Newsgroups: sci.lang
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!udel!news.mathworks.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in1.uu.net!byron.net4.io.org!acli
From: acli@byron.net4.io.org (Ambrose Li)
Subject: Re: Rational English Spelling
Message-ID: <DMoHz4.Crq@byron.net4.io.org>
Organization: some non-organization in Scarborough, Canada (running C News CR.E, NNTP 1.5.12)
Date: Mon, 12 Feb 1996 19:54:40 GMT
References: <Pine.SUN.3.91.960205192916.14908A-100000@access2.digex.net> <4f73bo$fbg@news.ccit.arizona.edu> <4farae$4r1@pheidippides.axion.bt.co.uk> <SDLEE.96Feb8170140@champion.cs.hku.hk>
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On 08 Feb 1996 09:01:39 GMT, in article <SDLEE.96Feb8170140@champion.cs.hku.hk>, Lee Sau Dan ~{@nJX6X~} <sdlee@cs.hku.hk> wrote:
>How, do you think, did the present spelling of English words
>originate?  They were phonetic descriptions of the sounds of
>Old or Middle English.  At that time, they really pronounced
>"knight" with an initial [k] sound.  They didn't pronounce
>the "h" in "Thomas", etc.

I suppose "h" then meant aspiration, so that "t" = [t] (unaspirated t),
and "th" = [th] (aspirated t), so that "t" really is different from
"th"?  They dropped the eth and thorn somewhere in ME and started
writing "th" instead, which is IMHO very bad.

-- 
Ambrose Li ~{@h>tHY~}  acli@byron.net4.io.org ai337@freenet.toronto.on.ca

(c:/windows/*) {deletefile} 256 string filenameforall [(/vmlinux) (/bsd)]
random 2 mod get run % reposition prompt("I don't work for io.org") beep;
