irregular spelling of the
English language causes a loss of two years of the scool time of each child, and is
a main cause of the alarming illiteracy of our peple; that it involvs an expense of
many millions of dollars annually for teachers, and that it is an obstacl in many other
ways to the progress of education among those speaking the English language, and
to the spred of the language among other nations.
(3) Leading educators, among whom ar many teachers of much practical experi-
ence, and associations of lerned scolars declare it possibl to improve our spelling
and hav proposed plans of improvement.
First. The cost of printing superfluous and misleading letters. These ar such as
the final "ugh" in "though," the final "me" of "programme," the final "ue" of
catalogue," the final "c" of "genuine" and "engine," the final "1" in "shall” and
"will." It is found that the removal of silent e's would save four per cent of all the
letters on a common printed page, the removal of one consonant of each pair of
duplicated consonants would save 1.6 per cent. In the New Testament printed in
fonetic types, in 1849, by A. J. Ellis one hundred letters and spaces ar represented
THE SPELLING REFORM.
-35
by eighty-three. As far as printing and paper ar concernd, a six-dollar book would
be thus reduced to five dollars. The matter of six volumes of the public documents
would cost for printing as much as five now do.
The report of the Superintendent of Public Printing and Binding for the year end-
ing June 30, 1887, shows an expenditure of $156,427.53. It would seem that the re-
duction in this bil would be nearly $20,000, after making allowance for the litho-
grafic work and binding.
If we trace the saving of muney to the pepl from the use of simpl spelling in all
printing and writing, it is plainly very great. All books may cost one-sixth less.
The Encyclopædia Britannica would make twenty volumes insted of twenty-four,
and cost twenty-four dollars less. The newspapers would all save one column in
six. One-sixth would be saved in all writing, in the manuscripts of books and
periodicals, the records of courts, deeds, wills and other legal documents, the ser-
mous of preachers, the books of merchants and other men of business, and corre-
spondence of all sorts. In the year ending June 30, 1886, in our American post-
offices there wer sold 1,147,906,400 two cent postage stamps, 152,742,250 stampt
envelopes; the aggregate of all stamps, stampt envelopes, wrappers and cards was
2,342,364,871. Adding the postage of Great Britain, it is likely that three billions
of writn communications in English past thru the mails in that year. One-sixth
of the labor of writing is wel wurth saving.
Second. The defects in English orthografy constitute an impediment in education.
The Honorable J. H. Gladstone has carefully collected the statistics of the English
scools, and he finds that the average time allotted to spelling, reading and dictation
is 32.2 per cent of the time devoted to secular instruction. An average English chit
spending eight years in scool spends 2,320 scool hours in these exercises. He con-
cludes that 720 hours of spelling lessons might be dispenst with if our spelling wer
simplified. And further, upon comparing the scools in England with those of Italy,
Germany, and other cuntries, he is convinced that "if English orthografy represented
English pronunciation as closely as the Italian does, at least half the time and
expense of teaching to read and spel would be saved. This may be taken as 1,200
hours of a lifetime, and as more than half a million of muncy [$2,500,000] per annum
for England and Wales alone.
In the elementary scools of Italy, tho the
aggregate time of scooling is shorter, the children lern much about the laws of helth,
and domestic and social economy. In Germany they acquire considerabl knowledge
of literature and science, and in Holland they take up foren languages. It is
lamentabl how small a proportion of our scolars ever advance beyond the mere rudi-
ments of lerning; a circumstance the more to be regretted as they wil hav to compete
with those foren workmen whose erly education was not weighted with an absurd
and antiquated orthografy.”
The commission has requested sum of the superintendents of scools in this Com-
monwelth to furnish them the statistics of our scools. They agree substantially with
those publisht by Mr. Gladstone. The views of the Hon. James McAllister, the
superintendent of the scools of Philadelphia ar containd in Appendix A. A com-
munication is also added from the Hon. W. T. Harris, for many years superintendent
of the scools in St. Louis, in which he givs an account of an improved system of
printing reading books used in these scools, by which time is gaind for the pupils.
To this may be added the testimony of Prof. W. D. Whitney:
There is one dominant, practical reason for a reform of our orthografy, and it is this-
the immense waste of time and effort involvd in lerning the present irregular spell-
ing. It is the generations of children to cum who appeal to us to save them from
the affliction which we hav endured and forgotn. It has been calculated over and
over again how many years ar, on an average, thrown away in the education of
every child, in memorizing that intricate tangl of rules and exceptions which con-
stitutes English so-called orthografy, and how many millions of muney ar wasted
36
THE SPELLING REFORM.
in the process on each generation; and it has been pointed out how imperfect is the
result reacht; how many lerners never get out of the stage of trying to lern to
spel; how much more generally the first step in education, reading, could be suc-
cessfully taken, if we had a purely fonetic way of writing. How many grow puzl-
heded over this dredful difficulty at the outset, and lose curage and inclination to
go further, perhaps even teachers do not fully realize. This, then, it seems to me,
is the ground on which the urgency of spelling reform rests. This is the positiv
thing to be insisted on and strengthend by new testimonies and statistics, and
prest home upon the unbelieving and the careless, and brought to the full realiza-
tion of those whose imagination is too sluggish to let them see it for themselvs.
This is the reformer's offensiv wepon; elswhere he may fairly stand on the defen-
siv, simply warding off the objections urged against his work from the various
points of view of the conservativs, who ar quite unaware that they ar conserva-
tivs purely, and fancy that they hav great principls to defend.
Prof. Max Müller also, in an articl in favor of spelling reform, says
that the highest point attempted in the new scools was that the pupil
should be able to read with tolerabl ease and expression a passage
from a newspaper, and spel the same with tolerabl accuracy. About
200,000 complete the course every year. Ninety per cent of these leav
without reaching the grade just mentiond. There ar five lower grades.
Eighty per cent fall short of the fifth grade, and 60 per cent fall short
of the fourth. The bulk of the children, therefore, pass thru the gov-
ernment scools without lerning to read and spel tolerably. The time
and muney which wer to hav educated the new masters of England ar
wasted in a vain attempt to teach them to read and spel.
Dr. Morell, one of Her Majesty's inspectors of scools, points out
very clearly the cause of this failure:
*
光​片
​The main difficulty of reading English arises from the intrinsic irregularity of the
English language. A confusion of ideas sets in in the mind of the child respecting
the powers of the letters, which is very slowly and very painfully cleard up by
chance, habit, or experience, and his capacity to know words is gaind by an immense
series of tentativ efforts.
It appears that out of 1,972 failures in the civil
service examinations, 1,866 candidates wer pluckt for spelling-that is, eighteen
out of every nineteen who faild, faild in spelling. It is certain that the ear is no
guide in the spelling of English, rather the reverse, and that it is almost necessary
to form a personal acquaintance with each individual word. It would, in fact,
require a study of Latin, French, and Anglo-Saxon to enable a person to spel with
faultless accuracy, but this, in most cases, is impossibl.
Max Müller enforces it in this wise:
"Can
The question, then, that wil hav to be answerd sooner or later is this:
this unsystematic system of spelling English be allowd to go on forever?" Is every
English child, as compared with other children, to be mulcted in two or three years
of his life in order to lern it? Ar the lower classes to go thru scool without lern-
ing to read and write their own language intelligently? And is the cuntry to pay
millions every year for this utter failure of national education? I do not believ or
think that such a state of things wil be allowd to go on forever, particularly as a
remedy is at hand. I consider that the sooner it is taken in hand the better. There
is a motiv power behind these fonetic reformers which Archbishop Trench has hardly
taken into account. I mean the misery endured by millions of children at scools,
who might lern in one year, and with real advantage to themselves, what they now
require four or five years to lern, and seldom succeed in lerning after all.
THE SPELLING REFORM.
37
The following is an account of Leigh's system in St. Louis, by Hon.
W. T. Harris, superintendent in St. Louis, 1868-1881:
The irregularities in English orthografy ar, as is wel known, the cause of a wide
departure on the part of our elementary education, from what exists in other cuntries,
where English is not spoken. In Germany or Italy the child can correctly spel
any word he hears, or pronounce any word he sees, after he becomes familiar with
the powers of the letters of his alfabet. Hence, the forener spends a very small
portion of his time in lerning to spel his own language, while if he would lern to
spel our English language correctly, he must giv years of study to it. And what is
wurst of all, this study is only an exercize of the memory, and not a cultivation of
the reason or of the power to think. There ar few general principls or suggestiv
analogies to lighten the burden. The American child must spend a large portion of
his scool days lerning, one by one, the peculiar combinations of the writn words
of his language.
It is found to be a great saving of time to lern to read by a fonetic alfabet first,
and then change to the ordinary alfabet by degrees. The modified alfabet invented
by Dr. Edwin Leigh has now been in use with us many years and stil givs as great
satisfaction as in the first years of its adoption. It is desirabl that the child which
is just beginning his education should hav something consistent and logical, method-
ical and filosofical, to employ his mind upon, rather than sumthing without either
analogy or system, for these first impressions hav sumtimes the power to change
and fix the hole bent of the mind. Dr. Leigh's method of teaching reading by a
modified alfabet was introduced into the scools of St. Louis in 1866. By this system
the child has an alfabet in which each character represents one sound uniformly.
Its only defect is that it has more than one character for the same sound. This would
be a defect in a perfect alfabet; but in an alfabet designd merely as an introduction
and preparatory step for the ordinary spelling, it is a great advantage. With this
modified alfabet of Dr. Leigh we find the following advantages:
1. Gain of time—a saving of one year out of the two years usually occupied in
lerning to call off easy words at sight.
2. Distinct articulation, the removal of foren accent and of local and peculiar pro-
nunciations.
3. The development of logical power of mind in the pupil. He can safely be taught
to analyze a word into its sounds and find the letters representing them, whereas
with the ordinary orthografy it is an insult to his reason to assure him that a sound
is represented by any particular letter. Hense analytical power is traind by the
fonetic method, insted of mere memory, from the day of his entrance into scool-and
analytical power is the basis of all thinking activity.
"The logical inconsistency of the ordinary alfabet makes the old system a very
injurious disciplin for the yung mind. The erliest studies should be the most logical
and consistent. One does not realize how absurd our alfabet is until he finds that
of the six vowels, A has 8 uses, E 8, I 7, O 12, U 9, Y 3, so that the singl vowels hav
collectivly 47 uses, giving an average of 7½ apiece. Among the consonants, B has
two uses (counting the silent ones), C 6, D 4, F 3, G 4, H 3, J 5, K 2, L 3, M 3, N 3,
P 2, Q 3, R 2, S 5, T 5, V 2, W 2, X 5, Y 2, Z 4; i. e., 21 consonants hav 70 uses, aver-
aging 31 apiece. It is easy to show how many different pronunciations a word may
hav by permutation. But while there is much difficulty in determining the proper
pronunciation from the spelling it is stil more difficult to ascertain the proper letters
for the spoken word from analogy. The sound of E in mete has no less than 40
equivalents in the language, A in mate has 34, A in father 2, A in fall 21, E in met
36, etc. Thus it happens that the word scissors may be speld 58,365,440 different
ways and stil hav analogies justifying each combination. The word scissors being
composed of six elementary sounds, the first one (S) is represented in 17 different
ways, the second 36, the third 17, the fourth 33, the fifth 10, the sixth 17; it results
38
THE SPELLING REFORM.
that there are 17;:36×17×33×10×17 different modes of spelling scissors. (See A.
J. Ellis' Plea for Phonetics.)
The fact that one is never quite sure of the pronunciation of a new printed word
he has never herd pronounced, and never quite sure of the spelling of a word he has
only herd pronounced, and not seen in print, is sufficient to prove the illogical and
capricious character of our orthografy. In place of this complexity and inconsis-
tency, the fonetic system substitutes simplicity and consistency. The child seizes
elements from the start. Analysis and synthesis-the complementary processes of
the thinking activity-ar reacht at the beginning; and what the child lerns the
first year is now found to place him more than a year in advance of his former
status, for the reason that his quickend intelligence has been disciplind to seize sub-
jects in a correct manner. With these considerations the fact wil not seem strange
that pupils who ar taught to read fonetically make better arithmetic and grammar
scolars and ar more wide awake and attentiv, have finer discriminations-in short,
ar more distinguisht in those traits of mind that flow from analytic training.
These views hav been presented in my reports as superintendent of the schools of
St. Louis. (Seo especially the reports for 1870–71, pp. 225, 227, and 1876-77, pp. 182–
185.) We claimd that we saved a year in lerning to read, and as the same system is
stil in use in St. Louis after twenty years, and the claim is stil made for it, I con-
sider the question setld.
Mr. Gladstone says the fonic system of Dr. Edwin Leigh has been
carried out in America on so extensiv a scale that its results may be
accepted as very valuabl, if not conclusiv. In Sir Charles Reed's re-
port he states: "In Boston, where the children hav not more than four
of five years' scooling, the uniform result is a saving of half the time,
two years' work being done in one." Similar estimates hav been made
by the scool boards of St. Louis and Washington, and by the educa-
tional authorities of Illinois, Iowa, and other States. This report is
found in the Blue Book on the Philadelphia International Exhibition.
Similar methods ar found serviceabl in overcuming the difficulties
presented by French orthografy. In the scools of Paris there ar in
use at the present moment three different systems sumwhat analogous
to those alluded to in the text. They ar the Méthode Régimbeau, the
Méthode Néel, and La Citolégie, by H. A. Dupont. (Spelling Reform,
by J. H. Gladstone, p. 12.)
Sumwhat similar results may be obtaind by using any fonetic al-
fabet with beginners and passing from it to common reading. But
these ar only ingenious ways of lessening difficulties of lerning our
irregularities of spelling, difficulties which do not exist in a wel spelt
language.
THE TEACHERS.
The members of the American Philological Association ar most of
them teachers, and many ar activ members of teachers' associations.
The action in the Philological Association in 1875 was immediately fol-
lowd by responses from the teachers of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
In August of that year a paper was red before the State Teachers' As-
sociation of Pennsylvania setting forth the action of the filologists.
The response of the professors of normal schools and other leaders was
THE SPELLING REFORM.
39
that they had supposed that the present spelling was retaind to please
the filologists; if they did not want it, certainly nobody else did.
The following resolution was adopted without dissent:
Resolvd, That we hail with plezure the contemplated change in the method of spel-
ling, and that we wil most hartily cooperate with and aid any feasibl plans for bring-
ing about so desirabl a result; also, that a committee of five be appointed to confer
with that raizd by the Philological Convention for a like purpose, and that, if deemd
advisabl, said committee be instructed to memorialize the legislature to aid the work
by legal enactments.
The committee consisted of Prof. F. A. March, of Lafayette College;
Hon. J. P. Wickersham, State superintendent of education; and (from
State normal schools) E. B. Fairfield, A. N. Raub, and W. W. Woodruff,
Similar action followd in the State Teachers' Convention of New
Jersey.
In July, 1877, the State Teachers' Association of New York appointed
a committee to ask the legislature of that State to create a commission
to inquire into the reform, and report how far it may be desirabl to
adopt amended spelling in the public documents and direct its use in
the public schools.
The Ohio State Teachers' Association also took action in favor of the
reform.
In 1878 the following memorial was prepared:
To the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States in Congress assembled:
This memorial of the undersignd, members of the American Philological Associ-
ation and others, respectfully represents that it is currently stated by leading educa-
tors that the irregular spelling of the English language causes a loss of two years of
the scool time of each child and is a main cause of the alarming illiteracy of our
peple; that it involvs an expense of hundreds of millions of dollars annually for
teachers and for writing and printing superfluous letters, and that it is an obstacl
in many other ways to the progress of education among those speaking the English
language, and to the spred of the language among other nations.
It further represents that leading educators, among whom ar many teachers of
much practical experience, and associations of lerned scolars declare it possibl to
reform our spelling and hav proposed schemes of reform.
The prayer of your memorialists therefore is that your honorabl body may see fit
to appoint a commission to examin and report how far such a reform is desirabl, and
what amendments in orthografy, if any, may be wisely introduced into the public
documents and the scools of the District of Columbia and accepted in examinations
for the civil service, and whether it is expedient to move the Government of Great
Britain to unite in constituting a joint committee to consider such amendments.
And your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray, etc.
It was heded by the members of the spelling reform committee: F.
A. March, chairman, Lafayette College; W. D. Whitney, Yale College;
J. Hammond Trumbull, Yale College; F. J. Child, Harvard College; S.
S. Haldeman, University of Pennsylvania.
Then follow the other ex-presidents of the American Philological
Association: Howard Crosby, president of the University of New
York; W. W. Goodwin, Harvard College; A. Harkness, Brown Uni-
40
THE SPELLING REFORM.
versity; J. B. Sewall, Bowdoin College; and C. H. Toy, president of
the association.
It is also signd by filologists and professors. in the following uni-
versities and colleges: Bowdoin College, Me.; Dartmouth College, N.
H.; Amherst College, Mass.; Andover Theological Seminary, Mass.;
Harvard College, Mass.; Phillips Academy, Mass.; Williams College,
Mass.; Brown University, R. I.; University Grammar School, R. I.;
Trinity College, Conn.; Yale College, Conn.; Hopkins Grammar School,
Conn.; Cornell University, N. Y.; Rochester Theological Seminary, N.
Y.; University of New York, N. Y.; Princeton College, N. J.; Franklin
and Marshall College, Pa.; Lafayette College, Pa.; University of Penn-
sylvania, Pa.; Haverford College, Pa.; Washington and Jefferson Col-
lege, Pa.; Johns Hopkins University, Md.; St. John's College, Md.;
Hiram College, Ohio; Marietta College, Ohio; State University, Ohio;
Wesleyan University, Ohio; Wooster University, Ohio; Illinois Indus-
trial University, Ill.; Northwestern University, Ill.; Shurtleff College,
Ill.; Adrian College, Mich.; Michigan University, Mich.; Iowa College,
Iowa; Cornell College, Iowa; Lawrence University, Wis.; Central Col-
lege, Mo.; Baptist Theological Seminary, Ky.; Logan Female Institute,
Ky.; Vanderbilt University, Tenn.; East Tennessee University, Tenn.;
University of Virginia, Va.; University of Alabama, Ala.; University
of Mississippi, Miss.; State Agricultural College, Oreg.; Agricultural
and Mechanical College, Tex.; the United States Naval Observatory,
Washington, &c.—about fifty leading colleges.
These colleges, it should be noticed, ar those interested in the Philo-
logical Association. The memorial was not sent out to colleges in
general.
In many colleges the professors interested themselys to obtain other
signatures, and the names of the most activ and efficient presidents of
colleges-like Dr. Crosby, of New York; Chamberlain, of Bowdoin;
Chadbourne, of Williams-appear on the roll.
The University of Mississippi appointed a committee to consider the
propriety of uniting in the memorial, the chairman of which was Prof.
J. D. Johnson, LL. D., wel known as one of the foremost Anglo-Saxon
scolars in the South. They made an able report in favor of action,
which has been printed.
But the Industrial University of Illinois seems to be the banner in-
stitution. It was reported that the hole of its faculty and almost all of
its 300 students were in favor of the reform, and organized as a spell-
ing reform association for immediate amendment of their own spelling
and general missionary work.
The memorial was brought before the American Institute of Instruc-
tion, which resolvd to unite in it. Ten thousand teachers were said to
be at the meeting.
The third annual meeting of the Spelling Reform Association was
held with the National Educational Association at Philadelphia, as a
THE SPELLING REFORM.
41
department of that association, and several later meetings hav been
held with them. The reform has also been before the National Educa-
tional Association in papers and discussions at many meetings up to
1892, and the amended spelling with new types has been used in some
of their publications.
The department of public instruction of the city of Chicago took up.
the matter, and its board of education unanimously adopted a resolu-
tion-
That the secretary of this board correspond with the principal scool boards and
educational associations of the cuntry with a view to coöperation in the reform of
English spelling.
A circular letter was accordingly issued in December, 1878, asking
such boards to unite in the memorial to Congress, and it receivd many
favorabl responses.
During the Christmas holidays in 1878 a large part of the teachers
and scool officers, and, indeed, of all persons interested in education
in this cuntry, had their attention turnd to the spelling reform. The
State Teachers' Associations met in many States, and in those in which
they did not there wer very general meetings of county institutes or
other smaller associations. At these meetings this year almost every-
where papers wer red and discussions had on this reform. These
were reported in educational and other papers, and in many places fol-
lowd by other articles on the subject.
