Directory
References

orthography

linguistics
Also known as: spelling

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Assorted References

adaptations in

    Germanic languages

      • German language
      • Netherlandic language
        • Germanic languages in Europe
          In West Germanic languages: Characteristics

          system of Netherlandictable—the traditional spelling is to the left, and to the right is a notation, used by some linguists, that indicates the distinctive sounds [phonemes] of the language.) Unlike the English spelling system, which in its basic design has remained essentially unchanged since the days of Chaucer (died…

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      • Scandinavian languages
        • Germanic languages in Europe
          In Scandinavian languages: Orthography

          The five basic vowel symbols of the Latin alphabet are supplemented by a number of special symbols that are used mostly to represent umlauted vowels: thus, there is y (pronounced as German ü), æ (used in Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese) and the corresponding…

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      • Baltic languages
        • In Baltic languages: Orthography

          The Lithuanian alphabet is based on the Roman (Latin) alphabet. It has 33 letters, several employing diacritical marks, and is phonetic. In linguistic literature an acute accent is used for falling tones and a tilde for rising tones; the grave accent is used for…

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      • English language
        • global use of the English language
          In English language: Orthography

          The Latin alphabet originally had 20 letters, the present English alphabet minus J, K, V, W, Y, and Z. The Romans themselves added K for use in abbreviations and Y and Z in words

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      • Eskimo-Aleut languages
        • In Eskimo-Aleut languages: Alphabets and orthography

          …Moravian Brethren, systematized the Greenlandic orthography, introducing a special letter and three accents to represent the distinctive sounds of the language. In 1973 the Kleinschmidt orthography was replaced by an orthography in the current Roman alphabet. Numerous publications have appeared in both orthographies.

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      • pre-Columbian systems
        • In South American Indian languages: Writing and texts

          The existence of pre-Columbian native writing systems in South America is not certain. There are two examples, that of the Kuna in Colombia and an Andean system in Bolivia and Peru, but in both cases European influence may be suspected. They are…

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      • Romance languages
        • Romance languages
          In Romance languages: Orthography

          In the 21st century the Romance languages are all written in the Latin alphabet, with certain modifications, though until the mid-19th century Romanian was normally written in Cyrillic (used in Moldova until 1989), and, in the Middle Ages, Arabic script was used for some

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      contribution by

        • Orm
          • In Orm

            …an individual and remarkably consistent orthography based on phonetic principles. Intended to help preachers when reading his work aloud, it shows, for example, the quantity (length) of the vowels by doubling a consonant after a short vowel in a closed syllable, and it distinguishes by three separate symbols sounds that…

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        • Webster
          • Noah Webster
            In Noah Webster

            His early enthusiasm for spelling reform abated in his later works, but he is largely responsible for the differences that exist today between British and U.S. spelling. Although he was himself assailed for including slang and jargon in his dictionary, Webster was extremely touchy about the common taboo words.…

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        Quick Facts
        Born:
        Jan. 4, 1813, Trowbridge, Wiltshire, Eng.
        Died:
        Jan. 12, 1897, Somerset (aged 84)
        Notable Works:
        “Stenographic Sound Hand”

        Sir Isaac Pitman (born Jan. 4, 1813, Trowbridge, Wiltshire, Eng.—died Jan. 12, 1897, Somerset) was an English educator and inventor of the shorthand system named for him.

        After clerking in a textile mill, Pitman entered a training college for teachers (1831) and taught in elementary schools for 11 years before opening his own private school in Bath. Earlier he had taken up Samuel Taylor’s system of shorthand and become interested in developing shorthand based on sound. In 1837, at the suggestion of publisher Samuel Bagster, Pitman wrote Stenographic Sound Hand, which Bagster published at a low price for widest possible distribution. To encourage the adoption of his system, Pitman established a Phonetic Institute and a Phonetic Journal at Bath. He also printed standard works in shorthand, and his book Phonography (1840) went through many editions. He was an enthusiastic spelling reformer and adopted a phonetic system that he tried to bring into general use. In 1894 he was knighted.

        This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.