Re: Generalizations about English spelling

Richard Wordingham wrote:

>
> --- In qalam@yahoogroups.com, "Steve Bett" <stbett@...> wrote:
>
> > SB: The words "ale" and "day" would not be rewritten according to
> > the 4 rules. Since this is not a phonemic writing system, I am not
> > sure that it means that that every English speaker pronounces the
> > vowel in these words the same any more than the present writing
> > system implies this.
>
> T.O. actually implies that they are pronounced differently! The 'i'

I was saying that I certainly pronounce them differently; someone
somewhere along the way took out my mention of Will Shortz, who twice
now has used "rhymes" in NPR Sunday puzzles that I (and many others)
find totally unacceptable. He now lives in Connecticut but he went to
Indiana University, which suggests he's originally a Hoosier.

> or 'y' of English -ai-/-ay typically corresponds to Old English 'g' or
> (Old) French 'i'. I think the general merger of these sounds (with
> the development of lengthened OE short 'a') actually dates to the
> Great Vowel Shift.
>
> Was 'wat' (in 'Wat goes for') a spelling mistake for 'wot'? It seemed
> distinctly British (e.g. Norfolk - a Northwest accent would require
> 'what'). Incidentally, doesn't General American preserve the 'h'?

[hw] survives in parts of the Northeast -- upstate New York, western New
England, maybe still a bit beyond, but it's definitely dying out.
--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@...