The Simplified Spelling Society

The Simplified Spelling Society is concerned with the modernization of English. Its aims are "a more effective education, higher standards of literacy, easier mastery of the language, and a more efficient writing system" (from: Introducing the Simplified Spelling Society )

Due to changing pronunciations throughout the ages, spelling of words might not fit to the original pronunciation anymore. That is why English spelling becomes so difficult. The Simplified Spelling Society finds that sometimes spelling and pronunciation stand even in contradiction, such as u in busy . English spelling seems to be so hard to learn that even after 10 years of learning, many people are still not able to write without making mistakes. And other people are even illiterate. The access to written language is distracted because speech and spelling do not fit consequently. The Simplified Spelling Society claims that natives and non-native speakers would gain from simpler, more regular and more predictable spellings. The plan to change a spelling system must be well organized. First of all awareness of the advantages of simplification must be made clear. The new spelling must then be taught in school, used in newspapers and so on.

The Simplified Spelling Society was founded in 1908 in Great Britain. The Society first proposed a fully phonetisized system. Its outcome was a basis for the Initial Teaching Alphabet. This is a regularized spelling system which was used in several schools throughout the 1960s to the 1980s. The Simplified Spelling Society does not offer only one proposal to reform spelling. The Lojikon (1995) proposed a reformation of consonants only, whereas Cut Spelling (1996) removed the 10% redundant letters. The Simplified Spelling Society provides its members with regular publications, e-mail, debates on the Internet and so on. They design and test spelling systems, raise public awareness, and support opinion-formers and policy-makers. Literature of the The Simplified Spelling Society can be obtained only directly, meaning they have to be ordered at the The Simplified Spelling Society.

One of the basic assumptions of  the Simplified Spelling Society is, that spelling like all human systems, needs sooner or later some modernization. English has not done that over the past 1000 years. For best literacy, spelling should present pronunciation, and pronunciation should conform to spelling. Other countries, such as Germany, have introduced a spelling reform during the 20th century. English spelling became incoherent with the influx of French, Latin and Greek, which was followed by vowel shifts and so forth. For the the Simplified Spelling Society English is simply chaos. One letter can represent many sounds; letters are inserted in a word without being spoken out loud.

Still, the learner has to deal with these problems. As a consequence, literacy is hard to acquire, even harder than in any other language, according to the Simplified Spelling Society. Even the most literate sometimes hesitates over spelling. The Simplified Spelling Society claims that the time learners and readers use to learn how to write is far too long. A simplified spelling could save time, which then could be used in other fields.

Some schemes of proposals are f. ex. regularizing consonants only, cutting out misleading letters, or leaving out only one or two anomalies. The easiest beginning of a spelling reform would be to take the best spelling among present alternatives as the standard. Yet, one of the main problems of such a reform is: the schemes that improve the spelling the most might be the least practical at the same time. A spelling reform could be incompatible to other given factors, such as immense costs for re-education, reprinting, and rewriting everything that was written in the past. Less radical spelling proposals would only be introduced in stages. They would improve the old spelling system instead of inventing a completely new one. A spelling reform cannot happen within 24 hours, it is rather a continuing process.

English serves as the mother tongue in five continents, and it serves as the lingua franca in the whole world. Organizing a reform would be a very difficult enterprise. A first step toward a change in spelling might be f. ex. spontaneous simplifications by individuals as it appears in e-mail correspondence. Another proposal could be the promotion of simple spelling by education authorities. A third possibility to promote simple spelling might be the "Style Council for World English", that is set up by publishers and the press. Maybe the UNO or the ISO could promote a simplified spelling in the whole world.

One reason to simplify English spelling is the illiteracy or the spelling problems children and adults have. People must become aware that the reason for their spelling problems is not their stupidity but the difficult spelling system they have to learn. The Simplified Spelling Society calls English an archaic spelling system. Teachers who have to deal with spelling problems everyday should think about alternatives of the English spelling.