Spelling Reform Research Articles

Prescriptivist attempts at a spelling reform in Early Modern English: sociolinguistic and stylistic routes and rates of adoption

ABSTRACT Some late Renaissance scholars, like Smith (1568); Hart (1569; 1570); Bullokar (1580); Mulcaster (1582), attempted to reform English spelling to reflect the pronunciation changes resulting from the Great Vowel Shift. Their goal was to align letters and phonology by devising a more stable and predictable new system. This study explores the impact and diffusion of these spelling proposals. It examines texts from 1300 to 1700, written by authors from different socio-demographic and biological backgrounds, and across various genres, registers and text-types. The sources used as linguistic materials are the Innsbruck Corpus of Middle English Prose, an archival data source of prose pieces representing different genres from 1150 to 1500 and the Parsed Corpus of Early English Correspondence, a collection of 4,970 authored documents written from 1410 to 1681 by informants from different social ranks. This study may allow us to trace the sociolinguistic and stylistic route and rate of adoption (if any) followed by these attempts at reforming the English spelling system within processes of diffusion of linguistic innovations at the level of orthography, as well as to reconstruct the sociolinguistic contexts of language variation and change in past communities.

Comparative Analysis of Contextual Usage of the Lexemes мiръ / миръ / мир and their translations into Spanish

In the critical literature devoted to the L.N. Tolstoy’s novel «War and Peace», the contradictory contexts of usage of the lexemes мiръ / миръ / мир and their relation to homonymy, were repeatedly discussed. The study is a comparative analysis of the contexts of usage of the lexems мiръ/ миръ / мир in Russian in the texts of the «War and Peace» novel by L.N. Tolstoy, as well as their translation into Spanish. The author refers to two editions of the novel - in 1912, before the spelling reform of 1918, and mid-20th century, as part of the 90-volume edition of the works of L.N. Tolstoy. The aim of the study is the comparative analysis of the semantics of the мiръ / миръ / мир in connection with the idea of the novel-epic. It is determined in what context and why L.N. Tolstoy prefers the lexemes of мiръ / миръ / мир , and also considered the use of the word глобус ‘globe’, meaning the ‘world’. The conclusions of the work are a proposal to introduce in the commentary to the novel interpretations of the meaning of the word peace in accordance with the context of the media world , in the curricula of students-philologists, as well as to take into consideration the data in translations into foreign languages, Spanish in particular,. Taking into account the specificity of semantics of words Mir and Worlds in the pre-revolutionary edition and the word world in the modern editions of the novel-epic «War and Peace» and their functioning with the literary text under the consideration contributes to revealing the idea of the multi-layered work, a special place in the artistic heritage of L.N. Tolstoy.

Rola najstarszych zasad pisowni (odrębnych traktatów ortograficznych i części gramatyk) oraz elementarzy w rozwoju języków słowiańskich

Spelling treatises, spelling rules in grammars, and reading primers played a major role in the development of most Slavic languages. On occasion, the primers were also the main source of knowledge on the basics of mathematics, geography, natural science, history etc. Of particular essence in language policy were those spelling treatises and primers that furthered Slavic spelling reforms.

Reliable detection and quantification of selective forces in language change

AbstractLanguage change is a cultural evolutionary process in which variants of linguistic variables change in frequency through processes analogous to mutation, selection and genetic drift. In this work, we apply a recently-introduced method to corpus data to quantify the strength of selection in specific instances of historical language change. We first demonstrate, in the context of English irregular verbs, that this method is more reliable and interpretable than similar methods that have previously been applied. We further extend this study to demonstrate that a bias towards phonological simplicity overrides that favouring grammatical simplicity when these are in conflict. Finally, with reference to Spanish spelling reforms, we show that the method can also detect points in time at which selection strengths change, a feature that is generically expected for socially-motivated language change. Together, these results indicate how hypotheses for mechanisms of language change can be tested quantitatively using historical corpus data.

Self-contained Beta-with-Spikes Approximation for Inference Under a Wright-Fisher Model.

We construct a reliable estimation method for evolutionary parameters within the Wright-Fisher model, which describes changes in allele frequencies due to selection and genetic drift, from time-series data. Such data exist for biological populations, for example via artificial evolution experiments, and for the cultural evolution of behavior, such as linguistic corpora that document historical usage of different words with similar meanings. Our method of analysis builds on a Beta-with-Spikes approximation to the distribution of allele frequencies predicted by the Wright-Fisher model. We introduce a self-contained scheme for estimating parameters in the approximation, and demonstrate its robustness with synthetic data, especially in the strong-selection and near-extinction regimes where previous approaches fail. We further apply the method to allele frequency data for baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), finding a significant signal of selection in cases where independent evidence supports such a conclusion. We further demonstrate the possibility of detecting time-points at which evolutionary parameters change in the context of a historical spelling reform in the Spanish language.

