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111 Period 5: CULTURAL CORNER—The Man Who Made Spelling Simple Objectives ● To read to know more about language ● To read more about spelling in English Procedures ▇ Before you read Please go over the word list for this module, paying attention to the pronunciation of the word, the relationship between its pronunciation and its spelling. ▇While you read Cut/ the sentences into thought groups, blacken the predicates, underline the useful expressions and darken the connectives. The Man Who Made Spelling Simple In English/ the spelling of words does not always represent the sound．So people say /rait/ but spell it right, or write, or even rite. Combinations of letters (like ough) may be pronounced/ in a number of ways. And/ some words just seem to have too many letters. For Americans/ things are a little bit easier, thanks to the work of Noah Webster, a teacher/ who graduated from Yale University/ in1778. As a young man/ he had fought against the British/ in the American War of Independence, and he felt that/ written English/ in the newly independent United States/ should have a distinctive "American" look. So/ he began his work/ on American English. His first book, The Elementary Spelling Book, suggested simplifying the spelling of English words．The book was extremely popular. By the 1850s/ it was selling one million copies/ a year, making it one of the most popular school books/ ever. Many of the suggestions were quickly adopted. Center instead of centre, program/ instead of programme, and flavor/ instead of flavour. Others, however, such as removing silent letters like s/ in island/ or the final e/ in examine, were not. Webster is best known/ for his American Dictionary of the English Language, which first appeared/ in 1828．It introduced lots of new American words, with information about their pronunciation and use, and, of course, the new spelling. The British criticised the dictionary, but it quickly became a standard reference book/ in the States. Today, Webster's dictionary is still the number one dictionary/ for American students. ▇After you read Copy all the useful expressions into your Expression Book. You may make sentences with these expressions. Expressions from: The Man Who Made Spelling Simple In English, the spelling of words, represent the sound, combinations of letters, be pronounced in a number of ways, have too many letters, for Americans, a little bit easier, thanks to…, the work of Noah Webster, graduate from…, as a young man, fight against …, in the American War of Independence, written English, in the newly independent United States, have a distinctive "American" look, begin one’s work on …, suggest doing…, simplify the spelling of English words, be extremely popular, by the 1850s, sell one million copies a year, one of the most popular school books, adopt suggestions, instead of…, remove silent letters, be best known for…, first appear in 1828, introduce lots of new American words, with information about their pronunciation and use, of course, the new spelling, criticise the dictionary, become a standard reference book, in the States, the number one dictionary for American students ■Reading more about spelling in English Spell It in English English spelling is confusing and chaotic, as any student of English knows all too well. “How can the letters ough spell so many different sounding words,” they ask, “l(fā)ike dough, bough, rough, and through?” And what about a word like colonel that clearly contain no r, yet pretends it does, and ache with its k sound, instead of the chuh sound of arch? And why does four have a u while forty doesn’t? There are no simple rules for English spelling, but there is an explanation behind its complexity. We have only to look back in history. Over the centuries, the English language has been like a magnet, attracting words from numerous other languages. It all started with the Britons, an ancient people living in a part of western Europe that eventually became the British Isles. They spoke a language called Celtic, which was a combination of the early forms of Irish, Scottish, and Welsh. When the Britons were conquered by the Romans and later the Germanic tribes, their language was also invaded. The merging of the languages gave birth to Old English, and a Latin alphabet replaced, with a few exceptions, the ancient Germanic alphabet. In the ninth century, the conquering Norsemen from Scandinavia added their pinch of language spice, as did the French in the eleventh century. By the fourteenth century, English, with its mix of at least five languages, had evolved into what is called Middle English and had become Britain’s official language. At that time, however, its spelling were far from consistent or rational. Many dialects had developed over the centuries and sometimes people adopted the spelling used in one part of the country and the pronunciation used in another. For instance, today we use the western English spellings for busy and bury, but give the first the London pronunciation bizzy and the second the Kentish (肯特語的) pronunciation berry. Of course, this all happened when English was primarily a spoken language, and only scholars knew how to read and write. Even they appear to have been quite indifferent to matters if consistency in spelling, and were known to spell the same word several different ways in a single sentence. Even after William Caxton set up England’s first printing press in the late fifteenth century, and the written word became available to everyone, standard spelling wasn’t considered very important. As a matter of fact, the typesetters (排字工人) in the 1500s made things even worse by being very careless about spelling. If a blank space needed to be filled or a line was too long, they simply changed the spellings of words to make them fit. Moreover, many of the early printers in England were from Germany or Holland and didn’t know English very well. If they didn’t know the spelling of a word, they made up one! Different printers each had their favorite spellings, so that one word might be spelled five or six different ways, depending on who printed the passage. Throughout this period, names and words appear in many different forms. For instance, where can be wher, whair, wair, wheare, were, and so on. People were even very liberal about their names. More than eighty spellings of Shakespeare’s name have been found, among them Shagspeare, Shakspeare, and even Shakestaffe. Shakespeare himself didn’t spell his name the same way in any two of his six known signatures — he even spelled his name two different ways in his will. By the late sixteenth century and early seventeenth century, some progress had been made in standardizing spelling due to the work of various scholars. By then, however, English spelling was far from a simple phonetic system (語音系統(tǒng)). For one thing, word pronunciations had changed too rapidly for a truly phonetic spelling to keep up. Also, English had borrowed from many languages and ended up having far too many sounds (more than forty) for the twenty-six letters in its Roman alphabet. By the time printing houses finally began to agree on standard spellings, many of these written forms were only a shadow of their spoken selves. In other words, spelling and pronunciation sometimes had little in common. Finally in 1775, Samuel Johnson gave English its first great dictionary. His choice of spelling may not have always been the best or the easiest, but the book helped to make spellings of most English words uniform. Eventually, people became aware of the need for “correct” spelling. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, Noah Webster was standardizing American English in his American Dictionary of the English Language and American Spelling Book. Although the British had been complaining about the messiness of English spelling for some time, it was the American who screamed the loudest. Webster not only favored a simplified, more phonetic spelling system, but also tried to persuade Congress to pass a law making the use of nonstandard spelling a punishable offense. In 1906, the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie gave $250,000 to help establish the Simplified Spelling Board. The board quickly issued a list of 300 words commonly spelled two ways, such as ax and axe, and called for the simpler of the two. The board helped to gain acceptance for quite a few American spellings, including catalog, dialog, and program. The call for simplified spelling quickly went out of fashion, particularly with the onset of World War I and the death of Andrew Carnegie. The movement never died out completely, however. Spelling reform continued to be an ongoing, if less dramatic, process, as it had been for centuries. Without the benefit of large donations or outside agencies, many words have shed useless letters. Deposite has lost its e, as has fossile. Musick and physick have dropped their needless k’s. As long as the world goes around, language will continue to change. New words will be added; spellings will be altered. But because people are most comfortable with the familiar, it’s not likely we’ll ever see a major change in the way most words are spelled. Anyway, what could we do without the challenge of English spelling? 111