What if All Words in American English were spelled phonetically and simply as possible?

Question

I think one determines meaning by context.

Answer 1

Then, we would have a problem reading. Many words are homonyms, and it is the spelling of such which differentiates them from the words that sound like them. For example, if we spelled "read" as reed, then how would one differentiate the act of reading a book from a plant growing in a swamp?

How about "blue" and "blew"? Pain and Pane? Loan and lone?

Spelling is important, and one determines the meaning by the spelling.

Answer 2

Others have considered this:

"
Spelling Reform

A Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling

For example, in Year 1 that useless letter c would be dropped to be replased either by k or s, and likewise x would no longer be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which c would be retained would be the ch formation, which will be dealt with later.

Year 2 might reform w spelling, so that which and one would take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish y replasing it with i and Iear 4 might fiks the g/j anomali wonse and for all.

Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants.

Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi ridandant letez c, y and x -- bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould doderez -- tu riplais ch, sh, and th rispektivli.

Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.
"
M.J. Shields (though often attributed to Mark Twain)

Answer 3

Theoretically, I'm too lazy to come up with an answer.
Realistically, it'll never happen. And it'd be more trouble than it's worth, because people would have to relearn to spell everything.

And honestly, try to understand what I say here:

Iye think thet we shud spel fonetikaly becas it is eesiyer.

Maybe you could understand it, but people are going to have different interpretations of how a word is phonetically spelled.
Maybe I think the above phonetically spelled sentence is spelled right, but you might think I'm entirely wrong.

EDIT:
Further proof of my above point:
The person who posted above me seems to think that this is correct phonetic spelling:
"DAT WUD B GRAT!
I WUD B SO HA-'P'!
PLEZ MEK IT HAP-PIN.
IT WUD RU-IN SPEL CHEKS BIZNES. "

I am an insufferable snob who cannot be told that I am wrong, and to me, I think the only "right" way to phonetically spell the above phrase would be:

That wood be grayt.
Iye wood be so hapy
Plees mayk it hapen
It wood rooin spel chex biznis.

And I'm sure there are people who disagree with me.

How do we do phonetic spelling with different accents of the same language? If we're spelling based on pronunciation, then we're going to have quite a few different spellings of similar words...
Year:
yeer
yeeh
yeeya

About:
abowt
aboot

etc

Answer 4

Yeah, there is definitely one of those element as US English. as quickly as upon a time English spawn off from Germanic language, and is now this is own, different language alongside with German, French, Spanish. There are much less variations between uk English and US English, yet there are different spelling and phonetic variations. neither is 'desirable' or 'incorrect' - it purely is. this would nicely be a organic prevalence in language whilst communities are separated into 2 diverse areas. Edited to function: No, they are actually not 2 different languages. in the event that they have been, you and that i does not be understand-how one yet another desirable now. they're a similar language, with differences in spelling and speech. purely like Spanish in Spain and Spanish in Mexico are the two Spanish yet have variations in how they pronounce specific sounds and words. additionally actual with French in France and French in Canada. There are variations there besides the shown fact that it is a similar language. perhaps each and all of the languages in North usa of america could have finally stepped forward into thoroughly diverse languages, yet with the invention of air commute, computing gadget, etc. that's extremely unlikely to ensue now.

Answer 5

It would mean that EVERY State would have its own spelling! Phonetically spelling words in NEW YORK would be completely different to the spelling in Luisiana.

Basically you could spell anything anyway you wanted.

Answer 6

Early writings were done this way and it was horrible trying to figure out what people were really saying. It implies no education, which there wasn't a lot of in the early years of America. Just learn how to spell correctly,its not all that hard.

Answer 7

Then we would confuse words that sound the same. Different spellings help us differentiate these words.

Answer 8

That wood bee wunderful!

Answer 9

DAT WUD B GRAT!
I WUD B SO HA-'P'!
PLEZ MEK IT HAP-PIN.
IT WUD RU-IN SPEL CHEKS BIZNES.

Answer 10

I wood be delited!