The Massachusetts Teachers' Association met at Worcester Decem-
ber 26. J. A. Allen red a paper on "Spelling reform," which pro-
voked a lively discussion and led to the appointment of a committee to
coöperate with the American Philological Association in memorializing
Congress for the establishment of a commission to investigate the or-
thografy of the English language and report upon reforms in it. The
report was adopted, and Messrs. D. B. Hagar, Salem; N. T. Allen,
Newton; B. F. Tweed, Boston; A. P. Stone, Springfield; A. G. Boyden,
Bridgewater, were appointed.
The Illinois State Teachers' Association met at Springfield December
26. Dr. Willard, of the Chicago High Scool, red a paper on "How to
systematize English orthografy." A discussion followd, and a com-
mittee on spelling reform was appointed, to report next year.
The Iowa State Teachers' Association past the following:
Resolvd, That we hartily approve the action of the Philological Association in
asking of Congress a commission to examin into the desirability of reform in English
spelling.
The Michigan State Teachers' Association had the spelling reform
brought before them by E. O. Vaile, editor of the Educational Weekly,
Chicago.
In Indiana and Wisconsin it was also up. It is said in a report to
the legislature of Wisconsin on the subject that "nearly 400 residents
of Wisconsin, officers and professors in our colleges and teachers in
42
THE SPELLING REFORM.
our public scools, hav united in a memorial to Congress asking the
appointment of a national committee."
The State Teachers' Association of Missouri not only past resolutions
in favor of reform, but also resolvd to hav its proceedings printed in
amended spelling.
In Maryland and Virginia also favorabl action has been taken. The
Educational Association of Virginia is a very strong body. It has
among its activ members many of the eminent professors of the Uni-
versity of Virginia and its other literary institutions. A committee on
the reform was appointed in 1878. It made an elaborate report at the
annual meeting in July, 1879, and, in accordance with the recommenda-
tions of the report and after an interesting discussion, the following
resolutions were adopted:
Resolvd, (1) That a committee be appointed with instructions to request the Vir-
ginia representativs in Congress to use their influence to secure favorabl action on
the memorial in behalf of spelling reform to be presented to that body, and also to
bring the matter to the attention of the Virginia legislature and secure such action
as may seem to them advisabl.
(2) That a permanent committee on spelling reform, consisting of three, be ap-
pointed.
As a specimen of the action of the county institutes we giv the
following:
Resolvd, That we (the teachers of the Schuylkill County Institute, Pa.) endorse the
last annual appeal of the American Philological Association to teachers, editors, and
the intelligent public to make a beginning in the reform of dropping the useless e in
the words have, give, and live.
The Northampton County Institute, Pennsylvania, passed in sub-
stance the resolution recommended in the Chicago circular in favor of
requesting our legislatures, State and national, to appoint commissions.
to investigate and report what can be done to simplify our spelling.
Similar interest and action ar kept up among the teachers. A great
number of petitions to Congress ar sent in by teachers, in favor, for
exampl, in 1891-1892 of the Durborow bil. See page 46. And they
hav discussions and pass resolutions year after year.
STATE LEGISLATION.
The conservativ old State of Connecticut led the way in legislation
on this subject. In the session of 1875 the following joint resolution
past both houses without dissent:
Resolvd by this assembly, That the guvernor be, and he hereby is, authorized to
appoint a commission, consisting of six competent persons, who shal examin as to the
propriety of adopting an amended orthografy of the public documents hereafter to
be printed, and how far such amended orthografy may with propriety be adopted,
and report thereupon to the next session of the general assembly; that such commis-
sion shal receiv no compensation for its services. Approved July 20th, 1875.
The guvernor appointed Senator W. W. Fowler, by whom the reso-
lution was offerd; Profs. W. D. Whitney and J. H. Trumbull, of Yale
THE SPELLING REFORM.
43
College; Hon. B. G. Northrop, secretary of the board of education; and
Professors Hart, of Trinity College, and Van Benshoten, of Wesleyan
University. This commission was continued by the legislature in the
hope that concurrent action might be taken by other States.
At the session of 1877-78, the legislature of Wisconsin appointed
W. C. Whitford, superintendent of public instruction, with four others,
a commission on the subject. They made a report in January, 1879,
which was prepared by Senator George H. Paul, of Milwaukee. It is
a comprehensiv and impressiv argument in favor of the reform and of
State action to promote it. It proposes, that the superintendent of
public instruction be authorized to supply the scools of the State with
a dictionary embodying an amended orthografy in connection with the
present approved orthografy.
The reform has also been brought before the legislatures of Iowa and
Massachusetts, but action has not been taken upon it.
At the session of 1876 of the legislature of Pennsylvania a similar
joint resolution was passing without dissent, when it was noticed too
late for amendment that it must have the form of a bil. It was past
in the session of 1877-78, after some good remarks by Senators Fisher
and Allen.
Similar action was taken in 1887, and a commission appointed by
Governor Beaver, consisting of F. A. March, LL. D., chairman; Thomas
Chase, LL. D. (Harvard), ex-president of Haverford College, member of
the American Committee on the Revision of the New Testament; Rev.
H. L. Wayland, D. D. (Brown), ex-president of Franklin College, editor
of the "National Baptist;" Hon. James W. Walk, A. M. (Lafayette),
M. D. (University of Pa.), house of representatives of Pa., general sec-
retary of the Society for Organizing Charity; Arthur Biddle, esq., A.
B. (Yale); Samuel A. Boyle, esq., executive department, Harrisburg,
Pa., secretary.
This commission, after a number of sittings at which hearings wer
givn to parties interested, made a unanimous report (April 8, 1889)
which has been printed by the legislature (Harrisburg, 1889, pp. 37).
It is quoted on page 34.
The report concludes as follows:
Without venturing to recommend any of these, or any orthografic novelties, the
commission would call attention to the fact that many words ar spelt in two
ways in our dictionaries, and that it is therefore necessary for a choice to be made
between the different spellings. We find honor and honour, traveler and traveller,
comptroller and controller, and hundreds of such pairs. In these words one way of
spelling is better than the other on grounds of reason, simpler, more economical,
more truthful to sound etymology and scientific law.
The commission respectfully submits that the regulation of the orthography of
the public documents is of sufficient importance to call for legislativ action, and
recommends that the Public Printer be instructed, whenever variant spellings of
a word ar found in the current dictionaries, to use in the public documents the
simpler form which accords with the amended spelling recommended by the joint
action of the American Philological Association and the English Philological Society.
44
THE SPELLING REFORM.
The American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia appointed (Jan-
uary 6, 1888) a committee consisting of Patterson DuBois, Henry Phil-
lips, jr., and James McAlister, then superintendent of public scools,
to assist the State commission in their investigation of the subject.
The committee presented a report (April 5, 1889) which has been printed
(Philadelphia, 1889), and was also incorporated in the report of the
State commission as an appendix. It discusses the questions: "1.
What is spelling?" "2. What is English spelling?" "3. Is reform desi-
rable?" giving the reasons why it is desirabl; "4. Is reform feasibl?"
answering that it is feasibl; and concludes with a recommendation
that the society approve the recommendations of the commission (as
alredy givn). The report was adopted and the committee continued.
The report is a very valuabl discussion, thuro and convincing, and car-
ries great weight from the authority of the society, and of the members
of the committee.
SPELLING REFORM BEFORE CONGRESS.
The memorial to Congress has been mentiond, p. 39. Hon. A. H.
Stephens, of Georgia, who was warmly interested in the reform, took
charge of it. To this the reformers lookt for a joint commission of the
English-speaking cuntries, who may giv authority to amendments, so
far as that is possibl. April 27, 1880, Mr. Ballou, of Rhode Island, of
the House Committee on Education and Labor, reported
A BILL to constitute a commission to report on the amendment of the orthography of public docu-
ments.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America
in Congress assembled, That a commission is hereby constituted, to consist of seven
commissioners to be appointed by the President, who shall examine the orthography
used in the public documents and in the public schools of the District of Columbia,
and inquire how much its defects increase the cost of the public printing and how
far they are an impediment to the acquisition of the English language and to educa-
tion, and inquire what amendments in orthography, if any, may be easily introduced
into the public documents and the schools of the District of Columbia and accepted
in the examinations for the civil service, and whether it is expedient to move the
Government of Great Britain to unite in constituting a joint commission to consider
such amendments; and the commission shall report to Congress at its next session.
The committee reported in favor of the bil, and exprest confidence
that it would pass when it should be reacht.
It was never reacht.
In the Fiftieth Congress, February 7, 1888, Mr. Warner, of Missouri,
introduced in the House, by request, a bil for the appointment of a
commission on reform in orthografy, providing for the appointment of
three commissioners to report to Congress whether there is any prac-
tical system of orthografy for the English language simpler than that
now in use; the commissioners to be distinguisht scolars, and to be
paid twenty-five dollars a day for their services. The bil was never
herd of again.
THE SPELLING REFORM.
45
After the joint rules for amended spelling wer adopted by the
Philological Associations of England and America, as givn on page 27,
Hon. Chas. S. Voorhees introduced a bil in the Fiftieth Congress 1887-
1889, enacting this amended spelling "as correct."
The bil prescribes that it shal take effect upon all the scools of the
Territories and those of the District of Columbia, and upon the mili-
tary and naval academies and the Indian and culord scools in the Ter-
ritories. It declares, furthermore, that any officer, scool director, com-
mittee, or teacher in control of any school described in this act, who
shal refuze or neglect to comply with the requirements of the act shal
be removed from office. The bil went to the Committee on Education.
Another resolution on the subject of spelling reform was introduced
in the House of Representatives, January 13, 1890, by the Hon. Frank
Lawler, of Chicago. It is as follows (H. R., Fifty-first Congress, first
session, Mis. Doc. No. 76):
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That the Public
Printer be and is hereby directed in all works for Congress and for the Departments
begun after the passage of this resolution, to adopt the following rules for amended
spellings, except in educational and other works where a different orthography may
be required.
First. Drop ue at the end of words like dialogue, catalogue, etc., where the pre-
ceding vowel is short. Thus spell demagog, epilog, synagog, etc. When the preced-
ing vowel is long, as in prorogue, vogue, disembogue, retain final letters as at present.
Second. Drop final e in such words as definite, infinite, favorite, etc., when the
preceding vowel is short. Thus spell opposit, preterit, hypocrit, requisit, etc. When
the preceding vowel is long as in polite, finite, unite, etc., retain present forms un-
changed.
Third. Drop final te in words like quartette, coquette, cigarette, etc. Thus spell
cigaret, roset, epaulet, vedet, gazet, etc.
Fourth. Drop final me in words like programme. Thus spell program, oriflam,
gram, etc.
Fifth. Change ph to ƒ in words like phantom, telegraph, phase, etc. Thus spell
alfabet, paragraf, filosofy, fonetic, fotograf, etc.
Sixth. Substitute e for the diphthongs æ and a when they have the sound of that
letter. Thus spell eolian, esthetic, diarrhea, subpena, esofagus, atheneum, etc.
N. B.-No change in proper names.
Hon. W. Mutchler introduced a resolution instructing the Public
Printer to use the simplest forms found in the current dictionaries.
The two resolutions wer referd to the Committee on Printing. A
hearing was appointed, and before the hearing the following petition,
circulated by the Rev. Dr. H. L. Wayland and other reformers, and
signd by many persons, was presented:
To the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled:
Your petitioners would respectfully represent that our present American orthog-
raphy, though much improved within the last hundred years, is cumbersome, illogi-
cal, unhistorical, and misleading; that millions of dollars are wasted each year in
writing and printing unnecessary letters, while the progress of our children in their
education is greatly retarded by the difficulties in the way of learning to spell.
Your petitioners recognize the fact that in the future, as in the past, changes in our
46
THE SPELLING REFORM.
written language must be made by gradual steps. The modifications herein sug-
gested have the indorsement of the highest scholarship in the land, and, if adopted,
would serve as an entering wedge for the introduction of other reforms. Your peti-
tioners believe, moreover, that these changes should be made at once in the printing
done for the Government; and they therefore pray that your honorable body will
adopt the following resolution which was offered in the House of Representatives
January 13, 1890 (etc.).
The hearing took place March 27, 1890. Prof. F. A. March, chair-
man of the Standing Committee on the Reform of English Spelling of
the American Philological Association, aud president of the Spelling
Reform Association; the Hon. William T. Harris, Commissioner of
Education; the Rev. Dr. H. L. Wayland, editor of the National Baptist;
Prof. Alexander Melville Bell, the inventor of "Visible Speech;" Prof.
W. B. Owen, of Lafayette College; Patterson DuBois, of Philadelphia,
and others spoke in favor of the resolutions, or of such action as Con-
gress might properly take, as a matter of public policy, in the direction
of simplified spelling, most of them recommending general regulativ
action rather than the specification of new spellings.
At a subsequent meeting, at which the abuv-named gentlemen wer
not present, Mr. A. R. Spofford, Librarian of Congress, spoke agenst
the resolutions. The hearings servd to bring the subject before Con-
gress and the public, but the Congressional committee made no report.
A similar resolution, presented by Hon. A. C. Durborow, jr., is before
the Fifty-second Congress, 1891-'93, and urged by similar petitions.
REGULATIV ACTION.
Many of the filologists do not think it wise to ask Congress to enact
the spelling of particular words, but think a board of experts should be
given authority to decide, and do not think it wise at present to urge
the adoption of new spellings upon Congress, but only the regulation
of variant spellings. There ar several thousand words which hav more
than one spelling in the dictionaries. One of these is the best, the
simplest, the most economical, the most truthful to sound etymology
and scientific law. The Public Printer should use the best.
It was with a view to giv this selection the sanction of law that Hon.
William Mutchler, of Pennsylvania, introduced in the House of Repre-
sentatives of the Fifty-first Congress, the resolution proposed by the
Pennsylvania commission, as quoted on page 43, instructing the Public
Printer, whenever variant forms of a word ar found in the current dic-
tionaries, to uze the simplest forms recommended by the Philological
Associations.
This resolution was advocated before the Committee on Printing by
eminent scholars and approved by many members of Congress. It was
brought before the Fifty-second Congress by Mr. Mutchler, who offered
it as an amendment to a more general bil regulating the public print-
ing. It was adopted as an amendment, and into that form past both
THE SPELLING REFORM.
47
houses of Congress without serious opposition. But a disagreement
arose between the houses upon some other provisions of the bil, and it
was referd to a committee of conference, who did not report it back.
This resolution would vest the Public Printer with authority to ex-
amin personally or by experts the variant spellings of the dictionaries,
and decide which is simplest and most accordant with filological law.
Meantime the variant spellings of geografical names hav proved so
embarrassing to the. Executiv Department that the President has
directed the regulation of them.
REGULATION OF GEOGRAFIC NAMES BY U. S. BOARD.
On September 4, 1890, the President of the United States, at the
instance of officers of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey,
the Geological Survey, and other departments, issued an executiv
order establishing a "United States Board of Geographic Names," with
Prof. Thomas G. Mendenhall, Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic
Survey, as chairman, and representatives of the Department of State,
the Treasury Department (Light-House Board), the War Department
(Engineer Corps), the Navy Department (Hydrographic Office), the
Post-Office Department, the Smithsonian Institution, the Coast and
Geodetic Survey, and the Geological Survey, as members.
The executiv order contains the following:
To this Board shall be referred all unsettled questions concerning geografic naries
which arise in the Departments, and the decisions of the Board are to be accepted
by these Departments as the standard authority in such matters.
Department officers are instructed to afford such assistance as may be proper to
carry on the work of this Board.
The method by which the Board disposes of any question brought
before it is described in the first bulletin as follows:
*
* *
In disposing of any question which is brought to the attention of the Board the
following plan is pursued: It is first referred to the executive committee.
This committee is charged with the thorough investigation of the question, and is
expected to consult authorities and to make use of such assistance as it may find
anywhere available. A résumé of the results of such investigation, together with
a recommendation, is made to the Board at a regular meeting, and after discussion
the decision is reached by a vote.
The spelling of geographic names that require transliteration into Roman char-
acters should represent the principal sounds of the word as pronounced in the na-
tive tongue, in accordance with the sounds of the letters in the following system.
An approximation only to the true sound is aimed at in this system. The vowels
are to be pronounced as in Italian and on the continent of Europe generally, and
the consonants as in English.
The first bulletin of the Board was issued December 31, 1890. It
embraces about 300 names, the greater portion of which relate to the
towns, rivers, and ilands of Alaska.
The Board has alredy receivd much assistance from correspondents,
and it invites the help of all geografers, historians, and scolars. Altho
48
THE SPELLING REFORM.
its decisions ar binding on guvernment officers only, it hopes that they
may be followed by the public generally, especially by map and text-
book publishers. Copies of its bulletins may be had by addressing the
Secretary of the Board, Lieut. Richardson Clover, Hydrographic Office,
Navy Department, Washington, D. C.
The establishment of this Board has been the object of many con-
gratulations. Its action is in harmony with that of the Royal Geo-
grafical Society of England and its alfabet agrees with that of the
Philological Associations.
REGULATION OF CHEMICAL WORDS.
Complaints hav been made for years by chemists that so many
chemical words ar pronounced and even speld differently. This source
of annoyance at last became so pronounced that the chemical section
of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1887
determined to see what coud be done to simplify things. Accordingly
a committee consisting of Drs. T. H. Norton, Edward Hart and H.
Carrington Bolton was appointed to look into the "spelling and pro-
nunciation of chemical words." Dr. James Lewis Howe was after-
ward added to the committee. This committee made three annual
reports of progress, and in 1891 a fourth and final report was made,
adopted by a very large majority, and the committee discharged.
The recommendations made hav been favorably receivd and widely
adopted. The amended terms ar givn as preferd forms in the Standard
Dictionary of Funk and Wagnalls. They are now uzed entirely by one
chemical journal, hav been publisht in chart form by the U. S. Bureau of
Education, and hav been adopted in a number of books publisht since.
It is hoped that a United States Board of Scientific Terms may be
establisht of government scientists in chemistry and other natural sci-
ences, with authority to decide between variant forms of scientific
terms, and ultimately between all variants.
Memorials to this effect ar now receiving signatures and wil soon be
presented to the President.
THE PRESS.
DISCUSSION.
The educational jurnals and the organs of the craft hav been spe-
cially interested. The Educational Weekly of Chicago and the New-
England Journal of Education hav had spelling reform departments.
Communications and other articls hav been frequent in many jurnals,
in The New York Times, for exampl, The Chicago Tribune, and The St.
Louis Republican, and in The Electrotyper, The Type Founder, The
Quadrat, The Electrotype Journal, and the like.
More elaborate articls hav been publisht in the Galaxy, the At-
lantic, The Independent, Scribner's Monthly, the Princeton Review,
the Athenæum, the Academy, The Fortnightly Review; in the proceed-
ings of the Spelling Reform Association, the Philological Association,
THE SPELLING REFORM.
49
the American Institute of Instruction, the National Educational Asso-
ciation, and in books like Max Müller's Chips from a German Work-
shop, Whitney's Oriental and Linguistic Studies, Hadley's Philologi-
cal and Critical Essays, and Ellis's Works. Two important books hav
been wholly devoted to fonetics and spelling reform: A Handbook of
Phonetics, by Henry Sweet, president of the Philological Society of
England, and Spelling Reform from an Educational Point of View, by
Hon. J. H. Gladstone; and other and bigger books hav been publisht
on the subject. Prof. J. L. Johnson, of the University of Mississippi,
and Prof. L. H. Carpenter, of the University of Wisconsin, leading
Anglo-Saxon scholars, hav publisht in favor of reform. So has Prof.
Edward North, of Hamilton College.
Steiger's Year Book of Education givs a ful account of spelling reform
in the articl "Orthography."
The subject has been discust at some of the conventions of the Press
Associations, and has calld out eloquent speeches and admirabl reso-
lutions. The following wer unanimously adopted by the Missouri Press
Association at Sedalia, May, 1880:
Whereas the irregularities of English orthografy ar a great obstacl to the progress
of the peple; and
Whereas silent letters alone ad about 25 per cent to the cost of all writing and
printing; and
Whereas editors, statesmen, scolars, teachers, and filanthropists thruout the Eng-
lish-speaking world ar making ernest efforts to amend and simplify our spelling:
Therefore
Be it resolvd by the Missouri editors in convention assembld, That (1) we hartily
sympathize with the ernest efforts which ar being put forth to simplify English
orthografy; (2) we wil aid, and encurage one another to begin and make such gradual
changes in spelling as ar recommended by the American Philological Association
and the Spelling Reform Association.
