Idioma 1-2 (G3) 18-19

1. Read the article below and identify the four main reasons why
English spelling is so ‘messed up’.

2. Summarize each reason in one or two sentences using your own

words.

Why is English Spelling So Messed Up?

By Arika Okrent
Mental Floss. April 9, 2013

If you're a kid learning how to write, or an adult speaker of a language with

sensible spelling, English spelling can seem like a cruel prank. And even if you're a
completely literate adult native speaker of English, you will still run into situations
that make you wonder how English spelling ever got so messed up. Here are some
answers for the next time you clutch your hair yelling, "WHYYYYYYYY?!?!?" They
may not comfort you, but they may make you see English as less of an arbitrary
meanie and more of a victim of history.

Before the printing press came along, there was a lot of flexibility in English
spelling. Look at some of the ways beauty used to be spelled: bealte, buute,
beuaute, bewtee, bewte, beaute, beaultye. People did their own thing, trying their
best to match up tradition with current pronunciation. But after the printing press
came to England in the late 1400s, texts could be spread more widely, and printers
started to standardize spelling. The unlucky thing for English spelling is that during
the very same time, huge changes in pronunciation were happening. Middle English
was becoming Modern English. When this period was over people had stopped
pronouncing thek in knee, the g in gnaw, the w in write, the l in talk, and
the b in lamb. They had also stopped using the back-of-the-throat-sound
(represented by the ch in German words like ach!) that had been spelled by scribes
with gh and had been pronounced in words like night, laugh, thought, and eight. But
by the time all those sound changes were widespread and complete, the spellings
for those words had been established. There was also a massive change to the
vowel system during that period. This change is called the Great Vowel Shift, and by
the time it was over we had settled on spellings that reflected a mix of the old
system and the new. So, we get one spelling for many vowel sounds—ea in knead,
bread, wear, and great—and multiple spellings for one vowel sound—
due and dew, so and sew.
 Idioma 1-2 (G3) 18-19

When the Normans invaded England in 1066, they brought their own words with
them. While the general population carried on speaking English, French was used in
universities and the courts, eventually leaving its imprint on the whole of English
vocabulary. Most French words from this period were adapted to English
pronunciation and spelling (attend, blame, enchant, flower, farm, join, lesson,
minister, proof, etc.), but plenty retain traces of their origin that cause little spelling
headaches today: people, jeopardy, muscle, marriage, autumn.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, a craze for the ideas and artefacts of antiquity
caused some writers to introduce spellings for English words based on Latin and
Greek, even when those words had never been pronounced according to those
spellings. They thought it looked more educated and fancy to write February; (on
analogy with Latin Februarius) rather than Feverere, and receipt (like
Latin receptum) rather than receyt. This is also how debt and doubt got
theirb, salmon and solder got their l, and indict got its c. The re-Latinized words did
have a very distant connection, through French, with the Latin words they were
based on, even though they were borrowed into English without the extra sounds.
But sometimes re-Latinizing introduced letters that had no business being there on
any etymological grounds. That s in island, for example, never had any reason to be
there. The word came from Old English íglund, and was spelled illond, ylonde,
or ilande until some fancy-pants picked up the s from Latin insula and stuck it in
and made the word more complicated than it had to be. Other scholars complicated
perfectly clear words by making them look more Greek. Soasma, diaria,
and fleme became asthma, diarrhea, and phlegm. Don't they look classier that way?

As we discussed above, English got a lot of words from French after the invasion
of 1066. Around 700 years later, we willingly borrowed a whole slew of other words
from French, many of them referring to the finer things in life. We let them keep
their spellings, but we pronounced them our own way, so now we've got words
like bouillon, casserole, vinaigrette, protégé, ballet, bouquet, boutique, silhouette, e
tiquette, faux pas, champagne, and hors d'oeuvres. Of course, French isn't the only
language we've borrowed from. When we see something we've got use for, we take
it as is. Guerrilla, piñata, llama, angst, kitsch, fjord, Czech, gnocchi,
and zucchini have been welcomed into the fold. It's the least English can do, as it
spreads around the globe: Let the globe spread into English as well.