The Irregularity of English Spellings

1. The Irregularity of English Spellings

2. Discrepancy in Speech Sounds and Words • It is well known that English words derive mainly from old German and Norman French, and that its alphabet of 26 letters makes it impossible to represent its 44 speech sounds with just one symbol. • But that is not why many English spellings, such as ‘daughter’, ‘brought’ and ‘people’, are now irregular, while their German and French relatives have much better spellings (Tochter, brachte, peuple).

3. 1066…….. • The pronunciations of all three languages have changed since 1066. But only in English have numerous spellings become highly unreliable guides to pronunciation (sound, southern, soup), and spellings for identical sounds have ended up exceptionally varied (blue, shoe, flew, through, to, you, two, too, gnu).

4. First Serious Corruption in English Spellings • The consistency of English spelling was first seriously corrupted during the reinstatement of English as the official language of England in 15th century. It suffered even more at the hands of foreign printers during the bible wars of the 16th century. Sadly, there has never been a serious, co-ordinated attempt to remedy the various accidental and deliberate corruptions of the alphabetic principle (of representing speech sounds in a regular manner) in English.

5. The English spelling system • As explained by Masha Bell  March  2011: English has 43.5 sounds:  43 as shown in bold letters in the words below      At,  rain,   air,   car,   sauce,      bed,   chip,   dog,      egg,  eel, herb,     fish,   garden,   house,      ink, pie,     jug,   kite,   lips,   man,   nose, ring,       pot,   toe,   coin,   food,   wood,   order,   out,      pin,   rug,   sun,   shop,  tap,   this, thing,        up,cue,     van,   window,   yak,   zip,television and an unstressed, often barely audible, variously spelt half-vowel which occurs mainly in endings and prefixes (fatten, abandon, grammar; decide, divide).

6. If English had a completely regular spelling system, as Finnish and Korean do,  it would have no more than 44 spellings, and learning to read and write English would be as easy as those two languages. Most alphabetic writing systems, however, do not have a completely one to one relationship between their sounds and spellings, with a few more spellings than sounds.

7. The European average is around 50. • Learning to read and write English is exceptionally difficult because it has 185 spellings for 44 sounds.  

8. Basic English spelling system • 91 patterns, as shown in bold letters below: • 80 main spellings, 8 for unstressed endings, 2 prefixes and the consonants doubling rule:     Cat;   plate,play;   air;car;sauce, saw;   bed;      c/at/ot/ut, crab/ clap,  kite/kept,  comic, pick,seek, risk;pocket;  chat, catch;      dog;     end;   eel, funny;herb;     fish;  garden;   house;       ink;   bite,  by;     jug,  bridge,oblige;      lips;   man;  nose, ring;      pot,  want,  quarrel;   bone, toe;  old;  coin, toy;      food;   good;   order, wart, quarter, more;   out, now;      pin; quick; rug;       sun, face,emergency;        shop, station, cautious, facial, musician;      tap, delicate;   this;   thing;        cup;   cube, cue;      van, have, river;  window;        fix;   yes;    zip, wise;   vision, treasure.

9. 8unstressed endings (doable fatal, single,ordinary, • flatten,presence,present,other), •    2prefixes (decide,  invite) •       and  the consonant doubling rule for keeping stressed vowels short   •                     (bitter – biter).

10. It can be seen that one reason why English has more spellings than sounds  is because many sounds are spelt differently in different positions of words (e.g. plate/ play;  ship /station). The main reason for the great number of spellings, however, is that English also has a further 94 unpredictable alternative spellings (e.g. plate – wait, straight, eight, great).

11. Only 11 of the 91 main English spellings have no exceptions: • bed,  jug/ jog/ jab,  gorge,  ring,  single,pin, musician,this,  thing,  van, television.

