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English's spelling irregularities help with disambiguating homophones: cent / sent / scent ceiling / sealing cite / sight / site colonel / kernel car

English's spelling irregularities help with disambiguating homophones: cent / sent / scent ceiling / sealing cite / sight / site colonel / kernel carrot / karat cue / queue

jleyank 1y ago
Which, of course, does not help things like polish polish (made in Warsaw) and to produce produce (pull apples out of a bag). However you look at it, when they set up English words and spelling there was large quantities of alcohol involved.
- smegger001 1y ago
  Also read (future tense) and read (past tense) being pronounced differently despite the same spelling.
- madcaptenor 1y ago
  And present present (to pull a gift out of, well, a bag)
hajile 1y ago
If you look up these words in the dictionary, the same word with the same spelling very often has several different definitions that are often unrelated because homographs (same spelling, but different meaning) are super-common in English. Dictionaries don't account for newer or more niche meanings of words either. How is it that you can say these words without confusion? Language is context sensitive and you understand the word based on the context around it. Likewise, you understand homographs based on the context. Because of this, spelling isn't as important as it might appear.
normie3000 1y ago
And cause confusion with needless heterographs? practice / practise licence / license
jraph 1y ago
Only in writing. The disambiguation is already needed when spoken and the context does this.
int_19h 1y ago
Some other languages do the same with diacritics. Most don't bother because context is nearly always sufficient.
QuantumNoodle 1y ago
On paper, yes. But not when someone speaks. If you used a homophone while speaking, the listener would be able to distinguish which variant the talker intended based on context. I would argue this is enough of a reason for written text as well.

English's spelling irregularities help with disambiguating homophones: cent / sent / scent ceiling / sealing cite / sight / site colonel / kernel carrot / karat cue / queue

jleyank 1y ago

Which, of course, does not help things like polish polish (made in Warsaw) and to produce produce (pull apples out of a bag). However you look at it, when they set up English words and spelling there was large quantities of alcohol involved.

smegger001 1y ago
Also read (future tense) and read (past tense) being pronounced differently despite the same spelling.
madcaptenor 1y ago
And present present (to pull a gift out of, well, a bag)

hajile 1y ago

If you look up these words in the dictionary, the same word with the same spelling very often has several different definitions that are often unrelated because homographs (same spelling, but different meaning) are super-common in English. Dictionaries don't account for newer or more niche meanings of words either. How is it that you can say these words without confusion? Language is context sensitive and you understand the word based on the context around it. Likewise, you understand homographs based on the context. Because of this, spelling isn't as important as it might appear.

normie3000 1y ago

And cause confusion with needless heterographs? practice / practise licence / license

jraph 1y ago

Only in writing. The disambiguation is already needed when spoken and the context does this.

int_19h 1y ago

Some other languages do the same with diacritics. Most don't bother because context is nearly always sufficient.

QuantumNoodle 1y ago

On paper, yes. But not when someone speaks. If you used a homophone while speaking, the listener would be able to distinguish which variant the talker intended based on context. I would argue this is enough of a reason for written text as well.