>OK, I *do* understand the etymological argument (with the
exception of 'faux amis' like "derive"), but 'surely' its not
'right' that the same sequence of 'signs' (presumably used to
represent sounds) should have different pronunciations between
'neighboring languages'!, for example "silence" in English and
in French - no wonder we have difficulty learning foreign
languages! (Bawndjoor, mawnseeur)
By what measure do we determine what is 'right' for
orthographies? They are conventions - commonly accepted
practice - and once accepted, they take on a life of their own.
Of course, that means that they become subject to criticism
from time to time, and even change if there is enough concensus
within the user community to adopt some other convention. But
there isn't anything written anywhere that says that 'i' in
English should be pronounced the same as in French. Obviously,
it might be more convenient it they were pronounced the same,
but there's nothing to say that one situation is right and the
other wrong.
You might be able to come up with a way of using CC to write
English such that every English speaker can read and write it,
but the fact is that language changes. 300 years from now, our
descendents would be having this same argument over getting rid
of the difficult-to-learn, arbitrary spellings based upon CC
and replacing that impediment to functional literacy with
something else.
>no wonder we have difficulty learning foreign languages!
(Bawndjoor, mawnseeur)
It used to be that "silence" was pronounced exactly the same in
England as it was in France. But English phonology underwent
changes that didn't occur in French phonology. The fact that
the cognates in each language are still spelled the same has
*absolutely nothing* to do with how hard or easy it is for any
speaker of the one to learn the other. Do you really think that
the English student of French assumes that they can determine
how to pronounce French words by applying the English
spelling-phonology rules on to French spellings? If they do,
then they have a very naive understanding of language, and it
is that naivete that is their impediment to learning, not the
spellings.
Note, by the way, that if the English spellings had changed to
reflect the changes in English phonology, then that student
learning French would have a harder time learning to read and
spell French words.
Peter
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