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I wish English kept some of its runic hold overs like the letter thorn “þ” (th sound). “þe fox ran þurh þe field.” I could imagine the confusion for non nativ
by jrobn 9y ago
I wish English kept some of its runic hold overs like the letter thorn “þ” (th sound).
“þe fox ran þurh þe field.”
I could imagine the confusion for non native English speakers when they encountered:
through
thought
brought
bought
daughter
All hold overs from old English when the “gh” came from the throat and was spelled with a “ȝ”
- js2 9y agoIf you've never seen Gallagher's routine on English you'll enjoy it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mfz3kFNVopk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mfz3kFNVopk
- jrobn 9y agoThank you! I recalled seeing this this as a young kid. Great re-watch.
- bhrgunatha 9y agoNo discussion about inconsistent spelling and pronunciation is complete without The Chaos by Gerard Nolst Trenité, a non-native speaker! http://www.businessinsider.com/english-spelling-pronunciation-poem-the-chaos-2017-12 http://www.businessinsider.com/english-spelling-pronunciatio...
- henrikschroder 9y agoDaughter. Tochter. Oh!
- rootbear 9y agoHaving dabbled in text-to-speech algorithms, I wish English had kept both eth and thorn, or had SOME way to distinguish voiced vs unvoiced th. There are few clues.
- bagacrap 9y agoWhy are those words confusing in the context of one another? They seem pretty consistent to me as long as you aren't confused about the order of the adjacent t and h pairs.