ILLUSTRATIONS OF SPELLING BY SOUND. 51 SPELLING BY SOUND. SYSTEM OF ORTHOGRAPHY, whereby superfluous letters could be dispensed with, educational reformers have long sought to introduce. Of these, the following method of Spelling by Sound was published some time since by the Hon. Joseph Medill, editor of the Chicago Tribune, its advantage over the strictly phonetic system being that the same alphabet is employed as that in general use, which makes it much easier to introduce. It is at the same time more agreeable to the eye. By this system the student can spell any word after learning the sounds, and the reader can readily pronounce any word when reading. The great advantages gained are less space used in writing, less time, correct pronunciation, and correct spelling. The application of this system of spelling is shown as follows: A Specimen of His System. The extreme iregularities ov our orthografy hav long ben a sours ov inconvéniens and anoians. Men eminent az skolars and statsmen hav often pointed out theze absurdities ov speling. Yet the évil remanes. It encumbers our primary edûcásion and robs our yuth ov yeres ov time that shùd be dévoted tu the acquizision ov nolej. It impozes a burden upon the literary man thru life in the ûse ov súperfluus leters, and compels meny persons tu study speling from the crádle tu the grave or fale tu spel corectly. It iz a fereful barier tu foriners hu wish to lern our langwaje ; and wors than aul, it hinders thousands ov persons from lerning tu rede and rite, and thus largly augments the ranks ov ignorans and depravity. Theze évils ar so énormus in the agrégate that we fele compeled tu endors the words ov the distinguished President ov the American Filólojical Asósiásion, Prof. F. A. March, ûzed in hiz opening adres at the last anual méting ov the Sósíety: "It iz no ûse tu try tu caracterize with fiting epithets the monstrous speling ov the English langwaje. The time lost by it is a larj part ov the hole skule time ov the most ov men. Count the ours which éch person wists at skule in lerning tu rede and spel, the ours spent thru life in képing up and perfecting hiz nolej ov speling, in consulting dicshunáries -a work that never ends-the ours that we spend in ríting silent leters; and multiplying this time by the number ov persons hu speak English, and we hav a total ov milyuns ov yeres wásted by éch jenerásion. The Bost ov printing the silent leters ov the English langwaje iz tu be counted by milyuns ov dolors for éch jenerásion." “Súner or later English orthografy must be simplified and réformed." -BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. "I fele very hopeful that a begining wil be made before long in réform. ing, not indede everything but at lést sumthing in the unhistorical, unsislematic, unintelijible, untéchable, but by no menes unamendable speling dow curent in England."-PROF. MAX MULLER. In spéking ov the disgrásful state ov English orthografy and the best mode ov réforming it. the grate American lexicografer, Dr. Noah Webster, the introducsion tu hiz Quarto Dicshunary, says: "Nothing can be more disreputable tu the literáry caracter ov a násion than the history ov English orthografy, unles it is that ov our orhoepy." "Dr. Franklin compiled a dicshunary on hiz skeme ov réform, and prócured tipes tu be cast, which he ofered tu me with a vu tu engaje me tu prosecute hiz dezine. This ofer I declined tu acsept; for I wos then, and am stil, convinsed that the skeme ov introducing nu caracters intu the langwaje is néther practicable nor expedient. Eny atempt ov this kind must sertenly fale of sucses." "The mode ov asertáning the prónunsiasion ov words by marks, points or trifling olterasions ov the present caracters, semes tu be the only won which can be rédûsed tu practis." "Delitful task to rere the tender thaut, "O, thautles mortals! ever blind tu fate, Tu sune dejected and tu sune élate." "Worth makes the man and want ov it the felo: Where there iz a wil there iz a wa; and while the evil continues the nesesity for orthografic réform wil never cese. If there ar eny among us hu hav tu litle regard for there one children tu smuthe for them the path on which there infant fete must stumble, we conjure them in the name ov God and humanity tu beware ov the gråter sin ov crushing by opózing influens the rising hopes ov milyuns les fortunate, hu hav néther mony nor time tu squonder, but hu nede aul the ades posible tu enable them tu take a pozi. sion among the intelijent, vertus and hapy sitizens ov our grate and glórius cuntry. The foregoing will suffice to represent Mr. Medill's idea of simplified orthography. It is almost phonetic and yet preserves most of the analogies and peculiarities of the English language. He retains the general rule that e ending a word and preceding a consonant indicates that the vowel is "long." Thus he spells such words as believe, beleve, guide, gide, prove, pruve, proof, prufe, peke, through, thru, fierce, férse, chaise, shaze, school, skule, repeal, repele, paid, pade, door, dore, feel, fele, four, fore, boar, bore, league, lege, blow, blo. Where the sound does not indicate the long vowel sound, he proposes to use accented vowels, viz. : á, é, í, ó, ú, and for the sound of u in full, should, etc., he uses ù: thus, fùl, shùd. For the broad sound of a heard in ought, caught, awful, all, broad, he employs au and spells them out; caut, auful, aul, braud, etc. For the terminals tion, sion, cian, scion, etc., he uses sion. He retains ed as the sign of the past tense, and s as that of the plural of nouns and singular of verbs. Ble as a terminal is also retained. Kis written for ch in all words in which ch has the sound of k. Ex.: arkitect, monark, skule, etc. All double consonants are reduced to single ones, as only one of them is heard in pronunciation. In all words now spelled with ck, as back, beck, lick, rock, luck, he drops the c as being wholly superfluous. In words ending in ous, he omits the o, as in curius, spurius, and when ou has the sound u he also drops the o, as in duble, jurny. He retains y at the end of nouns in the singular, as copy, foly. He writes f for ph in alfabet, fonetics, flosofy, etc. He omits all silent vowels in digraphs, and writes The proposed system is very easily written. After an hour's practice the pen runs naturally into it. The plan is one which would cost adults scarcely an effort to learn to write, and no effort at all to learn to read it. He thinks it is the simplest and most rational compromise with existing usage, prejudice, and etymologies, which can probably be devised with any hope of acceptance, and if accepted and adopted it would secure to the Anglo-American race throughout the world one of the simplest and best orthographies in existence. 