Silent English alphabet
A silent English alphabet is a list of English words, each containing a silent letter from A to Z. The term was coined by the linguist John Higgins who produced an early version of such a list in 1983.[1]
There are many reasons why English spelling has such a high usage of silent letters. English has been borrowing words when needed from more than 350 other languages.[2] Some of those words had sounds not used in English, and the spelling was not always adapted to reflect this. An example is the sometimes-silent "t" in tsunami.
After the Norman conquest, the English vocabulary has been heavily influenced by French, which itself contains a large number of silent letters. A more recent addition is rendezvous, from the French "rendez vous" with silent letters at the end of each word. Also, when William Caxton and others brought printing press technology to England from continental Europe, they brought spelling preferences with them which were widely disseminated. An example is the silent "h" in ghost.[3]
English spelling is mostly based on the norms of the 15th century[2] when the printing press arrived. It was further stabilized when A Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1755. Despite the increasing consensus on spelling, the pronunciation of English words has drifted for 500 years. Sometimes this resulted in unpronounced letters, such as the "k" in knot, and the "gh" in thought.[3]
Attempts have been made to simplify the spelling of English words, but these were largely unsuccessful. One reason is that there is no centralized body regulating the English language, unlike those governing French, Italian, and German. Another reason is that the English language spread to the various colonies where the pronunciations drifted apart. After that point, no single spelling based on pronunciation would represent all the colonist's speech.[2] (Noah Webster had some success simplifying the spelling used in the US.)[2][4]
As a result of these and other factors, all 26 letters of the English alphabet appear as silent letters in some words, although a word with a silent "v" is challenging to identify.
The following list is based on US spellings and pronunciations,[5] with the exception of fivepence.
List of English words with silent letters[edit]
A: bread
B: debt
C: indict
D: Wednesday, handkerchief[6]
E: give
F: fifth, arfvedsonite[7]
G: phlegm
H: honor
I: business
J: marijuana
K: knee
L: talk
M: mnemonic
N: autumn
O: leopard
P: receipt
Q: lacquer
S: island
T: listen
U: tongue
V: Milngavie (Scottish town),[10] fivepence[11]
W: answer
X: faux
Z: rendezvous
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ Higgins, John (1983-01-01), "Silent English" (PDF), ELT Journal (letter), Oxford University Press (published 1983-10-01), 37 (4): 351, retrieved 2018-12-19
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 English language. (2010). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved December 19, 2018, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/188048/English-language
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Khansir, Ali Akbar; Tajeri, Mojtaba (Dec 2015), "The Relationship between Spelling and Pronunciation in English Language" (PDF), Language in India, 15 (12): 66
- ↑ Graham, Elyse (2018-05-07). "Noah Webster, American identity, and the simplified spelling movement". Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2018-12-19.
- ↑ "Every Letter Is Silent, Sometimes". Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. Retrieved 2018-12-19.
- ↑ "handkerchief". Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 2018-12-19.
US IPA: /ˈhæŋ·kər·tʃəf, -tʃɪf, -ˌtʃif/
- ↑ "arfvedsonite". Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. Retrieved 2018-12-19.
\ˈävə̇dsəˌnīt\
- ↑ "dossier". Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. Retrieved 2018-12-19.
\ˈdȯs-ˌyā,ˈdäs-;ˈdȯ-sē-ˌā, ˈdä-\
- ↑ "dossier". Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 2018-12-19.
US IPA:/ˈdɑː.si.eɪ/
- ↑ "Scots Pronunciation Guide". D.C. Thomson & Co. Retrieved 2018-12-20.
Milngavie is “Mull-guy”
- ↑ "fivepence". Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. Retrieved 2018-12-19.
\British ˈfīvpən(t)s or ˈfī(f)pə- or ˈfipə-, US " or -īvˌpen-\
- ↑ "key". Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. Retrieved 2018-12-19.
\ˈkē\
- ↑ "key". Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 2018-12-19.
US IPA:/ki/
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