CONNECTION OF SPELLING RULES AND GRAMMATICAL PROBLEMS IN THE WORK OF AKMET BAITURSYNULY "TIL-KURAL"

The creation and approval of a writing system on a national basis is the most important prerequisite that serves as support for preserving the national character and uniqueness of the language. The writing system formed by the first reformer of the Kazakh script A. Baitursynuly is also highly appreciated from this point of view. Since the issue of spelling is always relevant, it is extremely necessary for Kazakh linguistics to determine the main provisions of the spelling rules that formed the basis for the spelling reform of the scholar. The article analyzes the rules of spelling – the integration of the principles of writing and grammatical patterns, which for the first time were fully reflected in the work "Til-Kural".The purpose of the study is to identify the relationship between spelling rules and grammatical problems formulated by A. Baitursynuly.The practical significance of the study is manifested in the analysis of the importance of substantiating the grammatical position in the construction of spelling rules. The paper makes comparisons in diachronic and synchronous aspects and examines the nature of the development of the spelling of the Kazakh language in texts of the XVIII, and XIX centuries and the reflection of grammatical units in writing. In particular, based on the methods of comparison, description, and systematization, historical data were demonstrated, including the reason for the violation of grammatical patterns in the materials of the ancient Kazakh written language and its influence on writing. As a result, in the work, the connection of morphological rules with spelling was classified into three different groups: "Word form and spelling", "Word composition and spelling", and "Punctuation and spelling".

Наследие Михаила Викторовича Панова и разговор о настоящем и будущем русской орфографии

The study is devoted to the life and scientific path of M.V. Panov – an outstanding philologist, teacher, popularizer of the science of language. Particular attention is paid to the scientific interests of M.V. Panov in the field of spelling, his work as deputy chairman of the Spelling Commission in the 1960s, which was preparing a large-scale spelling reform, and activities to popularize spelling, which was associated primarily with the need to explain to society the essence of the changes proposed then. Understanding of M.V. Panov, a speller and educator, is necessary for the further successful work of not only spelling codifiers, but also popularizers of linguistic science. Despite the fact that today it is not supposed to reform the Russian letter and created at the Institute of the Russian Language. V.V. Vinogradov of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a complete academic description of the rules of modern Russian spelling does not imply any changes to the existing rules for writing words, the tasks of linguistic education are not at all outdated. Today, like 60 years ago, native speakers confuse the language itself and writing, pronunciation and spelling, and when commenting on any news related to the language, they demand that “language reforms” be prevented. The legacy of the enlighteners of the past can and should be used by modern popularizers of orthographic science, whose main task today and in the foreseeable future is to prepare the ground for a calm conversation in society about the fate of Russian spelling.

Документи про реформу українського правопису в особовому фонді Василя Німчука

The article considers little-known and previously inaccessible archival documents on the reform of Ukrainian spelling from the personal fond of the corresponding member of the NAS of Ukraine, Doctor of Philology Vasyl Vasyliovych Nimchuk (1933–2017), stored at the Institute of Archival Studies of V I Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine. The purpose of the study is to analyze V. Nimchuk’s opinion on the reform of Ukrainian spelling in the 1990s, highlight the positions of like-minded people and opponents, recreate the course of events in preparation for this reform and reveal the role of the Ukrainian National Spelling Commission. The research methodology is based on methodological principles related to the general scientifi c principles of analysis and synthesis, historicism, scientifi c objectivity, systematic and interdisciplinary approaches. The study of archival documents was based on archival heuristics, archeographic methods, as well as historical criticism of sources. During the consideration of the materials of V. Nimchuk’s personal fond, special methods of historical-biographical and historical-social research were used, which made it possible to study archival sources on the problem. Scientifi c novelty. The documents on the reform of Ukrainian spelling from the personal archival fond of linguist V. Nimchuk were put into scientifi c circulation for the fi rst time. Conclusions. The analyzed archival documents on the draft Ukrainian spelling of 1999 signifi cantly supplement the information on the scientifi c, organizational and public activities of V. Nimchuk in his preparation. Epistolary documents deposited in the personal archives of the scholar reveal the peculiarities of discussions in Ukrainian society around spelling reform. V. Nimchuk’s archival heritage is an important source base for studying the role of scientists, other linguists and scientifi c institutions in preparing the reform of Ukrainian spelling in the 1990s. Prospects for further studies. The considered documents showed a signifi cant source and information potential of the archival heritage of the scientist, which will contribute to further research of his scientifi c work by historians and linguists.

