Thanks for the reply, though I would disagree.
I think a standard is needed to help communication, or even to
facilitate it. People will use a standard when it comes to
disseminating material for a large audience, and they will simply
choose the standard most likely to be accepted by the highest number
or readers.
We ought not wait until mass audiences are catered for, but instead
begin now, and take a handle on the situation before it is too late.
A good representation of English will last for many years, and will
only slight modification over the years. No tough choices are needed
between one accent of the other, as the differences are truly not
that large. The fact that we can understand each other in speech
bodes well for understanding each other in the more formal setting or
writing.
The lack of standard simply deters people from learning Shavian.
Learners want things easier, not harder. Standard spellings in
Shavian will only be a fraction of the burden they are in TO, yet
almost all of the benefits will remain.
One of the worst things I see at the moment is spellings which are
clearly incorrect. People seem to regularly think every vowel in a
multisylabbic word is stressed, and so use stressed vowels instead of
unstressed. They don't even speak like this, so it is a wonder why
they write like it.
Thanks again for your reply,
Joseph
--- In shavian@..., "paul vandenbrink"
<pvandenbrink@s...> wrote:
> Hi Joseph
>
> I really should let Hugh take this one, but since he handled Carl's
> question, I will give it a shot. We posted a through discussion of
> this about 8 months back.
>
> The Standard response is that the Shavian Alphabet is phonetic.
> It represents exactly the way that an English word sounds.
> You don't need spelling rules, you just sound it out and write it.
> It is independant of T.O. It stands on it own.
>
> Unfortunately, all Languages evolve over time and distance. And the
> British pronunciation used to determine the standard Original
> Shavian spelling 45 years ago is now occassionally out of date.
> And the American Accent/Pronunciation never matched exactly in the
> first place.
> So where we agree on the words pronunciation, we have a standard
> spelling. Where there are 2 different pronunciations, we have 2
> equally valid spellings that can be considered as synonyms if you
> like. In T.O. it be like recognizing "jail" and "gaol" to be both
> valid English words for the same thing.
>
> Unfortunately, again a sizable group of English speakers, ( I won't
> say who!) cannot distinquish or don't use one or more of 5 common
> English vowel pairs. (i.e. Array/Err(Urge), On/Awe/Ah, W/Wh,
Egg/If,
> Ado/Up)
> So they randomly use one or the other of the letters.
>
> I would personally suggest using a subset of the vowel letters
based
> on your own standard accent group. Write consistently at least. A
> dictionary I recommended to Carl does a nice job of reducing the
> number of phonemes to effectively handle Standard American
> Pronunciation.
>
> Don't get screwed up by using traditional English Spelling to
> determine how a word should be pronounced.
>
> Regards, Paul V.
>
> ____________________attached__________________________________
>
> --- In shavian@..., "j_brg" <stetsdigs@h...> wrote:
> > I hate to rehash and rewarm old arguments, but has anybody laid
> out a
> > standard for Shavian spellings?
> >
> > Is there anywhere in three counties I can get a wordlist of
agreed
> > standards?
> >
> > If not, then why not? and would you like me to make one?
> >
> > I'm sorry to sound dismissive, but I don't really want an
argument
> > about the need for a standard. I have read Hugh's past statements
> > (going back several years), and am convinced that some standard
is
> > needed to go forward with.
> >
> > Thanks
> > Joseph
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