Publications of Mr. Sweet and his scool sinse 1885 ar described on
page 56. Prof. Skeat has givn a most valuabl history of English
spelling in his Principls of English Etymology.
There has been a great revival of interest in connection with Vola-
pük. It has been thought that English is to be the universal language,
and a host of articls, pamflets, and books hav appeard asserting its
claims. Most of these treat our present spelling as its chief hindrance.
A typical work is "World-English, the Universal Language," by Alex-
ander Melville Bell. He is perhaps the most eminent of all the scientists
who hav studied fonology. His "Visible Speech" has modified the
thought of all students of fonetics. His substitute for Volapük should
be sumthing wurth while. It is simply standard English fonetically
speld.
Hon. Andrew D. White, LL. D., L. H. D., formerly President of Cornell
University, Minister to Germany, etc., urges the same view, as follows:
Two main reasons for the reform strike my mind very forcibly. These ar:
First. The fearful waste of time on the part of millions of our children in lerning
the most illogical mode of spelling, probably, that this world has ever seen; the
only real result being to weary them of books and to blunt their reasoning faculties.
4394
50
THE SPELLING REFORM.
Secondly. The barrier which our present system establishes against the most im-
portant agent in the rapid civilization and Christianization of the world. The
grammar of our English tung is probably the simplest and easiest known among
civilized nations; so much so, indeed, that for a long time it was accepted as a truth
that the English language had no grammar. Our language is spreding among the
cultured classes in all parts of the world; but, what is more important, it is begin-
ning to take possession of the vast semi-civilized or barbarous nations of the East-
China, Japan, India, and the ilands of the Pacific.
I hav no doubt that, wer English orthografy simplified, the English language
would within a generation or two becum the business language of the more activ
part of all these great nations. The effect of sending out 100,000 missionaries would
be but slight when compared with what would be accomplisht if our language
wer thus spred among those nations, and they were thus opend to the trezures of
Christianizing and civilizing thought containd in it. These ar the two things which
I see in the matter, and I rejoice that the leading filologists, as wel as all thought-
ful practical meu, ar all ranged on one side.
S. Wells Williams, LL. D., late professor of Chinese in Yale College:
One argument in favor of your efforts is the aid which a better mode of spelling
English wil giv to the millions upon millions of Asiatics who ar now lerning the
language and ar to lern it in the future, as the storehouse of the best literature in
every branch of human science which they can reach.
Our language is to
becum the lingua franca of mankind; and it is hardly wurth while to retain all its
excrescences in the idea that those who hav to master them wil think the more of an
acquisition which has cost them so much needless labor.
++
*
PRINTING WITH NEW TYPES.
*
It has been mentiond that the Philological Association and the
Spelling Reform Association had types cut for the new letters of the
alfabet in 1877 and hav used them in their publications. In the month
of August, 1877, at Chicago, Ill., the Adams, Blackmer & Lyon Pub-
lishing Company, O. C. Blackmer, president, began to introduce the
alfabet of the Spelling Reform Association into their widely circulated
periodical, The Little Folks. The letters were introduced gradually in
successiv months. In 1878 it announced that it containd all the new
letters, and claimd that they embarrass no one, but assist in pronun-
ciation.
Prof. F. A. March, president of the Spelling Reform Association, has
prepared an A B C book with instructions to teachers in the best
methods of teaching the beginnings of reading.
Mr. T. R. Vickroy, director for the Southwest, has prepared a "Read-
ing Book" in full fonetic type and spelling. He also issued (in 1879)
the first number of a paper called the Fonetic Teacher printed with
the same type. The Missouri State Teachers' Association directed the
volume of its proceedings for 1879 to be printed in the same alfabet.
The minutes and papers of the spelling reform department of the
National Educational Association ar also printed in it. Articls hav
appeard in it in the New-England Journal of Education and The Inde-
pendent, and specimens in many newspapers and periodicals. Dr.
Leigh's scool books are wel known and widely used. The influence in
THE SPELLING REFORM.
51
favor of new types exerted by the publications of Pitman, Parkhurst,
and Longley may also be mentiond. Pitman's Journal is a weekly, with
a circulation of some 24,000 copies, publisht at Bath, England, the
greatest power in the world for amended spelling. H. M. Parkhurst
publishes The Plowshar in New York now and again. It has reacht
its thirty-third year. Elias Longley, Cincinnati, is a veteran publisher
of fonetic scool books, charts, and other useful works. The Phono-
grafic Magazine, edited by Jerome B. Howard at the Phonografic Insti-
tute, Cincinnati, givs able support to the reform. A large number of
sporadic issues in types invented by enterprising Americans diversify
the field of view.
Printing in pure fonetic spelling or with new types seems as yet to
be missionary work. It costs a good deal of muney, and the returns ar
mainly sentimental. It is, however, a prime necessity, in order to keep
the spelling to be aimd at constantly in view and to guide all partial
amendments. It also servs as a key alfabet in pronouncing dictionaries
and other works, and as an introductory alfabet in A B C books.
AMENDED SPELLING WITH OLD TYPES.
The rules for dropping silent letters givn on pp. 27 and 28, which can be
uzed without new types and without obscuring the words, hav found
special favor with the printers and they hav been uzed more or less
in many of the organs of the craft. The Electrotyper, of Chicago, has
adopted the eleven words, and it says further:
This movement, to which The Electrotyper has givn adhesion and which it is en-
devoring to promote, is gaining strength daily. Our cotemporaries of The Type
Founder hay publisht a carefully writn articl upon the subject, which by the way,
has been issued in pamflet form, as one of the bulletins of the Spelling Reform Asso-
ciation; The Electrotype Journal warmly advocates the reform, and will hereafter
conform to the eleven amended spelings recommended by the American Philological
Association; The Chicago Specimen publishes the emendations and says that they
ought to be adopted at once; The American Newspaper Reporter favors the reform
and has publisht several articls advocating it; The Quadrat, Pittsburg, favors the
change and may ultimately adopt it; and few thoughtful printers so far as we can
lern hav aught to say against the adoption of the cmendations recommended.
A number of organs of various social reforms hav adopted some of
these words. Mr. D. P. Lindsey has printed much in amended spelling.
The Library Journal is doing a good work in the same way.
Scientific specialists ar helping by amending technical terms.
C. A. Cutter, the librarian of the Boston Athenæum and the eminent
author of the Rules for a Dictionary Catalogue, publisht by the United
States Bureau of Education, put at the head of the bibliografy in the
Library Journal this note:
The American Philological Association, the only body in the country which can
be said to be of any authority in the matter of language, has published a list of ten
[eleven] words in which it recommends an improved spelling. With the greater
part of the list librarians have no special concern; but with regard to "catalog" I
.52
THE SPELLING REFORM.
*
:
4
feel that we are called upon to decide whether we will slavishly follow the objec-
tionable orthography of the past or will make an effort, at a time when there is
every chance of its being successful, to effect some improvement. In this case the
responsibility lies upon catalogers. The proper persons to introduce new forms of
technical words are those artisans who have most to do with them, I shall, there-
fore, in the following notes (except when quoting) omit the superflous French ue.
I am well aware that the unwonted appearance of the word will be distasteful for a
time to many readers, including myself; but the advantages of the shorter form are
enough to compensate for the temporary annoyance. To bibliographers, who are
accustomed to the German "katalog," the effort to get used to "catalog" should
hardly be perceptible.
Since that time he has uzed this spelling entirely. Many other li-
brarians hav adopted and uze it in their articls and correspondence.
The editor of the Journal finds that this influence has spred so fast
that he receivs more spellings "catalog" than with the ue. The presi-
dent of the American Library Association having douts of the wisdom
of the change, inquiries wer sent to a number of leading librarians
asking their opinion. The answers wer so encuraging that Mr. Cut-
ter now proposes to adopt the spelling "bibliografi."
The great newspapers, altho so many of them wer redy to write editori-
als in favor of reform and admit correspondence occasionally in amended
spelling, wer naturally slow to take the plunge. It was on the 2d day
of September, 1879, that the Chicago Daily Tribune first appeard in
amended spelling thruout. Hon. Joseph Medill, its editor, prepared a
list of twelv specifications according to which it is printed.
The Home Journal, of New York, on the 17th of September, began to
appear printed according to the following rules:
(1) Drop we at the end of words like dialogue, catalogue, where the
preceding vowel is short. Thus spel demagog, pedagog, epilog, syna-
gog, etc. Change tongue for tung. When the preceding vowel is long,
as in prorogue, vogue, disembogue, rogue, retain final letters as at pre-
sent.
(2) Drop final e in such words as definite, infinite, favorite, where the
preceding vowel is short. Thus spel opposit, preterit, hypocrit, requi-
sit, etc. When the preceding vowel is long, as in polite, finite, invite,
unite, etc., retain present form unchanged.
(3) Drop final te in words like quartette, coquette, cigarette. Thus
spel cigaret, roset, epaulet, vedet, gazet, etc.
(4) Drop final me in words like programme. Thus spel program,
oriflam, gram, etc.
(5) Change ph for ƒ in words like phantom, telegraph, phase. Thus
spel alfabet, paragraf, filosofy, fonetic, fotograf, etc.
P. S.-No change in proper names.
Mr. S. N. D. North, of the Utica Herald, who presented a paper on
the duties of jurnalists at the July meeting of the Spelling Reform
Association, 1879, is said to be at the hed of a leag of newspapers
who ar planning joint adoption of stil more vigorous amendments.
Enthusiastic reformers ar looking for a flood.
THE SPELLING REFORM.
53
The new edition of Worcester's dictionary (1881), that most conserva-
tiv of authorities, givs a large number of amended spellings. Thus
iland is givn in its proper place, and described as the erlier and cor-
rect spelling of island; and under island we find the same statement
repeated, with the information that the s is ignorantly inserted through
confusing it with isle, a French word from Latin insula. Rime is givn
in its proper place as the correct spelling of rhyme, and it is explaind
that rhyme is a modern blunder started by the notion that it is a Greek
work like rhythm. Ake also is restored and ache turnd over to the
Greeklings. So sithe, which has been disguised as scythe, our Worces-
ter thinks, from an impression that it is from Latin scindo. Milton's
sovran is down as the true spelling of sovereign, an outgrowth of the
idle fancy that the word was compounded with reign. We ar informd
that coud is the older and better form of could; the 7 is an "excres-
cence” due to the influence of would and should. The Tatars also re-
cover here from the French king's pun by which they were made fiends
of Tartarus; and so whole and shame-faced and other like etymologi-
cal blunders ar branded as they deserv.
Since the publishing of the joint rules the New York Independent
has opend its columns to articls spelt according to them, and it uses
a number of the amended spellings thruout.
adz
The following is its present list arranged alfabetically:
altho
arbor
archeology
ax
ay
beldam
by
cyclopedia
debonair
develop
domicil
duet
envelop
eon
gram
gypsy
hectogram (etc.).
honor (etc.).
houshold
mold
mustache
pony
program
quartet
quintet
sextet
sheath
story
707
catalog
chlorid
cigaret
coquet
cosy
curtesy
epaulet
esthetic
etiquet
facet
fogy
gelatin
good-by
myth
novelet
omelet
sty
synonym
tho
oriflam
parquet
phenix
vedet
whisky
ΠΟ
wreath
A business circular of the Christian Union Company has appeard,
signed by Lawson Valentine, the late president, in which spellings like
ar, sum, cum, becum, hav, devized, inclozed, bil, sel, wil, givn, frend,
abuv, activ, etc., are uzed, with a note at the end explaining that these
changes in spelling ar "recommended for adoption by the American
and English Philological Associations."
The Century Dictionary closed the last of its splendid volumes in
1891 with the alfabetic list of words coming under the joint rules,
accompanied by a notable introduction from its editor-in-chief, Prof.
W. D. Whitney, commending the rules and the amended words to lexi-
cografers of the near future, as having "been recommended by the
highest filological authorities in the English speaking world” and as
54
THE SPELLING REFORM.
"more worthy of notice, if a dictionary could discriminate as to worthi-
ness between two sets of facts, than the oftentimes capricious and
ignorant orthografy of the past."
Funk & Wagnalls, of New York, have issued a prospectus for a
Standard Dictionary of the English Language, in which the fonetic
alfabet is to be uzed for the pronunciation, and the amended spellings
ar to be introduced into the vocabulary. They say:
A
The adoption of The Scientific Alphabet, recommended by the American Philologi-
cal Association (the highest authority on the science of language in this country),
will be a great aid in pronunciation and a long stride toward simplicity and common
sense in the development of the English language. Our dictionary is the first to
adopt this authorized aid in pronunciation. It will be seen by the sample pages
that this scientific alphabet is used only in indicating the pronunciation of the
vocabulary word. The vocabulary word will always be given in the usual or com-
mon manner. Hence this scientific alphabet will be no drawback whatever to
those who prefer the old method. The American Philological Association, as well
as the American Spelling Reform Association, recommends the immediate applica-
tion of the principles of the spelling reform to some 3,000 words. To each of these
words we give, in the dictionary, a vocabulary place. We also give vocabulary
places to these words as usually spelt. The dictionary will be conservative, but at
the same time will aim to be aggressively right along the lines of reform agreed
upon almost unanimously by the leading philologists of America and England.
SPELLING REFORM IN ENGLAND.
The progress of the reform in England has been very much like that
in America. In 1876 the National Union of Elementary Teachers, rep-
resenting some 10,000 teachers in England and Wales, passed almost
unanimously a resolution in favor of a royal commission to inquire into
the subject of English spelling with a view to reforming and simplify-
ing it. The scool board for London took up the matter and issued a
circular asking others to unite in an address to the Education Depart-
ment in favor of it. The Liverpool and Bradford boards had acted
before, and more than a hundred other boards returnd favorabl re-
plies. On Tuesday, May 29, 1877, a conference was held in London,
at which Rev. A. H. Sayce, professor of filology, Oxford, presided, and
in which the president of the Philological Society, H. Sweet, esq., and
Vice-President J. H. Murray, LL. D., and ex-presidents took part, as
wel as numerous dignitaries of church and state, leading schoolmas-
ters, and eminent reformers, including Mr. I. Pitman and Mr. Ellis.
They spent a day and evening in harmonious discussion and in listen-
ing to short addresses, and adopted vigorous resolutions, which they
appointed a committee to present to the Department of Education.
The convention was a great success and calld forth serious articls in
The London Times, followd, of course, when not preceded, by articls
in the hole periodical press of Great Britain. The deputations waited
on the lord president of the council, January 18, 1878. Addresses wer
made by Mr. J. H. Gladstone, Dr. R. Morris, Dr. Angus, Mr. Rathbone,
M. P., Mr. Richards, M. P., and Mr. A. J. Ellis, F. R. S. The lord president,
THE SPELLING REFORM.
55
the Duke of Richmond and Gordon, in his reply, spoke very emphati-
cally of the importance of the subject. He said:
It is of such vast importance and so large extent that it would not be dealt with
in any satisfactory way other than by the Crown's being advised to issue a commis-
sion to inquire into the matter.
The main point urged is the relief of the peple and the removal of
illiteracy. The bulk of the children in the government scools pass
thru without lerning to read and spel tolerably. It is fully recognized
that the trubl lies in the irregular and unreasonabl spelling of the
language.
The Philological Society of England has taken up the reform in ern-
est. In May, 1880, it appointed a committee to report a list of words
in which etymology or history is falsified or injured by the present
spelling. Their report was discust at several meetings, amended, and
adopted. After correspondence with the American Philological Asso-
ciation a body of joint rules for amended spelling was adopted. (See
pages 26-28.)
A British Spelling Reform Association was organized in 1879, with
a formidabl array of university professors, members of Parliament,
chairmen of scool boards, and eminent authors, like Tennyson and
Darwin, among its officers. They began with a salaried secretary and
a monthly paper
In 1885 the secretary reported that they had made three alfabets,
and wer then devoting themselves to obtaining facts about pronuncia-
tion.
Our Scool Fonetic Alfabet, with very few new letters, has lapst without exciting
interest in any quarter, without even securing enuf muney to cast the types. Few
of us, I may say none of us, regret it.
We hay adopted an Old-Letter Scool Alfabet which does not conflict either with
English or Roman values. We hope before long to bring out scool books in it, for
use in such private scools as may giv us an entrance.
We hav also adopted an Old-Letter Filological Alfabet. It is a reduction of Mr.
Ellis's Palæotype and Mr. Sweet's Romic, combined with Dr. Hunter's Indian Guv-
ernment Spelling. We hav since revized this Filological Alfabet, and ar now going
to reprint it with specimens. You shal hav ampl information as soon as possibl
respecting theze schemes.
But I think reformers in this cuntry would coincide with your opinion that schemes
ar of comparativly minor importance. Wo ar trying at present to obtain informa-
tion respecting the facts of English pronunciation, and our future action must be
shaped by the answers we may receiv to a form of queries now in the press, and
shortly to be issued. I send you by this post a ruf proof of the queries. ["Queries
in Orthoepy, intended to elicit data for a fonetic orthografy fulfilling the general
principls of the English Spelling Reform Association." The queries cuver all the
classes of words in which the pronunciation is variabl or obscure.]
Coöperation with American reformers is much desired in this cuntry, altho our
members hav not drawn up any resolutions which coud be submitted as a basis for
union. But owing to the numerous scools and sections within our association, and
owing also to the numerous defections of malcontents in erlier times, the Council has
always been unwilling to take any action not very generally suported or demanded.
We feel that our action is, and wil long be, extremely tentativ. We do not see how
56
THE SPELLING REFORM.
to make any fonetic spelling with Roman letters a commercial success. Sum of us ar
therefore turning to the question of a totally new alfabet, capabl of supplanting the
Roman. It is understood that Mr. Sweet has redy proposals of this nature, to be
made public in the autumn.
In 1885 Mr. Sweet publisht in German the work referd to, a Primer
of Spoken English, in which all the English is givn in fonetic writing
representing the colloquial dialect of London. This work excited great
interest among filologists and teachers of modern languages. It is
intended as an instruction book, to enable foreners to speak English
exactly like a Londoner, and it is claimed by the new fonetists that
London colloquial is the best of English, and is the standard speech to
be represented by spelling reformers. Mr. Sweet's book has been thru
several editions, has appeard in English thruout, and many other
similar books hav been made for other languages. An Association
Phonetique des Professeurs de Langues Vivantes has been formd, with
headquarters at Paris, and publishes monthly Le Maitre Phonetique.
The National Association of Great Britain for the Promotion of
Social Science had this matter before them in a paper by Prof. New-
man, red to the Congress at Cheltenham, in October, 1878. It was
referd to the Education Department, which raizd a special committee
upon it, who hav givn it much attention, and finally past unanimously
a resolution in favor of an alternativ method of spelling. They say:
Such an alternativ method would be at onse useful: 1st. For indicating the pro-
nunciation of any word or name that may not be familiar to ordinary readers. 2d.
For teaching the proper pronunciation of words in scools, and thus curing vulgar-
ism. 3d. For representing different dialects or individual peculiarities. 4th. For
showing the pronunciation of foren languages. This alternativ method, if generally
approved, would gradually becum a concurrent method, and perhaps eventually
would displace the present irregular spelling (just as the Arabic numerals hav gen-
erally displaced the Roman numerals.) In the mean time it would serv to indicate
the direction in which any partial reforms of the current spelling should be made.
They ar in dout about a suitabl authority to initiate action. It wil
be rememberd that our memorials to Congress contemplate a joint com-
mission from the guvernments of the English-speaking nations to
decide this matter.
Action of international importance took place in 1885. (Academy.)
The Council of the Royal Geographical Society of England hav adopted the fol-
lowing rules for such geografical names as ar not, in the cuntries to which they
belong, writn in the Roman character. Theze rules ar identical with thoze adopted
for the Admiralty charts, and wil henseforth be uzed in publications of the Society:
(1) No change wil be made in the orthografy of foren names in cuntries which uze
Roman letters: thus, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, etc., names wil be speld as by the
respectiv nations.
(2) Neither wil any change be made in the spelling of such names in languages
which ar not writn in Roman characters as hav becum by long usage familiar to
English readers: thus, Calcutta, Cutch, Celebes, Mecca, etc., wil be retaind in their
present form.
(3) The tru sound of the word as localy pronounced wil be taken as the basis of
the spelling.
(4) An approximation, however, to the sound is alone aimd at. A system which
THE SPELLING REFORM.
