Re: thought experiment

Ken Goodman (kgoodman who-is-at u.arizona.edu)
Mon, 20 Sep 1999 08:14:04 -0700

The most successful spelling reform ever, that I am aware of, took place
in the United States and was led by Noah Webster. When he published his
American English dictionary he deliberately established American
spellings of many words: center, labor, jewelry to provide just a few
examples. Thus was born the difference between the spelling conventions
of England and the US. Two factors led to the success of his reform. One
was the support of leading American intellectuals of the time who
wanted an American literature that was easy to differentiate from the
British. The other was an effort of Webster's far more influential in
the change than his dictionary. WHat became the dominate text in the
teaching of reading and writing for the middle decades of 19th century,
his school text series, commonly called Webster's Blue backed spellers.
He incorporated into these books a system of teaching reading and
writing that started with spelling each word taught. And of course the
spelling conventions were those of his dictionary.

Ken Goodman