Spelling

Spelling, the use of letters to form words. More specifically, the terms spelling and its synonym orthography usually imply that the letters are used according to accepted conventions. Alphabetic writing is basically phonetic, but no alphabet has ever perfectly represented a language. English, for example, has 40 elementary sounds but is written with 26 letters. Pronunciations vary over time, and they also vary geographically. In addition, some spelling conventions are based on grammar rather than on phonetics; for example, d or ed is the sign of the past tense, but sometimes, as in clipped, it is pronounced as t. Some languages are spelled with a high degree of phonetic accuracy, for instance, Spanish and German. English, on the other hand, is noted for markedly unphonetic spellings for about 25 percent of its words.

When Old English began to be written, spelling varied widely, although some fairly common practices developed. Many of these, however, were changed after the Norman Conquest (1066), when Norman scribes began, for example, to write queen for cwen and quat or what for hwaet. The invention of printing in the 15th century proved to be a powerful force in standardizing spellings. Many present-day English spellings were standardized at that time and faithfully represent 15th-century pronunciations; English, however, subsequently underwent significant shifts in pronunciation. Most of the remaining modern spelling conventions were established as such by the dictionaries of the English lexicographer Samuel Johnson in 1755 and the American lexicographer Noah Webster in 1828. Webster was a proponent of American usages and, early in his career, of spelling simplification; many differences between present American and British spellings (such as labor for labour) are traceable to him.

Some languages, such as Dutch and Norwegian, have undergone government-sponsored spelling reform. The unphonetic spellings in English—such as reign and light—have inspired many advocates of reform, including the American statesman Benjamin Franklin and the British playwright George Bernard Shaw. Two surges for reform occurred in the 1870s and '80s and shortly after 1900. Musick became music, and catalogue is gradually becoming catalog, but other changes have been resisted. The apparent ignorance or deliberate nonobservance of spelling conventions reveals information about the writer. Because spelling conventions are second nature to readers, variations are, in general, intrusive. Commonly accepted spellings allow words to be recognizable despite changes in pronunciation over time and geography.