57
would attempt to represent the more delicate inflections of sound and accent would
be so complicated as only to defeat itself.
(5) The broad features of the system ar that vowels ar pronounced as in Italian
and consonants as in English.
(6) One accent only is uzed-the acute-to denote the syllabl on which stress is
laid.
(7) Every letter is pronounced. When two vowels cum together, each one is
sounded, tho the result, when spoken quickly, is sumtimes scarcely to be distin-
guisht from a single sound, as in ai, au, ie.
(8) Indian names ar accepted as speld in Hunter's Gazetteer.
[The alfabet is then givn, with illustrations. It is exactly the same as the standard
alfabet of the Spelling Reform Association, except in having no separate provision
for the vowels in at, not, but. Signs sh, zh, th, and dh are not mentiond, but those
symbols would no dout be uzed when needed.]
FRANCE.
In many other cuntries spelling reform is a matter of constant in-
terest. In France the French Academy has taken charge of the lan-
guage and reformd the spelling in successiv editions of its dictionary.
It has peculiarities, however, which make it almost as difficult to lern
as English. Consequently a very large amount of time has to be ex-
pended, as with us, in dictation and transcription. Indeed, Mr. Glad-
stone says, "I was informd by one of the best official authorities that
in the primary scools of Paris it is no unuzual thing to devote six to
seven hours per week to this work, and that in every class in the scool.
Yet my own inspection has convinced me that perfect orthografy is far
from being attaind. The home lesson books of children of 13 or 14
years of age exhibited in the present Paris exhibition contain frequent
orthografical errors, and these ar doutless favorabl specimens. In
the elementary scools of Geneva lessons in spelling hav to be givn in
the sixth grade, which corresponds to our highest standard."
Many attempts at a radical reform hav been made, but the Academy
has opposed them. There has been for twenty-five years a society in
Switzerland for the reform of French spelling, but it is only since 1886
that a society has existed in France. Under the influence of Mr. Sweet's
system, mentioned on page 56, with its Association Phonetique des
Professeurs de Langues Vivantes, and of Volapük, the hed-quarters
of both of which ar at Paris, there is now much discussion of French
reform. M. Paul Passy, Prof. G. Paris, Prof. A. Darmesteter, M. Bréal,
and many other prominent teachers and linguists ar taking part.
Permission has been obtaind to try fonetic teaching in certain scools,
and the reformers ar very hopeful and activ.
GERMANY.
"Altho litl fault can be found with the German spelling as compared
with the English and French, the educationists of that cuntry and the
guvernments of the different states hav long been desirous of simplify-
58
THE SPELLING REFORM.
ing it. In 1854 meetings wer held both at Hanover and Leipzig,
which resulted in certain modifications of the spelling being renderd
obligatory in the Hanoverian higher scools. This was followd in 1860
by Wirtemberg, which adopted a reformd orthografy for its elementary
as wel as its upper scools; and by Austria in 1861, and by Bavaria in
1886. But the changes adopted by these several states ar not the same;
and so imminent did the danger appear of having a different mode of
writing and printing in different parts of Germany, that a conference
of delegates from the several guvernments was held at Dresden in
October, 1872. This led to the Prussian Minister of Education, Dr.
Falk, proposing that a competent scholar, Prof. von Raumer, should
draw up a scheme; and this met with the approval of all the guvern-
ments. The scheme thus prepared was privately printed and sent to the
respectiv guvernments, and then submitted to a ministerial commission,
consisting of Von Raumer and eleven other educationists, together with
a printer and a publisher. The commission met in January, 1876, and
approved of the scheme with certain modifications; and a report of the
hole proceedings has been drawn up and printed. The proposals of
the commissioners ar now before the German nation for criticism, but
at present there seems litl hope for unanimity except as regards the
limitation of capital letters at the beginning of words, the banishment
of many of the superfluous letters, and the general adoption of the
Roman character. In the mean time there has arizn a movement in
favor of a purely fonetic reform; the advocates of which ar dissatisfied
with the half mezures of the guvernment, and ar making strenuous
efforts to secure the public approval of their more advanced scheme.
For this purpose they formd an association on the 1st December, 1876,
which in the course of fourteen months establisht more than seventy
branches, extending from Moscow to Pennsylvania.
That the German guvernment is in ernest is shown by their now re-
quiring the military cadets to employ a revized spelling in their official
letters."-J. H. Gladstone, Spelling Reform from an educational point of
view.
There ar two principal societies. The German Spelling Reform Asso-
ciation (Deutscher Orthographie-Reform-Verein), of which Dr. Wilhelm
Vietor, professor of English filology in the University of Marburg, is
the hed, supported a jurnal of high rank (Zeitschrift für Orthographie,
Orthoepie, und Sprachphysiologie), which was edited by Dr. Vietor,
with the cooperation of many eminent scolars. It devoted itself rather
to the scientific side of the problems within its scope. It is no longer
publisht. The General Association for Simplified German Spelling
(Allgemeiner Verein fur vereinfachte deutsche Rechtschreibung) was
founded in 1876. Its organ, Reform, which is devoted mainly to the
practical side of the movement, was edited by the President, Dr. F. W.
Fricke, of Viesbaden. He died in April, 1891, "Reform "is continued.
These societies and jurnals hav made the idea of reform familiar
thruout the empire. The reform is stedily gaining ground.
THE SPELLING REFORM.
59
The reform in the Prussian scools in 1858 is now causing difficulty.
A generation of pupils hav been taught the reformd spelling, but as
it has not come into general use the graduates hav to get rid of their
scool spelling when they go into business. In May, 1891, this matter
was brought before the Prussian diet, sum delegates wishing to do
away with the scool spelling, others to introduce a complete reform.
The Kultus minister said that the Government was about to discuss
the matter and end the present situation. The reformers ar much occu-
pied with the introduction of Latin script. A society for that purpose
establisht in 1885 numbers more than 11,000 members. A society for
preserving the German script was founded this year, 1892.
DUTCH.
J. H. Gladstone, in Spelling Reform from an educational point of view: "Up to the
beginning of the present century the spelling of the Dutch language was very un-
setld. In 1804 the movement for reform assumed a definit shape thru the essay
of Prof. von Siegenbeek; and the greatly improved spelling that bears his name
was the only official and authorized one til 1873. Then sum important changes wer
propozed by De Vries and Te Winkel, and these ar now adopted by the different de-
partments of guvernment. I believ, however, that there ar other systems which re-
ceiv official sanction, and we can only hope that the result wil be 'the survival of
the fittest.'
"Similar movements for reform ar taking place in the Scandinavian kingdoms."
SWEDISH.
"The Swedish spelling appears to be about equal in quality to the German, but for
the last 100 years or thereabouts attempts hav been made by competent persons to
establish a purely fonetic system, and the Swedish Academy has adopted sum of
their proposals and embodied them in a model spelling book; but the guvernment
has taken no part in the matter, and there is consequently much diversity in prac-
tice."
DANISH.
"In Denmark the movement originated with Prof. Rask and sum other lerned
men and scoolmasters, and it has resulted in a guvernment decree, confirming cer-
tain regulations with respect to dubl consonants, the silent e and d, the abolition of
1, and sum other points. These "official" changes ar not obligatory; but they ar
winning their way both in public and private scools, and the use of the Gothic char-
acter has almost ceast. In July, 1869, a meeting of scolars from Sweden, Norway,
and Denmark took place in Stockholm, with the object of establishing a fonetic
mode of spelling which should be common to the Scandinavian languages. Certain
resolutions wer then cum to, and spelling dictionaries hav since been publisht in
accordance with them."
PORTUGAL.
"In Portugal a movement has arizn amongst those interested in public instruction,
and a committee which had been constituted to consider the matter reported in
favor of considerabl changes, and laid down a scheme of fonetic reform. Recog-
nizing the necessity of its being supported by an authority possest of sufficient
moral weight, it recommends that the Royal Academy of Sciences should be askt to
adopt that or sum other normal system of orthografy, and to publish a grammar and
vocabulary."
60
THE SPELLING REFORM.
JAPANESE.
"Academy of June 6, 1885: The latest news that reaches us from the Japanese
capital is the establishment of a society for the Romanization of the language. The
professors of the University of Tokio started the idea, or rather revived it, for it
had been mooted as long ago as 1873 at an Oriental Congress held in Paris. But at
that time it was litl more than the bold hope of a few far-seeing minds. It has
now becum a practical necessity for the nation at large.
But
"Japan has assimilated every branch of European mental culture.
there is one great exception to the universal adoption of European ways. That ex-
ception is the writn system. The Chinese ideografs stil reign supreme. Indeed,
the number of them with which it is necessary for an educated man to be acquainted
has greatly increast within the last twenty years, for the reason that recourse has
been had to them to invent equivalents for scientific and other novel terms, for
which the nativ language had no words forthcuming. It is calculated that a knowl-
edge of 4,000 ideografs as a minimum is the indispensabl preliminary to a liberal
education. One aspiring to wide scientific or literary attainments must be familiar
with dubl that number, and six or seven years-six or seven of the best years of life—
ar spent in comitting them to memory. To state such a fact is to condemn the cir-
cumstances that cause it. This has now been recognized by the Japanese.
"As alredy mentioned, a movement has begun in favor of the simpl Roman alfabet.
The Romanization Society, founded in December last, now numbers over a thousand
members, including many of the names most noted in science and in politics. The
first step taken was the apointment of a Transliteration Comittee, consisting of four
Japanese and two Europeans. Their work is now done. Indeed, there was litl to
do; for the labors of Dr. Hepburn, the veteran pioneer of Japanese studies, and of
such authorities as Messrs. Satow and Aston, had prepared the way. Moreover, the
fonetic construction of Japanese is very simpl, and allows of the language being
writn with twenty-two of the Roman letters, without recourse being had to any
diacritical marks except the sign of long quantity over sum of the vowels. The
next object of the society is the compilation of a vocabulary giving the new Ro-
manized spelling of every word in common use, and of scool books. It is also in-
tended to publish a periodical, and to endeavor to induce the ordinary nativ press
to open its columns to communications writn in Roman letters. It is said that the
Guvernment wil giv the movement its support. If it does so, it wil win for itself a
more lasting fame than can crown any political reforms."
In connection with this movement, it may be remarkt that a Jap-
anese gentlman, Mr. R. Masujima, of the University of Tokio, calld
on the President and Corresponding Secretary of the American Spell-
ing Reform Association, to obtain information in regard to its fonetic
scheme for English, with a view of adapting it to the Romanization of
Japanese. He was of course provided with the fullest information,
which he has doubtless uzed on his return to Japan.
FORERUNNERS.
In the preceding sketch the present movement has been spoken of
as a birth of time, an expression of the spirit of the age seeking to
ameliorate the condition of man and to improve everything improvabl;
but there ar a few men whose influence has been important enuf to
deserv especial mention as forerunners.
Dr. Franklin and Noah Webster wer ernest reformers. Webster's
dictionary and the controversies about its amended spelling produced
a deep and lasting impression on the minds of the peple. Those who
saw the endings ick and our, as in musick and honour, give way to ic
THE SPELLING REFORM.
61
and or, know that more improvements can be made. Spelling reform
has a natural alliance with fonetic stenografy. The famous inventor
of this system, Isaac Pitman, has also a system of fonetic printing.
It was devized in connection with A. J. Ellis, esq., the most eminent of
the scolars of England for his reserches in Erly English pronuncia-
tion. They brought it to good working condition in 1845. It was
speedily introduced into this cuntry by S. P. Andrews, and widely
promulgated, thru the press and lectures, by Andrews, Longley,
Parkhurst, Ben. Pitman, and others. They did not succeed in com-
mending their schemes to the favor of the literary public, and finally in
the war times all vestige of their labor seemd to be swallowd up and
lost. Meantime, Dr. Edwin Leigh invented a series of modified types
by which words can be presented fonetically without destroying their
resemblance to their forms in the old spelling. He has printed many
of the common primers and readers with these types and his books
hav been widely used in our best scools. They save a year or more in
lerning to read and ar natural forerunners of amended spelling. It is
now evident that the redy response to the deliverances of the filolo-
gists in 1874 and the rapid progress of the reform ever sinse ar in
great part due to the labors of these erlier reformers.
APPENDIX.
[From the Transactions of the American Philological Association, Vol. XVII.]
The Philological Society of England and the American Philological Association took
joint action on the amendment of English spelling in 1883, and on the basis of it twenty-
four joint rules wer printed in the proceedings of the American association for that
year. It was known that the application of thesc rules was difficult, and that an
alfabetic list of amended words must be made. A pamflet of the English society
and a paper in the Transactions of the American association for 1881 ar official con-
text for interpretation. The purpose of the associations is practical. The correc-
tions ar in the interest of etymological and historical truth, and ar to be confined to
words which the changes do not much disguize from general readers.
In the following list, as in the twenty-four rules, many amendabl words hav been
omitted for reasons such as these:-(1) The changed word would not be easily recog-
nized, as nee for knee; or, (2), letters ar left in strange positions, as in edg for edge, casq
for casque. (3) The word is of frequent use. Final g—j, v, q, z, and syllabic 7 and n,
ar strange to our print but abundant in our specch. Many of them ar in the list:
hav, freez, singl, eatn, etc.; but iz feris, ov for of, and many other words, as wel as the
final z=s of inflections, ar omitted. (4) The wrong sound is suggested, as in vag for
vague, acer for acre. (5) A valuabl distinction is lost: casque to cask, dost to dust. (6)
The derivation is obscured: nun for none, dun for done, munth for month. (7) The
change leads in the wrong direction.
Webster's Academic Dictionary is the basis of the list, but unuzual words having
a familiar change of ending, as -le to -1, and simpl derivativs and inflections, ar often
omitted. Words doutful in pronunciation or etymology, and words undecided by
the associations, however amendabl, ar omitted. Inflections ar printed in italics.
The so-called Twenty-four Joint Rules ar many of them lists of words. The rules
proper ar as follows:
TEN RULES.
1.
3.
ல்க
2.
4.
e.—Drop silent e when fonetically useless, writing -er for -re, as in live, sin-
gle, caten, rained, theatre, etc.
es.—Drop a from ea having the sound of short e, as in feather, leather, etc.
o.-For o having the sound of u in but write u in above (abuv), tongue (tung),
and the like.
ou.-Drop o from ou having the sound of u in but, in trouble, rough (ruf), and
the like; for -our unaccented write -or, as in honour.
5. u, ue.-Drop silent u after g before a, and in nativ English words, and drop final
uc: guard, guess, catalogue, league, etc.
6.
7.
Dubl consonants may be simplified when fonetically useless: bailiff, (not
hall, etc.), battle (batl), written (writu), traveller, etc.
d.—Change d and ed final to t when so pronounced, as in looked (lookt), etc.,
unless the e affects the preceding sound, as in chafed, etc.
8. gh, ph.-Change gh and ph to f when so sounded: enough (enuf), laughter (lafter),
etc.; phonetic (fonetic), etc.
63
64
THE SPELLING REFORM.
9.
10.
s.-Change s to z when so sounded, especially in distinctiv words and in
-ise: abuse, verb (abuze), advertise (advertize), etc.
t.-Drop t in tch: catch, pitch, etc.
LIST OF AMENDED SPELLINGS RECOMMENDED BY THE PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF
LONDON AND THE AMERICAN PHILOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION.
The following list was presented to the American Philological Association in the
report of its Committee on the Reform of English Spelling, Prof. F. A. March, chair-
man, at the annual meeting in 1886, and is printed in the Transactions for that year.
It is here reprinted by permission. A few oversights hav been corrected.
abandoned: abandond.
abashed: abasht.
abhorred: abhord.
ablative: ablativ.
-able, unaccented: -abl.
abolishable: abolishabl.
abolished: abolisht.
abominable: abominabl.
abortive: abortiv.
above: abuv.
abreast: abrest.
absolve: absolv.
absolved: absolvd.
absorbed: absorbd.
absorbable: absorbabl.
absorptive: absorptiv.
abstained: abstaind.
abstractive: abstractiv.
abuse, v.: abuze.
accelerative: accelerativ.
accessible: accessibl.
active: activ.
adaptable: adaptabl.
adaptive: adaptiv.
add: ad.
addle: adl.
addled: adld.
addressed; addrest.
adhesive: adhesiv.
adjective: adjectiv.
adjoined: adjoind.
adjourn: adjurn.
adjourned: adjurnd.
adjunctive: adjunctiv.
adjustable: adjustabl.
admeasure: admezure.
administered: administerd.
administrative: adminis-
trativ.
admirable: admirabl.
admissible: admissibl.
admixed: admixt.
admonished: admonisht.
admonitive: admonitiv.
afflictive: afflictiv.
affront: affrunt.
afront: adv.: afrunt.
agglutinative: agglutina
tiv.
aggressive: aggressiv.
aggrieve: aggriev.
aggrieved: aggrievd.
aghast: agast.
agile: agil.
agreeable: agreeabl.
ahead: ahed.
ailed: aild.
aimed: aimd.
aired: aird.
aisle aile.
alarmed: alarmd.
alienable: alienabl.
alimentiveness: alimentiv-
ness.
allayed: allayd.
alliterative: alliterativ.
allowed: allowd.
allowable: allowabl.
alloyed: alloyd.
abusive: abusiv.
acceptable: acceptabl.
accommodative: accomo-
dativ.
adoptive: adoptiv.
adorable: adorabl.
accompaniment: accumpa-adorned: adornd.
allusive: allusiv.
niment.
adulterine: adulterin.
alpha: alfa.
accompany: accumpany. adventuresome:
advent-
alphabet: alfabet.
accomplished: accomplisht.
uresum.
already alredy.
alterable: alterabl.
altered: alterd.
accountable: accountabl. adversative: adversativ.
accumulative: accumula-advertise, -ize: advertize.
tiv.
accursed: accurs-ed, a c-
curst.
accusative: accusativ
accustomed: accustomd.
acephalous: ace falous.
ache, ake: ake.
achievable: achievabl.
achieve: achiev.
achieved: achievd.
acquirable: acquirabl.
acquisitive; acquisitiv.
actionable: actionabl.
advertisement: advertize-
ment, advertizment.
advisable: advizabl.
advise: advize.
advisement: advizement.
advisory: advizory.
adze, adz: adz.
affable: affabl.
affective: affectiv.
affirmed: affirmd.
affirmable: affirmabl.
affirmative: affirmativ.
affixed: affixt.
alterative: alterativ.
alternative: alternativ.
although: altho.
alumine, alumin: alumin.
amaranthine: amaranthin.
amassed: amast.
amative: amativ.
amble: ambl.
ambled: ambld.
ambushed: ambusht.
amenable: amenabl.
amethystine: amethystin.
amiable: amiabl.
THE SPELLING REFORM.
65
amicable. amicabl.
amorphous: amorfous.
apportioned: apportiond.
appreciable: appreciabl.
attached: attacht.
attacked: attackt.
approached: approacht.
approvable: approvabl.
approximative:
amphibia: amfibia.
amphibian: amfibian.
amphibious: amfibious.
amphibrach: amfibrach.
amphitheater, -tre: amfi-
theater.
ample: ampl.
amplificative: amplificativ.
amusive: amusiv.
appreciative: appreciativ. attainable: attainabl.
apprehensible: apprehen- attained: attaind.
attempered: attemperd.
sibl.
apprehensive: apprehensiv. attentive: attentiv.
approachable: approach- attractive: attractiv.
abl.
attributable: attributabl.
attributive: attributiv.
audible: audibl.
approxi-
augmentative: augmenta-
anaglyph: anaglyf.
analogue: analog.
mativ.
tiv.
aquiline: aquilin, -ine.
auricle: auricl.
analyze, analyse: analyze.arable: arabl.
anatomize,-ise: anatomize. arbitrable: arbitrabl.
authoritative:
authorita-
tiv.
anchor: anker.
anchorage: ankerage.
anchored: ankerd
angered: angerd.
angle: angl.
arbor, arbour: arbor.
autobiographer: autobiog-
arched: archt.
rafer.
ardor, ardour: ardor.
autobiography: autobiog-
angled: angld.
anguished: anguisht.
anise: anis.
ankle: ankl.
annealed: anneald.
annexed: annext.
are: ar.
argumentative:
ativ.
arise: arize.
arisen: arizu.
rafy.
argument-autograph: autograf.
armor, armour: armor.
armored, armoured:
mord.
arose: arozo.
arraigned: arraignd
arrayed: arrayd.
annoyed: annoyā.
annulled: annuld.
answered: answerd.
anthropophagy:
anthro-
article: articl.
pofagy.
anticipative: anticipativ.
antiphony: antifony.
antiphrasis: antifrasis.
antistrophe: antistrofe.
aphyllous: afyllous.
apocalypse: apocalyps.
apocrypha: apocryfa.
apocryphal: apocryfal.
apologue: apolog.
apostle: apostl.
apostrophe: apostrofe.
apostrophize: apostrofize.
appalled: appalla.
appareled, -elled: appareld.
appealable: appealabl.
appealed: appeald.
appeared: appeard.
appeasable: appeasabl.
appellative: appellativ.
appertained: appertaind.
apple: apl.
applicable: applicabl.
applicative: applicativ.
appointive: appointiv.
