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twain-cadmus.html Lincoln - Gettysburg Address
Mark Twain on Spelling Reform
Uncl Cadmus Atempts tu Reform Hieroglyphics ...hieroglifics
(Writen in OGD, Nue English Speling, and Spanglish)
other notations Twain on Simplifed Spelling old site
Twain on Staged Reform old site linksThis edited essay was written by Twain when he was in his 70's. He seems to have given a number of speeches on the subject of simplified spelling in this period. Three have been preserved. This particular speech has a short and long version. In the long version, Twain includes a long explanation of his views on the need for a phonemic alphabet and spelling system. Cadmus was the legendary figure that according to Plato brought the Phoenician alphabet to the Greeks.
The Cadmus essay is rewritten or transcribed here in three easy to read regularized systems of spelling. Consistent spelling changes the spelling of 60% or more of the words. This makes the text appear a little strange.
If asked, most people would estimte that English is spelled consistently about 80% of the time. (see Crystal). A simple count of the words that match the dictionary pronunciation guide will show that this estimate is twice as high as it should be. At the word level, English is spelled consistently only 40% of the time. Traditional spelling does a better job of representing middle english pronunciation than it does of representing present day pronounciation.
The first essay on spelling reform has been edited. The entire essay appears below:
Twain Reform of Hieroglyphics
Riten in OGD Restored English Speling: .s=z ss=s ue=yuuThe ferst tym I wa's in Egipt, a simplifyd speling epidemic had broaken out and the atmosfeer wa's electrica'l with feeling enjendered by the subject. This wa's for or fyv thouzand yeers a'go. The Simplifyers had rizen in revolt aginst the hyroglifics. Uncl Cadmus, hu wa's out of a job, had com tu Egipt and wa's trying tu introdoos the Fonician alfabet and get it adopted in plaiss of the hyroglifics. The Simplifyers wer fue; the Oposition wer multituedinus. Among the Simplifyers wer meny men of lerning and distinction, mainly literairy men and members of colej facultys; but all ranks and conditions of men and all graids of intelect eroodition, and ignoranss wer reprezentented in the Oposition. [OGD]
Uncl Cadmus began with an object leson, with chauk, on a cupl of blacbords. On wun of them he roat in hyroglifics: At this tym the King pozest of calvary 214,580 men and 22,631 horses for thair uess; ov infantry 16,341 squadrons together with an emergensy reserv ov all arms, consisting of 84,954 men, 321 elefants, 37,264 transportation carts, and 28,954 camels and dromedairys. It fild the bord and cost him 26 minits of tym and laybor. Then he repeeted in on anuther blacbord in Italian script and Arabic noomerals and did it in tu minits and a quarter.1
Then he sed: "My arguement is before u. Wun of the objections tu the hyroglifics is that it taiks the brytest puepil nyn yeers tu get the forms and thayr meenings by hart; it tayks the avera'j puepil 16 yeers to tayks the rest of the naytion all thayr days tu acomplish it--it is a lyf sentens. This cost of tym is tu expensiv. It cuud be employd mor uesfuly in uther industrees, and with beter rezults. If u wil renounss the hyroglifics and adopt riten werds insted, a tremendus advantej wil be gaynd. By u? No, not by u. U hav spent yuur lyvs in mastering the hyroglifics, and tu u thay ar simpl, and the efect pleszant tu the ie and eeven buetiful. But I apeal tu u in behaf of the jeneraytions which ar tu folo. Let yoor suns and dauters adopt the riten werds and the alfabet and thus saiv milyons of years of uessles tym and laybor tu fifty jeneraytions of posterity that ar tu folo u."
