Conference Report Spelcon 2008 The Cost of English Spelling 7th international conference Coventry University, UK 7th-8th June 2008 Sponsored by The Spelling Society Founded 1908 in London, England. Working to raise awareness of the problems caused by the irregularity of English spelling, and to promote remedies to improve literacy, including spelling reform. [UK edition] Preface On 10 September 1908 a group of like-minded English spelling currently languishes. No greater people gathered in the York Room in the evidence for this lies in the fact that literacy Holborn Restaurant in London, with a view to levels are plummeting in the English-speaking finding a solution to the recognised irregularity world; not just the UK or the USA, but across all and arbitrary nature of current English spelling. countries where English is the mother-tongue (Australia, New Zealand etc). The common Those present at the inaugural meeting included factor is the use of traditional orthography as an both British and American scholars: William incompetent tool for modern literacy needs. Archer, London; Prof. James W Bright, Baltimore; Dr FJ Furnivall, London; The popularity of text messaging and emailing EP Gaston, London; Prof. I Gollancz, London; has amply demonstrated that huge numbers of Prof. H Stanley Jevons, Cardiff; youngsters, otherwise written off as ‗illiterate‘ by JJ Monro, London; AW Pollard, London; Dr the education authorities, find that they can Chas. PG Scott, New York; Prof. Walter Skeat, communicate well in written form once the Cambridge. Their primary aim was ‗to shame of poor spelling is not a cause for ridicule recommend simpler spellings of English words by the reader. The noble experiment with ITA in than those now in use, to further the general use the 1950s and 1960s in the UK also clearly of such simpler spellings by every means in its demonstrated that a logical spelling system power, and to co-operate with the Simplified encourages reading and literacy by making Spelling Board of the United States of America, reading fun, rather than a chore. There are, of founded and incorporated in New York.‘ course, those who feel that any change to the spelling that they learned at school is ‗dumbing Over the years the aims of the Society have down‘; that is a fallacious argument, as English evolved to fit the changing needs of the times. spelling has changed piecemeal ever since The current objects of the Spelling Society are: writing was invented and most other languages ‗to raise awareness of the problems caused by have periodic updates. To say that, for example, the irregularity of English spelling, and to writing ‗frend‘ rather than ‗friend‘ is ‗dumbing promote remedies to improve literacy, including down‘ is as absurd as to claim that the change to spelling reform‘. The change in emphasis is due writing ‗music‘ rather than ‗musick‘ was to the 21st century world, with its massive dumbing down. explosion in electronic communication, personal word-processors, and millions of web pages, The written language has a similar relationship to making it more difficult to introduce new fonts the spoken language as does a musical score to or letters. The reform proposed by George the performance of the opus (which is not to say Bernard Shaw required an entirely new alphabet: that written style is the same as oral style); such a radical approach is no longer viable. writing a Mozart opera in tonic-sol-fa rather than on staves does not ‗dumb down‘ or in any way At the time the Society was set up any update in change the beauty of the music. Shakespeare‘s spellings to fit contemporary needs and plays and poems are just as beautiful in pronunciations would have involved only a Johnson‘s spelling, Braille or shorthand as they relative handful of publishers. In 2008, one were in the first folio. In the same way using an hundred years later, the number of publishers (in updated spelling does nothing to affect the whatever definition) is orders of magnitude language itself; to argue that changes in spelling greater, and English is the lingua franca of the change the language itself is a example of the entire world: no longer can the UK or USA ‗fallacy of category‘ and betrays a lack of clear decree how English spelling must be for the rest thinking. of the world, though either can certainly guide A spelling system which holds lingering echoes and lead. of 17th century pronunciations, which is full of false-etymologies such as the spurious ‗s‘ in For these reasons the Society now focuses its ‗island‘ or the unauthentic ‗l‘ in ‗could‘, and efforts on publicising the dire state in which which seems to be upheld largely as a means of Page 2 7th International Conference on English Spelling, Coventry, UK, June 7-8, 2008 testing the memory powers of its users, is not a which is long past its effectiveness. ‗Cost‘ can be rightful tool for any mass medium in the 21st variously calculated, as indeed was highlighted century. If