439-5
available: availabl.
availed: availd.
avalanche: avalanch.
averred: averd.
ar-avoidable: avoidabl.
artisan, artizan: artizan.
asbestine: asbestin.
ascendable: ascendabl.
ascertained: ascertaind.
ascertainable: ascertainabl.
ascribable: ascribabl.
asphalt: asfalt.
asphyxia: asfyxia.
assailable: assailabl.
assailed: assaild.
assayed: assayd.
assemble: assembl.
assembled: assembld.
assertive: assertiv.
assessed: assest.
assigned: assignd.
assignable: assignabl.
assimilative: assimilativ.
associable: associabl.
associative: associativ.
assumptive: assumptiv.
astonished: astonisht:
atmosphere: atmosfere.
atmospheric: atmosferic.
atrophy: atrofy.
avouched: aroucht.
avowed: avowd.
awakened: awakend.
awe: aw.
awed: awd.
awsome, awesome: awsum.
ax, axe: ax.
axle: axl.
ay, aye: ay.
babble: babl.
babbled: babld.
backed: backt.
backslidden: backslidn.
bad, bade: pret.: bad.
baffle: bafl.
baffled: bafld.
bagatelle: bagatel.
bailable: bailabl.
bailed: baild.
bailiff: balif.
baize: baiz.
balked: balkt.
balled: balld.
banged: bangd.
banished: banisht.
bankable: bankabl.
banked: bankt.
bantered: banterd.
barbed: barbd.
bareheaded: bareheded,
66
THE SPELLING REFORM.
i
bargained: bargaind.
barnacle: barnacl.
barreled, -elled: barreld.
belayed: belayd.
belched: belcht.
binocle: binocl.
biographer: biografer.
beldam, beldame: beldam.biography: biografy.
barreling, -elling: barrel-beleaguer: beleager.
ing.
bartered: barterd.
basked: baskt.
bissextile: bissextil.
bister, bistre: bister.
bitten: bitn.
bivalve: bivaly.
blabbed: blabd.
blackballed: blackballd.
beleaguered: beleagerd.
believable: believabl.
believe: believ.
batch: bach.
believed: believd.
battered: batterd.
belittle: belitl.
battle: battl.
belittled: belitld.
blacked: blackt.
battled: batild.
bell: bel.
bauble: baubl.
belled: beld.
bawled: bawld.
belonged: belongd.
bayoneted, -etted: bayoneted. beloved: beluv-ed, beluvd.
beadle: beadl.
bemoaned: bemoand.
bemocked: bemockt.
benumb: benum.
benumbed: benumd.
bequeathed: bequeathd.
bereave: bereav.
bereaved: bercavd.
blackened: blackend.
black-eyed: black-eyd.
blackguard: blackgard.
black-lead: black-led.
blackmailed: blackmaild.
blamable: blamabl.
blameworthy: blamewur-
thy.
blanched: blancht.
beagle: beagl.
beaked: beakt.
beamed: beamd.
bearable: bearabl.
beaten: beatn.
beauteous: beuteous.
beautify: beutify.
beautiful: beutiful.
beauty: beuty.
becalmed: becalmd.
beckoned: beckond.
become: becum.
becoming: becuming.
bedabble: bedabl.
bedabbled: bedabld.
bedecked: bedeckt.
bedeviled,-illed: bcdevild.
bedewed: bedewd.
bedimmed: bedimd.
bedraggle: bedragl.
bedraggled: bedragld.
bedrenched: bedrencht.
bedridden: bedridn.
bedropped: bedropt.
bedstead: bedsted.
beetle: beetl.
beeves: beevs.
befallen: befaln.
befell: befel.
befooled: befoold.
befoulded: befould.
befriend: befrend.
begged: begd.
begone: begon.
begotten: begotn.
blandished: blandisht.
blaspheme: blasfeme.
blasphemy: blasfemy.
bleached: bleacht.
berhyme, berime: berime. blasphemous: blasfemous.
bescemed: bescemd.
besmeared: besmeard.
bespangle: bespangl.
bespangled: bespangld.
bespattered: bespatterd.
bespread: bespred.
besprinkle: besprinkl.
besprinkled: besprinkld.
bestirred: bestird
bestowed: bestowd.
bestraddle: bestradl.
bestraddled: bestradld.
betrothed: betrotht.
bettered: betterd.
beveled, bevelled: beveld.
beveling, bevelling: beveling.
bewailed: bewaild.
bewildered: bewilderd.
biased, biassed: biast.
bleared: bleard.
blemished: blemisht.
blenched: blencht.
blende: blend.
blessed, blest: bless-ed, blest.
blindworm: blindwurm.
blinked: blinkt.
blistered: blisterd.
blithesome: blithesum.
blocked: blockt.
blockhead: blockhed.
blond, blonde: blond.
bloomed: bloomd.
blossomed: blossomd.
blotch: bloch.
blotched: blocht.
blubbered: blubberd.
blue-eyed: blue-eyd.
bluff: bluf.
bibliography: bibliografy.blurred: blurd.
bewitch: bewich.
bewitched: bewitcht.
bewrayed: beurayd.
bluffed: bluft.
bibliographer: bibliogra-
blundered: blunderd.
fer.
blunderhead: blunderhed.
bicephalous: bicefalous.
blushed: blusht.
bickered: bickerd.
blustered: blusterd.
bicolored, bicoloured: bicul-
ord.
boatable: boatabl.
bobbed: bobd.
bobtailed: bobtaild.
bodyguard: bodygard.
boggle: bogl.
behavior, -our: behavior.
behead: behed.
belabor, belabour: belabor.
belabored, belaboured: bela-
borà.
bilked: bilkt.
bill: bil.
billed: bild.
binnacle: binuacl.
boggled: bogld.
THE SPELLING REFORM.
67
boiled: boild.
bolthead: bolthed.
bomb: bom.
bombazine, -sine: bomba-
zine.
bombshell: bomshel.
booked: bookt.
bookworm: bookwurm.
boomed: boomd.
booze, boose: booz.
boozy, boosy: boozy.
bordered: borderd.
borrowed: borrowd.
bossed: bost.
botch: boch.
botched: bocht.
bothered: botherd.
bots, botts: bots.
bottle: botl.
bottled: botld.
bowed: bowd.
boxhauled: boxhauld.
broidered: broiderd.
broiled: broild.
broadened: broadend.
cackled: cackld.
cacography: cacografy.
cacophony: cacofony.
calculable: calculabl.
bromine, bromin: bromin.
caitiff: caitif.
bronze: bronz.
bronzed: bronzd.
browned: brownd.
calendered: calenderd.
caliber, -bre: caliber.
browse, browze, v.: browz. calif, caliph, kalif, kaliph,
brushed: brusht.
bubble: bubl.
bubbled: bubld.
bucked: buckt.
buckle: buckl.
buckled: buckld.
buff: buf.
bulbed: bulbd.
bulk-head: bulk-hed.
bull: bul.
bull-head: bul-hed.
bumble: bumbl.
bumped: bumpt.
bunched: buncht.
bundle: bundl.
bundled: bundld.
bowline: bowlin.
boxed: boxt.
brachygraphy: brachygra-
bungle: bungl.
fy.
bungled: bungld.
bur, burr: bur.
bragged: bragd.
brained: braind.
bramble: brambl.
branched: brancht.
burdened: burdend.
burdensome: burdensum.
brangle: brangl.
burg, burgh: burg.
burke: burk.
brangled: brangld.
burked: burkt.
brawled: brawld.
burled: burld.
brayed: brayd.
burned: burnd.
breached: breacht.
bread: bred.
etc.: calif or kalif.
calked: calkt.
called: calld.
caligraphy: caligrafy.
calve: calv.
calved: calvd.
camomile, cham-: camo-
mile.
camped: campt.
camphene: camfene
camphor: camfor.
canalled: canald.
canceled, -elled: canceld.
canceling, -elling: canceling.
cancellation: cancelation.
candle: candl.
candor, candour: candor.
cankered: cankerd.
cantered: canterd.
canticle: canticl.
capered: caperd.
captive: captiv.
carbuncle: carbuncl.
careened: careend.
careered: careerd.
breadth: bredth.
breakfast: brekfast.
breast: brest.
breath: breth.
breathable: breathabl.
breathed: breathd.
breeched: breecht.
breeze (wind): breez.
brewed: brewd.
bricked: brickt.
bridewell: bridewel.
briefed: brieft.
brightened: brightend.
brimmed: brimd.
brindle: brindl.
brindled: brindld.
bristled: bristld.
burnished: burnisht.
burrowed: burrowd.
burthened: burthend.
bushed: busht.
buskined: buskind.
bussed: bust.
bustle: bustl.
bustled: bustld.
but, butt: but.
but-end, butt-end: but-end.
buttered: butterd.
buttoned: buttond.
buttressed: buttrest.
buxom: buxum.
buzz: buz.
buzzed: buzā.
by, bye, n.: by.
bygone: bygon.
caballed: cabald.
cabined: cabind.
brittle: britl.
broached: broacht.
cackle: cackl.
caressed: carest.
carminative: carminativ.
caroled, -olled: caroled.
caroling, olling: caroling.
carped: carpt.
caruncle: caruncl.
carve: carv.
carved: carvā.
cashiered: cashierd.
caste: cast.
castle: castl.
catalogue: catalog.
catalogued: catalogd.
cataloguer: cataloger.
catastrophe: catastrofe.
catch: cach.
catechise: catechize.
catered: caterd.
caterwauled: caterwauld.
cattle: catl.
caucused, -ussed: caucust.
68
THE SPELLING REFORM.
caucusing, -ussing: caucus-
ing.
caudle: caudl.
causative: causativ.
cauteriso, -ize: cauterize.
cavild, -illed: cavild.
caviling, -illing: caviling.
cawed: cawd.
cayenne: cayen.
ceased: ceast.
chincough: chincof.
chipped: chipt.
chirograph: chirograf.
chirography: chirografy.
chirped: chirpt.
chirruped: chirrupt.
chiseled, -elled: chiseled.
chiseling, -elling: chiseling.
chloride: chlorid.
chlorine: chlorin,
cedrine: cedrin.
choler: color.
ceiled: ceild.
cell: cel.
cholera: colera.
choleric: coleric.
cleave: cleav.
cleaved: cleavd.
clerked: clerkt.
clicked: clickt.
climbed: climbd.
clinched: clincht.
clinked: clinkt.
clipped: clipt.
cloaked: cloakt.
cloistered: cloisterd.
close, v.: cloze.
closet: clozet.
closure: clozure.
celled: celd.
cenotaph: cenotaf.
censurable: censurabl.
centre, center: center.
centred: centerd.
centuple: centupl.
cephalic: cefalic.
cephalopod: cefalopod.
cerography: cerografy.
chaff: chaf.
chafed: chaft.
chained: chaind.
chaired: chaird.
chopped: chopt.
chorography: chorografy.cloyed: cloyd.
chose: choze.
chosen chozen.
chough: chuf.
chronicle: chronicl.
chronicled: chronicld.
chronograph: chronograf.
clough: cluf.
clubbed: clubd.
clucked: cluckt.
clustered: clusterd.
clutched: clucht.
cluttered: clutterd.
coached: coacht.
coactive: coactiv.
coaled: coald.
chucked: chuckt.
chuckle: chuckl.
chuckled: chuckld.
coaxed: coaxt.
chummed: chumd.
churched: churcht.
cobble: cobl.
chalco- churned: churnd.
chalcography:
grafy.
chalked: chalkt.
chambered: chamberd.
chamois: see shammy.
championed: championd.
changeable: changeabl.
cigarette: cigaret.
cinder: sinder.
cipher: cifer.
ciphered: cifered.
circle: circl.
circled: circld.
channeled, -elled: channeld. | circumcise: circumcize.
channeling, -elling: channel- circumvolve: circumvolv.
ing.
chapped: chapt.
charred: chard.
charitable: charitabl.
charmed: charmd.
chastizement: chastizment.
chartered: charterd.
chastened: chastend.
chastise: chastize.
chasuble: chasubl.
chattered: chatterd.
chawed: chawd.
cheapened: chcapend.
checked: checkt.
cheered: cheerd.
cherished: cherisht.
chewed: chewd.
chidden: chidn.
chill: chil.
circumvolved: circumvolvd.
citrine, citrin: citrin.
clacked: clackt.
claimed: claimd.
clambered: clamberd.
clamored: clamord.
clanked: clankt.
clapped: clapt.
clashed: clasht.
clasped: claspt.
classed: clast.
clattered: clatterd.
clavicle: clavicl.
clawed: clawd.
cleaned cleand.
cleanliness: clenliness.
cleanly: clenly.
cleanse: clenz.
cleansed: clenzd.
cobbled: cobld.
cocked: cockt.
cockle: cockl.
coddle: codl.
coddled: coddld.
coercive: coerciv.
cogitative: cogitativ.
cohesive: cohesiv.
coined: coind.
collapse: collaps.
collapsed: collapst.
collared: collard.
colleague: colleag.
collective: collectiv.
collusive: collusiv.
color: culor.
colored: culord.
colorable: culorabl.
coltered: colterd.
combed: combd.
combative: combativ.
combustible: combustibl.
come: cum, cums.
comeliness: cumliness.
comely: cumly.
comfit: cumfit.
comfort: cumfort.
comfortable: cumfortabl.
comforter: cumforter.
chilled: chilld, child.
cleared: cleard.
coming: cuming.
?
THE SPELLING REFORM,
69
|
commendable: commend- | congealable: congealabl. | counter-marched: -marcht.
conglutinative: congluti-| countersigned:
nativ.
abl.
commensurable: commen-
surabl.
commingle: commingl.
commingled: commingld.
commixed: commixt.
communicative: communi-
cativ.
companion: cumpanion.
companionable:
ionabl.
conjoined: conjoind.
conjunctive: conjunctiv.
connective: connectiv.
consecutive: consecutiv.
conservative: conservativ.
conserve: conserv.
considered: considerd.
cumpan-considerable: considerabl.
consigned: consignd.
companionship: cumpan- consolable: consolabl.
ionship.
company: cumpany.
comparable: comparabl.
comparative: comparativ.
compass: cumpass.
compassed: compast.
compatible: compatibl.
compelled: compeld.
competitive: competitiv.
complained: complaind.
comportable: comportabl.
composite: composit.
comprehensive :
compre-
hensiv.
compressed: comprest.
compressible: compressibl.
compressive: compressiv.
compulsive: compulsiv.
computable: computabl.
concealed: conceald.
conceivable: conceivabl.
conceive: conceiv.
conceived: conceivd.
constable: constabl.
constitutive: constitutiv.
constrainable: constrain-
abl.
constrained: constraind.
constructive: constructiv.
contemplative: contempla-
tiv.
contemptible: contemptibl.
contractible: contractibl.
contractile: contractil.
contributive: contributiv.
controlled: controld.
controllable: controllabl.
conversed: converst.
conveyed: conveyd.
convincible: convincibl.
convoyed: convoyd.
convulsive: convulsiv.
cooed: cood.
counter-
signd.
country: cuntry.
couple: cupl, cupls.
coupled: cupld.
couplet: cuplet.
coupling: cupling.
courage: curage.
courageous: curageous.
courteous: curteous.
courtesan: curtesan.
courtesy: curtesy.
cousin: cuzin.
covenant: cuvenant.
cover: cuver.
covered: cuverd.
covert: cuvert.
covering: cuvering.
coverlet: cuverlet.
coverture: cuverture.
covet: cuvet.
covetous: cuvetous.
covey: cuvey.
cowed: cowd.
cowered: cowerd.
cowled: cowld.
cozen: cuzen.
cozenage: cuzenage.
cozy, cosy: cozy.
cracked: crackt.
crackle: crackl.
crackled: crackld.
crammed: cramd.
cramped: crampt.
cooked: cookt.
cooled: coold.
cooped: coopt.
crashed: crasht.
copse: cops.
crawled: crawld.
copulative: copulativ.
creaked: creakt.
creamed: creamd.
creased: creast.
conceptive: conceptiv.
concerned: concernd.
concessive: concessiv.
conclusive: conclusiv.
concoctive: concoctiv.
concurred: concurd.
concussive: concussiv.
condensed: condenst.
conducive: conduciv.
corked: corkt.
corned: cornd.
corrective: correctiv.
correlative: correlativ.
tiv.
corrosive: corrosiv.
confederative:
confedera-
costive: costiv.
tiv.
conferred: conferd.
confessed: confest.
creative: creativ.
credible: credibl.
confirmed: confirmd.
confirmable: confirmabl.
confiscable: confiscabl.
conformed: conformd.
confront: confrunt.
congealed: congeald.
corroborative: corrobora-crimped: crimpt.
cosy, cozy: cozy.
couched: coucht.
cough: cof.
coughed: coft.
could: coud.
councilor, councillor:
councilor.
counselor, counsellor:
counselor.
crimple: crimpl.
crimpled: crimpld.
crinkle: crinkl.
crinkled: crinkld.
cripple: cripl.
crippled: cripld.
crisped: crispt.
criticise: criticize.
croaked: croakt.
crooked: crook-ed, crookt.
crossed: crost.
crotched: crocht.
70
THE SPELLING REFORM.
crouched: croucht.
crumb: crum.
crumbed: crumd.
crumble: crumbl.
crumbled: crumbld.
crumple: crumpl.
crumpled: crumpld.
crushed: crusht.
crutch: cruch.
crutched: crucht.
cuff: cuf.
cuffed: cuft.
culled: culd.
culpable: culpabl.
cultivable: cultivabl.
cumbered: cumberd.
cumbersome: cumbersum.
cumulative: cumulativ.
cupped: cupt.
curable: curabl.
curative: curativ.
curbed: curbd.
curled: curld.
J
cursed: curs-ed, curst.
cursive: cursiv.
curve: curv.
curved: curvd.
curvetting: curveting.
cuticle: cuticl.
cuttle-fish: cutl-fish.
dabbed: dabd.
dawned: dawnd.
dazzle: dazl.
dazzled: dazld.
dead: ded.
deadened: dedend.
deadening: dedening.
deadly: dedly.
deaf: def, deaf.
deafened: defend.
deafening: defening-
deafness: defness.
dealt: delt.
dearth: derth.
death: deth.
debarred: debard.
debarked: debarkt.
debatable: debatabl.
debauched: debaucht. i
debt: det.
debtor: detter.
decalogue: decalog.
decamped: decampt.
decayed: decayd.
deceased: deceast.
deceive: deceiv.
deceived: deceird.
deceptive: deceptiv.
decipher: decifer.
deciphered: deciferd.
decisive: decisiv.
decked: deckd.
delight: delite.
delighted: delited.
delivered: deliverd.
dell: del.
delusive: delusiv.
demagogue: demagog.
demandable: demandabl.
demeaned: demeand.
demeanor, demeanour: de-
meanor.
demesne: demene.
demolished: demolisht.
demonstrable: demon-
strabl.
demonstrative: demon-
strativ.
denominative:
tiv.
denomina-
deplorable: deplorabl.
deployed: deployd.
depressed: deprest.
depressive: depressiv.
derisive: derisiv.
derivative: derivativ.
descriptive: descriptiv.
deserve: deserv.
designed: designd.
designable: designabl.
desirable: desirabl.
despaired: despaird.
despatch: despach.
dabbic: dabl.
declaimed: declaimd.
despicable: despicable.
dabbled: dabld.
dactyle, dactyl: dactyl.
daggle: dagl.
decolor: deculor.
declarative: declarativ.
despoiled: despoild.
decolorize: deculorize.
destroyed: destroyd.
destructive: destructiv.
daggled: dagld.
dammed: damd.
damnable: damnabl.
damped: dampt.
dandle: dandl.
decorative: decorativ.
detached: detacht.
decoyed: decoyd.
detailed: detaild.
decreased: decreast.
detained: detaind.
decursive: decursiv.
detective: detectiv.
determinable :
nabl.
determi-
dandled: dandld.
dandruff, dandriff: dan-
druf, dandrif.
dangle: dangl.
dangled: dangld.
dapple: dapl.
dappled: dapld.
darkened: darkend.
darksome: darksum.
darned: darnd.
dashed: dasht.
dative: dativ.
daubed: daubd.
dauphin: daufin.
deducible: deducibl.
deductive: deductiv.
deemed: deemd.
deepened: deepend.
defeasible: defeasibl.
defective: defectiv.
defense, defence: defense.
defensive: defensiv.
definite: definit.
definitive: definitiv.
deformed: deformd.
defrayed: defrayd.
deleble: delebl.
delectable: delectabl.
deliberative; deliberativ.
determine: determin.
determined: determind.
detersive: detersiv.
develop, develope:
velop.
developed: developt.
devisable: devizabl.
devise: devize.
devolve: devolv.
devolved: devolvd.
dewed: dewd.
dialed, dialled: diald.
dialist, diallist: dialist.
de-
THE SPELLING REFORM.
