Chapter 10

I myself, however, am not a practical reformer; least of all in a matter which concerns Englishmen only—namely, the spelling of the English language. I should much rather, therefore, have left the fight to others, content with being merely a looker-on. But when I was on the point of leaving England my conscience smote me. Though I had not actually given a pledge, I remembered how, again and again, I had said to Mr. Pitman that I would much rather keep than make a promise; and though overwhelmed with other work at the time, I felt that before my departure I ought, if possible, to satisfy Mr. Pitman’s demands. The article was written; and though my own plans have since been changed, and I remain at Oxford, it may as well be published in discharge of a debt which has been for some time heavy on my conscience.

What I wish most strongly to impress on my readers is that I do not write as an advocate. I am not an agitator for phonetic reform in England. My interest in the matter is, and always has been, purely theoretical and scientific. Spelling and the reform of spelling are problems which concern every student of the science of language. It does not matter whether the language be English, German, or Dutch. In every written language the problem of reforming its antiquated spelling must sooner or later arise; and we must form some clear notion whether any thing can be done to remove or alleviate a complaint inherent in the very life of language. If my friends tell me that the idea of a reform of spelling is entirely Quixotic, that it is a mere waste of time to try to influence a whole nation to surrender its historical orthography and to write phonetically, I bow to their superior wisdom as men of the world. But as I am not a man of the world, but rather an observer of the world, my interest in the subject, my convictions as to what is right and wrong, remain just the same. It is the duty of scholars and philosophers not to shrink from holding and expressing what men of the world call Quixotic opinions; for, if I read the history of the world rightly, the victory of reason over unreason, and the whole progress of our race, have generally been achieved by such fools as ourselves “rushing in where angels fear to tread,” till, after a time, the track becomes beaten, and even angels are no longer afraid. I hold, and have confessed, much more Quixotic theories on language than this belief—that what has been done before by Spaniards and Dutchmen—what is at this very moment being done by Germans, namely, to reform their corrupt spelling—may be achieved even by Englishmen and Americans.

I have expressed my belief that the time will come when not only the various alphabets and systems of spelling, but many of the languages themselves which are now spoken in Europe, to say nothing of the rest of the world, will have to be improved away from the face of the earth and abolished. Knowing that nothing rouses the ire of a Welshman or a Gael so much as to assert the expediency, nay, necessity, of suppressing the teaching of their languages at school, it seems madness to hint that it would be a blessing to every child born in Holland, in Portugal, or in Denmark—nay, in Sweden and even in Russia—if, instead of learning a language which is for life a barrier between them and the rest of mankind, they were at once to learn one of the great historical languages which confer intellectual and social fellowship with the whole world. If, as a first step in the right direction, four languages only, namely, English, French, German, Italian (or possibly Spanish) were taught at school, the saving of time—and what is more precious than time?—would be infinitely greater than what has been effected by railways and telegraphs. But I know that no name in any of the doomed languages would be too strong to stigmatize such folly. We should be told that a Japanese only could conceive such an idea; that for a people deliberately to give up its language was a thing never heard of before; that a nation would cease to be a nation if it changed its language; that it would, in fact, commit “the happy despatch,” _à la Japonaise_. All this may be true, but I hold that language is meant to be an instrument of communication, and that in the struggle for life, the most efficient instrument of communication must certainly carry the day, as long as natural selection, or, as we formerly called it, reason, rules the world.

The following figures may be of use in forming an opinion as to the fates of the great languages of Europe:(68)—

Portuguese is spoken in Portugal, by 3,980,000 Brazil, by 10,000,000 Total: 13,980,000 Italian, by 27,524,238 French, in France, Belgium, Switzerland, etc., by 40,188,000 Spanish, in Spain, by 16,301,000 South America, by 27,408,082 Total: 43,709,082 Russian, by 51,370,000 German, by 55,789,000 English, in Europe, by 31,000,000 America, by 45,000,000 Australia, etc., by 2,000,000 the Colonies, by 1,050,000 Total: 79,050,000

According to De Candolle, the population doubles in

England, in 56 years America, among the German races, in 25 years Italy, in 135 years Russia, in 100 years Spain, in 112 years South America, in 27-½ years Germany, in 100 years France, in 140 years

Therefore, in 200 years (barring accidents)

Italian will be spoken by 53,370,000 French will be spoken by 72,571,000 German will be spoken by 157,480,000 Spanish will be spoken in Europe, by 36,938,338 South America, by 468,347,904 Total: 505,286,242 English will be spoken in Europe, by 178,846,153 United States, and British Dependencies, by 1,658,440,000 Total: 1,837,286,153

But I shall say no more on this, for as it is, I know I shall never hear the end of it, and shall go down to posterity, if for nothing else, at least for this the most suicidal folly in a student of languages; a folly comparable only to that of Leibniz, who actually conceived the possibility of one universal language.

