Culture · 6 pages · 12 min

Why English spelling looks irregular

English spelling stacks old layers, a vowel shift, and later etymological repairs.

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From the opening

English spelling looks irregular because it keeps several historical layers at once instead of respelling the language as it is spoken now. Each layer was orderly enough in its own moment, and stacked together they stop looking like one sound per letter. The opening covers source languages left different spelling habits, the vowel shift moved under old letters, and scholars inserted etymological letters.

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Inside

Source languages left different spelling habits
The vowel shift moved under old letters
Scholars inserted etymological letters
Unstressed vowels reduced to schwa
Where the idea stops applying
A distinction worth keeping

Sources

Historical layering in English orthography
The Great Vowel Shift against earlier spellings

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Why English spelling looks irregular

From the opening

Inside

Sources

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