modern day Gradgrinds or Holofernes in the presentations, as financial cost, wish to perpetuate the pedagogical ideals of their opportunity cost (time better spent elsewhere), originals in Dickens and Shakespeare, they will cultural cost, emotional cost etc. Indeed, if argue that learning an intrinsically difficult spelling were regular, millions of hours and spelling system is prime brain training, and pounds/dollars would instantly be saved by the would, one assumes, correspondingly be even removal of the need for spelling tests and the happier if the spelling were made yet more death of meretricious public memorising of difficult, thereby improving our intellects even unusable words in contests called ‗spelling bees‘. more. The same reasoning was used for retaining 240 pence making one pound. In the next few years the Society will be able to celebrate the tercentenary of the birth of Samuel Egyptians used hieroglyphs to ensure that the Johnson in September 1709. His great dictionary common people could not become literate and of 1755 did not try to regularise the structure of were kept in their allotted station in society; the spelling: he explicitly admits that he merely Italian authorities forbade the change from chose from the prevalent forms he found around roman numerals as it would undermine the him. His dictionary was, nonetheless, a massive power of accountants; some elitists see a similar influence on increasing literacy in the 18th role for preserving the arcana of English century. spelling. Keeping the ‗history‘ of a word – its etymology - visible in its spelling is a chimera, Looking further ahead the Society will celebrate and is neither sensible nor effective (though the bicentenary of the birth of Sir Isaac Pitman in etymology itself is of course fascinating): it is as 2013. He was a pioneer of spelling reform and incongruous and cumbersome as requiring an literacy education, and remains famous through electric train to have a wooden smoke-stack and his shorthand system. It was his grandson, Sir a plastic coal-tender so that we can see how they James Pitman KBE, who steered the ITA used to look, or inserting a letter ‗L‘ in the experiment through the English parliament. number ‗45L3‘ to remind us that the Romans used an ‗L‘ for ‗50‘. The Society hopes that those without a vested interest in preserving the status quo will prevail In the 100 years since the Society was founded in freeing teachers from the undeserved many proposals for updates to the spelling have ignominy of being blamed for low literacy come forward; few have found favour amongst caused by their allegedly inadequate teaching of those who appear to have a vested interest in an archaic, arbitrary and inappropriate system, ensuring that only those with photographic and that similar updates to the spelling system memories can have fluency in reading and will be sought in the way that the pedagogues of writing. It should be noted in this context that the 18th century pioneered, but without the claims that previous generations had high pseudo-scholastic ballast which set some aspects literacy as a result of hard work and better of their spelling dicta back to the dark ages. In teaching, forget that the 19th century definition of that way the future of English as a world ‗literacy‘ meant ‗able to write their own name language (at present under real threat from and sign documents‘. That definition is woefully Spanish because it is easier to learn to read and inadequate for the 21st century. write) will be maintained, and people will rediscover the joys of high fluency in literacy The Society‘s international conference, 2008, without it being distorted into a brain-test. therefore had as its theme the enormous cost and . damage caused by clinging to a spelling system Dr John M Gledhill, Conference Convener 7th International Conference on English Spelling, Coventry, UK, June 7-8, 2008 Page 3 Conference theme How much time, effort, and money is spent in in offering remedial courses to help otherwise schools, and in educational contexts vocally skilled people who have not managed generally, merely to cover the complexity of to master the illogicality of English Spelling the current ‗traditional‘ English spelling while being verbally adept in the language. system rather than teaching the joy of reading The event was sponsored by the Spelling and writing? This conference aimed to draw Society. attention to the financial, educational and cultural costs for all levels of the English The conference was attended by almost 25 Educational system, comprising Universities, people at various times, both from within the Schools, teachers and students arising from Society and from non-members attracted by the difficulties in teaching reading and the conference publicity, with particularly writing in the current spelling system, using high attendance for the key-note presentation recent research and comparisons related to by Prof John Wells.