52 CAPITAL LETTERS AND PUNCTUATION. Begin every paragraph with a capital letter. Begin every sentence following a period with a capital letter. Begin each proper name with a capital letter. Begin the names of places, as Boston, Newport, Niagara, with capital letters. Begin the words, North, South, East, West, and their compounds and abbreviations, as North-east, S. W., with capital letters, when geographically applied. Begin the names of the Deity and Heaven, or the pronoun used for the former, as, in His mercy- Thou, Father, etc., with capital letters. Begin all adjectives formed from the names of places or points of the compass as English, Northern, each with a capital Jetter. Begin each line of poetry with a capital letter. Begin all titles of books, and usually each important word of the title, as Hume's History of England, with capital letters. Begin the name of any historical event, as the French Revolution, with capital letters. The pronoun I and the interjection O must invariably be capital letters. Begin names of the month, as June, April, with capital letters. Also the days of the week, as Monday, Tuesday, etc. Begin all addresses, as Dear Sir-Dear Madam, with capital letters. Capital letters must never be placed in the middle of a word. PUNCTUATION. HILE the omission of punctuation may not mar the appearance of writing, as do bad spelling and improper use of capitals, its correct use is, nevertheless, essential to the proper construction of a sentence. Very ludicrous, and sometimes serious mistakes result from improper punctuation. In the following sentence, the meaning is entirely changed by the location of the semicolon. "He is an old and experienced hand; in vice and wickedness he is never found; opposing the works of iniquity he takes delight." "He is an old and experienced hand in vice and wickedness; he is never found opposing the works of iniquity; he takes delight." "Dealer in hats, caps, boots, shoes, etc." 'Hedges, trees, groves, houses, and people, all went rushing by." "Towering far above us stood the pines, silent, majestic, and grand." "Verily, verily, I say unto you." The Semicolon (;) is used where a sentence consists of several members each constituting a distinct proposition, and yet having dependence upon each other; as "Some men are born great; some acquire greatness; some have greatness thrust upon them." "Contributors: Will. M. Carleton; Wm. C. Bryant; B. F. Taylor; John G. Saxe." * Contents: Riches; Poverty; Religion.” The Colon () is used to divide a sentence into two or more parts, which, although the sense is complete in each, are not wholly independent; as "Temperance begets virtue: virtue begets happiness." "Two questions grow out of the subject: Ist: What is the necessity of a classical education 2d: How far can a classical education be made applicable to the ordinary business affairs of life?" The Period () is placed at the end of every complete and independent sentence; before decimals; between pounds and shillings; after initial letters, and for abbreviations; as -Man, know thyself" "Chas. Williams, M.D.” “J. Q. Adams.” “Genl. Supt. of C., B., and Q. R. R.” “£25. 85. 42′′ *4.24 miles. The Exclamation Point () denotes sudden or violent emotion; as *O blissful days! Ab me! How soon ye passed!" "Charge, Chester, charge! On Stanley, on!" sold at forty per cent below cost!" sumer Dintis are coming" Great bargains! Clothing The Note of Interrogation (?) is used after every sentence in which a question is asked; as • What season of the year do you enjoy most!” The Hyphen (-) is employed as a character between two words to show that they are connected together as a compound word; thus: Thirty-fold, super-heated, four-leaved, etc. It is also used at the end of a syllable when the remainder of the word follows on the next line. Also in dividing a word to show its pronunciation; as Pro-cras-ti-nate; val-e-tud-i-na-ri-an; co-op-e-rate. The Ellipsis (....) is used to represent the omission of words, syllables, and letters, and is sometimes represented by a dash; thus, k-g for king: occasionally by stars; thus, and sometimes by periods; like these. The following examples illustrate its use. e It is also used to denote sneeringly the Prop't." for "Proprietor." "Ina" for "Inere” do unbellef of the speaker; as * His wise counsels ? fled to accomplish their end* Brackets and Parentheses are employed to enclose words thrown into a sentence by way of explanation, which could be omitted without injury to its construction; as I have met and who has not with many disappointments" *Es mi se haired 100 pria" "In coedevor, gentemen. I am for the soc-tination, the whole coasttation, and arthing sat me sestrinion" (Great applause) The Dich (—) is used when the subject breaks of willy, and to show the omission of words, letters and igures; thus: *I was—men and I fear in a impossible — Ivxli—! vil réxa The pulse frend - sopped #opped achi - See riles for punctuation, in the chapter relating to Sign Painting." The Caret () is employed. in writing, to show where a word. or several words have been omitted in the sentence, and have been placed above the line; as Quotation Marka (~") are used by the writer to desmate a word or sentence quoted or copied from another author; as - Three Logs bear mighty Way Wa De The Maria of Reference (* * * ! 54 MARKS DIRECTING ATTENTION. doubled. Some writers use letters, and some figures, for reference. A Paragraph (T) is used by the author fre quently to designate, in the middle of a sentence, when he re-reads his manuscript, those words that he wishes to have commence a paragraph. It shows where something new begins. A Section ($) usually designates the smaller distinct parts of a book. As references they are frequently used with numbers; thus: "T87. Wedding Ceremonies in Different Countries." "§ 172. The Law of Usury in Different States." Leaders (----) are employed to lead the eye from one portion of the page to another across blank space; as London... Paris.... |