English-language spelling reform
Some people believe there is a need for English spelling reform. English spelling has many inconsistencies and irregularities. It also has a problem with ambiguity when it comes to words who's spellings are consistent with the way they are spoken, such as where emphasis goes. The English language has many dialects, which may complicate the process of English spelling reform.
Spelling of words in English can be problematic. English has a very poor phonemic orthography (correspondence between how the words are written and how they are spoken). Most spelling reforms attempt to improve this correspondence.
Spelling reforms of English include:
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THE PHONDOT SYSTEM
For those people who are interested in the teaching of reading to little children there is a website which describes a completely new approach:
In the Phondot system ordinary English text is presented in a form in which all letters and diagraphs have but one sound, yet SPELLING REMAINS UNCHANGED. The system DOES NOT require: color, big and little letters, italics, faint letters, underlining, traditional diacritics, or bold letters.
When text is Phondot-encoded all words become as easy to read as 'cat' and 'catnip' (for those who have learned the code).
A complete 160 page Primer in .pdf format is available for downloading. Several sample children's stories are also available.
Two text converters are present on the website. One of these enables the conversion of text into Phondot encoding, the other into a simplified respelling called Bobdot.
The Phondot encoder requires the installation of the AROBASE type fonts -- available on the site.
Robert Boden