[ExI] need a new word/suffix

[Tara Maya]

I think what we are seeing is that the written form evolves more slowly than the spoken form. An interesting question is, that possibly could be studied historically, is whether literacy increases the speed of the evolution of written language or retards it.


Hypothesis #1: A larger literate population will put more pressure, faster, on regularizing orthography. Anecdotal evidence: Thru, lite, hi-lite, tonite, donut, scarfs, “they” as the gender-neutral singular, and so on are all spreading.

Hypothesis #2: Evolutionary drift of speech could be slowed down by widespread literacy. Slangs of the 19th and 20th century have been smoothed out and eliminated by re-convergence on the written form as a sign and condition of being educated. For example, dropped “h” has reappeared in many places; terms like “I spect” or “I growed” common in Twain’s time have reconverted on “I expect" and “I grew” 

Hypothesis # 3: Writing could also become more “logical” by forcing spoken English to match the written form, rather than vice versa. A larger literate population means children learn writing almost as early as they learn speech. (Parents start reading books to babies, and many toddlers already know “sight words” (site words?) and the phonics of the alphabet.) Children then make the kind of errors that over centuries can force the language in that direction. Example: Know pronounced as “kanow”, gnome as “genome”

Tara Maya





> On Jan 13, 2016, at 1:13 PM, Rafal Smigrodzki <rafal.smigrodzki at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, Jan 13, 2016 at 3:45 PM, William Flynn Wallace <foozler83 at gmail.com <mailto:foozler83 at gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
> ​I agree that in the long run, antiquated spelling will eventually get replaced, but WHEN?​  How to popularize?
> 
> ### Doubt it and why bother? Spellcheckers and various voice to text and text to voice software easily handle the cognitive load imposed by "antiquated" spelling. Why make an effort only to look like a weirdo in a communication?
> 
> Rafal
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Tara Maya
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