12. 80 English spelling patterns are undermined by one or more alternatives • Cat - plait meringue • plate - wait weight straight great vein reign table           dahlia champagne feteplay - they weigh ballet cafe matineeair - care bearaerial their there questionnairecar – are + (Southern Engl. bath)sauce - caught bought always tall crawlsaw - (UK also: or, four, more)

13. C/at/ot/ut - character, kangaroo, queuecrab/ clap - chromelilac - stomach, anorakneck - chequeChat - pictureclutch – much • Dad – blonde Nose - knot gonegnome mnemonic

14. End - head any said Wednesday friend leisure leopard buryher - turn bird learn word journeyEel - eat even ceiling field police people me key ski debris quayjolly - trolley movie corgi • Fish - photo stuff roughGarden - ghastly guardHouse – whoInk - mystery pretty sieve women busy build

15. bite - might style mild kind eider height climbisland indict signmy - high pie rye buy I eyeJelly, jig – gentle, gingerfidget - digitKite/ kept - chemistryseek - uniquerisk - disc mosqueLips - llamaMum - dumb autumn

16. On - cough sausage;    want – wont;    quarrel - quodmole - bowl roll soul old mould boast most goes mauvetoe - go dough sew cocoa pharaohoh depot Oil – oyster    toy - buoyfood - rude shrewd move group fruit truth tombmanoeuvre             blue do shoe throughgood - would put woman courierOrder – board courtwart, quart – worn quornmore - soar door four war swore abhorOut – town;     now - ploughQuick - acquire choirRug - rhubarb write

17. Sun - centre sceneface - casefancy - fantasyShop - chute sure moustacheliquoriceignition - mission pension suspicion fashionambitious - delicious lusciousfacial - spatialTap, pet - pterodactyl two debtdelicate - democratUp - front some couple bloodcute - you newt neutral suit beauty Tuesday nuclearcue - few view menuhave - spivriver - chivvyWindow - whichfix - accept except exhibitYak - useZip – xylophone,      rose - frozemeasure - azure

18. Endings and prefixes • loveable - crediblevertical - novel anvil petrol ordinary - machinery inventory century carpentryfasten - abandon truncheon orphan goblin certain absence - balanceabsent- pleasantfather - author armournectar centre injure quota decide - divideindulge - endure

19. Consonant doubling • merry     – very - serrated(regular – missing - surplus)372          -   384      – 158)

20. The listing above gives just one example of the different ways in which each spelling pattern is undermined; and a few patterns have no other exceptions (e.g. ‘cat - plait meringue’), but some have very many. The ee-sound of ‘beef’, for example, is not spelt ee in at least 320 words (e.g. leaf, grief, even). Between them, all the different exceptions create a rote-learning list of at least 3700 common words.They are the reason why speakers of English take an average of 10 years to become proficient spellers. Some manage it in less time, but many also get totally defeated by this learning burden.

21. English spelling makes learning to read harder too • This is partly because children have to learn to pronounce 185 spellings, instead of just around 50. The greatest English reading difficulties, however, are caused by the 69 spellings which have more than one pronunciation, shown in the next table.  They make at least 2000 English words not completely decodable.

22. 69 English spellings have more than one pronunciation • a:  and – apron, any, father • a-e:  came – camera • ai:  wait – plait, said • al:  always – algebra • all:  tall - shall • are:  care - are • au:  autumn - laugh, mauve • -ate:  to deliberate  - a deliberate act • ay:  stays - says • cc:  success - soccer • ce:  centre - celtic • ch:  chop –chorus, choir, chute • cqu:  acquire - lacquer

23. e:  end – english • -e:  he - the • ea:  mean  - meant, break • ear:  ear – early, heart, bear • -ee:  tree - matinee • e-e:  even – seven, fete • ei:  veil - ceiling, eider, their, leisure • eigh:  weight - height • eo:  people - leopard, leotard • ere:  here – there, were • -et:  tablet - chalet • eau:  beauty – beau • -ew:  few - sew • -ey:  they - monkey • ge:  gem - get • gi:  ginger - girl • gy:  gym – gynaecologist

24. ho:  house - hour • i:  ink – kind • -ine:  define –engine, machine • ie:  field - friend, sieve • imb:  limb – climb • ign:  signature - sign • mn:  amnesia – mnemonic • ost:  lost  - post • -o:  go - do • oa:  road - broad • o-e:  bone – done,  gone • -oes:  toes – does, shoes • -oll:  roll - doll • omb:  tombola - bomb, comb, tomb

25. oo:  boot  - foot, brooch • -ot:  despot - depot • ou:  sound - soup, couple • ough:  bough - rough, through, trough • ought:  bought - drought • oul:  should - shoulder • our:  sour - four, journey • ow:  how - low • qu:  queen – bouquet • s:  sun – sure • sc:  scent - luscious, molusc

26. se:  rose - dose • ss:  possible - possession • th:  this - thing • -ture:  picture - mature • u:  cup – push • ui:  build – fruit, ruin • wa:  was – wag • wh:  what - who • wo:  won - woman, women, womb • wor:  word – worn • x:  box - xylophone, anxious • -y-:  type - typical • --y:  daddy - apply • z:  zip – azure.