To return, however, to the problem to the solution of which Mr. Pitman has devoted the whole of his active life, let me say again that my interest in it is purely philological; or, if you like, historical. The problem which has to be solved in England and the United States of America is not a new one, nor an isolated one. It occurs again and again in the history of language; in fact, it must occur. When languages are reduced to writing, they are at first written phonetically, though always in a very rough-and-ready manner. One dialect, that of the dominant, the literary, or priestly character, is generally selected; and the spelling, once adopted, becomes in a very short time traditional and authoritative. What took place thousands of years ago, we can see taking place, if we like, at the present moment. A missionary from the island of Mangaia, the Rev. W. Gill, first introduced the art of writing among his converts. He learned their language, at least one dialect of it, he translated part of the Bible into it, and adopted, of necessity, a phonetic spelling. That dialect is gradually becoming the recognized literary language of the whole island, and his spelling is taught at school. Other dialects, however, continue to be spoken, and they may in time influence the literary dialect. For the present, however, the missionary dialect, as it is called by the natives themselves, and the missionary spelling, rule supreme, and it will be some time before a spelling reform is wanted out there.

Among the more ancient nations of Europe, not only does the pronunciation of language maintain its inherent dialectic variety, and fluctuate through the prevalence of provincial speakers, but the whole body of a language changes, while yet the spelling, once adopted in public documents, and taught to children, remains for a long time the same. In early times, when literature was in its infancy, when copies of books could easily be counted, and when the _norma scribendi_ was in the hands of a few persons, the difficulty of adapting the writing to the ever-varying pronunciation of a language was comparatively small. We see it when we compare the Latin of early Roman inscriptions with the Latin of Cicero. We know from Cicero himself that when he settled among the patricians of Rome, he had on some small points to change both his pronunciation and his spelling of Latin. The reform of spelling was a favorite subject with Roman scholars, and even emperors were not too proud to dabble in inventing new letters and diacritical signs. The difficulty, however, never assumes serious proportions. The small minority of people who were able to read and write, pleased themselves as best they could; and, by timely concessions, prevented a complete estrangement between the written and the spoken language.

Then came the time when Latin ceased to be Latin, and the vulgar dialects, such as Italian, French, and Spanish took its place. At that time the spelling was again phonetic, though here and there tinged by reminiscences of Latin spelling. There was much variety, but considering how limited the literary intercourse must have been between different parts of France, Spain, or Italy, it is surprising that on the whole there should have been so much uniformity in the spelling of these modern dialects. A certain local and individual freedom of spelling, however, was retained; and we can easily detect in mediæval MSS. the spelling of literate and illiterate writers, the hand of the learned cleric, the professional clerk, and the layman.

[A style of spelling will now be introduced which has received the name of Semiphonotypy. It requires no new letter: “[D] [p]” for the vowel in _but_, _son_, are made from “D p” by a pen-knife. The short vowels, diphthongs, and consonants are all written phonetically, except an occasional “n” = “[n]” before _k_ and _g_, and “th” = both “[t]” and “[dh]” leaving only the long vowels in the old spelling. Six syllables out of seven are thus written as in full phonotypy. The italic and script forms of “[P [italic form] ]” are “[p [italic form] ]” (a turned italic “_a_”) and [P p [script form] ].]

