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Why doesn't English spelling vary with region that much?
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Even though English spelling is so irregular, native speakers still share a common writing system with little regional difference. When you refer to the moving organ in your mouth, you may pronounce it differently, but all native speakers write T_O_N_G_U_E, in such obviously "wrong" spelling.
Why? Why didn't different regions develop different writing systems, since they have different accents and word-choices?
orthography pronunciation-vs-spelling
edited 4 hours ago
Hellion
52k13107194
asked 7 hours ago
神秘德里克
1838
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show 3 more comments
up vote
7
down vote
favorite
Even though English spelling is so irregular, native speakers still share a common writing system with little regional difference. When you refer to the moving organ in your mouth, you may pronounce it differently, but all native speakers write T_O_N_G_U_E, in such obviously "wrong" spelling.
Why? Why didn't different regions develop different writing systems, since they have different accents and word-choices?
orthography pronunciation-vs-spelling
edited 4 hours ago
Hellion
52k13107194
asked 7 hours ago
神秘德里克
1838
New contributor
神秘德里克 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
3
American and British spelling, on the other hand, are really quite different. It might be an idea to clarify what regions you are talking about?
– Jack Aidley
5 hours ago
Autocorrect....
– Tim B James
1 hour ago
1
Do other languages with similar number of speakers show more variance in spelling?
– Azor Ahai
49 mins ago
@Azor Mandarin can be written by two not extremely different writing system. But people without any kind of education or material reading will not be able to read the other writing system.(Not a so obvious phenomenon because of modern internet information exchange, but DO exist in Mandarin)
– ç¥žç§˜å¾·é‡Œå…‹
42 mins ago
What are those systems called? (So I can read about them)
– Azor Ahai
41 mins ago
 |Â
show 3 more comments
up vote
7
down vote
favorite
up vote
7
down vote
favorite
Even though English spelling is so irregular, native speakers still share a common writing system with little regional difference. When you refer to the moving organ in your mouth, you may pronounce it differently, but all native speakers write T_O_N_G_U_E, in such obviously "wrong" spelling.
Why? Why didn't different regions develop different writing systems, since they have different accents and word-choices?
orthography pronunciation-vs-spelling
edited 4 hours ago
Hellion
52k13107194
asked 7 hours ago
神秘德里克
1838
New contributor
神秘德里克 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Even though English spelling is so irregular, native speakers still share a common writing system with little regional difference. When you refer to the moving organ in your mouth, you may pronounce it differently, but all native speakers write T_O_N_G_U_E, in such obviously "wrong" spelling.
Why? Why didn't different regions develop different writing systems, since they have different accents and word-choices?
orthography pronunciation-vs-spelling
orthography pronunciation-vs-spelling
edited 4 hours ago
Hellion
52k13107194
asked 7 hours ago
神秘德里克
1838
New contributor
神秘德里克 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 4 hours ago
Hellion
52k13107194
asked 7 hours ago
神秘德里克
1838
New contributor
神秘德里克 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 4 hours ago
Hellion
52k13107194
edited 4 hours ago
Hellion
52k13107194
edited 4 hours ago
Hellion
52k13107194
52k13107194
asked 7 hours ago
神秘德里克
1838
New contributor
神秘德里克 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 7 hours ago
神秘德里克
1838
asked 7 hours ago
神秘德里克
1838
1838
New contributor
神秘德里克 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
神秘德里克 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
神秘德里克 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
3
American and British spelling, on the other hand, are really quite different. It might be an idea to clarify what regions you are talking about?
– Jack Aidley
5 hours ago
Autocorrect....
– Tim B James
1 hour ago
1
Do other languages with similar number of speakers show more variance in spelling?
– Azor Ahai
49 mins ago
@Azor Mandarin can be written by two not extremely different writing system. But people without any kind of education or material reading will not be able to read the other writing system.(Not a so obvious phenomenon because of modern internet information exchange, but DO exist in Mandarin)
– ç¥žç§˜å¾·é‡Œå…‹
42 mins ago
What are those systems called? (So I can read about them)
– Azor Ahai
41 mins ago
 |Â
show 3 more comments
3
American and British spelling, on the other hand, are really quite different. It might be an idea to clarify what regions you are talking about?
