Earl wrote:

[...]

>> For better or worse, we're stuck with

>> traditional English spelling. Personally,

>> though (or tho) I think that Miss Fidditch

>> might do well to accept some of the more

>> obvious adjustments to reality that are

>> common, such as THO, THRU, and LITE. That GH

>> that wrote the Middle English voiceless velar

>> fricative deserves to go, altho(ugh) the Scots

>> who still pronounce it may want to keep it.

>> Earl

Earl,

You are right in as much as the varieties of Scots preserve the velar
fricative (and also its palatal allophone). You are not correct to indicate
that speakers of Scottish English do this. Scottish English hasn't got this
fricative either, so <gh> is never pronounced as a velar/palatal fricative
in Scottish English.



Nowadays Scots and English are considered separate languages. Scots has its
own literary tradition and the velar/palatal fricative is even spelt <ch>
and not <gh>. Scots spelling is not as standardised as English is, but one
can speak of a spelling tradition. It is in no way less confusing than
English spelling.



I get your point though that every little corner of the English speaking
world preserves some older feature lost elsewhere.



Best wishes,

Dan









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