The great event hwich formz a deseisiv epok in the histori ov speling iz the introd[p]kshon ov printing. With printed buks, and partikiularli with printed Beibelz, skaterd over the k[p]ntri, the speling of w[p]rdz bekame rijid, and universali beinding. S[p]m langwejez, s[p]ch az Italian, wer more fortiunate than [p]therz in having a more rashonal sistem ov speling tu start with. S[p]m, agen, leik Jerman, wer abel tu make teimli konseshonz, hweil [p]therz, s[p]ch az Spanish, D[p]ch, and French, had Akademiz tu help them at kritikal periodz ov their histori. The most [p]nfortiunate in all theze respekts woz Inglish. It started with a Latin alfabet, the pron[p]nsiashon ov hwich woz [p]nseteld, and hwich had tu be apleid tu a Tiutonik langwej. After this ferst fonetik kompromeiz it had tu pas through a konfiúzd sistem ov speling, half Sakson, half Norman; half fonetik, half tradishonal. The histori ov the speling, and even ov the pron[p]nsiashon, ov Inglish, in its pasej from Anglo-Sakson tu midel and modern Inglish, haz lateli been st[p]did with great s[p]kses bei Mr. Ellis and Mr. Sweet. Ei m[p]st refer tu their buks “On Erli Inglish Pron[p]nsiashon,” and “On the Histori ov Inglish Soundz,” hwich kontain a welth ov il[p]strashon, almost bewildering. And even after Inglish reachez the period ov printing, the konfiuzhon iz bei no meanz terminated; on the kontrari, for a teim it iz greater than ever. Hou this kame tu pas haz been wel il[p]strated bei Mr. Marsh in hiz ekselent “Lektiurz on the Inglish Langwej,” p. 687, _seq_.(69) Hwot we nou kall the establisht sistem ov Inglish orthografi may, in the main, be trast bak tu Jonson’z Dikshonari, and tu the stil more kaprishus sway ekserseizd bei larj printing ofisez and p[p]blisherz. It iz true that the evil ov printing karid tu a serten ekstent its own remedi. If the speling bekame [p]nchanjabel, the langwej itself, too, woz, bei meanz ov a printed literatiur, chekt konsiderabli in its natiural growth and its dealektik vareieti. Nevertheles Inglish haz chanjed sins the invenshon ov printing; Inglish iz chanjing, though bei imperseptibel degreez, even nou; and if we kompare Inglish az spoken with Inglish az riten, they seem almost leik two diferent langwejez; az diferent az Latin iz from Italian.

This, no dout, iz a nashonal misfortiun, but it iz inevitabel. Litel az we perseive it, langwej iz, and alwayz m[p]st be, in a state ov fermentashon; and hwether within hundredz or thouzandz ov yearz, all living langwejez m[p]st be prepared tu enkounter the difik[p]lti hwich in Ingland starez us in the fase at prezent. “Hwot shal we do?” ask our frendz. “Ther iz our hole nashonal literatiur,” they say, “our leibrariz aktiuali b[p]rsting with buks and nuizpaperz. Ar all theze tu be thrown away? Ar all valiuabel buks tu be reprinted? Ar we ourselvz tu [p]nlern hwot we hav lernd with so much tr[p]bel, and hwot we hav taught tu our children with greater tr[p]bel stil? Ar we tu sakrifeiz all that iz historikal in our langwej, and sink doun tu the low level ov the _Fonetik Nuz_?” Ei kud go on m[p]ltipleiing theze kwestionz til even thoze men ov the w[p]rld who nou hav onli a shrug ov the shoulder for the reformerz ov speling shud say, “We had no eidea hou strong our pozishon reali iz.”

But with all that, the problem remainz [p]nsolvd. Hwot ar peopel tu do hwen langwej and pron[p]nsiashon chanje, hweil their speling iz deklared tu be [p]nchanjabel? It iz, ei believ, hardli nesesari that ei shud prove hou kor[p]pt, efete, and [p]terli irrashonal the prezent sistem ov speling iz, for now[p]n seemz inkleind tu denei all thát. Ei shal onli kwote, therefor, the j[p]jment ov w[p]n man, the late Bishop Thirlwall, a man who never uzed ekzajerated langwej. “Ei luk,” he sez “[p]pon the establisht sistem, if an aksidental k[p]stom may be so kalld, az a mas ov anomaliz, the growth ov ignorans and chans, ekwali rep[p]gnant tu gud taste and tu komon sens. B[p]t ei am aware that the p[p]blik kling tu theze anomaliz with a tenasiti proporshond tu their abs[p]rditi, and ar jel[p]s ov all enkroachment on ground konsekrated tu the free play ov bleind kaprise.”

It may be useful, houever, tu kwote the testimonialz ov a fiu praktikal men in order tu show that this sistem ov speling haz reali bek[p]m w[p]n ov the greatest nashonal misfortiunz, swolowing [p]p milionz ov m[p]ni everi year and bleiting all atempts at nashonal ediukashon. Mr. Edward Jones, a skoolmaster ov great eksperiens, having then siuperintendens ov the Heibernian Skoolz, Liverpool, rote, in the year 1868:

“The G[p]vernment haz for the last twenti yearz taken ediukashon [p]nder its kare. They diveided the subjekts ov instr[p]kshon intu siks gradez. The heiest point that woz atempted in the G[p]vernment Skoolz woz that a piupil shud be abel tu read with tolerabel eaze and ekspreshon a pasej from a niuzpaper, and tu spel the same with a tolerabel amount ov akiurasi.”

