{"id":51,"date":"2019-08-29T00:00:48","date_gmt":"2019-08-29T00:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.engoo.com\/tutors-blog\/?p=51"},"modified":"2020-07-06T10:48:59","modified_gmt":"2020-07-06T10:48:59","slug":"english-spelling-doesnt-match-pronunciation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tutor.engoo.com\/blog\/curiosity\/english-spelling-doesnt-match-pronunciation\/","title":{"rendered":"Fish Could be Spelled \"Ghoti\"? \u2014 Why English Spelling Doesn't Match Pronunciation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_80 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 eztoc-toggle-hide-by-default' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/tutor.engoo.com\/blog\/curiosity\/english-spelling-doesnt-match-pronunciation\/#Spelling_Didnt_Keep_Up_With_Pronunciation\" >Spelling Didn\u2019t Keep Up With Pronunciation<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/tutor.engoo.com\/blog\/curiosity\/english-spelling-doesnt-match-pronunciation\/#Influence_of_Foreign_Languages\" >Influence of Foreign Languages<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/tutor.engoo.com\/blog\/curiosity\/english-spelling-doesnt-match-pronunciation\/#English_Spelling_Is_More_Than_Pronunciation\" >English Spelling Is More Than Pronunciation<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/tutor.engoo.com\/blog\/curiosity\/english-spelling-doesnt-match-pronunciation\/#%F0%9F%91%8B_Thats_it_for_now\" >\ud83d\udc4b That\u2019s it for now!<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>An old joke about English spelling goes, \u201cYou can spell fish \u2018ghoti.\u2019 Just take the \u2018gh\u2019 from \u2018enough,\u2019 the \u2018o\u2019 from \u2018women,\u2019 and the \u2018ti\u2019 from \u2018motion\u2019!\u201d<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.blog.engoo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/04\/17085658\/BLOG-Ghoti-Fish.png\" alt=\"fish ghoti english spelling\" width=\"741\" height=\"361\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-87\" srcset=\"https:\/\/assets.blog.engoo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/04\/17085658\/BLOG-Ghoti-Fish.png 741w, https:\/\/assets.blog.engoo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/04\/17085658\/BLOG-Ghoti-Fish-300x146.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 741px) 100vw, 741px\" \/><br \/>\nThis joke illustrates a frustrating reality of the English language: the irregularity of spelling. So why doesn\u2019t English spelling match pronunciation? Let's turn to history for the answers!<\/p>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Spelling_Didnt_Keep_Up_With_Pronunciation\"><\/span>Spelling Didn\u2019t Keep Up With Pronunciation<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p>For thousands of years, English spelling wasn\u2019t standardized. Most words were spelled in different ways. For instance, over thirty spellings of the word \u201csword\u201d can be found in old books and letters!<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.blog.engoo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/04\/17085753\/BLOG-Sword.png\" alt=\"spellings of sword\" width=\"640\" height=\"292\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-89\" srcset=\"https:\/\/assets.blog.engoo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/04\/17085753\/BLOG-Sword.png 944w, https:\/\/assets.blog.engoo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/04\/17085753\/BLOG-Sword-300x137.png 300w, https:\/\/assets.blog.engoo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/04\/17085753\/BLOG-Sword-768x351.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><br \/>\nThen, about 600 years ago, the printing press was invented, and the resulting books and dictionaries helped fix this issue.<\/p>\n<p>But while the printing press helped standardize spelling, it couldn\u2019t stop English pronunciation from changing. As a result, many words still follow old spelling rules, even though their pronunciations have changed.<\/p>\n<p>This is why we\u2019re stuck with a lot of silent letters. Historically, English speakers pronounced the W\u2019s in \u201ctwo\u201d and \u201canswer,\" the K\u2019s in \u201cknee\u201d and \u201cknow,\u201d and the E\u2019s in \u201cage\u201d and \u201clife.\u201d But at some point, they stopped pronouncing them, and spelling just didn\u2019t keep up.<\/p>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Influence_of_Foreign_Languages\"><\/span>Influence of Foreign Languages<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p>It\u2019s time to blame other languages for English spelling problems!<\/p>\n<p>Did you know that the English alphabet was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/koine\/greek\/lessons\/alphabet.html\">borrowed from ancient Greek<\/a>? It has 26 letters, but English has over 40 sounds. So from the start, there was no way that English would be a perfectly phonetic language.