English Spelling Reform

If you could pull the 'r' sound out of "farther," it would sound like "father" to me.

Hard to say for farther and farthing, as the "r" sound complicates things, but I think maybe they'd be the same.

Rather, however, has a flatter "a" sound, like raft, cat, and band.

So, based on you including it in the question, can I assume that your pronounce rather like bother? (/me imagines a snooty rich person speaking with his nose up in the air)

For me, farther and farthing have the same vowel sound, which is slightly different from father, and all are significantly different from rather.

However, I just asked my wife, and not only does she think there is no difference, she doesn't even hear a difference when I say them.

I lived in Chicagoland for the first 12 years of my life. I was born in Waukegan matter-of-fact. When my kids used to kid me about my accent (and my mothers whose is really strong)
I couldn't figure out what they were talking about.

What is a farthing?

http://www.google.com/search?q=farthing&hl=en-US

No. For me, father and rather are alike, farther is very similar, and bother is quite different, along with cot and hot.

Collins Dictionary has American and British pronunciation guides:

American:
Hot = hɑt
Father = ˈfɑðər
Bother = ˈbɑðər
Note: SAME VOWEL SOUND FOR ALL THREE OF THESE (though they may not be pronounced the same in every American accent)
Rather = ˈræðər or ˈrɑðər

British:
Hot = hɒt
Father = ˈfɑːðə
Bother = ˈbɒðə
Rather = ˈrɑːðə

The difference between ɑ and ɒ is that ɒ is pronounced with the lips rounded.



The ɑ sound: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Open_back_unrounded_vowel.ogg
The ɒ sound: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Open_back_rounded_vowel.ogg

We had an interesting conversation on pronunciation one evening when a friend pronounced radiator with a short A. "RAD-ee-ay-tor" (rhymes with rat) as opposed to "RAY-dee-ay-tor." His girlfriend looked at him and ask if his "RAD-ee-ay-tor" RAD-ee-ay-ted heat, or RAY-dee-ay-ted heat. We're all from North Jersey, so apparently it's some kind of learned preference rather than a regional accent. I say RAY-dee-ay-tor myself.

This guy also pronounces sweater "sweather" He claims he picked that up from is Irish-born parents. Maybe that's where RADiator comes from too?

Interesting ideas! As an ESL teacher, this topic has often occurred to me.


Sent from my iPhone while driving

I can't imagine this would make spelling easier for anyone. Even if English isn't our first language.

I'm still working on the system and make mistakes, but I've found that it becomes natural pretty quickly. And, like I said, all the rules fit on one page.

English has more sounds than letters (by a lot), so any attempt to reform the spelling is either going to look a little strange, or retain many of the inconsistencies that make English spelling so difficult.

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CANNOT BE CONTROLLED OR UNDERSTOOD!!!

Many have tried, and they all failed miserably. Not only did they not accomplish their goal, their actions resulted in English becoming even more chaotic.

English will become more disordered, not less. My dark mistress Eris will see to that. ALL HAIL ERIS!

I mean, it's a mystery why English works this way. It certainly has nothing to do with any cults dedicated to the Greek goddess of disorder, and I am not the leader of such a cult.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE!