Editing English orthography (section)

== Spelling irregularities ==
Attempts to regularise or [[English-language spelling reform|reform the spelling]] of English have usually failed. However, [[Noah Webster]] promoted more phonetic spellings in the United States, such as ''flavor'' for British ''flavour'', ''fiber'' for ''fibre'', ''defense'' for ''defence'', ''analyze'' for ''analyse'', ''catalog'' for ''catalogue'', and so forth. These spellings already existed as alternatives, but Webster's dictionaries helped standardise them in the United States.{{sfn|Algeo|2008|page=599}} (See [[American and British English spelling differences]] for details.)

Besides the quirks the English spelling system has inherited from its past, there are other irregularities in spelling that make it tricky to learn. English contains, depending on [[dialect]], 24–27 [[consonant]] [[phoneme]]s and 13–20 [[vowel]]s. However, there are only 26 letters in the modern [[English alphabet]], so there is not a one-to-one correspondence between letters and sounds. Many sounds are spelled using different letters or multiple letters, and for those words whose pronunciation is predictable from the spelling, the sounds denoted by the letters depend on the surrounding letters. For example, {{vr|th}} represents two different sounds (the [[voiced dental fricative|voiced]] and [[voiceless dental fricative]]s) (see [[Pronunciation of English th|Pronunciation of English ''th'']]), and the [[voiceless alveolar sibilant]] can be represented by {{vr|s}} or {{vr|c}}.

It is, however, not (solely) the shortage of letters which makes English spelling irregular. Its irregularities are caused mainly by the use of many different spellings for some of its sounds, such as {{IPA|/uː/, /iː/}} and {{IPA|/oʊ/}} (''t'''oo''''', ''tr'''ue''''', ''sh'''oe''''', ''fl'''ew''''', ''thr'''ough'''''; ''sl'''ee'''ve'', ''l'''ea'''ve'', '''''e'''ven'', ''s'''ei'''ze'', ''s'''ie'''ge''; ''st'''o'''l'''e''''', ''c'''oa'''l'', ''b'''ow'''l'', ''r'''ol'''l'', '''''o'''ld'', ''m'''ou'''ld''), and the use of identical sequences for spelling different sounds ('''''ove'''r'', '''''ove'''n'', ''m'''ove''''').

Furthermore, English no longer makes any attempt to [[Anglicisation (linguistics)|anglicise]] the spellings of [[loanword]]s, but preserves the foreign spellings, even when they do not follow English spelling conventions like the [[Polish language|Polish]] {{vr|cz}} in ''Czech'' (rather than ''*Check'') or the [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] {{vr|fj}} in ''fjord'' (although ''fiord'' was formerly the most common spelling). In early Middle English, until roughly 1400, most imports from French were respelled according to English rules (e.g. ''bataille''–''battle'', ''bouton''–''button'', but not ''double'', or ''trouble''). Instead of loans being respelled to conform to English spelling standards, sometimes the pronunciation changes as a result of pressure from the spelling, e.g. ''[[ski]]'', adopted from Norwegian in the mid-18th century. It used to be pronounced {{IPA|/ʃiː/}}, similar to the Norwegian pronunciation, but the increasing popularity of the sport after the mid-20th century helped the {{IPA|/skiː/}} pronunciation replace it.{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}}

There was also a period when the spelling of a small number of words was altered to make them conform to their perceived etymological origins. For example, {{vr|b}} was added to ''debt'' (originally ''dette'') to link it to the Latin {{lang|la|debitum}}, and {{vr|s}} in ''island'' to link it to Latin {{lang|la|insula}} instead of its true origin, the Old English word ''īġland''. {{vr|p}} in ''[[Rock Ptarmigan|ptarmigan]]'' has no etymological justification whatsoever, only seeking to show Greek origin despite being a [[Goidelic languages|Gaelic]] word.

The spelling of English continues to evolve. Many loanwords come from languages where the pronunciation of vowels corresponds to the way they were pronounced in Old English, which is similar to the Italian or Spanish pronunciation of the vowels, and is the value the vowel symbols {{vr|a, e, i, o, u}} have in the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]]. As a result, there is a somewhat regular system of pronouncing "foreign" words in English,{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}} and some borrowed words have had their spelling changed to conform to this system. For example, ''[[Hindu]]'' used to be spelled ''Hindoo'', and the name ''Maria'' used to be pronounced like the name ''Mariah'', but was changed to conform to this system. This only further complicates the spelling, however. On the one hand, words that retained anglicised spellings may be misread in a [[Hyperforeignism|hyperforeign]] way. On the other hand, words that are respelled in a 'foreign' way may be misread as if they are English words, e.g. ''Muslim'' was formerly spelled ''Mooslim'' because of its original pronunciation.

Commercial advertisers have also had an effect on English spelling. They introduced new or simplified spellings like ''lite'' instead of ''light'', ''thru'' instead of ''through'', and ''rucsac'' instead of ''rucksack''.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}} The spellings of personal names have also been a source of spelling innovations: diminutive versions of women's names that sound the same as men's names have been spelled differently: ''Nikki'' and ''Nicky'', ''Toni'' and ''Tony'', ''Jo'' and ''Joe''. The differentiation in between names that are spelled differently but have the same phonetic sound may come from modernisation or different countries of origin. For example, ''Isabelle'' and ''Isabel'' sound the same but are spelled differently; these versions are from France and Spain respectively.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/pamela-redmond-satran/theres-more-than-one-righ_b_780249.html |title=There's More Than One Right Way to Spell Some Names |last=Satran |first=Pamela Redmond |date=8 November 2010 |website=HuffPost |access-date=18 November 2019 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203134724/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/pamela-redmond-satran/theres-more-than-one-righ_b_780249.html |archive-date= Feb 3, 2017 }}</ref>

As an example of the irregular nature of English spelling, {{vr|ou}} can be pronounced at least nine different ways: {{IPA|/aʊ/}} in ''out'', {{IPA|/oʊ/}} in ''soul'', {{IPAslink|uː}} in ''soup'', {{IPAslink|ʌ}} in ''touch'', {{IPAslink|ʊ}} in ''could'', {{IPAslink|ɔː}} in ''four'', {{IPAslink|ɜː}} in ''journal'', {{IPAslink|ɒ}} in ''cough'', and {{IPAslink|ə}} in ''famous'' (See [[#Spelling-to-sound correspondences|Spelling-to-sound correspondences]]). In the other direction, {{IPAslink|iː}} can be spelled in at least 18~21 different ways: ''b'''e''''' (''c'''e'''d'''e'''''), ''sk'''i''''' (''mach'''i'''n'''e'''''), ''bologn'''a'''''&nbsp;<small>(GA)</small>, ''alg'''ae''''', ''qu'''ay''''', ''b'''ea'''ch'', ''b'''ee''''', ''dec'''ei'''t'', ''p'''eo'''ple'', ''k'''ey''''', ''k'''eye'''d'', ''f'''ie'''ld'' (''hyg'''ie'''n'''e'''''), ''am'''oe'''ba'', ''cham'''oi'''s''&nbsp;<small>(GA)</small>, ''deng'''ue'''''&nbsp;<small>(GA)</small>, ''beg'''ui'''ne'', ''g'''uy'''ot'', and '''''y'''nambu''<!-- I am aware that 'ynambu' is not a very common word and may be unfamiliar to some, but it is the best example I was able to find of the top of my head ('city,' 'busy,' etc. are good examples only for American English) --> (See [[#Sound-to-spelling correspondences|Sound-to-spelling correspondences]]). (These examples assume a more-or-less standard non-regional British English accent. Other accents will vary.)

Sometimes everyday speakers of English change counterintuitive spellings, with the new spellings usually not judged to be entirely correct. However, such forms may gain acceptance if used enough. An example is the word ''miniscule'', which still competes with its original spelling of ''minuscule'', though this might also be because of [[Analogy#Linguistics|analogy]] with the word ''mini''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/spelling/minuscule-or-miniscule|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211160314/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/spelling/minuscule-or-miniscule|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 February 2017 |title=Minuscule or miniscule? |website=Oxford Dictionaries |access-date=11 February 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=minuscule |title=minuscule (n.) |website=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=11 April 2016}}</ref>

=== History ===
Inconsistencies and irregularities in English pronunciation and spelling have gradually increased in number throughout the [[history of the English language]]. There are a number of contributing factors. First, gradual changes in pronunciation, such as the [[Great Vowel Shift]], account for a tremendous number of irregularities. Second, more recent [[loan word]]s generally carry their original spellings, which are often not [[phonetics|phonetic]] in English; this includes [[romanized]] words from languages written using non-Latin scripts.

The regular spelling system of [[Old English language|Old English]] was swept away by the [[Norman Conquest]], and English itself was supplanted in some spheres by [[Norman French]] for three centuries, eventually emerging with its spelling much influenced by French. English had also borrowed large numbers of words from French, and kept their French spellings. The spelling of [[Middle English]] is very irregular and inconsistent, with the same word being spelled in different ways, sometimes even in the same sentence. However, these were generally much better guides to the then-pronunciation than modern English spelling is.{{opinion|date=September 2024}}

For example, {{IPAslink|ʌ}}, normally written {{vr|u}}, is spelled with an {{vr|o}} in ''one'', ''some'', ''love'', etc., due to Norman spelling conventions which prohibited writing {{vr|u}} before {{vr|m, n, v}} due to the graphical confusion that would result. ({{vr|n, u, v}} were written identically with two [[minim (palaeography)|minims]] in Norman handwriting; {{vr|w}} was written as two {{vr|u}} letters; {{vr|m}} was written with three minims, hence {{vr|mm}} looked like {{vr|vun, nvu, uvu}}, etc.). Similarly, spelling conventions also prohibited final {{vr|v}}. Hence the identical spellings of the three different vowel sounds in ''love'', ''move'', and ''cove'' are due to ambiguity in the [[Middle English]] spelling system, not sound change.

