[Project] Standardized English

[Alex]

This is something I've been toying with in the back of my mind for a long time now.  Standardized English.  What is this crazy talk you ask?  Well the idea is to reconstruct written English so that it has a common set of rules which would make it easier to understand.

Long story short this would entail:
More phonetic spelling (words are spelt as they sound)
Homophone words receive emphasis on certain letters so that they are distinct (eg Knight and Night, emphasis on the "K" in Knight)
Removal of ambiguous pronunciations (eg Ch - for Christ or Church) or silent letters
Lastly apply these rules to non-English words for convention.

This would be a *massive* project to undertake, so the logical first step would be to set up some sort of wiki (need to look into this).

Anyhow, just to offer some examples to give an impression:
Christ > Kryst
Collection > Kollektion (?)
France > Frans
Ghost > Gost (like most)
Service > Servis
Train > Trayn
Weird > Wyrd  (I could never spell "weird")

Let me know what you guys think of the idea and whether it's worth pursuing.

[ErebusTheDark]

Neat idea but Latin.

Every language has irregulars, just gotta roll with the punches.

[Alex]

Every language has irregulars, just gotta roll with the punches.

I'm pretty sure English is worse than most.  The idea of this is to make it easier to comprehend if you're not a native English speaker (who are greatly increasing in numbers).

I dread to think of what might become of English if mispronunciations found their way into common speech, and since non-native speakers probably outnumber native speakers then their dialect will likely dominate or influence our own.  So I think it's worth at least trying to influence the way they speak before they all get it wrong :P

[James]

People's spelling is bad enough as it is though?

[D3ads]

Interesting idea... it's funny because unlike English, in Russian all letters and words sound as they look, very rarely if at all will you see a word that is pronounced differently to how it reads. I guess it's the same with a lot of other languages too, English is one of the "evil" exceptions.

For me this isn't something that is really beneficial to an English speaking nation, since we all know how shit the language is with words that sound different. If anything it would be good for foreign parties trying to learn the language... but who cares about them anyway? :P

Christ > Kryst
Collection > Kollektion (?)
France > Frans
Ghost > Gost (like most)
Weird > Wyrd  (I could never spell "weird")

Kryst = Krist not Christ
Collection = Collectshon
Frans = Franz not France
Gost = Go-sss-teh not ghost
Weird should be wierd since people seem to spell it that way at the best of times :P

[Leska]

I guess it's the same with a lot of other languages too, English is one of the "evil" exceptions.

"English doesn't borrow from other languages. English follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over and goes through their pockets for loose grammar," etc. English is a motherfuckin' thug.

[Burd!]

Doesn't this also depend on your country of origin? Accents are a powerful player here, people say words like "nerd" differently in the States than they do in, say, Britain. (Although I must say the States is superior in every way, shape and form tbhtbhtbh)

[Anton]

The multiple united states of mental decomposition.

I think one of the wierdest things with more brithish leaning english, (that includes 'stralian) Is that you add R where it doesn't belong, I know all english people find this really natural and not strange at all, but "drawrings" "sawr a film" etc, I never even once felt any urge to pronouce it like that when I learned english, and I speak fairly british english once I get going.

[Alex]

The multiple united states of mental decomposition.

I think one of the wierdest things with more brithish leaning english, (that includes 'stralian) Is that you add R where it doesn't belong, I know all english people find this really natural and not strange at all, but "drawrings" "sawr a film" etc, I never even once felt any urge to pronouce it like that when I learned english, and I speak fairly british english once I get going.

Oh god, I hate it when people do that.  It isn't universal in British English, but is more pronounced in some dialects.

Worse is when the same such people say "think" as "fink".  Disgusting

For me this isn't something that is really beneficial to an English speaking nation, since we all know how shit the language is with words that sound different. If anything it would be good for foreign parties trying to learn the language... but who cares about them anyway? :P

I only care because it would be a sad day if Chinglish or Indian English superceded our own dialects.

Collection = Collectshon
Frans = Franz not France
Gost = Go-sss-teh not ghost

I really am unsure how the -ion suffix should be spelt phonetically.
France would be "Fränz" in West Country English, "Fránz" in Northern English, "Fràns" in BBC English (which I believe is the most popular mode of speech international speakers aim for)
Ghost rhymes with "most" where I come from, never heard it pronounced like that :S

People's spelling is bad enough as it is though?

Yes.  But this isn't intended for native speakers, what native speakers need are better use of English in print & publication.