Language experts: Reform English spelling

The Chicago Tribune reports:

words with the same letter groupings are pronounced differently and the same sound can be spelled differently, depending on the word. Linguistic experts from around the world would propose a list of new spellings to correct problematic word groups — see: "ough" — and the Congress would select a system intended as an alternative to traditional spelling.

The effort is not simply to iron out kinks in the language. Linstead said university studies in the U.K. have concluded that English-speaking children take significantly longer to learn basic literacy skills than children in other European countries. He said part of the problem lies in the spelling.

"One of the members said one of the reasons he joined us was because of the frustrations he felt teaching his children to read by using phonics," Linstead said. "Any time he taught them a rule, there would be all sorts of exceptions."

The American Literacy Council also is involved in the endeavor. Linstead acknowledged that to make any widespread changes would be a monumental task. Portugal recently implemented sweeping changes to switch all Portuguese-language use in several countries over to the Brazilian system of orthography, which is more phonetic. That decision, while in the works for years, has been widely criticized, according to various news reports.

Words have meaning.