New ideas are more readily accepted when they solve real problems.

By identifying issues that cause the most frustration, we can start to package solutions to suit the user for maximum satisfaction. If the solutions provided are acceptable and make sense, they will have the most uptake. Here, I am concerned with adults, not children. Children make different spelling errors because they bring a new perspective to language, or a kind of universal, simplifying grammar. Adults who keep making mistakes with their native language, can be reasonably said to be tackling linguistic complications that are characteristic of the language, not the user. Technology such as auto-correcting text and spell checkers is enabling us to live with these complications whilst causing the language to ossify. However, what concerns me is native-speakers’ inability to use their language directly, without mistakes and without technology. Is it not the beginning of a dangerous dependence on artificial intelligence? Here I address the issues of concern to those who experience frustration with spelling difficulties and a sense of stigma, which in my view is unjustified and unnecessary.

English is the product of years of development by the Anglo-Celts and the languages of populations that influenced them. Although it has changed a lot in the past, more recently it has ossified somewhat, despite (or because of) it spreading across the world and becoming the international language of choice (arguably). But it is still a ‘living language’ in that there is no authority, such as the Académie Française, prescribing change and use. I contend that change in English spelling is still possible. We need only regain the courage to toy with it in ways that help us to communicate more satisfactorily.

What we do must be acceptable, which means we are limited in what we can do in the short term. In professional situations our jobs may be on the line, so we have to be careful. We have much leeway in informal contexts such as personal correspondence. The more we make it plain that we act consciously and are able to explain what we’re doing, the more persuasive we’ll be. In writing we can add [sic] which means ‘intentionally written thus’ and if possible link it to a page such as this [sic].

An objection you will encounter is that English spelling reflects its Greek and Latin origins. Etymology shows that spellings have changed as words morphed from one language to another across time and space. Why, therefore, should English ossify with us?

Often spellings of the past were an attempt to represent the pronunciation of the time. Pronunciation changes, too – for example we are not entirely sure of the ancient pronunciation of Latin, so, it has become rather phonetic.

Some languages, such as Welsh and Italian, are more phonetic than English. Phonetic spelling simplifies things, but keep in mind that English has many regional accents. For example ‘news’ might be spelt [nooz] in North America and ‘nyooz’ in Commonwealth countries (see dictionary.com’s phonetic respelling).

My purpose here is not phonetisization per se, but simplification – simplification that allows adults to spell unaided without so many ‘mistakes’. In other words, creating leeway to spell more simply without hindering intelligibility.

Extremely high-frequency words – sometimes referred to as ‘sight’ words (because we see them so often) – are not frequently misspelled, despite often having very strange spelling, such as ‘enough’. The reason is, of course, that we have memorized them. Also, homophones orthographically illustrate different meanings, and cannot be altered, for example their and there.

However, words that are relatively high-frequency (words that are regularly used) and difficult to spell, are the most frustrating. This is where the potential for spelling change exits.

Vulnerable Vocabulary

Vulnerable vocabulary are the low-hanging fruit of spelling change.

Which words are misspelled frequently by most people?

Here are some of the most common mistakes made by adults: 100 Most Often Misspelled Words

These words are the most misspelled words made by native speakers according to the Oxford Dictionary, Oxford University Press, and Viviane Cook (they’re often misspelled on job application forms, too):

unnecessary, embarrassed, separately, definitely, argument, irrelevant, responsibilities, achievement, reference, particularly, occasional, committed, colleagues, liaison…

Examples of difficult spellings:

• unstressed vowels, e.g. separately, definitely, -able/ible endings, French spellings (amateur) 
• double consonants, e.g. accommodate, useful(l), beginners, committed
• silent letters, e.g. achieve, knew, answers, where
• homophones, e.g. their, they’re, there
• rule-breakers, e.g. definitely

What are your most common spelling mistakes? Which of them are relatively high-frequency words that give you the most frustration?

