Non-phonetic english spelling

retrosorter filted:
[nq:1]English spelling is much less phonetic than other European languages such as Italian, German and Spanish. Why is this the case?[/nq]
England is a country on an island, and consequently has been invaded by people from many different lands in its history, each group of invaders bringing in its own spelling practices..r

[nq:1]English spelling is much less phonetic than other European languages such as Italian, German and Spanish. Why is this the case?[/nq]
It began as a phonetically spelled language, but the pronunciation of English changed rather dramatically (the Great Vowel Shift was one such change) and the spelling didn't keep up. Attempts at reform in the direction of a more phonetic spelling have had l

[nq:1]retrosorter filted:[/nq]
[nq:2]English spelling is much less phonetic than other European languages such as Italian, German and Spanish. Why is this the case?[/nq]
[nq:1]England is a country on an island, and consequently has been invaded by people from many different lands in its history, each group of invaders bringing in its own spelling practices..r[/nq]
Invaders? No, no the

[nq:1]English spelling is much less phonetic than other European languages such as Italian, German and Spanish. Why is this the case?[/nq]
Because printing got started in England in 1476, just as Middle English was finishing its sound change into Early Modern English (called the Great Vowel Shift). Before printing, spelling was phonetic, was meant to be read aloud, and was not standardized, mu

[nq:1]Then you have weird cases like "avoirdupois" which has a traditional English pronunciation, a newer French-influenced pronunciation, and which, when it was respelled by the etymological respellers had the original "de" replace with "du" (by an "ignorant 'improver'" as the OED2 puts it).[/nq]
Sometimes words have a traditional English pronunciation, a similar French pronunciation, and a F

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Mon, 13 Dec 2004 13:48:09 -0800: "Hagrinas Mivali" (Email Removed): in sci.lang:
[nq:1]Sometimes words have a traditional English pronunciation, a similar French pronunciation, and a French sounding pronunciation that nobody who knows ... with a long e sound, but more and more people are pronouncing with an "ay" ending for no apparent reason.[/nq]
And they pronounce the vowel of 'lin' as i

[nq:2]Sometimes words have a traditional English pronunciation, a similar French ... are pronouncing with an "ay" ending for no apparent reason.[/nq]
[nq:1]And they pronounce the vowel of 'lin' as in the French word for 'the year' (l'an), which is wrong.[/nq]
Lahngeray? Never heard it. Is this true?
P.

[nq:1]Lahngeray? Never heard it. Is this true?[/nq]
That's been the prevailing US pronunciation for as long as I can remember.

dg (domain=ccwebster)

[nq:1]Lahngeray? Never heard it. Is this true?[/nq]
"Lon-zher-ray" is what I mostly hear. Often with (A.n) replaced by nasalised (A.~) "because it's French", of course

John.