Cultural and historical conditions of modifications in Russian phraseological units with letter names

The article discusses causes, ways, and results of modifying Russian phraseological units with a letter-name component, which play a significant role in all written linguistic cultures. The relevance of the theme is proven by the sustained attention of linguists to the origin and functioning of phraseological units, the objective to comprehend the underlying processes of interacting between extralinguistic reality, including culture, and language structures, and by the social demand - the rise of interest of native Russian speakers in the national essence and history of the alphabet. The study aims at identifying causes for modification of Russian phraseological units with letter-name components, demonstrating the central role of cultural and historical factor in the modification process, analyzing modification ways and results. The material of the study includes dictionaries and text corpora, along with the authors’ own collection of examples from spontaneous speech in Russian films and digital media. Descriptive and historical-etymological methods, contextual, semantic and structural analysis, and the method of double application were used in the research. The paper argues that the main historical and cultural causes of modifications of phraseological units in question include spelling reforms, progressive methods of teaching reading and writing, language contacts of Russian speakers with people using other writing systems, changes in cultural and ideological priorities, influential works of art. The main way of modification - lexical change of the old letter name to the contemporary one - concedes to more creative ways not only in the sphere of occasional creation of phraseological units, as before, but also in common usage. As a result of this modification, former international models of phraseological units develop national features.

Medical metaphors, body politic and John Hart’s conceptualisation of orthographic reform

ABSTRACT Within the context of the mid-sixteenth-century movement of spelling standardisation in England, John Hart (c. 1501–1574) wrote three linguistic texts in English (rather than in Latin), on orthographic reform focused on phonetic principles: one letter only represents one sound, and vice versa. This paper aims to examine how Hart appealed to medical imagery in his discussion of English orthography. First, Tudor concepts of medicine (such as the theory of ‘elements’ and ‘humours’) were employed to frame his expounding of orthographic problems; second, the procedure of medical treatment was transferred to organise the structure of his argument, i.e. to set up the steps of orthographic reform and to treat specific orthographic problems. The former focuses on the content aspect of his argument while the latter on the structural aspect. Moreover, Hart was very much of his time in his fascination with appropriating political language. During the English Renaissance, medical metaphors were widely used in both political and religious texts, and they were borrowed by Hart and constituted a constant feature of his linguistic writings, published or unpublished. Drawing upon contemporary political tracts, I will demonstrate the religio-political nature of his medical metaphor and how his use of this type of metaphor facilitated communication on spelling reform.

A THEMATIC CLASSIFICATION OF RELIGIOUS-CHRISTIAN VOCABULARY OF RUSSIAN-UDMURT DICTIONARIES BY G. Ye. VERESHCHAGIN

The article examines the vocabulary of religious-Christian content in the handwritten Russian-Udmurt dictionaries by the first Udmurt writer and outstanding scientist, educator and missionary, clergyman G. Ye. Vereshchagin. There is no exact information about the time when the manuscripts were written. One of them was presumably created at the end of the 19 - beginning of the 20 centuries, before the adoption of the Russian spelling reform in 1918, since the letter ъ is inconsistently encountered at the very beginning of the dictionary in lexemes ending in a hard consonant. Another manuscript can be dated to the period after the adoption of the Russian spelling reform, when the Cyrillic letters ѣ, ө and ъ were excluded from the Russian alphabet. The author of the manuscripts selected appropriate primordial Udmurt equivalents to words of religious content or used borrowings (mainly from the Russian language), and was guided by the following considerations: 1) he used Udmurt words that arose in the depths of paganism, which by the time the manuscripts were compiled had acquired a completely Christian meaning (Kyldysin tӧre 'Archangel'); 2) adapted concepts that had a slightly different, everyday meaning (viz sonany, gavyldyns, aldans ‘to tempt’); 3) terms without direct correspondences in the Udmurt language are often translated by a combination of words or interpretation (umoytem Inmar vyle veras ‘blasphemer’); 4) borrowed from Russian or other languages (Archirey, Arquerey ‘Bishop’). The study of the lexical and semantic features of written attestations in the context of developing the national corpus of the Udmurt language and filling it with not only absolutely new, but also to some extent forgotten and revisited elements is a very important linguistic activity. The linguistic actualization of religious vocabulary contributes to the recovery of speech assets and registers in a significant number of dictionary nominalizations by designating concepts and phenomena of the spiritual and religious sphere of the Udmurt language.

