SPELLING (from spell, NE. speller, OF. cspcicr, to spell, spellon, to declare, nar rate, discourse, from OlIG. spel, AS. spcl, spell, Goth. spill, tale, narrative, history, tidings). The representation of words by combinations of alpha betic symbols; the practical application o• use of an alphabet. In an alphabet that is accu rately constructed and used there is one. and but one, symbol for each significant speech sound, and but one speech-sound is represented by any given symbol. Under these conditions spelling is determined by the pronuncia tion ('sound') of the word to be spelled, that is, it is at once obvious when the pronunciation is known, and is accordingly marked by no irregu larity o• ambiguity. Such phonetically correct and simple orthography requires no special con sideration apart front the alphabet employed. (See ALPHABET; PHONETICS: and SPELLING RE FORM.) Outside of the writings of phoneticians, however, spelling of this degree of precision does not exist, though in certain languages there is a fairly close approximation to it. In customary spelling, in brief, each of the abo•e-stated princi ples is, to a greater or less extent, violated, viz. there is alphabetic inadequacy, o• the lack of symbols to represent certain important speech sounds; redundancy, or the use of two or more symbols or combinations of symbols to represent the same sound; and the use of the same symbol or combination to represent two or more sounds. In other words, alphabetic writing as actually practiced is more or less ambiguous, irregular, and arbitrary. This divergence of cus tomary spelling from the true alphabetic method has resulted, historically, in part, from defects inherent in the alphabets themselves (inade quacy and redundancy) ; but principally from change in the sounds of the languages to which they have been applied. Since in every 'language pronunciation varies from age to age and from locality to locality, the phonetic charac ter which every alphabet has originally possessed —or. more precisely, its phonetic use in spelling— could be maintained only by continuous adap tation to these alterations of the uttered words.
As a matter of fact changes of this sort in spelling hare taken place in all alphabetically written languages, and in living European lan guages in particular (which alone are considered here) they have ocenrred abundantly, especially prior to the invention of printing; but except in some modern instances they have been effected under conditions unfavorable to phonetic pre cision, and so, in many cases, instead of produc ing greater accuracy, have often resulted in in creased confusion. At best they have been inade
quate to prevent spelling from becoming more and more faulty, from the phonetic point of view, as the alteration of pronunciation has advanced. Ambiguities and irregularities multiplied, new and complex associations between sounds and symbols were formed, and it became increasingly difficult to infer the pronnnciation of a word from its written form. Noreover. this natural tendency toward phonetic corruption was intensified by a cause to which most of the defects of modern spelling may be attributed, namely, the estab lishment of a 'standard,' relatively unchangeable orthography. due principally to the introduction of the printing press. The beginnings of such an inflexible system existed earlier, wherever certain spellings were recognized as customary and then as 'correct' from the literary point of view (regardless of their phonetic value), and the feeling that the unity of the written and spoken words should be preserved was, accord ingly. weakened ; but its chief sources were the practical need of uniformity in spelling, which was quickly felt and (with much blundering) supplied in the printing office, and the influence of printed books. From this fixation of orthog raphy it resulted not only that practically all the existing faults of the spelling found by the printer (together with those which he himself added) were rendered permanent, but also that even the imperfect earlier tendency to respond to phonetic change was almost wholly sup pressed. Pronunciation has continued to change, often radically, but spelling has lagged behind. In certain languages notable divergence of the written from the spoken language has thus been effected, while others, like Italian, have been more fortunate in having had a relatively ration al system of spelling to start with, or having undergone less extraneous disturbance, o• having been able to adhere more closely or revert more frequently to the phonetic method.