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Cut Spelling

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'''Cut Spelling''' is a system of English-language spelling reform which reduces redundant letters and makes substitutions to improve correspondence with the spoken word. It was designed by Christopher Upward and was for a time being popularized by the Simplified Spelling Society. It was never, however the official proposal of the society which for a long time has avoided endorsing one particular proposal and the society has put much less emphasis on it recently. Unlike some other proposed reforms, Cut Spelling does not attempt to make English spelling phonemic, but merely attempts to remove many of the unneeded difficulties of the current spelling. Cut Spelling differs from "traditional orthography" mainly in removing letters from words and makes relatively few substitutions of letters compared with other proposed reforms. According to its designers, this allows readers accustomed to traditional orthography to get used to Cut Spelling fairly quickly and easily, while still giving learners of the language a much-simplified and more systematic spelling system. Cut Spelling operates under three main substitution rules to transform traditional spellings into cut spellings: # Letters irrelevant to pronunciation. This rule deletes most silent letters, except when these letters (such as "magic e") help indicate the word's pronunciation. Silent letters can be the most difficult part of learning the current spelling, and omitting or writing the wrong silent letters are common errors. Examples: ''peace'' → ''pece'', ''except'' → ''exept'', ''plaque'' → ''plaq'', ''blood'' → ''blod'', ''pitch'' → ''pich''. # Cutting unstressed vowels. In unstressed syllables, English usually contains the vowel schwa {{IPA|/ə/}}, which has no standard spelling, but can be represented by any vowel letter. Writing the wrong letter in these syllables is a common error (for example, the incorrect spelling ''seperate'' seems almost as common as the correct ''separate''). Cut Spelling eliminates these vowel letters completely before approximants ({{IPA|/l/}} and {{IPA|/r/}}) and nasals ({{IPA|/m/}}, {{IPA|/n/}}, and {{IPA|/ŋ/}}). In addition, some vowel letters are dropped in suffixes, reducing the confusion between ''-able'' and ''-ible''. Examples: ''symbol'' → ''symbl'', ''victim'' → ''victm'', ''lemon'' → ''lemn'', ''glamour'' → ''glamr'', ''permanent'' → ''permnnt'', ''waited'' → ''waitd'', ''churches'' → ''churchs'', ''warmest'' → ''warmst'', ''edible'' → ''edbl''. # Simplifying doubled consonants. This rule helps with another of the most common spelling errors: failing to double letters (''accommodate'' and ''committee'' are often misspelled) or introducing erroneously doubled letters. Cut Spelling does not eliminate all doubled letters: in some words (especially two-syllable words) the doubled consonant letter is needed to differentiate from another differently pronounced word (e.g., ''holly'' and ''holy''). Examples: ''innate'' → ''inate'', ''spell'' → ''spel''. The Cut Spelling system also uses three substitution rules: # The digraphs ''gh'' and ''ph'' become ''f'' when pronounced {{IPA|/f/}}. Examples: ''draught'' → ''draft'', ''sulphur'' → ''sulfr'', ''photograph'' → ''fotograf''. # The letter ''g'' is changed to ''j'' when pronounced {{IPA|/dʒ/}} or {{IPA|/ʒ/}}. Examples: ''judge'' → ''juj'', ''rouge'' → ''ruje''. # The combinations ''ig'' and ''igh'' are changed to ''y'' when pronounced {{IPA|/aɪ/}}. Examples: ''flight'' → ''flyt'', ''sign'' → ''syn''.

Example text
''Th Space Race was th competition between th United States and th Soviet Union, rufly from 1957 to 1975. It involvd th efrts by each of these nations to explor outr space with satlites, to be th 1st to send there a human being and to send mand and unmand missions on th Moon with a safe return of th humans to Erth.'' ''Tho its roots lie in erly roket tecnolojy and in th intrnationl tensions foloing World War II, th Space Race efectivly began with th soviet launch of Sputnik 1 on 4 october 1957. Th term orijnated as an analojy to th arms race. Th Space Race became an importnt part of th cultrl and tecnolojicl rivalry between th USSR and th U.S. during th Cold War. Space tecnolojy became a particulrly importnt arena in this conflict, both because of its militry aplications and du to th sycolojicl benefit of rasing morale.'' ''Rokets hav intrestd sientists and amatrs for at least 2,100 years, and Blak Chinese soldirs used them as wepns as erly as th 11th century. Russian sientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky theorized in th 1880s on multi-staje, liquid fuel rokets which myt reach space, but only in 1926 did th americn Robert Goddard desyn a practicl liquid-fuel roket.'' ''Goddard performd his work on roketry in obscurity, as th sientific comunity, th public, and even ''Th New York Times'' scofd at him. It took World War II to catapult roketry into notoriety. This proved a harbnjr for th futur, as any "space race" wud becom inextricbly linkd to militry ambitions of th cuntris involvd, despite its mostly sientific caractr and peceful retric.'' ''In th mid-1920s, jermn sientists had begun experimntng with rokets which used liquid propelnts capabl of reachng relatively hy altitudes and distnces. In 1932, th Reichswehr, predecesr of th Wehrmacht, took an interest in roketry for long-ranje artilry fire. Wernher von Braun, an aspiring roket sientist, joind th efort and developd such wepns for use in World War II by Nazi Jermny.'' ''Th jermn A-4 Roket, launchd in 1942, became th 1st such projectl to reach space. In 1943, Jermny began production of its succesr, th V-2 roket, with a ranje of 300 km (185 miles) and carrying a 1000 kg (2200 lb) warhed. Th Wehrmacht fired thousnds of V-2s at Allyd nations, causing massiv damaj and loss of life. Th damaj, howevr, was not as gret as a simlrly weitd conventionl bom because th V-2 warhed lakd a good detnation device. Because of the hy speed of th V-2, th warhed tendd to explode aftr it had burid itself sevrl feet in th ground, reducing th potential damaj.'' ''At th end of th war, competing soviet, british, and U.S. militry and sientific crews raced to captur tecnolojy and traind persnel from th jermn roket program instlation at Peenemünde. Th USSR and Britn had some success, but th United States benefitd most, taking a larj numbr of jermn roket sientists – many of them membrs of th Nazi Party, including von Braun – from Jermny to th United States as part of Opration Paperclip. Ther sientists adaptd th rokets intendd for use against Britn to othr uses.'' ''Aftr th war, sientists used rokets to study hy-altitude conditions (via radio-telemetry of tempratur and pressur of th atmosfere), cosmic rays, and othr topics. This continued undr von Braun and his coleges, ho became part of th U.S. sientific complex.''

External links

- http://www.spellingsociety.org/aboutsss/leaflets/cutspelhb.php Cut Spelling Handbook
- CUT SPELLING: A Streamlined Writing System for English Category: English spelling reform

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