The rough <-> ruf example is a great one. One would have to argue that the "ough" spelling conveyed additional meaning in both written and spoken forms in orde

The rough <-> ruf example is a great one. One would have to argue that the "ough" spelling conveyed additional meaning in both written and spoken forms in order to support the hypothesis of the researchers, or else such examples are such a small subset of words studied that they are insignificant to the larger hypothesis. I am somewhat aware of thinking about the etymology of word when using them. For example, whenever I use the word conspire I picture two people breathing together. Perhaps if I didn't picture this I'd just use the word "plot" instead in such cases.