In 1417, [[Henry V of England|Henry V]] began using English, which had no standardised spelling, for official correspondence instead of Latin or French which had standardised spelling, e.g. Latin had one spelling for ''right'' (''rectus''), Old French as used in English law had six and Middle English had 77. This motivated writers to standardise English spelling, an effort which lasted about 500 years.{{sfn|Stamper|2017||pages=38–39}}

There was also a series of linguistic sound changes towards the end of this period, including the [[Great Vowel Shift]], which resulted in the {{vr|a}} in ''make'', for example, changing from a pure vowel to a diphthong. These changes for the most part did not detract from the rule-governed nature of the spelling system; but, in some cases, they introduced confusing inconsistencies, like the well-known example of the many pronunciations of {{vr|ough}} (''tough'', ''through'', ''though'', ''cough'', ''plough'', etc.). Most of these changes happened before the arrival of printing in England. However, the arrival of the modern printing press in 1476 froze the current system, rather than providing the impetus for a realignment of spelling with pronunciation.{{sfn|Okrent|2021}} Furthermore, it introduced further inconsistencies, partly because of the use of typesetters trained abroad, particularly in the [[Low Countries]]. For example, the {{angbr|h}} in ''ghost'' was influenced by [[Flemish dialects|Flemish]].{{sfn|Okrent|2021}}{{sfn|Wolman|2008}} The addition and deletion of a silent ''e'' at the ends of words was also sometimes used to make the right-hand margin line up more neatly.{{sfn|Wolman|2008}}

By the time [[dictionaries]] were introduced in the mid-17th century, the spelling system of English had started to stabilise. By the 19th century, most words had set spellings, though it took some time before they diffused throughout the English-speaking world. In ''[[The Mill on the Floss]]'' (1860), English novelist [[George Eliot]] satirised the attitude of the English rural gentry of the 1820s towards orthography:

{{blockquote|Mr. Tulliver did not willingly write a letter, and found the relation between spoken and written language, briefly known as spelling, one of the most puzzling things in this puzzling world. Nevertheless, like all fervid writing, the task was done in less time than usual, and if the spelling differed from Mrs. Glegg's,–why, she belonged, like himself, to a generation with whom spelling was a matter of private judgment.}}

The modern English spelling system, with its national variants, spread together with the expansion of public education later in the 19th century.

=== ⟨ough⟩ words ===
{{Main|Ough (tetragraph)}}

The [[tetragraph]] {{vr|ough}} can be pronounced in at least ten different ways, six of which are illustrated in the construct, ''Though the tough cough and hiccough plough him through'', which is quoted by [[Robert A. Heinlein]] in ''[[The Door into Summer]]'' to illustrate the difficulties facing automated speech transcription and reading. ''Ough'' itself is a word, an exclamation of disgust similar to ''ugh'', though rarely known or used. The following are typical pronunciations of this string of letters:

* {{IPAc-en|oʊ}} (as in ''s'''o''''') in ''though'' and ''dough''
* {{IPAc-en|ʌ|f}} (as in ''c'''uff''''') in ''tough'', ''rough'', ''enough'', and the name ''Hough''
* {{IPAc-en|ɒ|f}} (as in '''''off''''') in ''trough'', ''cough'', and ''Gough''
* {{IPAc-en|uː}} (as in ''bl'''ue''''') in ''through''
* {{IPAc-en|ɔː}} (as in ''s'''aw''''') in ''thought'', ''ought'', ''sought'', ''nought'', ''brought'', etc.
* {{IPAc-en|ə}} (as in ''comm'''a''''') in ''thorough'', ''borough'', and names ending in ''-borough''; however, American English pronounces this as {{IPAc-en|oʊ}}
* {{IPAc-en|aʊ}} (as in ''h'''ow''''') in ''bough'', ''sough'', ''drought'', ''plough'' (''plow'' in North America), ''doughty'', and the names ''Slough'' and ''Doughty''
* {{IPAc-en|ɒ|x}} (as in ''l'''och'''''; mainly in words of [[Goidelic languages|Gaelic origin]]) in the word ''lough'' (an anglicised variant of ''[[loch]]'' used in Ireland) and in Irish [[Toponymy|place names]], such as ''[[Ardclough]]'', ''[[Glendalough]]'', ''[[Loughmore|Loughmoe]]'', ''[[Loughrea]]'', etc.

The following pronunciations are found in uncommon single words:
* ''hough'': {{IPAc-en|ɒ|k}} (more commonly spelled "hock" now)
* ''hiccough'' (a now-uncommon variant of ''hiccup''): {{IPAc-en|ʌ|p}} as in '''''up'''''
* ''[[Oughter Ard|Oughterard]]'' (Irish place name): {{IPAc-en|u:|x}}
The place name [[Loughborough]] uses two different pronunciations of {{vr|ough}}: the first {{vr|ough}} has the sound as in ''c'''uff''''' and the second rhymes with ''thor'''ough'''''.