27. At the very end is a list of the 103 English words which have different pronunciations in different contexts, followed by 190 high frequency words which most impede the reading progress of beginners.

28. Some spellings, a for example, have so many exceptional pronunciations that all the words with them really have to be learnt as sight words (rather than by decoding).  Such words are therefore listed together with the common words in which they have a regular pronunciation. 

29. Standard UK English • pronounced ah/ar; otherpronunciation problems of the letter a, when it is pronounced like  ai in aim,   au in haul,    o in not,   e in bed, affect all readers.

30. Examples of Standard UK English • A, able, advance, after, aghast, ah, almond, almost, also, altar, alter, alternative, always, amble, ample, an, and, angle, answer, ant, antler, any,  apple, April, apron, armada, ask, at, await, awake, award, aware, away, awe, awful, awkward, awning, axle, baffle, bag, bald, ban, banana, band, bang, bash, bask, bastard, bat, bath, battle, black, blank, blast, bra, brag, bramble, branch, brand, cable, cackle, calf, calm, camp, can, canal, candle, cap, cash, cask, cast, caste, castle, cat, catch, cattle, chalk, chance, chant, chasten, chastity, chat, clam, clamp, clan, clang, clank, clap, clash, clasp, crab, crackle, craft, cramp, crank, crash, dab, dabble, daft, dahlia, dam, damp, dance, dangle, dank, dappled, dazzle, disaster, drab, draft, drag, drama, drank, dwarf, enhance, example, expanse, fable, fact, fad, falter, fan, fang, fast, fasten, fat, father, flabbergast, flag, flan, flank, flap, flash, flask, flat, frank, gabble, gable, gag, gala, gang, gash, gasp, ghastly, glad, glance, grab, graft, gram, gran, grand, graph, grapple, grasp, hack, had, half, halfpenny, halt, halve, ham, hand, handle, hang, hank, has, haste, hat, hatch, instalment, jab, jack, jam, jangle, khaki, la, lab, lack, lag, lamp, lance, land, lap, lash, last, latch, lather, ma, mad, mama, man,

31. Examples of Standard UK English • mangle, many, map, mash, mask, mass*, mast, mat, match, maths, pa, pack, pact, pad, paddle, palm, paltry, pan, panorama, pants, papa, past, paste, pasty x 2 [paisty, pasty],pastry, pat, patch, path, patrol, piano, plan, plank, plant, pram, prance, prank, prattle, psalm, pyjamas, quack, quadrangle, qualify, quality, quantity, quarrel, quarry, quarter, quartz, quay, rack, raffle, raft, ramble, ran, rang, rank, rascal, rash, rat, rather, rattle, reward, sack, sad, saddle, sag, salami, salt, sand, sang, sank, sap, sat, scald, scalp, scan, scramble, scrap, scratch, shaft, shah, shambles, shrank, slack, slam, slang, slant, slap, slash, smack, smash, snack, snap, snatch, soprano, spa, span, spangle, spank, spat, sprang, sprat, squabble, squad, squander, squash, squat, stab, stable, stack, stag, stalk, stamp, stance, stand, straggle, strangle, strap, strata, swag, swagger, swallow, swam, swamp, swan, swap, table, tack, tackle, tag, talk, tan, tangle, tank, tap, task, tax, than, thank, that, thatch, thrash, track, tract, tram, tramp, trample, trance, trap, twang, van, vast, waddle, waft, wag, wagon, walk, wallow, walnut, walrus, waltz, wan, wand, wander, wangle, want, wanton, war, warble, ward, warm, warn, warp, warrant, warren, warrior, wart, was, wash, wasp, watch, water, wattle, wax, yap, zap. 