ОРФОГРАФИЧЕСКАЯ НОРМА КАК САКРАЛЬНЫЙ ФЕНОМЕН

Statement of the problem. The norm is an extremely important category that serves to regulate the diverse activities of society. With the help of ideas about the norm, an axiological scale is formed. Depending on the fundamental circumstances this scale is subject to remarking: the sacred and the profane change places. This also applies to issues of language policy, most clearly found in the field of spelling. It is in establishing uniform rules of spelling and punctuation that the state manifests its will in the most visible way. The purpose of the article is sociolinguistic analysis of spelling reforms and their results. Research methodology. Sociolinguistic analysis involves the analysis of language phenomena on the basis of the stated concept in specific historical and social conditions, as well as taking into account social, psychological, and linguistic characteristics of the audience to which they are aimed. The results of the study. The history of the Russian language knows cases of radical spelling reforms. However, the most famous of them (1917), when spelling was drastically simplified to facilitate its mastering by people at large, entailed very negative psychosocial ramifications, in effect, a sharply contemptuous disregard of rules. The most recent example of the project for the Russian spelling reform in the 21 st century was developed in 2007, but did not receive official approval. Conclusions. Russian should be strictly regulated in accordance with the existing rules of the Russian written language, based on the sacred status of the Russian language as one of the key symbols of the state. It is also advisable to regularly publish constantly updated spelling dictionaries after their mandatory official approval.

Nemški pravopis in spolno vključujoče pisanje

The article presents the path to a uniform orthography for the German language and the German spelling reform of 1996. The German language is spoken in different countries, so spelling uniformity is not self-evident. The reasons for this are practical, and international commissions with experts from various fields cooperate in the preparation of spelling rules and recommendations. The first German orthography was written in 1880 by a high school teacher, Konrad Duden, and was declared to be authoritative at the Second Orthographic Conference of 1901. In 1902, German orthography was approved by Austria and Switzerland. Reform initiatives followed, such as that of 1944, but a new orthography was not approved until 1996. The result of the orthographic reform was, however, unsatisfactory, so in 2004 the Council for German Orthography was established, which in 2006 removed the most controversial changes and ensured the unity of the standard language. The Council’s current work includes giving opinions on current spelling topics. In 2018, it gave an opinion on gender-inclusive writing and emphasised the importance of creating comprehensible and readable texts.

Система пунктуации в драме Ильи Зданевича «Янко крУль албАнскай»

The text of the drama “Janko krUl’ albAnskaj” by Ilia Zdanevich is the embodiment of the ideas of Russian futurism on the creation of a new poetic language, and reflects discussions on spelling reform relevant to the beginning of the 20th century. Punctuation in the text of avant-garde works plays a special role. By minimal means, using small number of punctuation marks in principle, the author achieves structural division of the text, which contributes to the understanding of its basic constructions – in particular, residual emotions.

Les emprunts à l’anglais touchés par la réforme orthographique et leur variation dans la presse canadienne en ligne

This article examines if and how the recommendations of the spelling reform from 1990 are applied and used in practice. We have focused especially on the loanwords namely anglicisms in the Canadian French and their employment in the Canadian press in electronic format. For that purpose, we wanted to depict certain details of the spelling reform concerning words of foreign origin, and more precisely those which are borrowed from British and American English. We have also concentrated our attention on the difficulties of French grammatical system, comparing it with the Italian and Spanish grammatical systems in order to illustrate the level of complexity of the French language. To demonstrate and verify the usage of the rules recommended by the reform of French orthography, we have chosen several online versions of Canadian daily press.

“#JeSuisSirCornflakes”: Racialization and resemiotization in French nationalist Twitter

