Spell It Out The Curious, Enthralling and Extraordinary Story of English Spelling

Name: Spell It Out The Curious, Enthralling and Extraordinary Story of English Spelling
Price: 3.6 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9781250003478

ISBN-10: 1250003474

ISBN-13: 9781250003478

Edition: 2013

Authors: David Crystal

List price: $22.99

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Description:

The second book from David Crystal, the author of The Story of English in 100 Words.

Book details

List price: $22.99
Copyright year: 2013
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication date: 6/18/2013
Binding: Hardcover
Pages: 336
Size: 6.00" wide x 8.50" long x 1.00" tall
Weight: 0.880
Language: English

David Crystalis a writer, lecturer, and broadcaster on language and linguistics.



Introduction



The nature of the problem


Pooh and his friends on spelling



The beginning



The size of the problem



Building the alphabet


Letter origins



The basic weaknesses


Hope for us all



Keeping things long


More than letters



Keeping things short


Spelling as tragedy



The first exceptions



Seeing the link


Forensic spelling



Know your Latin and French


Spelling as reputation



New letters for old



Old letters in new words


Tarzan learns to read



Old sounds in new positions


Spelling as stratagem



New sounds in old places



More exceptions


Avoiding the vulgar



Showing the difference


Charles Dickens and his characters reflect upon spelling



Noting the similarity


Silent letters



New sounds in old letters



A printer's practice


Mark Twain on spelling



The urge to reform


George Bernard Shaw on spelling



Remembering Latin



More etymologies


A word I always mispell



Famous spellings



Spelling 'rules'


Mrs Malaprop on reading and spelling



The role of personalities



Another personality



Printers and publishers


Spelling wars



Changing practices


Roger McGough on spelling



The Internet


Lower case only



Showing identity



Unpredictability


Ogden Nash on names



Exotic vowels


Disenvowelling



Exotic consonants


The spread of education



Spelling noises


Unspellable noises



Abbreviating



Learning the system


George Crabbe on learning



The future of English spelling


A teaching appendix



Avoiding isolation



Towards a linguistics of spelling


Further reading


Illustration credits


Index of words


General index