Let [p]s luk at the rez[p]lts az they apear in the report ov the Komíti ov Kounsil on Ediukashon for 1870-71:

Skoolz or Departments [p]nder separate hed teacherz in Ingland and Walez inspekted diuring the year 31st August, 1870, 15,287 Sertifikated asistant, and piupil teacherz emploid in theze skoolz, 28,033 Skolarz in daili averej atendans throughout the year, 1,168,981 Skolarz prezent on the day ov inspekshon, 1,473,883 Skolarz prezented for ekzaminashon: [P]nder ten yearz ov aje, 473,444 Over ten yearz ov aje, 292,144 Total: 765,588 Skolarz prezented for Standard VI.: [P]nder ten yearz ov aje, 227 Over ten yearz ov aje, 32,953 Total: 33,180 Skolarz who past in Standard VI.: 1. Reading a short paragraf from a niuzpaper, 30,985 2. Reiting the same from diktashon, 27,989 3. Arithmetik, 22,839

Therfor, les than w[p]n skolar for each teacher, and les than two skolarz for each skool inspekted, reacht Standard VI.

In 1873 the state ov thingz, akording tu the ofishal ret[p]rnz ov the Ediukashon Department, woz m[p]ch the same. Ferst ov all, ther ought tu hav been at skool 4,600,000 children between the ajez ov three and therteen. The number ov children on the rejister ov inspekted skoolz woz 2,218,598. Out ov thát number, about 200,000 leav skool aniuali, their ediukashon beïng supozed tu be finisht. Out ov theze 200,000, neinti per sent. leav without reaching the 6th Standard, eighti per sent. without reaching the 5th, and siksti per sent. without reaching the 4th Standard.

The report for 1874-75 showz an inkreas ov children on the buks, b[p]t the proporshon ov children pasing in the vari[p]s standardz iz s[p]bstanshali the same. (See “Popiular Ediukashon,” bei E. Jones, B.A., an eks-skoolmaster, 1875.) It iz kalkiulated that for such rezults az theze the k[p]ntri, hwether bei taksashon or bei voluntari kontribiushonz, payz nearli £3,500,000 aniuali.

Akording tu the same authoriti, Mr. E. Jones, it nou takes from siks tu seven yearz tu lern the arts ov reading and speling with a fair degree ov intelijens—thát iz, about 2,000 ourz; and tu meni meindz the difik[p]ltiz ov orthografi ar ins[p]rmountabel. The bulk ov the children pas through the G[p]vernment skoolz without having akweird the abiliti tu read with eaze and intelijens.

“An averej cheild,” sez anuthcr skoolmaster, “begining skool at seven, ought tu be abel tu read the Niu Testament fluentli at eleven or twelv yearz ov aje, and at therteen or fourteen ought tu be abel tu read a gud leading artikel with eaze and ekspreshon.” That iz, with seven ourz a week for forti weeks for feiv yearz, a cheild rekweirz 1,400 ourz’ w[p]rk, tu be abel tu read the Niu Testament.

After a kareful ekzaminashon ov y[p]ng men and wimen from therteen tu twenti yearz ov aje in the faktoriz ov Birmingham, it woz proved that onli 4-½ per sent. wer abel tu read a simpel sentens from an ordinari skool-buk with intelijens and akiurasi.

This apleiz tu the lower klasez. B[p]t with regard tu the heier klasez the kase seemz almost w[p]rs; for Dr. Morell, in hiz “Maniual ov Speling,” aserts that out ov 1,972 failiurz in the Sivil Servis Ekzaminashonz 1,866 kandidates wer pl[p]kt for speling.

So much for the piupilz. Am[p]ng the teacherz themselvz it woz found in Amerika that out ov w[p]n h[p]ndred komon w[p]rdz the best speler am[p]ng the eighti or neinti teacherz ekzamind faild in w[p]n, s[p]m preiz-takerz faild in four or feiv, and s[p]m [p]therz mist over forti. The Depiuti State Siuperintendent deklared that on an averej the teacherz ov the State wud fail in speling tu the ekstent ov 25 per sent.

Hwot, houever, iz even more seri[p]s than all this iz not the great waste ov teim in lerning tu read, and the almost komplete failiur in nashonal ediukashon, but the aktiual mischef d[p]n bei s[p]bjekting y[p]ng meindz tu the illojikal and tedi[p]s dr[p]jeri ov lerning tu read Inglish az speld at prezent. Everithing they hav tu lern in reading (or pron[p]nsiashon) and speling iz irrashonal; w[p]n rule kontradikts the [p]ther, and each statement haz tu be aksepted simpli on authoriti, and with a komplete disregard ov all thoze rashonal instinkts which lei dormant in the cheild, and ought tu be awakend bei everi keind ov helthi ekserseiz.