32. Rule # 1 • Au  A few words do not have the main sound ofau, as in ‘daub, gaudy, autum’ • For example: • Assault, aunt, Australia, because, cauliflower, chauffeur, draught, fault, gauge, hydraulic, laugh, laureate, laurel, mauve, restaurant, sausages, vault; 

33. Rule # 2 • Ch is not alwaysas inchat. It can spell k,   shand a few other sounds. • For Example: • Ache,  anchor,  archaeology,  architect,  architecture,  avalanche,  bronchial,  bronchitis,  chalet,  chameleon,  chamois,  champagne,  chaos,  character,  charade,  chasm,  chef,  chemical,  chemistry,  chivalrous,  choir [quier],  cholesterol,  chorus,  christen,  Christmas,  chrysalis,  chute,  crochet,  echo,  lichen* [litchen or liken],  machine,  mechanical,  mechanism,  microfiche,  monarch,  orchestra,  orchid,  parachute,  psychology,  richochet,  schedule,  scheme,  spinach [spinnage],  stomach,  technique,  yacht [yot].

34. Rule # 3 • Ea  spells mostly ee.  The other sound for it is mainly a short e,with a fewexceptions, • For Example: • Already,  appeal,  appear,  area,  beach,  beacon,  bead,  beak,  beam,  bean,  bear,  beard,  beast,  beat,  beauty,  beaver,  beneath,  bleach,  bleak,  bleat,  bread,  breadth,  break,  breakfast,  breast,  breath,  breathe,  cease,  cheap,  cheat,  clean,  cleanliness,  cleanse,  clear,  colleague,  conceal,  congeal,  creak,  cream,  crease,  create,  creature,  dead,  deaf,  deal,  dealt,  dean,  dear,  death,  decrease,  defeat,  disease,  dread,  dream,  dreamt,  dreary,  each,  eager,  eagle,  ear,  earl,  early,  earn

35. Rule # 4 • Ge, gi and gy  mostly have the sounds je and ji,  as in  gentle, ginger and gym. • For Example: • In the words below the g is hard, as in gap and got. • Anger,   bogey,   eager,   finger,   fishmonger,   forget,   gear,   geese,   get,   geyser,   hamburger,   hunger,   linger,   target,   tiger,   together;     • begin,   corgi,  giddy,   gift,   giggle,   gild,   gills,   gilt,   girder,   girdle,   girl,   give, given, forgive,  longevity,   longitude;   gymkhana.

36. Rule # 5 • Iespells the  eesound, but several  other sounds too: • For Example: • ie of tie,   e of end,  -ye of dryer,   ee-ye,   i of sitand  je.

37. Rule # 6 • The phonic overlap with ei (shown next) adds to the reading problems caused by this spelling. • For example: • Achieve, alien, amplifier, ancient, anxiety, barrier,belief,  believe, brief, carrier, cavalier, chandelier, chief, client, conscience, convenient, crier, die,diesel, diet,field, fiend, fierce, friend,frontier, glacier, glockenspiel, grief, grieve, handkerchief, hygiene, ingredient, interview, lenient, lie, lieutenant [leftennant],medieval, mischief, movie, niece, obedient, oriental,pannier, patient,  pie,piece,  pier,  pierce,  pliers,premier, priest, proprietor, quiet,relief, relieve, review,  science,series, shield, shriek, siege, sieve, society, soldier, soviet, spaniel,species, thief, thieve, tie,tier, twentieth, variety, vie, view,wheelie, wield, yield.

38. Rule # 7 • Ei  can also spell the  eesound and several others: aiof rain, eof bed,ieof tie,iof bit. • For Example: • Ceiling, conceit, conceive, deceit, deceive, deign, eight, either*, Fahrenheit, feign, foreign, forfeit, freight,  heifer, height, heir,  kaleidoscope, leisure*,  neigh, neither*,protein,  receipt, receive, reign, reindeer,  reinforce,  reins,seize, sheikh, skein, sleigh,  sleight, sovereign, their,  veil, vein, weigh, weight,weir, weird.

39. Rule # 8 • Eo The few word with eo have highly  variable sounds. • For Example: • Geography, geology, theology,   jeopardy, leopard,   people,  leotard.