Abstract After the 2016 spelling reforms deleted the accent circumflex from some French vowels, on right-wing French Twitter, the circonflexe reappeared in the center of the French flag – echoing the flag of Vichy France. Tweets with the hashtag #JeSuisCirconflexe resemiotized the accent circumflex as icon of a lost Frenchness, or voiced the racial other in a colonial faux pidgin to frame them as illiterate and brutish. Drawing on research on resemiotization (Leppänen, Sirpa, Samu Kytölä, Henna Jousmäki, Saija Peuronen & Elina Westinen. 2014. Entextualization and resemiotization as resources for identification in social media. In The language of social media, 112–136. London: Palgrave Macmillan) and raciolinguistics (Flores, Nelson & Jonathan Rosa. 2015. Undoing appropriateness: Raciolinguistic ideologies and language diversity in education. Harvard Educational Review, 85(2). 149–171), this article explores how constructions of mock youth French use raciolinguistic tropes to imagine a language of social decline, connecting linguistic purism to racist myths of white genocide and the great replacement. Despite this, youth invert the imagination of their illiteracy, using playful language and satirizing white speech (Rosa, Jonathan. 2016b. Standardization, racialization, languagelessness: Raciolinguistic ideologies across communicative contexts. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 26(2). 162–183) to contest French nationalism – reframing #JeSuisCirconflexe as #JeSuisSirCornflakes.

Reflections on Americanism in English Spelling: -o(u)r

As a sociohistorical approach to Americanism in the ‘-o(u)r’ spelling, the present study investigates both dynamics and fluidity that occur in a process of their own spelling reforms in the US and the UK. It also examines to what extent British English and American English have been consistent in their use of ‘-our’ and ‘-or’ respectively, when it comes to the issue of fluidity in particular. However, despite such an apparent contrast between the two varieties of English, British English is revealed to share more with the American ‘-or’ ending than American English with the British ‘-our’ ending. This study attempts to account for this unbalancing state of affairs based on a phonological rationale leading to the isochrony of stress-timed languages including English. Aligned with this approach is a general tendency to show that the Americanism for the ‘-or’ spelling is gradually on the rise not only in Kachru’s expanding circle countries but also in some, but not all, of the ex-colonial countries belonging to Kachru’s outer circle. (Hannam University)

Reflections on Americanism in English Spelling: -o(u)r

As a sociohistorical approach to Americanism in the ‘-o(u)r’ spelling, the present study investigates both dynamics and fluidity that occur in a process of their own spelling reforms in the US and the UK. It also examines to what extent British English and American English have been consistent in their use of ‘-our’ and ‘-or’ respectively, when it comes to the issue of fluidity in particular. However, despite such an apparent contrast between the two varieties of English, British English is revealed to share more with the American ‘-or’ ending than American English with the British ‘-our’ ending. This study attempts to account for this unbalancing state of affairs based on a phonological rationale leading to the isochrony of stress-timed languages including English. Aligned with this approach is a general tendency to show that the Americanism for the ‘-or’ spelling is gradually on the rise not only in Kachru’s expanding circle countries but also in some, but not all, of the ex-colonial countries belonging to Kachru’s outer circle. (Hannam University)

Приставки на -з как нарушение системы русского письма

The article describes the paradoxical case of Russian spelling – the spelling of the prefixes ending with ‑z (‑з), based on the phonetic principle which, without any reason, sets them apart from other prefixes ending with a consonant (pod-, nad-, ot-, ob-, v-, s-), according to the main phonological principle of Russian spelling. The analysis of numerous sentences concerning the spelling of these prefixes, which was discussed by spelling committees before and after the 1917 spelling reform, is carried out from the point of view of practicability and scientific validity. Rare archival materials were used in the article. It is concluded that it is necessary to bring the prefixes ending with consonants to the common denominator, since the spelling of the prefixes ending with ‑z violates the Russian system of writing.

Вопросы нормализации правописания двойных согласных в заимствованных словах в проектах усовершенствования и стандартизации русской орфографии 1930–1956 годов

The paper deals with traditionally problematic and not fully settled issues of Russian spelling – the spelling of double consonants in borrowed words. The peculiarities of regulation of the spelling concerned in the number of normative sources of the 18–20 centuries are specified. The author considers the views of some linguists on possible reasons for this varia-ble writing and proposals for eliminating the diversity that is characteristic of spelling practice both before and after the 1917th – 1918th spelling reform. A detailed analysis is made of the materials of eleven projects of Russian spelling improvement and standardization, which were elaborated by spelling commissions in the period from 1930 to 1956. The paper provides a description of normative settings of the projects that differ in character and content: prescrip-tive, built in the form of a traditional spelling rule-explanation and the recommendation to the writer to refer directly to the dictionary. Common views on approaches, validity and expedi-ency of normative principles considered in the context of spelling discussion of 1964 and the subsequent discussion of this issue are revealed. Consideration is given to the formulation of the double consonant spelling rule in loanwords in the complete academic reference book (2006), and examples of variable spelling from modern practice are provided. The source base of the research, along with explanatory, spelling dictionaries and draft rules, were un-published archival documents of the Russian Academy of Science.