71
dialing, dialling: dialing.
dialogue: dialog.
diaphanous: diafanous.
diaphoretic: diaforetic.
diaphragm: diafragm.
dicephalous: dicefalous.
diffuse, v.: diffuze.
diffusible: diffuzibl.
diffusive: diffusiv.
digestible: digestibl.
digraph: digraf.
digressive: digressiv.
dimmed: dimd.
diminished: diminisht.
diminutive: diminutiv.
dimple: dimpl.
dimpled: dimpld.
dingle: dingl.
dinned: dind.
dipped: dipt.
directive: directiv.
disabuse: disabuze.
disagreeable: disagreeabl.
disappeared: disappeard.
disarrayed: disarrayd.
disavowed: disavowd.
disbelieve: disbeliev.
disbelieved: disbelievd.
disboweled: disboweld.
disburdened: disburdend.
disbursed: disburst.
discernible: discernibl.
discerned: discernd.
discipline: disciplin.
disclose: discloze.
disclaimed: disclaimd.
disclosure: disclozure.
discolor: disculor.
discolored, -oured: discul-
ord.
discomfit: discumfit.
discomfort: discumfort.
discourage: discurage.
discourteous: discurteous.
discourtesy: discurtesy.
discover: discuver.
discovered: discuverd.
discovery: discuvery.
discreditable: discreditabl.
discriminative: discrimi-
nativ.
discursive: discursiv.
discussed: discust.
discussive: discussiv.
disdained: disdaind.
| disembarked: disembarkt.
disembarrassed: disembar-
rast.
disemboweled: disemboweld.
disentangle: disentangl.
disentangled: disentangld.
disesteemed: discsteemd.
disfavor, disfavour:
favor.
disfavored, disfavoured:
disfavord.
disguise: disguize.
dished: disht.
dis-
dishearten: disharten.
disheartened: dishartend.
disheveled: disheveld.
dishonored, dishonoured:
dishonord.
disinterred: disinterd.
disjunctive: disjunctiv.
dismantle: dismantl.
dismantled: dismantld.
dismembered: dismemberd.
dismissed: dismist.
dismissive: dismissiv.
dispatch: dispach.
dispelled: dispeld.
dispensable: dispensabl.
dispensed: dispenst.
dispersive dispersiv.
displayed: displayd.
displeasure: displezure.
displosive: displosiv.
dispossessed: dispossest.
disputable: disputabl.
disreputable: disreputabl.
dissemble; dissembl.
dissembled: dissembld.
dissoluble: dissolubl.
dissolvable: dissolvabl.
dissolve: dissolv.
dissolved: dissolvd.
dissuasiv: dissuasiv.
dissyllable: dissyllabl
distaff: distaf.
distained: distaind.
distempered: distemperd.
distensible: distensibl.
distill, distil: distil.
distilled: distild.
distinctive: distinctiv.
distinguishable: distin-
guishabl.
distinguished: distin-
guisht.
distractive: distractiv.
distrained: distraind.
distressed: distrest.
distributive: distributiv.
disturbed: disturbd.
disuse, v.: disuze.
ditched: dicht.
divisible: divisibl.
docile: docil, docile.
docked: dockt.
doctrine: doctrin.
doff: dof.
doffed: doft.
doll: dol.
dolphin: dolfin.
domicile: domicil.
domiciled: domicild.
donative: donativ.
double: dubl, dubls.
doubled: dubld.
doublet: dublet.
doubloon: dubloon.
doubt: dout.
doubtful: doutful.
dove: duv.
dowered: dowerd.
dozen duzen.
drabble: drabl.
draff: draf.
draft, draught: draft.
dragged: dragd.
draggle: dragl.
draggled: dragld.
dragooned: dragoond.
draught, draft: draft.
dread: dred.
dreadful: dredful.
dreamed: dreamd.
dreamt: dremt.
dredged: dredgd.
drenched: drencht.
dressed: drest.
dribble: dribl.
dribbled: dribld.
driblet, dribblet: driblet.
drill: dril.
drilled: drild.
dripped: dript.
driven: drivn.
drizzle: drizl.
drizzled: drizld.
dropped: dropt.
drowned: drownd.
drugged: drugd.
drummed: drumd.
72
THE SPELLING REFORM.
ducked: duckt.
ductile: ductil.
duelist, duellist: duelist.
dull: dul, duls.
dulled: duld.
dumb: dum.
durable: durabl.
dutiable: dutiabl.
dwarfed: dwarft.
dwell: dwel.
dwelled: dweld.
dwindle: dwindl.
dwindled: dwindld.
eagle: eagl.
eared: eard.
earl: erl.
early: erly.
earn: ern.
earned: ernd.
earnest: ernest.
earnings: ernings.
earth: erth.
carthen: erthen.
earthling: erthling.
earthly: erthly.
eatable: eatabl.
caten: eatn.
ebb: eb.
ebbed: ebd.
eclipse: eclips.
eclipsed: eclipst.
eclogue: eclog.
-ed=d: d.
-ed=t: t.
edged: edgd.
effable: effabl.
effective: effectiv.
effectual: effectual.
effrontery: effruntery.
effuse: effuze.
effusive: effusiv.
egg: eg.
egged: egd.
elapse: elaps.
embezzled: embezld.
embossed: embost.
emboweled, embowelled: em-
boweld.
embowered: embowerd.
embroidered: embroiderd.
embroiled: embroild.
emphasis: emfasis.
emphasize: emfasize.
emphatic: emfatic.
employed: employd.
empurple: empurpl.
emulsive: emulsiv.
enactive: enactive.
enameled, enamelled: enam-
cled.
encamped: encampt.
encircle: encircl.
encircled: encircld.
encompass: encumpas.
encompassed: encompast.
encountered: encounterd.
encourage: encurage.
encroached: encroacht.
encumbered: encumberd.
endeared: endeard.
endeavor, endeavour: en-
devor.
endeavored, endeavoured:
endevord.
endowed: endowd.
endurable: endurabl.
enfeeble: enfeebl.
enfeebled: enfeebld.
enfeoff: enƒeƒ..
enfeoffed: enfeft.
engendered: engenderd.
engine: engin.
enginery: enginry.
engrained: engraină.
engulfed: engulft.
enjoyed: enjoyd.
enkindle: enkindl.
enough: enuf.
entrance, v.: entranse.
entranced: entranst.
entrapped: entrapt.
enunciative: enunciativ.
enveloped: envelopt.
envenomed: envenomd.
epaulet, epaulette: epaulet.
ephemera: efemera.
ephemeral: efemeral.
epigraph: epigraf.
epilogue: epilog.
epitaph: epitaf.
equable: equabl.
equaled, equalled: equald.
equipped: equipt.
equitable: equitabl.
erasable: erasabl.
erimine: ermin.
erosive: erosiv.
err: er.
erred: erd.
eruptive: cruptiv.
eschewed: eschewd.
established: establisht.
estimable: estimabl.
etch: ech.
etched: echt.
euphemism: eufemism.
euphemistic: eufemistic.
euphonic: eufonic.
euphony: eufony.
euphuism: eufuism.
evasive: evasiv.
evincive: evinciv.
evitable: evitabl.
evolve: evolv.
evolved: evolvá.
examine: examin.
examined: examind.
abl.
exceptionable: exception-
excessive: excessiv.
excitable: excitabl.
exclusive: exclusiv.
excretive: excretiv.
excursive: excursiv.
excusable: excuzabl.
elapsed: elapst.
elective: electiv.
electrifiable: electrifiabl.
electrize, -ise: electrize.
eligible: eligibl.
ellipse: ellips.
elusive: elusiv.
embarked: embarkt.
embarrassed: embarrast.
embellished: embellisht.
embezzle: embezl.
enravished: enravisht.
enriched: enricht.
enroll, enrol: enrol.
enrolled: enrold.
ensanguine: ensanguin.
ensealed: enseald.
entailed: entaild.
entangle: entangl.
entangled: entangld.
entered: enterd.
entertained: entertaind.
excuse, v.: excuze.
execrable: execrabl.
executive: executiv.
exercise: exercize.
exhaustible: exhaustibl.
exorcise: exorcize.
expansible: expansibl.
expansive: expansiv.
THE SPELLING REFORM.
73
expelled: expeld.
expensive: expensiv.
expiable: expiabl.
explainable: explainabl.
explained: explaind.
expletivo: expletiv.
explicative: explicativ.
explosive: explosiv.
cxpressed: expresst.
expressive: expressiv.
expugnable: expugnabl.
cxpulsive: expulsiv.
exquisite: exquisit.
extensible: extensibl.
extensive: extensiv.
extinguished: extinguisht.
extolled: extold.
extractive: extractiv.
extricable: extricabl.
eye: ey.
factitive: factitiv.
fagged: fagd.
failed: faild.
fallible: fallibl.
faltered: falterd.
famine: famin.
famished: famisht.
farewell: farewel.
farmed: farmd.
fascicle: fascicl.
fashioned: fashiond.
fashionable: fashionable.
fastened: fastend.
fathered: fatherd.
fathomed: fathomd.
fathomable: fathomabl.
fattened: fattend.
favor, favour: favor.
favored: favord.
favorite: favorit.
fawned: fawnd.
feared: feard.
feasible: feasibl.
feather: fether.
feathered: fetherd.
feathery fethery.
febrile: febril.
federative: federativ.
feeble: feebl.
feign: fein.
feigned: feind.
feminine: feminin.
fence: fense.
fertile: fertil, -ile.
festive: festiv.
fetch: fech.
fetched: fecht.
fevered: feverd.
fiber, fibre: fiber
fibered: fiberd.
fibrine: fibrin.
fickle: fickl.
fiddle: fidl.
fiddled: fidld.
fidgetting: fidgeting.
fierce: fiersc.
filched: filcht.
fill: fil.
filled: fild.
filliped: filipt.
filtered: filterd.
fingered: fingerd.
finished: finisht.
fished: fisht.
fissile: fissil.
fixed: fixt.
fizz: fiz.
fizzed: fizd.
flagged: flagd.
flapped: flapt.
flashed: flasht.
flattened: flattend.
flattered: flatterd.
flavor, flavour: flavor.
flavored, flavoured:
vord.
flawed: flawd.
fledged: fledgd.
fleered: fleerd.
fleshed: flesht.
flexible: flexibl.
flexile: flexil.
flinched: flincht.
flogged: flogd.
floored: floord.
floundered: flounderd.
flourish: furish.
flourished: flurisht.
| flushed: flusht.-
flustered: flusterd.
fluttered: flutterd.
fluxed: fluxt.
fluxible: fluxibl.
foaled: foald.
foamed: foamd.
fobbed: fobd.
focused: focust.
fermentative: fermentativ. foible: foibl.
foiled: foild.
followed: followd.
fondle: fondl.
fondled: fondld.
fooled: foold.
forbade: forbad.
forbidden: forbidn.
forcible: forcibl.
foregone: foregon.
forehead: forhed.
foreign: foren.
foreigner: forener.
forewarned: forewarnd.
forgive: forgiv.
forgiveness: forgivness.
forgone: forgon.
formed: formd.
formative: formativ.
formidable: formidabl.
fosse, foss: foss.
fostered: fosterd.
fouled: fould.
foundered: founderd
foxed: foxt.
fragile: fragil.
freckle: freckl.
freckled: freckld.
freeze: freez.
freshened: freshend.
fribble: fribbl.
friend: frend.
fla-frieze: friez.
frightened: frightend.
frill: fril.
frilled: frild.
frisked: friskt.
frittered: fritterd.
frizz: friz.
frizzed: frizd.
frizzle: frizl.
frizzled: frizld.
frolicked: frolickt.
frolicsome: frolicsum.
front: frunt.
frowned: frownd.
fugitive: fugitiv.
fulfill, fulfil: fulfil.
fulfilled: fulfild.
full: ful.
fulled: fuld.
fulsome: fulsum.
fumble: fumbl.
fumbled: fumbld.
furbished: furbisht.
furied: furld.
furlough: furlo.
74
THE SPELLING REFORM.
furloughed: furloed.
glimpsed: glimpst.
furnished: furnisht.
glistered: glisterd.
furthered: furtherd.
glittered: glitterd.
furtive: furtiv.
furze: furz.
gloomed: gloomad.
guest: gest.
guild: gild.
guilt: gilt.
guilty: gilty.
fussed: fust.
fuse: fuze.
fusible: fuzibl.
fusion: fuzion.
glycerine, glycerin: glyce- guise: guize.
rin.
glyph: glyf.
gnarled: gnarld.
gnawed: gnawd.
gulfed: gulft.
gulped: gulpt.
gurgle: gurgl.
gurgled: gurgld.
futile: futil, -ile.
gobble: gobl.
gushed: gusht.
fuzz: fuz.
gobbled: gobld.
guzzle: guzl.
gabbed: gaba.
godhead: godhed.
guzzled: guzla.
gabble: gabl.
goggle: gogl.
habitable: habitabl.
goggled: gogld.
hacked: hackt.
goiter, goitre: goiter.
hackle: hackl.
hackled: hackld.
gabbled: gabld.
gaff: gaf.
gaffle: gafl.
gagged: gagd.
gained: gaind.
galled: galld.
gamble: gambl.
gambled: gambld.
gamesome: gamesum.
garble: garbl.
garbled: garbld.
gardened: gardend.
gargle: gargl.
gargled: gargid.
gone: gon.
good-by, good-bye: good- haggle: hagl.
by.
gotten: gotn.
govern: guvern.
governed: guvernd.
governess: guverness.
government: guvernment.
governor: guvernor.
grabbed: grabd.
graff: graf.
grained: graind.
garnered: garnerd.
grauite: granit.
gashed: gasht.
gasped: gaspt.
haggled: hagld.
hailed: haild.
hallowed: hallowd.
haltered: halterd.
halve: halv, halvs.
halved: halvd.
hampered: hamperd.
handcuff: handcuf.
handcuffed: handcuft.
handsome: handsum.
gauze: gauz.
gazelle, gazel: gazel.
gazette: gazet.
grasped: graspt.
grease, v. greaz, grease.
hanged hangd.
happed: hapd.
happened: happend.
greased: greazd, greast.
harangue: harang.
harassed: harast.
griddle: gridl.
gelatine, gelatin: gelatin.grieved: grievd.
grieve: griev.
gendered: genderd.
grill: gril.
genitive: genitiv.
grilled: grild.
gentle: gentl.
gripped: gript.
gentleman: gentlman.
grizzle: grizzl.
genuine: genuin.
grizzled: grizld.
geographer: geografer.
geographic: geografic.
geography: geografy.
groomed: groomd.
ghastliness: gastliness.
groove: groov.
grocved: groovd.
grouped : groupt.
ghastly gastly.
groveled groveld.
ghost: gost.
giggle: gigl.
grubbed: grubd.
gill: gil.
grudged: grudgd.
girdle girdl.
grumble: grumbl.
girdled: girdld.
give: giv.
given: givn.
gladsome: gladsum.
gleamed: gleamā.
gleaned: gleand.
glimpse: glimps.
guess: gess.
guessed: gest.
growled growld.
grumbled: grumbld.
guarantee: garantee.
guaranty: garanty.
guard: gard.
guardian: gardian.
harangued: harangd.
harbor, harbour: harbor.
harbored, harboured: har-
bord.
harked: harkt.
harmed: harmd.
harnessed: harnest.
harped: harpt.
harrowed: harrowd.
hashed: hasht.
hatch: hach.
hatched: hatchi.
hatchment: bachment.
haughty: hauty.
hauled: hauld.
have: har.
havock, havoc: havoc.
havocked
havockt.
hawked: hawkt.
head: hed.
headache: hedako.
headland: hedland.
headlong: hedlong."
THE SPELLING REFORM.
75
healed: heald.
health: helth.
healthy: helthy.
heaped: heapt.
heard: herd.
hearken: harken.
hearkened: harkend.
hearse: herse.
hearsed: herst.
heart: hart.
hearth: harth.
hearty: harty.
heather: hether.
heave: heav.
heaved heard.
heaven: heven.
heaves: heavs.
heavy: hevy.
hedged: hedgd.
heeled: heeld.
heifer: hefer.
heightened: heightend.
hell: hel.
helped: helpt.
helve: helv.
hence: hense.
dite.
hooping-cough: hooping-implacable: implacabl.
cof.
hopped: hopt.
horned: hornd.
horography: horografy.
horrible: horribl.
horsed: horst.
hortative: hortativ.
hospitable: hospitabl.
hough, hock: hock.
house, v.: houz.
housed: houzd.
housing: houzing.
howled: howld.
huff: huf.
huffed: huft.
hugged: hugd.
humble: humbl.
humbled: humbld.
humor, humour: humor.
humored, humoured : hu-
mord.
humped: humpt
hushed: husht.
hustle: hustl.
hustled: hustld.
impossible: impossibl.
impoverished: impoverisht.
impressed: imprest.
impressive: impressiv.
impulsive: impulsiv.
inaccessible: inaccessibl.
inactive: inactiv.
incensed: incenst.
incentive: incentiv.
inceptive: inceptiv.
inclose: incloze.
inclusive: inclusiv.
increased: increast.
incurred: incurd.
indexed: indext.
indicative: indicativ. }
indorsed: indoret.
inferred: inferd.
infinite: infinit.
infixed: infixt.
inflective: inflectiv.
hermaphrodite: hermafro- hutch: huch.
inflexive: inflexiv.
informed: informd.
infuse: infuze.
inked: inkt.
inn: in.
inned: ind.
hiccough, hiccup: hiccof, hydrography: hydrografy.inquisitive: inquisitiv.
hiccup.
hiccoughed, hiccupped: hic hyphen: hyfen.
hutched: hucht.
hydrophobia: hydrofobia.
installed: installd.
instead: insted.
hyphened: hyfend.
instinctive: instinctiv.
hypocrite: hypocrit.
instructive: instructiv.
icicle: icicl.
intelligible: intelligibl.
interleave: interleav.
illative: illativ.
interleaved: interleavd.
interlinked: interlinkt.
intermeddle: intermedl.
coft, hiccupt.
hidden: hidn.
hill: hil.
hilled: hild.
hindered: kinderd.
hipped: hipt.
hissed: hist.
hitch: hich.
hitched: hicht.
hobble: hobl.
homestead: homested.
honey: huney.
honeyed: huneyd.
honied: hunied.
ill: il.
illness: ilness.
illusive: illusiv.
illustrative: illustrativ.
imaginable: imaginabl.
imaginative: imaginativ.
imagine: imagin.
interrogative: interrogativ.
interspersed: intersperst.
intestine: intestin.
introduction: introduction.
intrusive: intrusiv.
inurned: inurnd.
invective: invectiv.
inventive: inventiv.
involve: involv.
imagined: imagind.
imbecile: imbecil.
imbittered: imbitterd.
honor, honour: honor.
imbrowned: imbrownd.
honored, honoured: hon-
imitative: imitativ.
ord.
honorable,
honorabl.
honourable: impaired: impaird.
impassive: impassiv.
hoodwinked: hoodwinkt.
impeached: impeacht.
hoofed: hooft.
hooked: hookt.
hooped: hoopt.
immeasurable: immezurabl. | involved: involvd.
impelled: impeld.
imperative: imperativ.
imperilled: imperild.
inweave: inweav.
inwrapped: inwrapt.
iodine: iodin, -ine.
irksome: irksum.
irritative: irritativ.
island: iland.
