Ar an t-ochtú lá déag de mí Eanair, scríobh Ross Clark:
A Scheme for a new Alphabet and a Reformed Mode of Spelling, with Remarks and
Examples (1768)
Yes, among a hundred other things, Franklin was interested in, and wrote about, improving English spelling.
His proposal involved eliminating six letters (CJQWXY) and adding new letters
to replace <sh>, <ng>, and the two <th>s. He shows a good understanding of phonetics for his time (says Crystal).
Unsurprisingly, his ideas attracted little interest, though apparently they had some influence on Noah Webster.
There’s a new motivation out there for a possible actual improvement of English
spelling; ChatGPT. If the publishers can all settle on a new spelling (whether it is actually improved or not), that may make the output of ChatGPT obsolete, given its training data would reflect the existing spelling. And it’s only really the publishers that *can* enforce a standard spelling.
I suppose the counterpoint is the next iteration of ChatGPT could have an output filter that transformed to the new spelling without too much fuss. Oh well.
--
‘As I sat looking up at the Guinness ad, I could never figure out /
How your man stayed up on the surfboard after fourteen pints of stout’
(C. Moore)
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