40. Rule # 9 • I   followed by two consonants is normally short (mint), but in words listed below it has a long sound as in line. • For Example: • Align, behind, benign, bible – biblical, bind, blind, child, climb, consign, design, find, grind, idle, indict, kind - kindle, kindred, mild, mind, ninth, pint, resign, rind, sign;     rifle,  stifle, title, trifle - triple, whilst, wild - wilderness.

41. Missing or misleading doubled consonants • Vowels followed by one consonant and another vowel are supposed to be long, •      e.g. game, legal, time, bone,  tune, • Short vowels, in words of more than one syllable, should be followed by doubled consonants, •     e.g. grammar, beggar, imminent, bonny, button, •            or ck and dge, as in  chicken and badger;

42. but manny words with a short vowel do not have a doubled consonant,  have irregular spellings for their consonants  (e.g. acid - cf. massive) and sometimes have irregular spellings for their short vowels too(e.g. any). • These irregularities help to obscure vowel length and make learning to read English harder.

43. Examples Cabinet,  cabaret,  cabin,  elaborate,  fabulous,  habit,  nebula,  liberal,  liberty,  tribute,  probable,  robin.       Vacuum,  decade,  executive,  recognise,  record (noun),  second,  secular,  liquor,  liquorice,  crocodile,  documents.    Academy,  adequate,  radical,  radish,    already   credit,  dedicated,  edible,  edit,  educate,  federal,  medal, medical,    meadow,  pedal,  pedigree,    ready,    steady,  hideous,  video,  body,  modern,  modest,  produce (noun),  study. Café,  refuge,  refuse (noun),   heifer,  magnificent,  significant,  profit,       Agony,  dragon,  flagon,  hexagonal,  wagon,  negative,  brigand,  frigate; magic,  tragic,  legend,  legislate, regiment, register, vegetable,  pigeon, religion, rigid,  logic;       Analysis,  balance,  calendar,  chalet,  galaxy,  italic,  morality,  palace,  palate,  palette,  reality,  salad,  salary,  salon,  talent,  talon,  valentine,  valiant,  valid,  value,  vitality,  celery,  delegate,  delicacy,  deluge,  develop,  element,  eligible,  helicopter,     jealous,  melody,  melon,  pelican,  relevant,  relic,  skeleton,  telescope,   zealous,  ability,  bilious,  military,  ventriloquist,  polythene,  cylinder,  abolish,  colony,  column,  demolish,  holiday,  olive,   knowledge,  policy,  politics,   quality ,  solemn,  solid,  tolerate,  volume ,  voluntary, colour.

44. Some words have doubled consonants which do not follow a short, stressed vowel • They make words longer (and thereby automatically more difficult for beginners) and they undermine the reliability of doubled consonants that serve a phonic function, as in •   accurate,  daffodil,  rebellious, comment, annual, opposite, tomorrow, professor, forgotten. • They also mislead inexperienced readers to place stress on the wrong syllable, instead of the vowel which carries it (underlined):

45. Examples • accommodate • affection • llama, • ammunition • anniversary • appal • arrange • assail • battalion

46. Silent letters make learning to read English more difficult too. • Acquaint, acquire, acquit, adjacent, adjoin, adjust, aisle, anaesthetic, apostle, are, blue, board, bogey, bristle , bruise, build, built, bustle, buy, bye, campaign, caught, clue, coarse, composite, conscious, controlled, copse, corps, creosote, cruise, cupboard, daughter, debris, debt, definite,

47. Words with v  nearly all pose problems in learning to read English, because this letter is usually not doubled after a short vowel (e.g. never) and a final –v is usually followed by –e, making it difficult to tell if a vowel before a v is long or short (gave – have) or which vowel is stressed (severe – several).  Words with o before v are especially tricky.

48. Examples • lavender, level,lever, live, lively, love, move, movie,naval, nave, navigate,navy, never, novel,November, novice, olive,oval, oven,over, pavement, pavilion, poverty,previous, private, privilege, prove,proverb, provide, quiver,rave, raven, ravenous,revive, rival,

49. A few  more letters have reading problems in a small number of words. • Said, plait;    says;  here, there, were;   hi, hi-fi -  prix, kiwi, ski;   board, broad;     • clerk,  poignant,  wrath,

50. Different pronunciations in different contexts • 103 English words which have different pronunciations in different contexts. • Most  just change stress; but those with –ate endings change their vowel length too.