744 



SPELLING REFORM. 



sists of a Spelling-Reform Association in the 

 United States, anuther in England, and a third 

 in Canada. The first of these associations was 

 forrud at an International Convention, which 

 met at Philadelphia in 1876, as a result of pre- 

 vius discussion in the American Philological 

 Association, the National Educational Associ- 

 ation, and uther organizations in the United 

 States; the Society of Arts, the Philological 

 Society, and uther organizations in England. 

 Filologists, educators, writers, printers, and 

 stenografers are the most numerus classes in 

 its membership. A generation ago, most lin- 

 guistic scolars oposed the movement on ety- 

 mological grounds ; but now the scolarship of 

 English-speaking filologists as a body is enlist- 

 ed in its service. F. A. March, of Lafayette 

 College, has been prezident, and Melvil Dewey, 

 of Columbia College, has been secretary of the 

 Association from its begining. The Tresurer 

 and Corresponding Secretary is 0. P. G. Scott, 

 New York ; and the Vice-Prezidents ar W. D. 

 Whitney, F. J. Child, C. H. Toy, 0. K. Nelson, 

 W. T. Harris, F. A. P. Barnard, T. R. Price, J. 

 M. Garnett, J. L. Johnson, J. C. Gilchrist, G. 

 II. Paul, W. H. Wells, W. O. Rogers, R. M. 

 Davis, H. D. Wyatt, J. M. Fish, W. W. W. Jones, 

 Mrs. E. B. Burnz, and T. R. Vickroy, in the 

 United States, with F. Max Mailer, A. H. Sayce, 

 W. W. Skeat, J. A. H. Murray, H. Sweet, 

 R. Morris, and E. Jones, in England. The 

 Association issued quarterly bulletins from 

 1876 til 1880, when the "Fonetic Tlcher," a 

 spelling-reform munthly, publisht by T. R. 

 Vickroy, at St. Louis, became its organ. This 

 paper has not apeard during 1884. At its an- 

 nual meeting, in 1883, the Association voted 

 to resume the publication of bulletins. In 

 February, 1884, a bulletin was issued con- 

 taining the following rules, which the Eng- 

 lish and American filological societis had 

 adopted for the spelling of their transactions, 

 and jointly recomended for imediate use by 

 the public : 



1. e. Drop silent e when foneticaly useless, as in 



live, vineyard, believe, bronze, single, en- 

 gine, granite, eaten, rained, etc. 



2. ea. Drop a from ea having the sound of e, as in 



feather, leather, jealous, etc. 

 Drop e from ea having the sound of a, as in 

 heart, hearken, etc. 



3. eau. For beauty uze the old beuty. 



4. eo. Drop o from eo having the sound of e as in 



jeopardy, leopard, 

 For yeoman write yoman. 



5. i. Drop * of parliament. 



6. o. For o having the sound of u 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 u, as 



m journal, nourish, trouble, rough (ruf) 

 tough (tnf ), and the like. 



8. u. Drop silent u after g before a, and in nativ 



English words, as guarantee, guard, 

 guess, guest^ guild, guilt, etc. 



9. ue. Drop final ue in apologue, catalogue, etc., 



demagogue, pedagogue, etc., league, col- 

 league, harangue, tongue (tung), etc. 

 10. y. Spell rhyme rime. 



11. 



12. 



13. 



14. 



15. 



16. 



17. 



Dubl consonants may be simplified. 



Final b, d, g, n, r, t, f, I, z, as in ebb, 

 add, egg, inn, purr, butt, bailiff, dull,. 

 buzz. etc. (not all, hall). 



Medial before another consonant, as battle, 

 ripple, written (writn), etc. 



Initial unaccented prefixes, and other unac- 

 cented 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. 

 ch. Drop the h of ch in chamomile, choler, chole- 



ra, melancholy, school, stomach. 

 Change to k in ache (ake), anchor (anker). 

 d. Change d and ed final to t when so pro- 

 nounced, as in crossed (crost), looked 

 (lookt), etc., unless the e afects the pre- 

 ceding sound, as in chafed, chanced. 

 . Drop g in feign, foreign, sovereign. 

 h in aghast, b 



gh. Drop 



burgh, ghost. 



Drop gh in Mughty, though (tho) through: 



(thru). 

 Change gh to f where it has that sound, as 



in cough, enough, laughter, tough, etc. 



18. L Drop I in could. 



19. p. Drop p in receipt. 



20. s. Drop s in aisle, demesne,, island. 



Change s to z in distinctly words, as in abme 

 verb, house verb, rise verb, etc. 



21. sc. Drop c in scent, scythe (sithe). 



22. tch. Drop t in catch, pitch, witch, etc. 



23. w. Drop w in whole. 



24. ph. Write/ for ph, as in philosophy, sphere, < 



The use of the joint rules is ilustrated in 

 this articl. The Spelling-Reform Association 

 accepting, as in previus instances the guidance 

 of the filologists, had also adopted these rules 

 for its publications, and the bulletin anounced 

 that the West Virginia Press Association had 

 takn mesures toward begining their use. Edu- 

 cational and stenografic jurnals, newspapers, 

 magazines, and uther periodicals, to the num- 

 ber of two hundred in the United States, wer 

 alredy uzing sum amended spellings, and many 

 of them had spelling-reform departments. For 

 those who wish to make a protest against the 

 current spelling without changing many words, 

 the Association advizes the use of its " Five 

 Rules," which ar the same in substance as Nos. 

 1, 2, 11, 15, and 24 of the preceding list. It 

 has prepared also for complete fonetic spelling 

 by adopting a revised form of the English alfa- 

 bet prepared by a comittee of the American 

 Philological Association in 1877. This alfabet 

 consists of twenty-six letters, lc, q, and x being 

 thrown away, and three new letters being add- 

 ed for the vowels in ask and alms, of and nor, 

 up, and wrn. The old vowel-letters ar to be 

 uzed much as in uther European languages ; 

 namely, for the vowels in at and care, ebb and 

 they, it and poKce, obey and old, pull and rwle. 

 The long vowels may be distinguisht when ne- 

 cesary by the macron. Four difthongs ar rec- 

 ognized, which ar herd in aisle, out, oil, and 

 feud. C takes the place of lc and q, and each 

 of the uther consonant letters is uzed for its 

 present most common sound only, except that 

 the usual digrafs ar retaind for the final con- 



