The Daily News WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1926. ALPHABET REVISION.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 December 1926, Page 8

The Daily News WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1926. ALPHABET REVISION.

A proposal to revise the English alphabet is an idea whieh might well be expected to emanate from an American source. Already the spelling of many words in our language has been Americanised on phonetieal lines, which, however, do not find favour in the birthplace of the language. It may be recalled that it was not until five hundred years after the language of the Anglo-Saxons had become as prevalent in the Old Country as modern English is to-day that the English-speak-ing tongue became current in the United States. A Harvard professor (Godfrey Dewey) has now arisen to give a further American impress on our language by revising the alphabet to a system of twenty-four consonants, thirteen vowels, four diphthongs, and a symbol for the word “the.” His dominant reason is one that will surely appeal to money-making Americans, it being that his scheme will save a million dollars yearly, as fewer symbols would be required to express thoughts, and millions of tons less paper would be necessary, while books and newspapers would be smaller and lighter, with a consequent saving of time and labour. The professor does not disclose how he arrives at his estimate of the billion dollars which he claims will be effected if his proposal is adopted. It would certainly be interesting, and probably amusing, to examine the details of such an estimate. There is a quaint conceit in the idea of reforming an alphabet that has stood the test of many centuries. The English alphabet, like most of those of modern Enrdpe, is derived directly from the Latin,

tfvhich. was taken from the ancient Greek, the latter being taken from the Phoenician, whieh again is believed to have had its origin in the Egyptian hieroglyphics. the Hebrew alphabet having the same origin. The Greek alphabet originally possessed only sixteen letters, though the Phoenician had twenty-two. The original Latin alphabet, as it is found in the oldest inscriptions, consisted of twenty-one letters. The Anglo-Saxon alphabet was wanting in the letters j, v, y, z. It has to be admitted that the English alphabet is not the most perfect instrument for what it has to perform, being both defective and redundant, but it has been laid down that an alphabet is not essential to the writing of a language, since ideograms or symbols may be used instead, as iu Chinese. Does Professor Dewey contemplate resorting to the use of symbols? If so, he will certainly fail to make headway with his revision scheme. Whether the cabled message accurately represents his views has, of course, to be taken into account. At any rate, his proposal appears’to be in

the nature of a fad. Assuming the idea materialised in the United States, there is not the remotest chance of its reducing the size of books or newspapers, nor of effecting the saving of the large amount estimated. Americans have little, if any, veneration for anything that is venerable, or has a long pedigree, so it is not surprising to find the revision advocated of an alphabet that dates back to the age of Egyptian hieroglyfics. On that alphabet has been built up a literature which is deemed oue of the richest in the world, and to an Englishman the most suggestive. It is the literature of a language whieh has been pronounced as one of the noblest, a language with which none of our day can compete. It is the literature of a people whieh combines, as can no other in Europe, the quality of the Gothic and Romance minds; the literature of a people taught to think and act freely, nor is there any literature which better illustrates the great principles that underlie all true progress and tend to promote it. Apparently Professor Dewey would have us sell our glorious heritage for a mess of potage. The present alphabet has served its purpose well; therefore, let it not be tinkered with, even to save money.