<\/p>\n<p>Then, to make things more confusing, English adopted spelling rules from other languages. For instance, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/search?q=ice\">the word \u201cice\u201d was spelled \u201cis\u201d in Old English<\/a>. However, under the influence of French, Middle English-speakers changed the spelling to \u201cice,\u201d since French C\u2019s are also pronounced like S\u2019s.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.blog.engoo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/04\/17085721\/BLOG-ICE-IS.png\" alt=\"French influence on English spelling\" width=\"640\" height=\"351\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-88\" srcset=\"https:\/\/assets.blog.engoo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/04\/17085721\/BLOG-ICE-IS.png 814w, https:\/\/assets.blog.engoo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/04\/17085721\/BLOG-ICE-IS-300x165.png 300w, https:\/\/assets.blog.engoo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/04\/17085721\/BLOG-ICE-IS-768x422.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><br \/>\nAs a result, many English words now have C\u2019s that are pronounced as S\u2019s: \u2013 for example, \u201ccity,\u201d \u201cface\u201d and \u201ccertain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then, during the Renaissance, Europe fell in love with ancient Greek and Roman cultures. Scholars believed that these ancient languages were perfect, and began spelling many words with their original Greek or Roman spellings. For example, \u201cdette\u201d was re-Latinized to \u201cdebt,\u201d and \u201creceit\u201d to \u201creceipt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes, they got carried away and re-Latinized words that were not Latin to begin with. This is what happened to \u201cisland.\u201d Though it comes from Old English, scholars mistakenly thought it was related to the Latin word \u201cinsula\u201d and gave it an extra S.<\/p>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"English_Spelling_Is_More_Than_Pronunciation\"><\/span>English Spelling Is More Than Pronunciation<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p>Finally, English spelling reflects many aspects of the language besides pronunciation.<\/p>\n<p>For example, it helps us know which words are related. \u201cSign\u201d and \u201csignature\u201d would look unrelated if spelled phonetically (\u201csine\u201d and \u201csignuhcher\u201d). The same goes for words like \u201cact\u201d and \u201caction\u201d (instead of \u201cakt\u201d and \u201cakshun\u201d).<\/p>\n<p>English spelling also reflects grammar. If the plural words \u201cdogs,\u201d \u201ccats,\u201d and \u201ceyelashes\u201d were spelled phonetically, they would be \u201cdogz,\u201d \u201ccats,\u201d and \u201ceyelashiz.\u201d The past tense words \u201cmissed,\u201d \u201cbrushed,\u201d and \u201cacted\u201d would be spelled \u201cmist,\u201d \u201cbrusht,\u201d and \u201cactid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So while English spelling doesn\u2019t do a good job of reflecting pronunciation, it preserves other relationships between words.<\/p>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%F0%9F%91%8B_Thats_it_for_now\"><\/span>\ud83d\udc4b That\u2019s it for now!<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p>Hopefully, this has given you a taste for the history of English spelling. Which facts did you find most surprising? Which of them do you plan to share with your students?<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, check out the following English spelling resources:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/books\/2018\/dec\/03\/p-is-for-pterodactyl-t-is-for-tsunami-the-worst-alphabet-book-becomes-a-bestseller\">P is for Pterodactyl, the worst alphabet book ever<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=A8zWWp0akUU\">A video that asks \u201cWhat If English Were Spelled Phonetically?<\/a>\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dictionary.com\/e\/s\/ough\/#ough\">A slideshow that explains the origins of words that end in \"-ough\"<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An old joke about English spelling goes, \u201cYou can spell fish \u2018ghoti.\u2019 Just take the \u2018gh\u2019 from \u2018enough,\u2019 the \u2018o\u2019 from \u2018women,\u2019 and the \u2018ti\u2019 from \u2018motion\u2019!\u201d This joke illustrates a frustrating reality of the...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":137,"featured_media":206,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"unified_meta_tagline_field":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[17,16],"class_list":["post-51","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-curiosity","tag-history","tag-spelling"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Fish Could be Spelled &quot;Ghoti&quot;? 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