Postscript II — English spelling today: a summary

Abstract

An alphabetic system of writing is based on the principle that each of the constituent sounds, or phonemes, of the language is represented visually by a sign, a ‘graphic shape’, in the form of a letter. Individuals pronounce the phonemes differently, but sufficiently similarly for there to be no confusion, just as the individual handwriting or the printed typefaces of a letter can be different, but ‘the same letter’. An alphabetic system of writing is therefore phonemic in principle and ideally should have one letter for each sound. English uses the Roman alphabet, which was originally devised over 2000 years ago for the writing of Latin.