Uncl Cadmus sat doun, and the Oposition roas and combated his reazonings in the uezhueal way. Thoas peepl sed that thay had allways bin uesd tu the hyroglifics; that the hyroglifics had dear and saycred a'soashiations for them; that thay luvd tu sit on a barel under an umbrela in the briliant sun of Egipt and spel out the ouls and eegls and aligayters and sawteeth, and tayk an our and a haf tu the Lord's Prair, and weep with roamantic emoation at the thaut that thay had at moast, but ait or ten yeers between themselvs and the grayv for the enjoyment of this extasy. [RES]
Twain Reform of Hieroglyphics
Riten in Nue English Speling - Zachrissen [NS] ae ee ie oe oo U-ueTh furst tiem I wuz in Egypt a simplified speling epidemic had broeken out and th atmosfeer wuz electrical with feeling enjenderd bi th subject. This wuz for or fiev thouzand yeerz ago. Th Simplifieerz had rizen in revolt agenst th hieroglifics. An uncl of Cadmus hoo wuz out of a job hud cum to Egypt and wuz trieing to introdoos th Phonecian alfabet and get it adopted in plaes of th hieroglifics. Th Simplifieerz wer fue; th Opozisihun wer multituedinus. Amung th Simplifieerz wer meny men of lurning and distinkshun, maenly litererry men and memberz of colej facultyz; but aul ranks and condishunz of men and aul graedz of intelect, erruedishun, and ignorans wer reprezented in th Opozishun. [NES]
Uncl Cadmus began with an object leson, with chauk, on a cupl of blakbordz. On wun of them he roet in hieroglifics: At this tiem th King pozest of calvalry 214,580 men and 222,631 horsez for thair ues; of infantry 16,341 sqadronz together with an emurjensy rezurv of aul armz, consisting of 84,954 men, 321 elefants, 37,264 transportaeshun carts, and 28,954 camelz and dromederryz. It fild th bord and cost him twenty-six minits of tiem and laebor. Then he repeeted in on anuther blakbord in Italian script and Arabic noomeralz and did it in too minits and a qorter. Then he sed: "Mie arguement iz befor U. Wun of th objecshunz to th hieroglifics iz that it taeks th briestest puepil nien yeerz to get th formz and thair meeningz bi hart; it taeks th averj puepil sixteen yeerz it taeks th rest of th naeshun aul thair daez to acomplish it--it iz a lief sentens. This cost of tiem iz much too ezpensiv. It cuud be emploid mor uesfuly in uther industryz, and with beter rezults. If U wil renouns th hieroglifics and adopt riten wurdz insted, a tremendus advantej wil be gaend. Bi U? No, not bi U. U hav spent yuur lievz in mastering th hieroglifics, and to U thae ar simpl, and th efect plezant to th ie, and eeven buetiful, But I apeel to U in behaf of th jeneraeshunz which ar to folo. Let yuur sunz and dauterz adopt th riten wurdz and th alfabet, and thus saev millyonz of yeerz of uesles tiem and laebor to fifty jeneraeshuns of posterrity that ar to folo U."
Uncl Cadmus sat down, and th Opozishun roez and combated hiz reezoningz in th uezhooal wae. Thoez peepl sed that thae had aulwaez bin uezd to th hieroglifics; that th hieroglifics had deer and saecred asoeshyaseshunz for them; that thae luvd to sit on a barrel under an umbrela in th brillyant sun of Egypt and spel out th oulz and eeglz and aligaetorz and sawteeth, and taek an our and a haf to th Lord'z Prair, and weep with roemantic emoeshun at th thaut that thae had, at moest, but aet or ten yeerz between themselvz and th greav for th enjoiment of this extasy.
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Twain Reform of Hieroglyphics
Riten in Saxon Spanglish - a phonemic notation that shows primary stress
The ferst taim ai waz in "Egypt", a simmplifaid speling epidemic haed broakan outand the attmosfir waz electrical with fieling enjennderd bai the subbject. This waz for or faiv thouzand yirz ago. The simmplifaierz haed riezen in revolt aginnst the hairogliffics. Uncl Cadmas, hu waz out av a job, haed cam tu Iejipt and woz traing tu introduus the fonieshan alfabet and get it adopted in pleis av the hairogliffics. The Symplifaierz wer fyu; the Oppasishan wer mulltituudinus. Amunng the Simmplifaierz wer menny men av lurrning and distincshan, meinly litterary men and memmberz ov collej fackultyz; bvt ol raenks and condisshans av men and ol greidz av inntelect erudishhan, and iggnorans wer repprizented in the Oppasishan. [Spanglish]
Not counting r- combinations. Spanglish has 14 vowels, 17 counting diphthongs, and 7 semivowels. The letter, V is resurrected as a semivowel for the stressed mid lax vowel /^/ in up. The extra phonogram is needed to show stress in some words where doubling the consonant is awkward. Semivowels are consonants when immediately followed by a vowel. where looks like an exception but isn't since the pronunciation is hwer or huer.