– Jack Aidley
5 hours ago
Autocorrect....
– Tim B James
1 hour ago
1
Do other languages with similar number of speakers show more variance in spelling?
– Azor Ahai
49 mins ago
@Azor Mandarin can be written by two not extremely different writing system. But people without any kind of education or material reading will not be able to read the other writing system.(Not a so obvious phenomenon because of modern internet information exchange, but DO exist in Mandarin)
– ç¥žç§˜å¾·é‡Œå…‹
42 mins ago
What are those systems called? (So I can read about them)
– Azor Ahai
41 mins ago
3
3
American and British spelling, on the other hand, are really quite different. It might be an idea to clarify what regions you are talking about?
– Jack Aidley
5 hours ago
American and British spelling, on the other hand, are really quite different. It might be an idea to clarify what regions you are talking about?
– Jack Aidley
5 hours ago
Autocorrect....
– Tim B James
1 hour ago
Autocorrect....
– Tim B James
1 hour ago
1
1
Do other languages with similar number of speakers show more variance in spelling?
– Azor Ahai
49 mins ago
Do other languages with similar number of speakers show more variance in spelling?
– Azor Ahai
49 mins ago
@Azor Mandarin can be written by two not extremely different writing system. But people without any kind of education or material reading will not be able to read the other writing system.(Not a so obvious phenomenon because of modern internet information exchange, but DO exist in Mandarin)
– ç¥žç§˜å¾·é‡Œå…‹
42 mins ago
@Azor Mandarin can be written by two not extremely different writing system. But people without any kind of education or material reading will not be able to read the other writing system.(Not a so obvious phenomenon because of modern internet information exchange, but DO exist in Mandarin)
– ç¥žç§˜å¾·é‡Œå…‹
42 mins ago
What are those systems called? (So I can read about them)
– Azor Ahai
41 mins ago
What are those systems called? (So I can read about them)
– Azor Ahai
41 mins ago
 |Â
show 3 more comments
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
up vote
16
down vote
accepted
They did in the really old days, even 2 people sat next to each other spelt things differently (think of young kids learning to write). But in the 17 century they invented dictionaries, but
It was not until Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language
(1755)
that really took off and it became the standard dictionary for 150 years that our (Brits) spelling became standardised.
It is all well and good having regional spellings when the only people to read your work are other locals, but once travel became easier writing also had to travel.
My husband would spell my pronunciation of the word bath
as Barugh, as he is northern and I am southern.
But that makes written communication completely unfeasible, so we had to standardise.
A wiki link on dictionaries
Source - logic and hundreds of hours of watching documentaries on social history
answered 7 hours ago
WendyG
933210
3
+1 May be worth adding that while dictionaries had the greatest effects, all printed material contributed to standardisation, and the effect was not limited to spelling but also word choice. Chaucers' 'eggys' being a common example
– Orangesandlemons
2 hours ago
@Orangesandlemons so words would shift towards the spelling used in the most popular books?
– WendyG
2 hours ago
2
people would reuse spellings (and word use) they'd seen. And the fact that the exact same version could be used across the whole country helped spread it across differently pronounced dialects. Many peculiarities can be attributed to the fact that the printing press predates much of the great vowel shift
– Orangesandlemons
1 hour ago
Sometimes books were so influential that they caused change of established spellings. Example: Caxton's dictionary added h into the word gost, giving us the modern ghost, a new and now accepted spelling in English.
– Toby Speight
13 secs ago
add a comment |Â
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
16
down vote
accepted
They did in the really old days, even 2 people sat next to each other spelt things differently (think of young kids learning to write). But in the 17 century they invented dictionaries, but
It was not until Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language
(1755)
that really took off and it became the standard dictionary for 150 years that our (Brits) spelling became standardised.
It is all well and good having regional spellings when the only people to read your work are other locals, but once travel became easier writing also had to travel.
