spelling reform
Alphabet rules revision
Spelling reform is deliberate effort to change how a language is written, typically to make spelling more consistent with pronunciation or easier to learn.
English has resisted major reform despite its notoriously irregular orthography—attempts like simplified spelling (thru for through, nite for night) have mostly failed to gain official acceptance, though some persist informally.
Pioneering American dictionary maker
- Theodore RooseveltTwenty-sixth American president
- Great Vowel ShiftHistorical English pronunciation change
Manner of speaking words
- transcriptionWritten version of speech
- IPASound notation system
- diacriticSymbol modifying letter pronunciation
- vowelUnobstructed speech sound
consonant · diphthong · syllable · accent · stress · phonology · articulation · silent letters
Standard writing conventions
- graphemeMinimal written symbol unit
- phonemeMinimal distinctive sound unit
- morphologyStudy of structural forms
- etymologyWord origin study
writing systems · diachronic · synchronic · lexicography · sociolinguistics · romanization · transliteration · language change
Making more aerodynamic or efficient
- legibilityClearness of text
- readabilityEase of understanding text
- accessibilityEase of approach
- modernizationAdoption of current methods
rationalization · transparency · regularization · decoding · literacy · double letters · exceptions
State of being identical
- codificationOrganizing rules into system
- consistencyReliable adherence to standards
- normalizationAdjusting to a standard
- conventionAgreed standard of behavior
harmonization · systematization · dictionary · prescriptivism · Webster · house style
Noah Webster
Pioneering American dictionary maker
- Theodore RooseveltTwenty-sixth American president
- Great Vowel ShiftHistorical English pronunciation change
pronunciation
Manner of speaking words
- transcriptionWritten version of speech
- IPASound notation system
- diacriticSymbol modifying letter pronunciation
vowel · consonant · diphthong · syllable · accent · stress · phonology · articulation · silent letters · phonetic alphabet
orthography
Standard writing conventions
- graphemeMinimal written symbol unit
- phonemeMinimal distinctive sound unit
- morphologyStudy of structural forms
etymology · writing systems · diachronic · synchronic · lexicography · sociolinguistics · romanization · transliteration · language change · logography
streamlining
Making more aerodynamic or efficient
- legibilityClearness of text
- readabilityEase of understanding text
- accessibilityEase of approach
modernization · rationalization · transparency · regularization · decoding · literacy · double letters · exceptions
uniformity
State of being identical
- codificationOrganizing rules into system
- consistencyReliable adherence to standards
- normalizationAdjusting to a standard
convention · harmonization · systematization · dictionary · prescriptivism · Webster · house style
- DutchDutch, Holland, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Rotterdam
- GermanGermany, Austria, Switzerland, German, Berlin
- spellingorthography, silent e, silent letters, misspellings, double consonants
- language changelanguage change, linguistic diffusion, loan words, creolization, Great Vowel Shift
- language reformprescriptivism, simplification, romanization, pinyin, transliteration
- spelling reformNoah Webster, Romanization, script adaptation, grapheme, silent e