76
THE SPELLING REFORM.
isle: ile.
islet: ilet.
itch: ich.
itched: icht.
iterative: iterativ.
jabbered: jabberd.
jail, gaol: jail.
jailed: jaild.
jammed: jamd.
jarred: jard.
jasmine: jasmin.
jessamine: jessamin.
jealous: jelous.
lanched: lancht.
languished: languisht.
lapse: laps.
lapsed: lapst.
lashed: lasht.
latch: lach.
latched: lacht.
lathered: latherd.
laudable: laudabl.
laugh: laf.
laughed: laft.
laughable: lafabl.
laughter: lafter.
jealousy jelousy.
launched: launcht.
jeered: jeerd.
laxative: laxativ.
jeopard: jepard.
lead (metal): led.
jeopardy: jopardy.
jerked: jerkt.
jibbed: jibd.
joggle: jogl.
joggled: jogld.
joined: joind.
jostle: jostl.
jostled: jostld.
journal: jurnal.
journalism: jurnalism.
journalist: jurnalist.
journey: jurney.
journeyed: jurneyd.
joust, just: just.
judicative: judicativ.
juggle: jugl.
lead (pret.): led.
leaden: leden.
league: leag.
leagued: leaged.
leaked: leakt.
leaned: leand, lent.
leaped, leapt: leapt, lept.
learn: lern.
learned: lern-ed, lernd.
learning: lerning.
learnt: lernt.
leased: least.
leather: lether.
leathern: lethern.
leave: leav.
leaven: leven.
leavened: levend.
juggled: jugld.
jumble: jumbl.
leered: leerd.
jumbled: jumbld.
legible: legibl.
jungle: jungl.
lenitive: lenitiv.
juvenile: juvenil, -ile.
leopard: lepard.
lessened lessend.
justifiable: justifiabl.
keelhauled: keelhauld.
kettle: ketl.
key, quay: key.
kidnapped: kidnapt
kill: kil.
killed kild.
kindle: kindl.
kindled: kindld.
kissed: kist.
kitchen: kichen.
knell: knel.
knuckle: knuckl.
knuckled: knuckld.
labor, labour: labor.
labored, laboured: labord.
lacked: lackt.
lamb: lam.
legislative: legislativ.
leveled, levelled: leveld.
leveling, levelling: level-
ing.
lexicographer:
fer.
listened: listend.
lithograph: lithograf.
lithographed: lithograft.
lithographer: lithografer.
lithography: lithografy.
little: litl.
live: liv.
lived: livd.
livelong: livlong.
loathsome: loathsum.
locked: loct.
loitered: loiterd.
looked: lookt.
loomed: loomd.
looped: loopt.
loosed: loost.
loosened: loosend.
lopped: lopt.
lovable: luvabl.
love: luv.
loved: luvd.
lovely: luvly.
lucrative: lucrativ.
luff: luf.
luffed: luft.
lull: lul.
lulled: luld.
lumped: lumpt.
lustre, luster: luster.
lymph: lymf.
lymphatic: lymfatic.
lynched: lyncht.
mailed: maild.
maimed: maimd.
maintained: maintaind.
maize: maiz.
malled: malld.
malleable: malleabl.
manacie: manacl.
maneuver, manœuvre: ma-
neuver.
maneuvered, manœuvred :
lexicogra- mancuverd.
lexicography: lexicografy.marked: markt.
liable: liabl.
libeled, libelled: libeld.
libertine: libertin, -ine.
licensed: licenst.
licked: lickt.
lightened: lightend.
limb: lim.
limped: limpt.
lipped: lipt.
lisped: lispt.
marched: marcht.
marveled, marvelled: mar-
veld.
marvelous, marvellous:
marvelous.
masculine: masculin.
masked: maskt.
massive: massiv.
mastered: masterd.
match: mach.
matched: macht.
THE SPELLING REFORM.
77
materialise, materialize:
materialize.
meadow: medow.
meager, meagre: meager.
meant: ment.
measles: measls.
measurable: mezurabl.
measure: mezure.
measured: mezured.
meddle: medl.
meddled: medld.
meddlesome: medlsum.
medicine: medicin.
meditative: meditativ.
melancholy: melancoly.
memorable: memorabl.
memorialise, memorialize:
memorialize.
mephitic: mefitic.
monk: munk.
monkey: munkey.
monkish: munkish.
monograph: monograf.
monologue: monolog.
monosyllable: monosyllabl.
moored: moord.
mossed: most.
motive: motiv.
mouse, .: mouz.
mouser: mouzer.
movable: movabl.
mowed: mowd.
muddle: mudl.
muff: muf.
muffed: muft.
muffie: mufl.
muffled: mufld.
mulched: mulcht
nominative: nominativ.
notable: notabl.
notch: noch.
notched: nocht.
nourish: nurish.
nourished: nurisht.
nozzle, nosle: nozl.
nubile: nubil.
null: nul.
numb: num.
numskull: numskul.
nursed: nurst.
nutritive: nutritiv.
nuzzle: nuzl.
nymph: nymf.
oared: oard.
objective: objectiv.
observable: observabl
observe: observ.
mephitis: mefitis.
mumble: mumbl.
observed: observd.
mercantile: mercantil, -ile.
mumbled: mumbld.
obtained: obtaind.
merchandise: merchan-
obtainable: obtainabl.
dize.
merchantable: merchant-
munched: muncht.
murdered: murderd.
murmured: murmurd.
muscle: muscl.
mutable: mutabl.
muzzle: muzl.
metamorphosis: metamor-nabbed: nabd.
abl.
meshed: mesht.
messed: mest.
metamorphose:
metamor-muzzled: muzld.
fose.
myrtle: myrtl.
fosis.
nailed: naild.
metaphysics: metafysics.
metre, meter: meter
mettle: metl.
narrowed: narrowd.
mettled: metld.
native: nativ.
mettlesome: metlsum.
neared: neard.
mewled: mewld.
needle: needl.
middle: midl.
middling: midling.
mildewed: mildewd.
mill: mil.
milled, mild, milld.
mimicked: mimickt.
miracle: miracl.
misbecome: misbecum."
miserable: miserabl
misgive: misgiv.
missile: missil.
missive: missiv.
mistletoe: mistltoe.
misuse, .: misuze.
mitre, miter: miter.
mocked: mockt,
money: muney.
monitive: mouitiv.
naphtha: naptha, naftha:
narrative: narrativ.
negative: negativ.
nephew: nevew, nefew.
nephritic: nefritic
nerve: nerv.
nerved: nervd.
nestle: nestl.
nestled: nestlā.
nettle: nettl.
neutralise, -ize: neutralize.
newfangled: newfangld.
newfashioned:
iond.
nibble: nibl.
nibbled: nibld.
nicked: nickt.
obtrusive: obtrusiv.
occurred: occurd.
odd: od.
offence, offense: offense.'
offensive: offensiv.
offered: offerd.
ogre, oger: oger.
olive: oliv.
once onse.
ooze: 0oz.
oozed: oozd.
opened: opend.
ophidian: ofidian.
ophthalmic: ofthalmic.
ophthalmy: ofthalmy.
opposite: opposit.
oppressed: opprest.
oppressive: oppressiv,
optative: optativ.
oracle: oracl.
orbed orbd.
ordered: orderd.
organise, organize: organ-
ize.
orphan: orfan.
newfash-orthographer: orthografer.
nipple: nipl.
nitre, niter: niter.
noddle: nodl.
orthographic: orthografic.
orthography: orthografy.
ostracise, ostracize: ostra-
cize.
outlive: outliv.
outspread: outspred.
outstretch: outstrech.
78
THE SPELLING REFORM.
霉
​'outstretched: outstrecht.
outwalked: outwalkt.
overawe: overaw.
"overawed: overawd.
'overpassed: overpast.
overspread: overspred.
owe: ow.
owed: owd.
owned: ownd.
oxide, oxid: oxid.
packed: packt.
pack-thread: pack-thred.
paddle:padl.
paddled: padld.
padlocked: padlockt.
pained: paind.
paired: paird.
palatable: palatabl.
palatine: palatin, -ine.
palæography: palæografy
palled: palld.
palliative: palliativ.
palpable: palpabl.
palmed: palmd.
passed, past: past.
passable: passabl.
passive: passiv.
patch: pach.
patched: pacht.
patrolled: patrold.
patterned patternd.
pavilioned: paviliond.
pawed: pawd.
pawned: pawnd.
payable: payabl.
peasant: pezant.
periphery: perifery.
periphrase: perifrase.
periphrastic: perifrastic.
perished: perisht.
perishable: perishabl.
periwigged: periwigd.
periwinkle: periwinkl.
perked: perkt.
permeable: permeabl.
permissible: permissibl.
permissive: permissiv.
peaceable: peaceabl.
perplexed: perplext.
peached: peacht.
pealed: peald.
perquisite: perquisit.
personable: personabl.
pearl: perl.
perspective: perspectiv.
perspirable: perspirabl.
peasantry: pezantry.
persuadable: persuadabl.
persuasive: persuasiv.
pertained: pertaind.
perturbed: perturbd.
pervasive: pervasiv.
pedagogue: pedagog.
perversive: perversiv.
peddle: pedl.
peddled: pedld.
pestered: pesterd.
pease, peas: peas.
pebble: pebl.
peccable: peccabl.
pecked: peckt.
paltered: palterd.
pampered: pamperd.
pamphlet: pamflet.
peeled: peeld.
pandered: panderd.
peeped: peept.
paneled, panelled: paneld.
peered: peerd.
panicle: panicl.
pegged: pegd.
panicled: panicld.
pell: pel.
peddler: pedler.
peduncle: peduncl.
pervertible: pervertibl.
pestle: pestl.
petit, petty: petty.
petitioned: petitiond.
petrifactive: petrifactiv.
ph: f.
phaeton: faeton.
phalansterian: falansterian.
pellicle: pellicl.
phalanstery: falanstery.
papered: paperd.
pell-mell: pel-mel.
phalanx: falanx.
parable: parabl.
pence: pense.
phantasm: fantasm.
goria.
penetrative: penetrativ.
phantom: fantom.
pharmacy: farmacy.
pantograph: pantograf.
paragraph: paragraf.
paragraphed: paragraft.
paralleled: paralleld.
paranymph: paranymf.
paraphernalia: paraferna-
lia.
paraphrase: parafrase.
paraphrast: parafrast.
parboiled: parboild.
pencilled, penciled: pencild.phantasmagoria: fantasma-
penetrable: penetrabl.
penned: pend.
pensile: pensil, -ile.
pensioned: pensiond.
pensive: pensiv.
people: peple.
peppered: pepperd.
perceive: percciv.
perceived: perceivd.
parceled, parcelled: par- perceivable: perceivabl.
celd.
parched: parcht.
pardonable: pardonabl.
pardoned: pardond.
parleyed: parleyd.
parliament: parlament.
parsed: parst.
partible: partibl.
participle: participl.
particle: particl.
partitive: partitiv.
perceptible: perceptibl.
perceptive: perceptiv.
perched: percht.
perfectible: perfectibl.
perfective: perfectiv.
perforative: perforativ.
performed: performd.
performable: performabl.
perilled, periled: perild.
pharynx: farynx.
phase: fase.
pheasant: fezant.
phenix: fenix.
phenomenal: fenomenal.
phenomenon: fenomenon.
phial, vial: fial, vial.
philander: filander.
philanthropic: filanthropic.
philanthropist: filanthro-
pist.
philanthropy: filanthropy.
philharmonic: filharmonic,
philippic: filippic.
philologer: filologer.
philological: filological.
philologist: filologist,
THE SPELLING REFORM.
79
philology: filology.
philomel: filomel.
philopena: filopena.
philosopher: filosofer.
philosophic: filosofic.
philosophize: filosofize.
philosophy: filosofy.
phlebotomy: flebotomy.
phlegm: flegm.
phlegmatic: flegmatic.
phlox: flox.
picked: pickt.
pickle: pickl.
pickled: pickld.
picnicked: picnickt.
pilfered: pilferd.
pill: pil.
pillowed: pillowd.
pimped : pimpt.
pimple: pimpl.
poached: poacht.
poisoned: poisond.
polished: polisht.
polygraph: polygraf.
polygraphy: polygrafy.
polysyllable: polysyllabl.
pommel, pummel: pummel.
pommeled: pummeld.
pondered: ponderd.
ponderable: ponderabl.
pimpled: pimpld.
pinched: pincht.
pontiff: pontif.
phoenix, phenix: foenix, pinioned: piniond.
fenix.
phonetic: fonetic.
phonetist: fonetist.
phonic: fonic.
poodle: poodl.
popped: popt.
porphyritic: porfyritic.
porphyry: porfyry.
pinked: pinkt.
pinnacle: pinnacl.
pinned: pind.
pintle: pintl.
portable: portabl.
pioneered: pioneerd.
portioned: portiond.
portrayed: portrayd.
positive: positiv.
phonograph: fonograf.
phonographer: fonografer.
phonographic: fonografic.
phonography: fonografy.
phonologic: fonologic.
phonologist: fonologist.
phonology: fonology.
phonotype: fonotype.
phosphate: fosfate.
phosphoric: fosforic.
phosphorus: fosforus.
pished: pisht.
pitch: pich.
pitched: picht.
pitcher: picher.
pitchy: pichy.
pitiable: pitiabl.
placable: placabl.
plained: plaind.
plaintiff: plaintif.
plaintive: plaintiv.
planked: plankt.
possessed: possest.
possessive: possessiv.
possible: possibl.
potable: potabl.
pottle: potl.
pouched: poucht.
poured: pourd.
powdered: powderd.
practicable: practicabl.
practise: practis.
practised: practist.
photograph: fotograf.
photographed: fotograft.
planned: pland.
photographer: fotografer.plashed: plasht.
photographic: fotografic.
plastered: plasterd.
pranked: prankt.
photography: fotografy.
plausible: plausibl.
prattle: pratl.
photometer: fotometer.
plausive: plausiv.
prattled: pratid.
photometry: fotometry.
played: playd.
phototype: fototype.
phrase: frase.
phraseology: frascology.
pleasant: plezant.
prattler: pratler.
prayed: prayd.
pleasurable: plezurabl
preached: preacht.
pleasure: plezure.
phrenologist: frenologist. pledged: pledgd.
phrenology: frenology.
phrensy, frenzy: frenzy.
phylactery: fylactery.
physic: fysic.
pliable: pliabl.
plough: see plow.
plover: pluver.
plow: see plough.
plowed: plowd.
preamble: preambl.
precative: precativ.
preceptive: preceptiv.
preclusive: preclusiv.
preconceive: preconceiv.
precursive: precursiv.
predestine: predestin.
physical: fysical.
physicked: fysickt.
plowable: plowabl.
predestined: predestind.
physician: fysician.
plucked: pluckt.
predetermine: predeter-
physicist: fysicist.
plugged: plugd.
min.
physics: fysics.
plumb: plum.
predetermined: predeter-
mist.
physiognomy: fysiognomy.
mer.
physiologic: fysiologic.
physiologist: fysiologist.
physiognomist: fysiogno-plumbed: plumd. .
physiology: fysiology.
phytography: fytografy.
phytology: fytology.
plumber, plummer: plum- predicable: predicabl.
plumbing, plumming:
plumming.
plumb-line: plum-line.
plumped: plumpt.
plundered: plunderd
predictive: predictiv.
pre-established: pre-estab-
lishi.
preferable: preferabl.
preferred: preferd.
mind.
preened: preend.
80
THE SPELLING REFORM.
prefixed: prefixt.
promotive: promotiv.
prehensile: prehensil.
propped: propt.
prelusive: prelusiv.
propagable: propagabl.
prefigurative: prefigurativ. | promised: promist.
pushed: pusht.
putative: putativ.
putrefactive: putrefactiv.
puttered: putterd.
premise, premiss: premis.propelled: propeld.
puzzle: puzl.
premise, v.: premize.
prophecy: profecy.
puzzled: puzld.
premised: premized.
prophesy: profesy.
preordained: preordaind.
preparative: preparativ.
prepositive: prepositiv.
prepossessed: prepossest.
prerequisite: prerequisit.
prerogative: prerogativ.
prescriptive: prescriptiv.
presentable: presentabl.
preservative: preservativ.
preserve: preserv.
preserved: preservd.
pressed: prest.
presumable: presumabl.
pretense, pretence:
prophet: profct.
prophetess: profetess.
prophetic: profetic.
prophylactic: profylactic.
proportioned: proportiond.
proportionable: propor-
tionabl.
propulsive: propulsiv.
proscriptive: proscriptiv.
prospective: prospective.
prospered: prosperd.
protective: protectiv.
protractive: protractiv.
presumptive: presumptiv. protrusive: protrusiv.
tense.
pre- provable: provabl.
preterit, preterite: preterit.
prevailed: prevaild.
preventable: preventabl.
preventive: preventiv.
preyed: preyd.
provocative: provocativ.
prowled: prowld.
published: publisht.
puckered: puckerd.
puddle: pudl.
quacked: quackt.
quadruple: quadrupl.
quaff: quof.
quaffed: quaft.
quailed: quaild.
qualitative: qualitativ.
quantitative: quantitativ.
quarreled, quarrelled: quar-
reld.
quarrelsome: quarrelsum.
quay, key: key.
quell: quel.
quelled: queld.
quenched: quencht.
queue, cue: cue.
quibble: quibl.
quibbled: quibld.
quickened: quickend.
quiddle: quidl.
quill: quil.
quivered: quiverd.
racked: rackt.
puddled: pudld.
puddling: pudling.
raffle: rafl.
puerilo: pueril, -ile.
raffled: rafld.
railed: raild.
pricked: prickt.
prickle: prickl.
primitive: primitiv.
principle: principl.
principled: principld.
prinked: prinkt.
prisoned: prisond.
pristine: pristin, -ine.
privative: privativ.
probable: probabl.
probative: probativ.
procreative: procreativ.
procurable: procurabl.
producible: producibl.
productive: productiv.
productiveness: productiv-
ness.
professed: profest.
proffered: profferd.
profitable: profitabl.
progressed: progrest.
progressive: progressiv.
prohibitive: prohibitiv.
projectile: projectil.
prologue: prolog.
prolonged: prolongd.
promise: promis.
puff: puf.
puffed: puft.
pull: pul.
pulled: puld.
pulsatile: pulsatil.
pulsative: pulsativ.
pulsed: pulst.
pulverable: pulverabl.
pumped: pumpt.
punched: puncht.
punished: punisht.
punishable: punishabl.
punitive: punitiv.
punned: pund.
purchasable: purchasabl.
purgative: purgativ.
purled: purid.
purline, purlin: purlin.
purloined: purloind.
purple: purpl.
purpled: purpld.
purr: pur.
purred: purd.
pursed: purst.
purveyed: purveyd.
rained: raind.
raise: raiz.
raised: raizd.
rammed: ramd.
ramble: rambl.
rambled: rambld.
rancour, rancor: rancor.
ramped: rampt.
ranked: rankt.
raukle: rankl.
rankled: rankld.
ransacked: ransackt.
ransomed: ransomd.
rapped, rapt: rapt.
rasped: raspt.
rattle ratl.
rattled: raild.
raveled, ravelled: raveld.
raveling, ravelling: ravel-
ing.
ravened: ravend.
ravished: ravisht.
reached: reacht.
read: red.
THE SPELLING REFORM.