My husband would spell my pronunciation of the word bath
as Barugh, as he is northern and I am southern.
But that makes written communication completely unfeasible, so we had to standardise.
A wiki link on dictionaries
Source - logic and hundreds of hours of watching documentaries on social history
answered 7 hours ago
WendyG
933210
3
+1 May be worth adding that while dictionaries had the greatest effects, all printed material contributed to standardisation, and the effect was not limited to spelling but also word choice. Chaucers' 'eggys' being a common example
– Orangesandlemons
2 hours ago
@Orangesandlemons so words would shift towards the spelling used in the most popular books?
– WendyG
2 hours ago
2
people would reuse spellings (and word use) they'd seen. And the fact that the exact same version could be used across the whole country helped spread it across differently pronounced dialects. Many peculiarities can be attributed to the fact that the printing press predates much of the great vowel shift
– Orangesandlemons
1 hour ago
Sometimes books were so influential that they caused change of established spellings. Example: Caxton's dictionary added h into the word gost, giving us the modern ghost, a new and now accepted spelling in English.
– Toby Speight
13 secs ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
16
down vote
accepted
They did in the really old days, even 2 people sat next to each other spelt things differently (think of young kids learning to write). But in the 17 century they invented dictionaries, but
It was not until Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language
(1755)
that really took off and it became the standard dictionary for 150 years that our (Brits) spelling became standardised.
It is all well and good having regional spellings when the only people to read your work are other locals, but once travel became easier writing also had to travel.
My husband would spell my pronunciation of the word bath
as Barugh, as he is northern and I am southern.
But that makes written communication completely unfeasible, so we had to standardise.
A wiki link on dictionaries
Source - logic and hundreds of hours of watching documentaries on social history
answered 7 hours ago
WendyG
933210
3
+1 May be worth adding that while dictionaries had the greatest effects, all printed material contributed to standardisation, and the effect was not limited to spelling but also word choice. Chaucers' 'eggys' being a common example
– Orangesandlemons
2 hours ago
@Orangesandlemons so words would shift towards the spelling used in the most popular books?
– WendyG
2 hours ago
2
people would reuse spellings (and word use) they'd seen. And the fact that the exact same version could be used across the whole country helped spread it across differently pronounced dialects. Many peculiarities can be attributed to the fact that the printing press predates much of the great vowel shift
– Orangesandlemons
1 hour ago
Sometimes books were so influential that they caused change of established spellings. Example: Caxton's dictionary added h into the word gost, giving us the modern ghost, a new and now accepted spelling in English.
– Toby Speight
13 secs ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
16
down vote
accepted
up vote
16
down vote
accepted
They did in the really old days, even 2 people sat next to each other spelt things differently (think of young kids learning to write). But in the 17 century they invented dictionaries, but
It was not until Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language
(1755)
that really took off and it became the standard dictionary for 150 years that our (Brits) spelling became standardised.
It is all well and good having regional spellings when the only people to read your work are other locals, but once travel became easier writing also had to travel.
My husband would spell my pronunciation of the word bath
as Barugh, as he is northern and I am southern.
But that makes written communication completely unfeasible, so we had to standardise.
A wiki link on dictionaries
Source - logic and hundreds of hours of watching documentaries on social history
answered 7 hours ago
WendyG
933210
They did in the really old days, even 2 people sat next to each other spelt things differently (think of young kids learning to write). But in the 17 century they invented dictionaries, but
It was not until Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language
(1755)
that really took off and it became the standard dictionary for 150 years that our (Brits) spelling became standardised.
It is all well and good having regional spellings when the only people to read your work are other locals, but once travel became easier writing also had to travel.
My husband would spell my pronunciation of the word bath
as Barugh, as he is northern and I am southern.
But that makes written communication completely unfeasible, so we had to standardise.