Guidelines for taking control of your spelling and contributing to spelling change

Many spelling mistakes are due to ignorance of the rules of spelling. To become an effective spelling change-maker, you must know a few of the most basic and common rules of English spelling so as to make informed contributions. Here are two common rules:

vowel + c + e pronunciation rule that gives the vowel a long sound, or capital/name sound, for example in ‘sale’ the ‘a’ sounds like ‘A’ or ‘ei’ [ey] – a diphthong (two vowels strung together). Without ‘e’ at the end, ‘a’ would have a short ‘a’ sound, as in ‘sal’.

i before e except after c

There are so many relatively high-frequency exceptions to this that I have decided to spell ‘receive’ as ‘receve’. With [sic] after it, I invite discussion and link readers to this web page. Consider how these two rules contradict each other in the frequently misspelled word, ‘receive’. It conforms to the first rule, but not the second rule. This word is most definitely a vulnerable word; on 17th November, 2016, President-elect Donald Trump tweeted it as ‘recieve’ – and he’s been writing English for 70 years. Granted, he’s an example of someone who is not a life-long learner! The pronunciation of ‘eve’ (as in the woman’s name, Eve) probably leads many to misspell it as ‘recieve’. If the ‘i’ is removed (receve), the word suddenly conforms to the second rule. The ‘i’ is in fact redundant. However, in the noun form of the word (receipt), both ‘i’ and ‘p’ are silent, but ‘recet’ and ‘recept’ would be unacceptably different from the original word. ‘Recete’ makes perfect sense, but is probably unacceptably different to the original traditional spelling, so ‘[sic]’ is a must! I haven’t traced the etymology of this word’s spelling and at this point I’m not going to. I don’t give a damn, it’s my language and what my forebears did in the past is their business. It doesn’t work for me now and there’s only so much digging I’m prepared to do, etymologists! I need to use the language for practical purposes and my time is limited.

The words that bother you most will become the ones you remember you’re spelling uniquely. If you’re using a computer, you can edit your spell-checker by adding the words the way you prefer to spell them. However, don’t be too cavalier; you should be an INFORMED spelling change-maker.

Another consideration when changing English Spelling is a little known rule that Cut Speling ruthlessly disregards; only function or grammar words in English are less than three letters (e.g. I, it, is, on, etc…). An exception is the modern spelling of ‘ox’, rather than the much older ‘oxe’. How about writing ‘oks’?

‘X’ is very readily replaceable with ‘ks’ because it is rarely if ever used for other sounds, xylophone being an example – why not zylophone? This would free up the letter ‘x’ for use as a vowel – more on that below.

One very common vowel sound with no regular typographic representation is the short schwa sound ‘uh’. We normally use a vowel letter to spell this, but because it is an unstressed sylable [sic] we frequently forget which vowel to use. That’s why so many people ‘misspell’ the middle syllable of ‘separate’. One way to remember is to recall the v + c + e rule (see above). For example, the last syllable of separate is pronounced /ey/ not /a/). The first vowel is prounounced /e/ not /ee/, because the letter after ‘p’ is ‘a’, not ‘e’. There is historical evidence that the spelling of this word has been confounding for a long time. In 1854 William Horton of Toowoomba, Queensland, named his pub 11:39 “Seperation Hotel” (see 11:39 of WalkAboutWithRob’s video about Toowooma’s History).

Replacing ‘c’ with ‘s’ or ‘z’ is only a little less straightforward than replacing ‘x’ with ‘ks’ because it is regularly combined with ‘h’ for the sound in ‘church’. However, the prospect of freeing up these two letters is compelling because English has 16 to 20 vowel sounds (depending on whether long and short sounds are included) and only 5 vowel letters.

If the letter ‘c’ were freed up for this sound, it would simplify matters enormously. It is a good fit because it is typographically similar to a, e, i, o and u.

Some of the words I spell in this simple fashion are listed below (my spelling in parentheses) with explanations that will help you remember the traditional spelling or possible alternatives that are easier and more logical:

• accommodation (akomodeishcn) c = “schwa” [uh] or in fonetic symbols, short /Ə/
• definitely (definitly)
• diarrhea/diarrhoea (dyarea/diarea)
• dilapidated (dclapidated – an alternative, where ‘de’ = undo, [di = apart], lapid = stone)
• etymology (etimology)
• infringement (infringment)
• intriguing (intriging)
• occasionally (okashcnaly)
• plagiarise (plaigerise)
• (proselytising) prozletizing
• psoriasis (soriasis)
• receipt (recete)
• receive (receve, rcseve – see discussion below ‘taking control’)
• riveting (rivveting)
• rhythm (rithum) a word without vowels?! Stuff the etimology, this one needs a revolution!
• shoulder (sholder)
• sauerkrout (sourkraut) Anglicized ‘sour cabbage’ from German

For more on how this would play out if taken to it’s logical conclusion, read my version of a humorous meme on Euro-English. It’s an amusing example of how a spelling change-maker takes things in a dramatically phonetic direction. It’s particularly cool to see the letter ‘c’ become a much needed vowel.

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17 August 2016 By Simon Cole