Article published in:

Understanding Writing Systems
Edited by Merijn Beeksma and Martin Neef
[Written Language & Literacy 21:1] 2018
► pp. 3–25

From phonemic spelling to distinctive spelling

Geoffrey Sampson | Sussex University

Whether spelling is phonemic is only one factor in whether a writing system is suitable for a given language; another consideration is "lexical distinctiveness" of spelling, in two separate senses, and the importance of lexical distinctiveness grows as a writing system matures. Seen in this light, the increasing irregularity of English spelling, over the period when English has been a written language, has been a desirable response to the changing needs of the English-speaking world.

Keywords: phonemic spelling, lexical distinctiveness, script typology, ideal orthography, logographic v. phonographic

Published online: 02 November 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.00008.sam

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