A wiki link on dictionaries
Source - logic and hundreds of hours of watching documentaries on social history
answered 7 hours ago
WendyG
933210
answered 7 hours ago
WendyG
933210
answered 7 hours ago
WendyG
933210
answered 7 hours ago
WendyG
933210
933210
3
+1 May be worth adding that while dictionaries had the greatest effects, all printed material contributed to standardisation, and the effect was not limited to spelling but also word choice. Chaucers' 'eggys' being a common example
– Orangesandlemons
2 hours ago
@Orangesandlemons so words would shift towards the spelling used in the most popular books?
– WendyG
2 hours ago
2
people would reuse spellings (and word use) they'd seen. And the fact that the exact same version could be used across the whole country helped spread it across differently pronounced dialects. Many peculiarities can be attributed to the fact that the printing press predates much of the great vowel shift
– Orangesandlemons
1 hour ago
Sometimes books were so influential that they caused change of established spellings. Example: Caxton's dictionary added h into the word gost, giving us the modern ghost, a new and now accepted spelling in English.
– Toby Speight
13 secs ago
add a comment |Â
3
+1 May be worth adding that while dictionaries had the greatest effects, all printed material contributed to standardisation, and the effect was not limited to spelling but also word choice. Chaucers' 'eggys' being a common example
– Orangesandlemons
2 hours ago
@Orangesandlemons so words would shift towards the spelling used in the most popular books?
– WendyG
2 hours ago
2
people would reuse spellings (and word use) they'd seen. And the fact that the exact same version could be used across the whole country helped spread it across differently pronounced dialects. Many peculiarities can be attributed to the fact that the printing press predates much of the great vowel shift
– Orangesandlemons
1 hour ago
Sometimes books were so influential that they caused change of established spellings. Example: Caxton's dictionary added h into the word gost, giving us the modern ghost, a new and now accepted spelling in English.
– Toby Speight
13 secs ago
3
3
+1 May be worth adding that while dictionaries had the greatest effects, all printed material contributed to standardisation, and the effect was not limited to spelling but also word choice. Chaucers' 'eggys' being a common example
– Orangesandlemons
2 hours ago
+1 May be worth adding that while dictionaries had the greatest effects, all printed material contributed to standardisation, and the effect was not limited to spelling but also word choice. Chaucers' 'eggys' being a common example
– Orangesandlemons
2 hours ago
@Orangesandlemons so words would shift towards the spelling used in the most popular books?
– WendyG
2 hours ago
@Orangesandlemons so words would shift towards the spelling used in the most popular books?
– WendyG
2 hours ago
2
2
people would reuse spellings (and word use) they'd seen. And the fact that the exact same version could be used across the whole country helped spread it across differently pronounced dialects. Many peculiarities can be attributed to the fact that the printing press predates much of the great vowel shift
– Orangesandlemons
1 hour ago
people would reuse spellings (and word use) they'd seen. And the fact that the exact same version could be used across the whole country helped spread it across differently pronounced dialects. Many peculiarities can be attributed to the fact that the printing press predates much of the great vowel shift
– Orangesandlemons
1 hour ago
Sometimes books were so influential that they caused change of established spellings. Example: Caxton's dictionary added h into the word gost, giving us the modern ghost, a new and now accepted spelling in English.
– Toby Speight
13 secs ago
Sometimes books were so influential that they caused change of established spellings. Example: Caxton's dictionary added h into the word gost, giving us the modern ghost, a new and now accepted spelling in English.
– Toby Speight
13 secs ago
add a comment |Â
神秘德里克 is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
神秘德里克 is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
神秘德里克 is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
神秘德里克 is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
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3
American and British spelling, on the other hand, are really quite different. It might be an idea to clarify what regions you are talking about?
– Jack Aidley
5 hours ago
Autocorrect....
– Tim B James
1 hour ago
1
Do other languages with similar number of speakers show more variance in spelling?
– Azor Ahai
49 mins ago
@Azor Mandarin can be written by two not extremely different writing system. But people without any kind of education or material reading will not be able to read the other writing system.(Not a so obvious phenomenon because of modern internet information exchange, but DO exist in Mandarin)
– ç¥žç§˜å¾·é‡Œå…‹
42 mins ago
What are those systems called? (So I can read about them)
– Azor Ahai
41 mins ago