Spanglish is not a reform proposal but rather a parallel system of phonemic spelling that can serve as a pronunciation guide and an initial teaching alphabet. It accepts many of the devices used in Saxon or Old English to visualize speech using an extended Latin alaphabet. This usually results in two ways to spell a sound, one stressed and one unstressed. V was used by the Saxons as an alternate form of U and this practice has been revived in Spanglish for the turned v /^/ . Without this phonogram, the word [but] would have to be written [butt] or [bat]. [bvt] and [vp] presevers more of the traditional look or "eye rhymes" in written English. It also shows how some consonants can be used as a vowel when followed by a consonant. [ndr] can be a clear representation of the word [under]. SS [unnder]
Twain Reform of Hieroglyphics
Riten in RITE Spelling - Reduced Irregularity in Traditional English spellingMore alternate notations and examples of rectified English spelling
So which spelling system do you prefer? Could you tell any difference? The three systems featured on this page are quite close. The first two are more systematic which would mean that it would be easy to spell. However, the orthography is complicated by allowing more than one spelling per sound. It is a positional spelling system to mimic the traditional system. The main difference is the removal of code overlaps: the same letter or combination is not used for two different sounds. The traditional orthography [TO] also uses positional spelling. Sounds in the middle of a word are spelled differently from the same sound at the end of the word. Saxon-Spanglish uses the double consonants to indicate primary stress. Single vowel letters are ambiguous and usually unstressed. a and vowel-y are always unstressed and free. They are the default schwa and schwi. Instead of ar for 'r and tha, Spanglish uses the more familiar er and the. In other words, Spanglish has already been partially deconstructed. The ie of field is used instead of ee because it facilitates two deconstructions as in amino - ski and tree. The third system does not employ positional spelling but does include some "sight words."
Comments: Twain promotes the idea that the egyptian scribes would have to carefully draw 321 elephants. In fact they would probably draw one elephant and express the numbers as 3H 2T 1U (H=hundred, T=Tens, U=units) with the same efficiency as in roman numerals. The task as set out would not be a good test of the relative efficiency of the two orthographies. It is not even much of a test of two number systems since the efficiency of number systems incorporating the hindi zero manifests itself in addition and multiplication, not in the simple expression of quantities.
Twain takes considerable artistic license to make the point that rational arguments do not persuade those who are already used to a particular coding system - no matter how difficult it might be to teach and learn. Anyone who has tried to read the Rosseta stone will find the hieroglyphics to be more compact and easier to decode than the same inscription in ancient Greek (without word divisions).
The basic point is that simpler systematic codes are better than complex chaotic codes because they can be taught in less time. A phonemic alphabetic writing system is hundreds of times simpler than traditional English orthography. English speech contains on 35 pure sounds. There are probably 41 essential sounds counting the important combinations. An alphabetic writing system would contain 35 letters (symbols) and every word would be spelled one and only one way. [561 paired associates vs. 41]. This kind of simplicty can be taught in a fraction of the time now devoted to reading and writing and it would stick.
Twain Reform of Hieroglyphics
Riten in TO - traditional English orthographySimplified Spelling Epidemic
This is the complete essay in two partsThe first time I was in Egypt a Simplified Spelling epidemic had broken out
and the atmosphere was electrical with feeling engendered by the subject.
This was four or five thousand years ago -- I do not remember just how many
thousand it was, for my memory for minor details has suffered some decay in
the lapse of years. I am speaking of a former state of existence of mine,
perhaps my earliest reincarnation; indeed I think it was the earliest. I had
been an angel previously, and I am expecting to be one again -- but at the
time I speak of I was different.The Simplifiers had risen in revolt against the hieroglyphics. An uncle of
Cadmus who was out of a job had come to Egypt and was trying to introduce the
Phoenician alphabet and get it adopted in place of the hieroglyphics. He was
challenged to show cause, and he did it to the best of his ability. The
exhibition and discussion took place in the temple of Astarte, and I was
present. So also was the Simplified Committee, with Croseus as foreman of
the Revolt -- not a large man physically but a Simplified Speller of
acknowledged ability. The Simplifiers were few; the Opposition were
multitudinous. The Khedive was the main backer of the Revolt, and this
magnified its strength and saved it from being insignificant. Among the
Simplifiers were many men of learning and distinction, mainly literary men
and members of college faculties; but all ranks and conditions of men and all
grades of intellect, erudition, and ignorance were represented in the
Opposition.As a rule the speeches on both sides were temperate and courteous, but now
and then the speaker weakened his argument with personalities, the Revolters
referring to the opposition as fossils, and the Opposition referring to the
Revolters as "those Cads", a smart epithet coined out of the name of uncle
Cadmus.Uncle Cadmus began with an object lesson, with chalk, on a couple of
blackboards. On one of them he drew in outlined a slender Egyptian in a
short skirt, with slim legs and an eagle's head in place of a proper head,
and he was carrying a couple of dinner pails, one in each hand. In front of
this figure he drew a toothed line like an excerpt from a saw; in front of
this he drew three skeleton birds of doubtful ornithological origin; in front
of these he drew a partly constructed house, with lean Egyptians fetching
materials in wheelbarrows to finish it with; next he put in some more
unclassified birds; then a large king, with carpenter's shavings for whiskers
and hair; next he put in another king jabbing a mongrel lion and with a
javelin; he followed this with a picture of a tower, with armed Egyptians
projecting out of the top of it and as crowded for room is the cork in a
bottle; he drew the opposing army below, fierce of aspect but much out of
drawing as regards perspective. They were shooting arrows at the men in the
tower, which was poor military judgment because they could have reached up
and pulled them out by the scruff of the neck. He followed these pictures
with line after line of birds and beasts and scraps of saw-teeth and bunches
of men in the customary short frock, some of them doing things, others
waiting for the umpire to call game; and finely his great blackboard was full
from top to bottom. Everybody recognized the invocation set forth by the
symbols: it was the Lord's Prayer.It had taken him 45 minutes to set it down. Then he stepped back to the
other blackboard and dashed off "Our Father which art in Heaven," and the
rest of it, in graceful Italian script, spelling the words the best he knew
how in those days, and finished it up into four minutes and half.It was rather impressive.
