6 ms·
https://guidetogrammar.org/grammar/twain.htm https://guidetogrammar.org/grammar/twain.htm For example, in Year 1 that useless letter "c" would be dropped to
by murderfs 1y ago
https://guidetogrammar.org/grammar/twain.htm https://guidetogrammar.org/grammar/twain.htm
For example, in Year 1 that useless letter "c" would be dropped to be replased either by "k" or "s", and likewise "x" would no longer be part of the alphabet.
The only kase in which "c" would be retained would be the "ch" formation, which will be dealt with later.
Year 2 might reform "w" spelling, so that "which" and "one" would take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish "y" replasing it with "i" and iear 4 might fiks the "g/j" anomali wonse and for all.
Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and iears 6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants.
Bai iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi ridandant letez "c", "y" and "x" -- bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould doderez -- tu riplais "ch", "sh", and "th" rispektivli.
Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.
- the_lucifer 1y agoI remember a version which ends with how we'll end up speaking German.
- SamBam 1y ago> fiks the "g/j" anomali wonse and for all But we'd still be arguing about how to pronounce "ᵹif"
- yatopifo 1y agoWe'll just make it g'jif
- mixmastamyk 1y agoRecommend X for the ‘sh’ sound, as it is pronounced that way in languages like Portuguese. Y is a common typographical substitute for theta/thorn, as in “ye olde shoppe.”
- normie3000 1y agoOr X -> ch, as in Greek, and footballers called Xavi?
- darkwater 1y agoXavi is catalan (shorter form of the name Xavier) and in Catalan "x" has exactly the "sh" sound. To get the "ch" sound you need to use "tx". And yes, most people - even natives - pronounce Xavi badly, due to Castillan influence on Catalan, and the lack of the "sh" sound in Castillan.
- normie3000 1y ago> most people - even natives - pronounce Xavi badly, due to...the lack of the "sh" sound in Castillan Catalans seem to pronounce "caixa" fine, so I think they _could_ say "Shabi"... But this does back up your larger point about "x" -> "sh" in Catalan.
- darkwater 1y agoYes Catalans haver no problem with the "x" :) but it's just with the name that is mispronounced due to the Castillan overlap. I think that "caixa" with the "i" before the "x" makes it easier also for Castillans (although it's funny to hear them pronounce it). There is also the fact that both speakers have serious issues with words starting with "s" + consonant, so my theory is that "shavi" is also affected, while "chavi" is far easier.
- spookie 1y agoI wonder how the castilians pronounce "xaile" now.
- int_19h 1y agoThere's no /x/ phoneme in modern English, so it's unneeded in English spelling.
- sharmi 1y ago[dead]
- pmcarlton 1y agoThe nice thing about this passage is it reflects the extent of Twain's non-rhotic dialect -- he keeps the R in "year"/"years", "orthographical", and "world" but drops it in "after", "letters", and "dodderers". So only dropped in final unstressed syllables of multi-syllable words.
- bmacho 1y agoI'm convinced that this is Just The Right Thing To Do. Like ridiculously strong benefits, and practically no drawbacks at all.
- tim333 1y agoBy the way the source was a Mr Shield's letter to the Economist rather than Twain https://web.archive.org/web/20200311221105/http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/05/iorz-feixfuli-m-j-yilz.html https://web.archive.org/web/20200311221105/http://www.letter...
- madcaptenor 1y agoThere are a lot of things Mark Twain didn't say.
- 542354234235 1y agoOn the whole, most things that have been said were not said by Twain.