A crossword clue made me think about one of the many oddities of English spelling. The answer was the word impinged and part of the clue was a cryptic reference to the word pinged. Impinged (past tense of the verb impinge) is pronounced with a ‘soft g’ /dʒ/, as in the consonants at the start…… Continue reading An oddity of English spelling
Tag: Spelling reform
Some traditional and simplified Chinese characters
Some Chinese characters have 2 versions, a simplified version (used particularly in mainland China) and a traditional version (used particularly in Taiwan and some overseas Chinese communities). TK Ann (1987) lists 13 of these pairs of characters. Ann lists them because they feature as parts of many other Chinese characters and for space reasons Ann…… Continue reading Some traditional and simplified Chinese characters
Eva can now put an apostrophe in the name of her shop
German makes much less use of the apostrophe than English does. But the latest edition of the Amtliches Regelwerk der deutschen Rechtschreibung (Official Regulations on German Orthograpy) introduces a new option. It is now possible to use the apostrophe in the names of (for example, shops, restaurants or bars) containing personal names. An example is…… Continue reading Eva can now put an apostrophe in the name of her shop
140 years to make a Swedish dictionary
In late 2023, The Swedish Academy completed the 39th (and final) volume of its authoritative Swedish Dictionary. The Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB, the Swedish Academy’s Dictionary) is a historical and etymological dictionary, listing 511,960 words on 33,111 pages. https://www.saob.se/ The work began in 1883. Languages don’t stand still, so the Academy is now working on…… Continue reading 140 years to make a Swedish dictionary
Street names’ apostrophes
A mini-row has erupted for the umpteenth time about the removal of apostrophes from street names on English road signs. The latest belligerence revolves around St Marys Walk (a street formerly known as St. Mary’s Walk) in Harrogate. Harrogate is a spa town in Yorkshire. I would love to describe Harrogate as genteel. That word…… Continue reading Street names’ apostrophes
Japan to change official romanisation?
Recent press reports suggest that the Japanese government is thinking of changing the officially recommended system for romanising Japanese. Romanisation is writing Japanese in roman characters (known in Japanese as rōmaji). There are 2 main romanisation systems for Japanese: Hepburn, devised by an American Missionary James Curtis Hepburn (1815-1911). Kunrei, issued by the Japanese government…… Continue reading Japan to change official romanisation?
Learning by rote for non-rhotic speakers
There are many varieties of English pronunciation. The existence of different varieties has implications for English spelling. A paper by the retired phonetician John Wells discusses some of those implications. https://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/accents_spellingreform.htm One of those implications arises from the distinction between rhotic varieties and non-rhotic varieties. In the following positions, rhotic varieties pronounce the sound /r/…… Continue reading Learning by rote for non-rhotic speakers
New spelling may rool OK?
Last month, the English Spelling Society provisionally endorsed a new spelling system which it hopes will ultimately eventually replace the highly irregular system used today in spelling English. The new system is called Traditional Spelling Revised (TSR for short). The Society believes that adopting TSR would help children and students to predict pronunciation from spelling,…… Continue reading New spelling may rool OK?