He made no comment at the time, but when to a fresh blackboard and wrote upon
it in hieroglyphics:"And at this time the King possessed of cavalry 214,580 in men and 222,631
horses for their use; of infantry 16,341 squadrons together with an emergency
reserve of all arms, consisting of 84,946 men, 321 elephants, 37,264
transportation carts, and 28,954 camels and dromedaries."It filled the board and cost him 26 minutes of time and labor and then he
repeated it on another blackboard in Italian script and Arabic numerals and
did it in two minutes and a quarter. Then he said:"My argument is before you. One of the objections to the hieroglyphics is
that it takes the brightest pupil nine years to get the forms and their
meanings by heart; it takes the average pupil sixteen years; it takes the
rest of the nation all their days to accomplish it -- it is a life sentence.
This cost of time is much too expensive. It could be employed more usefully
in other industries, and with better results."If you will renounce the hieroglyphics and adopt written words instead an
advantage will be gained. By you? No, not by you. You have spent your
lives in mastering the hieroglyphics and to you they are simple, and the
effect pleasant to the eye, and even beautiful. You are well along in life;
it would not be worth your while to acquire the new learning; the aspect of
it would be unpleasant to you; you will naturally cling with affection to the
pictured records which have become beautiful to you through habit and use,
and which are associated in your mind with the moving legends and tales of
our venerable past and the great deeds of our fathers, which they have placed
before you indestructibly engraved upon stone. But I appeal to you in behalf
of the generations which are to follow you, century after century, age after
age, cycle after cycle. I pray you consider them and be generous. Lift this
heavy burden from their backs. Do not send them toiling and moiling down to
the 20th-century still bearing it, still oppressed by it. Let your sons and
daughters adopt the word and the alphabet and go free. To the youngest of
them the hieroglyphics have no hallowed associations; words and the alphabet
will not offend their eyes; custom will quickly reconcile them to it, and
then they will prefer it -- if for no other reason, for the simple reason
that they will have had no experience of any method of communication
considered by others comelier or better. I pray you let the hieroglyphics
go, and thus save millions of years of useless time and labor to fifty
generations of posterity that are to follow you.
TWAIN ON SPELL REFORM
Uncle Cadmus sat down, and the Opposition rose and combated his reasonings in
the usual way. Those people said that they had always been used to the
hieroglyphics; that the hieroglyphics had dear and sacred associations for
them; that they loved to sit on a barrel under an umbrella in the brilliant
sun of Egypt and spell out the owls and the eagles and alligators and
saw-teeth, and take an hour and a half to the Lord's Prayer, and weep with
romantic emotion at the thought that they had, at most, but eight or ten
years between themselves and the grave for the enjoyment of this ecstasy; and
that then possibly those Revolters would shove the ancient signs and symbols
from the main track and equip the people with a lightning-express reformed
alphabet that would leave the hieroglyphics wheelbarrow a hundred thousand
miles behind and have not a damned association which could compel a tear,
even if the tears and diamonds stood at the same price in the market.
L I N K S
Twain on Staged Spelling Reform Local Spelling Fun
Twain on the Simplified Alphabet
Another Twain speech on simplified spelling
another source: http://marktwain.miningco.com/library/speeches/bl_spelling.htm
Lincoln's Gettysburg Adress
Riten in RES - Restored English Spelling - OGD
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Relative & Absolute links Spelling Links SiteMap-index Address Twain-on Simple Spelling Spelling Links Saxon-Spanglish Map-IPA Comments or Problems? Contact sbett@lycos.com Alt. notations Spelfun
