[ubuntu-mono] ... Constitootion of our forefathers ... fit, bled, an' died ... independence fore

[Csaszar Testa]

 should he not have spelt _until_ with two _l_s,

instead of one,--as he does "distill," "fulfill," etc.,--when it was
so desirable to complete an analogy, and when he had for it the
warrant of a very common, if not the most reputable,
usage? Again, it seems to us, that, if our orthography is to be
reformed at all, it should be reformed not indifferently, but
altogether; for it
is, beyond controversy, atrociously bad, poorly fulfilling, as
Professor
Hadley justly remarks, (p. xxviii.,) its original

and proper office
of indicating pronunciation, while it no better fufils the improper
office, which some would assert for it, of a guide

to etymology. Emendations on the here-a-little-there-a-little
plan, while they
do no harm, do little good. They are but topical remedies, which
cannot restore the pristine vigor of a ruined constitution. What we
need is a reform as thorough-going
as that which has been effected in the Spanish language. Shall we
ever have it? or will the irrational conservatism of the educated
classes, in all time to come, prevent a
consummation so desirable, and so desiderated by the philologist? Max
Mueller
thinks that perhaps our posterity, some three hundred years hence,
may write as they speak,--in other words, that our orthography will
by that time have become a phonetic one. It is not safe to prophesy;
but, whether such a result comes soon or late, the credit of having
accomplished it will not
be due to those "half-learned and parcel-learned" persons who
consider the present written form of the language as a thing "taboo,"
and look with such horror upon all attempts to better
its condition. As regards pronunciation, we think this will be
generally considered one of the
strong points of the new Dictionary. The introductory
treatise on the "Principles of Pronunciation" is a
comprehensive,
instructive, and eminently practical,
though not very philosophically constructed,
exposition of the subject of English
orthoepy. It contains an analysis
and description of the elementary sounds of the language, a
discussion of certain questions about which orthoepists are at
variance, and a useful collection of facts, rules, and directions
respecting a variety of other matters falling within
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: diabolise.jpg
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 11574 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-mono/attachments/20100930/d5545bd3/attachment.obj>