TWO THEORIES OF KNOWLEDGE 75 



A useful illustration of our argument is to be 

 drawn from a consideration of the question of 

 phonetic spelling. Occasionally we find persons 

 urging that all spelling should be an exact repro- 

 duction of sound. Indeed, an improved alphabet 

 has been designed to enable the idea to be carried 

 out with greater accuracy. 



Now it is quite true that it is by their sound that 

 we recognise or denote our words. Hence our 

 alphabet was originally phonetic in principle, and 

 indeed still is so, although the correspondence is 

 imperfect. As the use of visible signs develops 

 spelling seems to fall into certain fixed frames and 

 to deviate more and more from pure phonetic 

 simplicity. But why is this so ? It is because 

 the sounds are merely the symbols or indicators 

 of the different forms of vocal articulation (vocal 

 acts), and it is really as the symbols and indicators 

 of these actions that they possess any meaning and 

 acquire such permanence and identity as they 

 have. The phonetic system, therefore, becomes in 

 use subordinated to the expression of the acts by 

 which are produced these radical vocables which 

 constitute the essentials of rational Discourse. 



In all this the process of the expression of words 

 in spelling is a microcosmic counterpart of the pro- 

 cess of cognition as we have tried to explain it. 



