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THE ENGLISH SPELLING SYSTEM

efore discussing the sound system of
English in any detail, it is necessary
to make a distinction between the
sounds of English and the spelling of English.
The English spelling system often fails to
represent the sounds of English in a
straightforward manner. In other words,
there is often no oneto-one correspondence
between the sounds that we hear and the
letters we see on a page. An examination of
the English spelling system reveals many
examples of this discrepancy between
spelling and sounds, for example:
Different letters may represent the same
sound Pronounce the words below:
to two coo through threw
clue shoe Sioux
All of these words contain the same vowel
sound but it is represented by eight different
spellings.
The same letter represents different
sounds Pronounce the words below and
notice that the letter a is pronounced as five
different vowel sounds.
cake mat call any sofa
Now pronounce the next set of words and
notice that the letter s is pronounced as
three different sounds.
see pleasure resign
In the first word, `see', the letter s is
pronounced in its usual way. In the word
pleasure', it is pronounced like the final
sound in the word `beige', and in the word
`resign', it is pronounced like the first sound
in the word `zoo'.
Cornbinationts of letters may represent one
sound It is possible for a combination of
letters to represent only one sound. If you
pronounce the words below, you will notice
that the gh, the ph, and the ea each
represent only one sound even though the
spelling represents this single sound as two
letters,
rough physics head
Letters may represent uo sounds It is also
possible for no sound to be represented by a
particular letter. Pronounce the words below
and notice that the letters in italics are not
pronounced at all.
Again, the lack of correpondence between
sounds and spelling can be observed in these
words containing `silent' letters.
After this brief examination of the English
spelling system, we can begin to understand
what led George Bernard Shaw to suggest
that the English spelling system could be
B
SPELLING AND PRONUNCIATION
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127
used to spell the word `fish' as ghoti-the gh
as it sounds in a word like `rough', the o as
it sounds in a word like `women', and the ti
as it sounds in a word like `nation'. Shaw's
suggested spelling, at.first glance, might
seem quite ridiculous; however, it illustrates
clearly the way in which a particular sound in
English can be spelled in quite different-
ways.
SOUND-SPELLING CORRESPONDENCES
The lack of sound-spelling correspondence
illustrated in the previous examples should
not be taken to mean that there are no
sound-spelling regularities in English. In fact,
many of the consonant letters display a
consistent relationship to the sounds they
represent. For example, letters such as b, m,
and n only have one pronunciation, unless
they are silent.
Other consonant letters are also consistent in
their pronunciation but may appear in
combination with another letter giving them
a different pronunciation. For example, a
letter such as p is normally pronounced in
one way when it is alone but when it is
combined with h, it is pronounced in a
different way, that is, like the letter f.
The pronunciation of still other consonant
letters can be predicted on the basis of their
combination with vowel letters. For example,
the letter c is pronounced like the letter s as
in `sent' when followed by the vowel letters
i, e, or y, and like the letter k as in `kite'
when followed by the vowel letters a, o, or
it, or when it occurs at the end of a word.
Thus:
c before 1, e, and y= s
e.g. City, cigar, certain, Census, cent, Cyst
c before a, o, and u and at the end of a word
= k e.g. cat, call, cone, come, Custom, Cup,
plastic
This predictable difference in the
pronunciation of the letter c can also be
observed in pairs of words that are related in
meaning:
electric electricity
Notice that the English spelling system
preserves the same spelling in these related
words even though the pronunciation of the
letter c changes.
The range of pronunciation of consonant
letters is somewhat more predictable than
the pronunciation of vowel letters. This is
because there are many more vowel sounds
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128
in English than vowel letters in the Roman
alphabet and because historical changes in
the pronunciation of English have affected
vowel sounds much more than consonant
sounds. It is often the case that English
spelling represents pronunciations that are
now obsolete.
Traditionally, English vowel letters have been
divided into two categories based on their
pronunciation as either long or short vowels.
When the vowel letters a, e, 1, o, and u
occur in words ending in a silent e letter,
they are pronounced with their `long' sound
which is the sound heard when these letters
are pronounced in isolation (e.g. when
reciting the alphabet). When the same vowel
letters occur in words without a silent e, they
are pronounced with their `short' sounds:
This is, then, one generalization that can be
made regarding the soundspelling
correspondence of English vowels. This
regularity can also be observed in pairs of
words that are related in meaning:
Here we see that the unsuffixed form with
the silent e has the `long' sound, while the
suffixed form without the silent e has the
`short' sound. Many people have observed
that the English spelling system is
advantageous in that spelling is consistent
(even though the pronunciation may differ)
among words related in meaning.
While there are many more vowel letter-
sound correspondences that could be listed
here, their large number (Prator and
Robinett (1985) list 57 different vowel-letter
combinations with predictable
pronunciations) and many exceptions make
their usefulness to ESL students somewhat
questionable. However, once students have
mastered enough spelling, they usually
become quite proficient at guessing the
pronunciation of an unknown word based
solely on the spelling.
SPELLING IN OTHER LANGUAGES
Many languages, including English, use the
Roman alphabet. Differences between the
sound-spelling correspondences of such
languages and of English can often be the
source of mispronunciations. For example,
the spelling systems of languages such as
Spanish, Polish, and Hungarian are more
straightforward than the English spelling
system in representing sounds. That is, there
is usually a one-to-one correspondence
between sounds and spelling. Speakers of
such languages may pronounce every letter
of an English word, assuming incorrectly that
the English spelling system is like the
spelling system of their native language. In
addition, these speakers may assign the
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sound values of their spelling system to the
letters of English. This often results in what
we term a spelling pronunciation.
Pronouncing words on the basis of one's
native language spelling system does not
necessarily constitute a pronunciation
problem. It may merely reflect a lack of
knowledge regarding the often complex
sound-spelling correspondences of English. If
you have a large number of literate students
from a language background using the
Roman alphabet, it may be wise to
familiarize yourself with the sound-spelling
correspondences in that language. Then you
can point out to students the places in which
the sound-spelling correspondences of
English and their native language differ.
THE PHONETIC ALPHABET
Given the complexity of sound-spelling
correspondences in English, it would be
difficult to use the Roman alphabet to
symbolize English sounds. Consider trying to
represent the first sound of `cat' using the
English spelling system. If we were to use
the letter c to represent this found, then how
would we represent the first sound in a word
such as `certain'? Furthermore, would we
also use the letter c to represent the first
sound in a word like `kite', given that the
first sound of `kite' is the same sound that
begins `cat'? You can see the problems that
would arise in using the English spelling
system for such a purpose.
In order to avoid the problems that a spelling
system like English poses for the
representation of sounds, it is helpful to use
a phonetic alphabet.
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