Orthography
Differences in spellings are often obvious from that of a previous century.
Old texts often have inconsistent spellings and the same word may be spelt differently in the same piece. This is largely because English has a phonetic spelling system, meaning letters are meant to represent the sounds of spoken English.
The arrival of printing in England in the late 15th century helped to fix patterns of English spelling. For the next 300 years, these patterns became regulated. Therefore, the conventions of English spellings reflect how the language was pronounced several centuries ago, rather than it is pronounced today.
The gradual acceptance of the authority of dictionaries in the 18th century led to the ultimate fixing of these spellings. Since then, very little has changed about the English spelling system; only a few minor alterations have been introduced.
Reasons why today’s spellings may not always represent the sounds of spoken English often go back hundreds of years:
Pronunciation:
Old English was largely derived from various Germanic dialects. This meant that there was a range of different accents being used. As there was no single correct way of spelling in these times, people who wanted to write English would simply write words as they pronounced them.
Even today, there are strong regional differences in pronunciation.
Great Vowel Shift:
In the 14th century (1300s) for around 200-300 years, English pronunciation underwent a dramatic change. The vowel sounds of English changed, impacting the spellings of some words to reflect this change in pronunciation. (However, most spellings did not change) Words that changed include:
Derk - Dark
Bern - Barn
Herte - Hearth
Spellings that made sense according to Middle English pronunciation were retained in Modern English because of the adoption of the printing press in 1467, and the standardisation of the English language in the 15th & 16th centuries.
Regularisation of spelling:
At the end of the 16th century, and early 17th century, regularization of the English language was occurring. Lists and guides of recommended spellings were produced. However, this was initially for practical reasons and nothing to do with ideas of correctness.
David Crystal stated that during the 18th century, ideas about correctness began, and so poor spelling became increasingly condemned.
Impact of borrowing:
Spellings of borrowed words from other languages are heavily influenced by the spelling system of the language they have come from. Over time, the spellings may change as they become anglicised to reflect the typical pronunciation and spelling systems of English:
Old French ‘damoisele’ – anglicised to ‘damsel’
Another form of anglicising is the inclusion of a foreign article as part of a noun:
Arabic ‘alqili’- anglicised to ‘alkali’
Foreign place names are often anglicised:
‘Venezia’ – ‘Venice’
Old English Inflections:
Old English (5th-11th century) was a much more inflection language like French and Italian. Whilst the word endings stopped having any grammatical meaning long ago, they were still frequently pronounced and, therefore, spelled. Consequently, we often find a lot of words spelt with an ‘-e’ at the end:
‘Shippe´or ‘deare’.
Over time, the ‘-e’ stopped being pronounced and the letter was left off the end.
CAUTION: We will not be asked to analyse a text before 1700. By 1700, English had ceased to be a significantly inflectional language for 700 years. Therefore, ‘-e’ spellings on words were left-overs from a long time before and were slowly dying out. Their removal was sped up by changes in pronunciation, standardisation and prescriptivism.
Old texts often have inconsistent spellings and the same word may be spelt differently in the same piece. This is largely because English has a phonetic spelling system, meaning letters are meant to represent the sounds of spoken English.
The arrival of printing in England in the late 15th century helped to fix patterns of English spelling. For the next 300 years, these patterns became regulated. Therefore, the conventions of English spellings reflect how the language was pronounced several centuries ago, rather than it is pronounced today.
The gradual acceptance of the authority of dictionaries in the 18th century led to the ultimate fixing of these spellings. Since then, very little has changed about the English spelling system; only a few minor alterations have been introduced.
Reasons why today’s spellings may not always represent the sounds of spoken English often go back hundreds of years:
Pronunciation:
Old English was largely derived from various Germanic dialects. This meant that there was a range of different accents being used. As there was no single correct way of spelling in these times, people who wanted to write English would simply write words as they pronounced them.
Even today, there are strong regional differences in pronunciation.
Great Vowel Shift:
In the 14th century (1300s) for around 200-300 years, English pronunciation underwent a dramatic change. The vowel sounds of English changed, impacting the spellings of some words to reflect this change in pronunciation. (However, most spellings did not change) Words that changed include:
Derk - Dark
Bern - Barn
Herte - Hearth
Spellings that made sense according to Middle English pronunciation were retained in Modern English because of the adoption of the printing press in 1467, and the standardisation of the English language in the 15th & 16th centuries.
Regularisation of spelling:
At the end of the 16th century, and early 17th century, regularization of the English language was occurring. Lists and guides of recommended spellings were produced. However, this was initially for practical reasons and nothing to do with ideas of correctness.
- Vowels came to be spelt in a more predictable way:
- Increase use of a double-vowel convention. E.g ‘Soon’
- Increase use of a silent ‘-e’ to mark length. E.g ‘Name’ - Double consonant in a word became a more predictable sign of a preceding short vowel. E.g ‘Sitting’
- In the 1630s ‘u’ and ‘v’ became regularized. Until then, there were interchangeable and were both used as vowels and consonants. ‘loue’ ‘vnstable’
‘s’ and ‘z’ seem to have been interchangeable too.
David Crystal stated that during the 18th century, ideas about correctness began, and so poor spelling became increasingly condemned.
Impact of borrowing:
Spellings of borrowed words from other languages are heavily influenced by the spelling system of the language they have come from. Over time, the spellings may change as they become anglicised to reflect the typical pronunciation and spelling systems of English:
Old French ‘damoisele’ – anglicised to ‘damsel’
Another form of anglicising is the inclusion of a foreign article as part of a noun:
Arabic ‘alqili’- anglicised to ‘alkali’
Foreign place names are often anglicised:
‘Venezia’ – ‘Venice’
Old English Inflections:
Old English (5th-11th century) was a much more inflection language like French and Italian. Whilst the word endings stopped having any grammatical meaning long ago, they were still frequently pronounced and, therefore, spelled. Consequently, we often find a lot of words spelt with an ‘-e’ at the end:
‘Shippe´or ‘deare’.
Over time, the ‘-e’ stopped being pronounced and the letter was left off the end.
CAUTION: We will not be asked to analyse a text before 1700. By 1700, English had ceased to be a significantly inflectional language for 700 years. Therefore, ‘-e’ spellings on words were left-overs from a long time before and were slowly dying out. Their removal was sped up by changes in pronunciation, standardisation and prescriptivism.
Present Day
In modern society, American spellings are often more phonetic than British spellings. They made a conscious decision to reform its spelling system to make it more rational. (More clearly phonetic)
The use of social media has exposed us to Americanised spelling meaning that it may be harder for the younger generation to distinguish between the two.
The use of social media has exposed us to Americanised spelling meaning that it may be harder for the younger generation to distinguish between the two.