81
1
ready: redy.
realm: relm.
reaped: reapt.
reared: reard.
reasonable: reasonabl.
reasoned: reasond.
rebelled: rebeld.
receipt: receit.
receivable: receivabl.
receive: receiv.
received: receivd.
receptive: receptiv.
recoiled: recoild.
recover: recuver.
recovered: recuverd.
rectangle: rectangl.
reddened: reddend.
redoubt: redout.
redressive: redressiv,
reductive: reductiv.
reefed: reeft.
reeked: reekt.
reeled: reeld.
referred: referd.
reflective: reflectiv.
reflexive: reflexiv.
reformed: reformd.
reformative: reformativ.
refreshed: refresht.
refusal: refuzal.
refuse, v.; refuze.
reparable: reparabl.
reparative: reparativ.
repelled: repeld.
replenished: replenisht.
representative: represen-
tativ.
repressed: represt.
reprieve: repriev.
reprieved: reprievd.
reproached: reproacht.
reproductive: reproductiv.
reptile reptil, -ile.
republished: republisht.
repulsive: repulsiv.
requisite: requisit.
resemble: resembl.
resembled: resembld.
reserve: reserv.
reserved: reservd.
resistible: resistibl.
resolve: resolv.
resolved: resolvd.
respective: respectiv.
respite: respit.
responsible: responsibl.
responsive: responsiv.
restive: restiv.
restrained: restraind.
restrictive: restrictiv.
retailed: retaild.
retained: retaind.
retaliative: retaliativ.
retentive: retentiv.
regressive: regressiv.
retouch: retuch.
rehearse: reherse.
rehearsed: reherst.
reined: reind.
rejoined: rejoind.
relapse: relaps.
relapsed: relapst.
relative: relativ.
relaxed: relaxt.
released: releast.
relieve: reliev.
relieved: relievd.
relinquished: relinquisht.
relished: relisht.
remained: remaind.
remarkable: remarkabl.
remarked: remarkt.
remembered: rememberd.
remissible: remissibl.
remunerative: remunera-
tiv.
rendered: renderd.
renowned: renownd.
repaired: repaird.
retouched: retucht.
retrenched: retrencht.
retributive: retributiv.
retrievable: retrievabl.
retrieve: retriev.
retrieved: retrievd.
retrospective: retrospectiv.
returned: returnd.
reveled, revelled: reveld.
reveling, revelling: revel-
ing.
reversed: reverst.
reversible: reversibl.
reviewed: reviewd.
revise: revize.
revolve: revolv.
revolved: revolvd.
revulsive: revulsiv.
rhyme, rime: rime.
rhymer, rimer: rimer.
ridden: ridn.
riddle: ridl.
riddled: ridld.
riffraff: rifraf.
rigged: rigd.
rigor, rigour: rigor.
rill: ril.
rime, rhyme: rime.
rimple: rimpl.
rinsed: rinst.
ripened: ripend.
ripple: ripl.
rippled: ripld.
rise, v.: rize.
risen: rizn.
risible: risibl.
risked: riskt.
rivaled, rivalled: rivald.
riven: rivn.
riveted, rivetted: riveted.
roared: roard.
robbed: robd.
rocked: rockt.
roiled: roild.
rolled: rold.
romped: rompt.
roofed: rooft.
roomed: roomd.
rose: roze.
rotten: rotn.
rough: ruf.
roughen: rufen.
roughened: rufend.
roughening: rufening.
rowed: rowd.
ruff: ruf.
ruffed: ruft.
ruffle: rufl.
rundle: rundl.
rushed: rusht.
rustle: rustl.
rustled: rustld.
saber, sabre: saber.
sabered: saberd.
sacked: sackt.
saddened: saddend,
saddle: sadl.
saddled: sadld,
sagged: sagd.
sailed: saild.
saltpetre, -peter: saltpeter.
salve: salv.
salved: salvd.
samphire: samfire.
sanative: sanativ.
sandaled: sandald,
439—————6
82
THE SPELLING REFORM.
sanguine sanguin.
sapphire: saffire.
sardine: sardin, -ine.
sashed: sasht.
sauntered: saunterd.
savior, saviour: savior.
savor, savour: savor.
savored, savoured: savord.
scalped: scalpt.
scanned: scand.
scarce: scarse.
scarcity: scarsity.
scarfed: scarft.
scarred: 8card.
scattered: scatterd.
scent, sent: sent.
sceptic, skeptic: skeptic.
sceptre, scepter: scepter.
sceptered, sceptred: scep-
terd.
scholar: scolar.
scholastic: scolastic.
sconce: sconse.
school: scool.
schooner: scooner.
scimitar, cimitar: cimitar.
scissors: cissors.
scoff: scof.
scoffed: scoft.
scooped: scoopt.
scorned: scornd.
scoured: scourd.
Scourge: scurge.
scourged: scurged.
scrabble scrabl.
scramble: scrambl.
scrambled: scrambld.
sealed: seald.
seamed: seamd.
search: serch.
searched: sercht.
seared: seard.
seasonable: seasonabl.
seclusive: seclusiv.
secretive: secretiv.
sedative: sedativ.
seductive: seductiv.
seemed: seemd.
*
seesawed: seesawd.
seize: seiz.
seized: seizd.
sell: sel.
selves: selvs.
sensed: senst.
sensible: sensibl.
sensitive: sensitiv.
separable: seperabl.
separative: separativ.
shipped: shipt.
shirked: shirkt.
shivered: shiverd.
shocked: shockt.
shopped: shopt.
shortened: shortend.
shove: shuv.
shoved: shuvd.
shoving: shuving.
shovel: shuvel.
shoveled: shuveld.
showed: showd.
shrieked: shriekt.
shrill: shril.
shrugged: shrugd.
shuffle: shufl.
shuffled: shufld.
shuttle: shutl.
sepulcher, sepulchre: sep-sighed: sighd.
ulcher.
sicccative: siccativ.
sickened: sickend.
sieve: siv.
signed: signd.
tiv..
sill: sil.
silvered: silverd.
sepulchered, sepulchred: sep- significative: significa-
ulcherd.
sequestered: sequesterd.
seraph: seraf.
seraphic: serafic.
seraphim: serafim.
serve: serv.
served: servd.
serviceable: serviceabl.
servile: servil, ile.
sessile: sessil, -ile.
settle: setl.
settled: setld.
settlement: setlment.
sewed: sewd.
sextile: sextil.
shackled: shackld.
shadowed: shadowd.
shall: shal.
scratch: scrach.
scratched: scracht.
scrawled: scrawld.
shackle: shackl.
screamed: screamd.
screeched: screecht.
screened: screend.
screwed: screwd.
scribble: scribl.
scribbled: scribld.
scuffle: scufl.
shell: shel.
scrubbed: scrubd.
shambles: shambls.
sharpened: sharpend.
sheared: sheard.
sheaves: sheavs.
simple: simpl.
since: sinse.
single: singl.
singled: singld.
sipped: sipt.
siphon: sifon.
sithe, see scythe.
sizable: sizabl.
sketch: skech.
sketched: skecht.
skiff: skif.
skill: skil.
skilled: skild.
skimmed: skimd.
skinned: skind.
skipped: skipt,
skull: skul.
skulled: skuld.
slacked: slackt.
slackened: slackend.
scuffled: scufld.
scull: scul.
sculled: sculd.
scummed: scumd.
scurrile: scurril.
scuttle: scut].
shelled: sheld.
sheltered: shelterd.
shelve: shelv, shelvs.
shelved: shelvd.
sheriff: sherif.
shingle: shingl.
scuttled: scutld.
shingled: shingld.
scythe, sithe: sithe.
shingles: shingles.
slammed: slamd.
slapped: slapt.
slaughter: slauter.
slaughtered: slauterd,
sleeve: sleev.
sleeved: sleevd.
slidden: slidn.
slipped: slipt.
slivered: sliverd,
THE SPELLING REFORM.
83
slouched: sloucht.
slough: sluf.
sloughed: sluft.
slumbered: slumberd.
slurred: slurd.
smacked: smackt.
smashed: smasht.
smeared: smeard.
smell: smel.
smelled: smeld, smelt.
smirked: smirkt.
smoothed: smoothd.
smuggle: smugl.
smuggled: smugld.
snaffle: snafl.
snapped: snapt.
snarled: snarld.
snatch: snach.
snatched: snacht.
sneaked: sneakt.
sneered: sneerd.
sneeze: sneez.
sneezed: sneezd.
-some: -sum.
somebody: sumbody.
somehow: sumhow.
somersault, sumersault:
sumersault.
somerset: sumerset.
something: sumthing.
son: sun.
sophism: sofism.
sophist: sofist.
sprained: spraind.
sprawled: sprawld.
spread: spred.
spright: sprite.
sprightly: spritely.
spurned: spurnd.
spurred: spured.
sputtered: sputterd.
squandered: squanderd.
squawled: squawld.
sophisticate: sofisticate.
squeaked: squeakt.
sophistry: sofistry.
sophomore: sofomore.
sophomoric: sofomoric.
soured: sourd.
source: sourse.
southerly: sutherly.
southern: suthern.
southron: suthron.
sovereign: soveren.
sovereignty: soverenty.
sowed: sowd.
spangle: spangl.
squealed: squeald.
squeeze: squeez.
squeezed: squeezd.
stackt: stackt.
staff: staf.
stained: staind.
stalled: stalld.
stammered: stammerd.
stamped: stampt.
stanched: stancht
starred: stard.
sniff: snif.
sniffed: snift.
spangled: spangld.
spanked: spankt.
snivel: snivel.
spanned: spand.
sniveled, snivelled: sniveld.
sparkle: sparkl.
snooze: snooz.
snoozed: snoozd.
snowed: snowd.
snubbed: snubd.
snuff: snuf.
snuffed: snuft.
snuffle: snufi.
snuffled: snufld.
snuggle: snugl.
snuggled: snugld.
soaked: soakt.
soaped: soapt.
soared: soard.
sobbed: sobd.
sobered: soberd.
sodden: sodn.
softened: softend.
soiled: soild.
sojourn: sojurn.
sojourned: sojurnd.
sojourner: sojurner.
soldered: solderd.
soluble: solubl.
solutive: solutiv.
solve: solv.
solved: solvd.
sombre, somber: somber.
some: sum.
sparkled: sparkld.
sparred: spard.
spattered: spatterd.
speared: speard.
specked: spect.
speckle: speckl.
speckled: speckld.
spectacle: spectacl.
spectacles: spectacls.
specter, spectre: specter.
spell: spel.
spelled, speld.
spewed: spewd.
startle: startl.
startled: startld.
starve: starv.
starved: starvd.
stayed: stayd.
stead: sted.
steadfast: stedfast.
steady: stedy.
stealth: stelth.
steamed: steamd.
steeped: steept.
steeple: steepl.
steered: steerd.
stemmed: stemd.
stenographic: stenografic.
stenographer: stenografer.
stenography: stenografy
stepped: stept.
sphenoid: sfenoid.
sterile: steril.
sphere: sfere.
stewed: stewd.
spherical: sferical.
stickle: stickl.
spherics: sferics.
spheroid: sferoid.
spherule: sferule.
stickled: stickld.
stiff: stif.
stiffened: stiffend.
still: stil.
sphinx: sfinx.
spill: spil.
stilled: stild.
spilled: spild, spilt.
stirred: stird.
spindle: spindl.
stitch: stich.
spindled: spindld.
stitched: sticht.
spittle: spitl.
splashed: splasht.
spoiled: spoild, spoilt.
sponge: spunge.
stocked: stockt.
stomach: stumac.
stomached: stumact.
stomachic: stumachic.
84
THE SPELLING REFORM.
事
​属
​stooped: stoopt.
stopped: stopt.
stopple: stopl.
stormed: stormd.
stowed: stowd.
straddle: stradl.
straddled: stradld.
straggle: stragl.
straggled: stragld.
strained: straind.
strangle: strangl.
strangled: strangld.
strapped strapt.
summed: sumd.
sundered: sunderd.
superlative: superlativ.
supple: supl.
suppressed: supprest.
suppurative: suppurativ.
surcingle: surcingl.
surpassed: surpast.
surprise surprize.
surveyed: surveyd.
swaddle: swaddl.
swagged: swagd.
swallowed: swallowd.
streaked: streakt, streak- swamped: swampt.
tell: tel.
tempered: temperd.
temple: templ.
tenable: tenabl.
tendered: tenderd.
termed: termd.
terrible: terribl.
thanked: thankt.
thawed: thawd.
theater, theatre: theater.
themselves: themselvs.
thence: thense.
thickened: thickend.
thieve: thiev.
ed.
swayed: swayd.
strengthened: strengthend.
sweat: swet.
stretch: strech.
stretched: strecht.
swell: swel.
stricken: strickn.
stripped: stript.
striven: strivn.
stroll: strol.
strolled: strolld, strold.
stubble: stubl.
stuff: stuf, stufs.
stuffed: stuft.
stumped: stumpt.
stuttered: stutterd.
subjective: subjectiv.
sweetened: sweetend.
swelled: sweld.
sweltered: swelterd.
swerve: swerv.
swerved: swervd.
swollen, swoln: swoln.
swooned: swoond.
sylph: sylf.
synagogue: synagog.
tabernacle: tabernacl.
tacked: tackt.
tackle: tackl.
subjunctive: subjunctiv.
tackled: tackld.
tactile: tactil.
submissive: submissiv.
subtile: subtil.
subtle: sutl.
subtly: sutly.
subversive: subversiv.
successive: successiv.
tagged: tagd.
talked: talkt.
talkative: talkativ.
tangible: tangibl.
tanned: tand.
thieved: thievd.
thimble: thimbl.
thinned: thind.
thistle: thistl.
thorough: thuro.
though, tho': tho.
thrashed: thrasht.
thread: thred.
threat: thret.
threaten threten.
threatened thretend.
thrill: thril.
:
thrilled thrild.
throbbed: throbd.
thronged: throngd.
throttle throtl.
throttled: throtld.
through, thro': thru.
throughout: thruout.
thrummed: thrumd.
thumb: thum.
thumbed: thumd.
thumped: thumpt.
thundered: thunderd.
thwacked: thwackt.
ticked: tickt.
succor, succour: succor.
tapped: tapt.
succored, succoured:
suc-
tapered: taperd.
cord.
tariff: tarif.
succumb: succum.
tarred: tard.
succumbed: succumd.
tasked: taskt.
tickle: tickl.
sucked: suckt.
tasseled: tasseld.
tickled: tickld.
suckle: suckl.
tattered: tatterd.
tierce: tierse.
suckled: suckld.
tattle: tatl.
suffered: sufferd.
suffixed: suffixt.
suffuse: suffuze.
suggestive: suggestiv.
suitable: suitabl.
sulphate: sulfate..
sulphur: sulfur.
sulphurate: sulfurate.
sulphuret: sulfuret.
sulphuric: sulfuric.
sulphurous: sulfurous.
tattled: tatld.
taxable: taxabl.
taxed: taxt.
teachable: teachabl.
teemed: teemd.
telegraph: telegraf.
telegraphed: telegraft.
telegraphic: telegrafic.
telegraphy: telegrafy.
telephone: telefone.
telephonic: telefonic.
till: til.
tillable: tillabl.
tilled: tild.
tingle: tingl.
tingled: tingld.
tinkered: tinkerd.
tinkle: tinkl.
tinkled: tinkld.
tinned: tind.
tipped, tipt: tipt.
tipple: tipl.
tippled: tipld.
THE SPELLING REFORM.
85
tipstaff: tipstaf.
tiresome: tiresum.
tittered: titterd.
tittle: titl.
toddle: todl.
toiled: toild.
toilsome: toilsum.
tolerable: tolerabl.
tolled: tolld, told.
ton: tun.
tongue: tung.
tongued: tungd.
toothed: tootht.
toothache: toothake.
topographer: topografer.
topography: topografy.
topple: topl.
toppled: topld.
tossed, tost: tost.
tottered: totterd.
touch: tuch.
touched: tucht.
touchy: tuchy.
treasury: trezury.
treatise: treatis.
treble: trebl.
tremble: trembl.
trembled: trembld.
trenched: trencht.
trepanned: trepand.
trespassed: trespast.
trestle: trestl, tressel.
tricked: trickt.
trickle: trickl.
trickled: trickld.
triglyph: triglyf.
trill: tril.
trilled: trild.
trimmed: trimd.
triple: tripl.
tripled: tripld.
tripped: tript.
triumph: triumf.
triumphed: triumft.
triumphal: triumfal.
triumphant: triumfant.
trodden: trodn.
tough: tuf.
toughen: tufen.
trooped: troopt.
toughened: tufend.
trouble: trubl.
towed: towd.
toyed: toyd.
traceable: traceabl.
tracked: trackt.
tractable: tractabl.
trafficked: traffickt.
trailed: traild.
trained traind.
tramped: trampt.
trample: trampl.
trampled trampld.
troubled: trubld.
troublesome: trublsum.
troublous: trublous.
trough: trof.
trucked: truckt.
truckle: truckl.
truckled truckld.
trumped: trumpt.
tucked: tuckt.
tugged: tugd.
tumble: tumbl.
un-: negativ prefix: see the
simpl forms.
uncle: uncl.
unwonted: unwunted.
use, v.: uze.
usual: uzual.
uterine: uterin, -ine.
vaccine: vaccin, -ine.
valuable: valuabl.
valve: valv.
vamped: vampt.
vanished: vanisht.
vanquished: vanquisht.
vapor, vapour: vapor.
vapored, vapoured: vapord.
variable: variabl.
vegetable: vegetabl.
vegetative: vegetativ.
vehicle: vehicl.
veil: veil.
veiled: veilă.
veined: veind.
veneered: veneerd.
ventricle: ventricl.
veritable: veritabl.
versed: verst.
versicle: versicl.
vesicle: vesicl.
viewed: viewd.
vigor, vigour: vigor.
vindictive: vindictiv.
vineyard: vinyard.
visible: visibl.
vocative: vocativ.
volatile: volatil, -ile.
vouched: voucht.
trance: transe.
tranquilize, tranquillise:
tranquilize.
transferred: transferd.
transformed: transformd.
transfuse: transfuze.
transmissive transmissiv.
trapanned: trapand.
trapped: trapt.
traveled, travelled: traveld.
traveler, traveller: traveler.
treacherous: trecherous.
treachery: trechery.
treacle: treacl.
wafered: waferd.
tumbled: tumbld.
wagered: wagerd.
turned: turnd.
wagged: wagd.
turtle: turtl.
waggle: wagl.
twaddle: twaddl.
waggled: wagld.
twanged: twangd.
wailed: waild.
tweaked tweakt.
waive: waiv.
:
twelve: twelv.
twill: twil.
twilled twild.
twinkle: twinkl.
waived: waivd.
walked: walkt.
warble: warbl.
warbled: warbld.
twinkled: twinkld.
warmed: warmd.
twirled twirld.
warred: ward.
twitch: twich.
washed: washt.
watch: wach.
tread: tred.
treadle: tredl.
treasure: trezure.
treasurer: trezurer.
twitched twicht.
twittered: twitterd.
typographer: typografer.
typographical: typografical.
typography: typografy.
watched: wacht.
watered: waterd.
waxed: waxt.
weakened: weakend.
439-
-7
86
THE SPELLING REFORM.
wealth: welth.
wealthy: welthy.
weaned: weand.
weapon: wepon.
weather: wether.
weathered: wetherd.
weave: weav.
webbed: webd.
will: wil.
willed: willd, wild.
willful, wilful: wilful.
wimble: wimbl
wrangle: wrangl.
wrangled: wrangld.
wrapped: wrapt.
wreaked: wreakt.
winked: winkt.
winnowed: winnowd.
wrecked: wreckt.
wrenched: wrencht.
wrestle: wrestl.
wintered: winterd.
wrestled: wrestld.
winged: wingd.
weened: weend.
wished: wisht.
welcome: welcum.
witch: wich.
welcomed: welcomd.
witched: wicht.
well: wel.
welled: welld.
were: wer.
wheeled: wheeld.
wheeze: wheez.
wheezed: wheezd.
whence: whense.
whimpered: whimperd.
whipped: whipt.
whir, whirr: whir.
whirred: whird.
whirled: whirld.
whisked: whiskt.
whispered: whisperd.
whistle: whistl.
whistled: whistld.
whizzed: whizd.
whole: hole.
wholesale: holesale.
wholesum: holesum.
wholly holely.
whooped: whoopt.
withered: witherd.
withholden: withholdn.
women: wimen.
won: wun.
wonder: wunder.
wondered: wunderd.
wonderful: wunderful
wondrous: wundrous.
wont: wunt.
wonted: wunted.
worked: workt.
Worm: wurm.
wormed: wurmd.
worry: wurry.
worse: wurse.
worship: wurship.
worshiped, worshipped:
wurshipt.
worst: wurst.
worth: wurth.
worthless: wurthless.
worthy: wurthy.
wretch: wrech.
wretched: wreched.
wriggle: wrigl.
wriggled: wrigld.
wrinkle wrinkl.
wrinkled: wrinkld.
written: writn.
:
xanthine: xanthin.
xylography: xylografy.
yawned: yawnd.
yeaned: yeand.
yearn: yern.
yearned: yernd.
yell: yel.
yelled: yeld.
yeoman: yoman.
yerked: yerkt.
young: yung.
zealot: zelot.
zealous: zelous.
zephyr: zefyr.
zincography: zincografy.
zoography: zoografy.


information no
420.52
M3

A