Alphabet Key To History Of Mankind

Author(s): David Diringer
Publisher: Hutchinsons Scientific and Technical Publications

Page 559

558
THE ALPHABET graphic flourish; and so forth. The double o may represent a long 0, u or a or a short u; ou may sound as the diphthongs on or ou, as long o or 1, as short o, u or a, etc.
Although the situation of the consonantal representation is infinitely better than that of the vowel-representation, there are nevertheless inconsistencies also in the consonantal letters. There are no single letters to represent the sounds sh, th, ch, and there is utter uncertainty as to the last two; on the other hand, ph, q(14) and x are redundant, the first for f, the second for kw, the third for ks; the letter c has already been dealt with; roh originated from the erroneous writing of ha in some early English manuscripts; and the su is often useless; ng nearly always indicates a single nasal sound, the g being most of the time not pronounced after the n. The t(i) is sometimes a sh(for instance, in "nation"), sometimes meaningless. (for instance, in "listen"), other times an s or a tch; the f's are sometimes v's, the gh may be an f (in "laugh") or is not pronounced (in "night"); the k is not pronounced in kn. The 's are in south England for the most part silent in the latter part of a syllable.
On the other hand, effectual spelling reform, that is the revision of the alphabet in order that it might represent more or less the proper standard of speech, would deprive the community of a link in the history of the English speech. Indeed, both the English linguistic creative impetus and the colourful history of English international relations are reflected in the modern English speech. The once living ability of English to create fused compounds out of its Anglo-Saxon and Norman native roots and endings has been combined with the later enrichment by th most hospitable inclusion of a host, increasing daily, of borrowed words from all sorts of languages, from all parts of the world. There is, in modern English words, a reflection of the fierce struggles with Spain and of the gentler cultural Italian influences, of the rival Dutch power and of the historical relationship with India and Africa, of the religious influence of Hebrew, and of Latin and Greek roots serving the purposes of scientific and technical advancement; words of popular etymology are mingled with conscious creations of learned words.
As a result of all this minting, English is probably the richest and the most colourful of all the modern languages. For commercial and political reasons it has spread far and wide over the globe and is spoken by great numbers of people in all parts of the world with very different pronunciations. English and its script have thus become the lingua franca of the World. Nowadays, to reform either the English alphabet or the English speech would mean, so to say, to discount English history.