Ei nó ther ar personz who kan defend enithing, and who hold that it iz diu tu this veri disiplin that the Inglish karakter iz hwot it iz; that it retainz respekt for authoriti; that it d[p]z not rekweir a reazon for everithing; and that it duz not admit that hwot iz inkonseivabel iz therefor imposibel. Even Inglish orthodoksi haz been trast bak tu thát hiden sourse, bekauz a cheild akustomd tu believe that t-h-o-u-g-h iz _tho_, and that t-h-r-o-u-g-h iz _throo_, w[p]d afterwardz believe enithing. It may be so; stil ei dout hwether even such objekts wud justifei s[p]ch meanz. Lord Lytton sez, “A more leiing, round-about, p[p]zel-heded deluzhon than thát bei hwich we konfiúz the klear instinkts ov truth in our ak[p]rsed sistem ov speling woz never konkokted bei the father ov fol·shud.... Hou kan a sistem ov ediukashon fl[p]rish that beginz bei so monstr[p]s a fols·hud, hwich the sens ov hearing s[p]feisez tu kontradikt?”

Though it may seem a w[p]rk ov siupererogashon tu bring forward stil more fakts in s[p]port ov the jeneral kondemnashon past on Inglish speling, a fiu ekstrakts from a pamflet bei Mr. Meiklejohn, late Asistant-Komishoner ov the Endoud Skoolz Komishon for Skotland, may here feind a plase.

“Ther ar therteen diferent wayz ov reprezenting the sound ov long _o_:—_note_, _boat_, _toe_, _yeoman_, _soul_, _row_, _sew_, _hautboy_, _beau_, _owe_, _floor_, _oh!_, _O!_”

And agen (p. 16),

“Double-you-aitch-eye-see-aitch is _which_ Tea-are-you-tea-aitch is _truth_ Bee-o-you-gee-aitch is _bough_ See-are-eh-bee is _crab_ Bee-ee-eh-see-aitch is _beach_ Oh-you-gee-aitch-tee is _ought_ Oh-enn-see-ee is _once_

“Or, tu sum up the hole indeitment agenst the kulprit: 1. Out ov the twenti-siks leterz, onli eight ar true, fikst, and permanent kwolitiz—thát iz, are true both tu eí and ear. 2. Ther ar therti-eight distinkt soundz in our spoken langwej; and ther ar about 400 distinkt simbolz (simpel and kompound) tu reprezent theze therti-eight soundz. In [p]ther wurdz, ther ar 400 servants tu do the w[p]rk ov therti-eight. 3. Ov the twenti-siks leterz, fifteen hav akweird a habit ov heiding themselvz. They ar riten and printed; b[p]t the ear haz no akount ov them; such ar _w_ in _wrong_, and _gh_ in _right_. 4. The vouel soundz ar printed in diferent wayz; a long o, for ekzampel, haz therteen printed simbolz tu reprezent it. 5. Fourteen vouel soundz hav 190 printed simbolz atácht tu their servis. 6. The singel vouel e haz feiv diferent funkshonz; it ought onli tu hav w[p]n. 7. Ther ar at least 1,300 w[p]rdz in hwich the simbol and the sound ar at varians—in hwich the w[p]rd iz not sounded az it iz printed. 8. Ov theze 1,300, 800 ar monosilabelz—the komonest w[p]rdz, and s[p]pozed tu be eazier for children. 9. The hole langwej ov k[p]ntri children leiz within theze w[p]rdz; and meni agrikultiural laborerz go from the kradel tu the grave with a stok ov no more than 500 w[p]rdz.”

The kwestion, then, that wil hav tu be anserd sooner or later iz this:—Kan this unsistematik sistem ov speling Inglish be aloud tu go on for ever? Iz everi Inglish cheild, az kompared with [p]ther children, tu be m[p]lkted in two or three yearz ov hiz leif in order tu lern it? Ar the lower klasez tu go through skool without lerning tu read and reit their own langwej intelijentli? And iz the kuntri tu pay milionz everi year for this [p]ter failiur ov nashonal ediukashon? Ei do not believ that s[p]ch a state ov thingz wil be aloud tu kontiniu for ever, partikiularli az a remedi iz at hand—a remidi that haz nou been tested for twenti or therti yearz, and that haz anserd ekstremli wel. Ei mean Mr. Pitman’z sistem ov fonetik reiting, az apleid tu Inglish. Ei shal not enter here intu eni miniút disk[p]shon ov fonetiks, or re-open the kontroversi hwich haz arizen between the advokets ov diferent sistemz ov fonetik reiting. Ov kourse, ther ar diferent degreez ov ekselens in diferent sistemz ov fonetik speling; but even the w[p]rst ov theze sistemz iz infinitli siuperior tu the tradishonal speling.