Why has the RAE not corrected the spelling of certain words? For example, 'advocate' is 'abogado' instead of 'avogado' when it comes from the Latin 'advocatus'. 'B' and 'V' are pronounced the same in Spanish so there is no phonetic reason.
During the evolution of Spanish, in the period where it lost the distinction between 'b' and 'v', words etymologically containing b/p/v/u were usually spelled as they were pronounced, i.e. 'b' for [b] and 'v/u' for [β]:cantava, cavallo, (h)aver/auer, seruirboca, bueno, lobo (< lupus), abeja (< apicŭla)However, in the 18th century the RAE instigated some spelling reforms to make such words closer match their etymological roots, which is why there is such etymological regularity today.Some words managed to escape this reformation and maintained their 'as pronounced' spellings, due to popular use, oversight, or erroneous etymology:basura < vassura < versūram (initial [β] became [b] in the 15th century)avanzar < abanzar/avanzar < *abantiāreaverío < haberío (influence of ave)In the evolution from Latin to Spanish, the 'db' in ad + b... words was mostly simplified to 'b':abajar < abaxar < adbassioabrazar < *adbracchiōHowever, in some ad + v.../u... words the 'dv' was simplified to a mix of 'v' and 'b':avezar/abezar < *advitioaviltar/abiltar < *vilĭtasabogar/avocar < advocoAbogado just happens to be one of these words that had enough popular currency to avoid being reformed.Source: ¿Por qué "abogado" se escribe con "b" si viene del latín "advocātus"?
Why are there differences in spelling of certain words between American English and British English?
I have two different answers.The pronunciation differences are part of the normal process of change in language. Starting in 1607, English speakers from the British Isles began settling in what is now the eastern United States. So there were now two geographic areas where English was spoken, separated by an ocean. At first, the colonists’ English was just like that of their hometown neighbors back in Britain or Ireland.But language naturally changes over time, pronunciation in particular. English changed both in Europe and North America, but in different ways in each place, producing two different dialects of the language. (Here is one difference. I learned from a Quora answer that the characteristic “R-less” way of speaking in parts of England did not exist when English people began migrating to America. That is a change that happened later in England but not in America .)Spelling is a different story. That was a deliberate change. An influential lexicographer named Noah Webster had his own ideas about spelling reform. He popularized alternate spellings that he thought were closer to the way words were pronounced. He wrote a dictionary, and textbooks including a spelling book and a reader. These were used in schools for generations—that is why his spelling reforms stuck, and became the American way of doing things.
How come Jews have multiple spellings of certain words (In particular, that use a Geresh)?
In answer to the question: How come Jews have multiple spellings of certain words (In particular, that use a Geresh)?If the reference is to why are there multiple spellings of words such as Hanukkah / Chanukkah, or Rosh Hashanah / Rosh Hashanna, etc., the answer is that there is no universally agreed method of transliterating Hebrew into English.This is because Hebrew has certain letters which don’t exist in English, so must be approximated phonetically. The problem with this approach is that—since there are multiple ways of writing Hebrew names and words (the name חיים, for example, can be spelt Haim, Chaim, Hayim, or Chayim)—the correct spelling is unpredictable.This makes the dissemination of information very difficult. When Samuel Johnson published the first definitive Dictionary of the English Language in the mid 18th century, his first task was to standardise the spelling of all the words, since until that time, everyone pretty much spelled things as they saw fit.The lack of a standardised method of representing Hebrew in plain English characters (without fancy dots or diacritics) means that Hebrew URLs are a major problem: since it’s unclear how their name should be written in plain English characters, major Israeli institutions or brands have had to resort to—abbreviations of their names—e.g.Dapei-Zahav [Yellow Pages] = d.co.ilor translate it—e.g.Encyclopedia Miqra’it = Encyclopedia BiblicaYediot haḤevrah Le ḥaqirat Eretz-Yisrael veAtiqotehah = Bulletin of the Jewish Palestine Exploration Society)or a combination of translation and abbreviation—e.g.Prime Minister’s Office: pmo.gov.ilMinistry of Foreign Affairs: mfa.gov.ilor invent an entirely new name for the purpose—e.g.: the newspapersYediot Aharonot = ynet.co.ilMa’ariv = nrg.co.ilA second problem with phonetic renditions is the loss of information—specifically, critical distinctions between characters which in Hebrew are distinct, but phonetically look like homophones.SimHebrew™ offers a simple solution to this problem, but has yet to be be adopted widely.
Do you sometimes spell out certain words in front of your kids?
LOL, daily. I did this just last night while we were having dinner. It was B-I-K-E while asking my hubby if he thought I should order the Packers one for Christmas. My grandparents used to speak in Czech when they didn't want us to know what they were saying, it drove me crazy!!!!
OCD??I spell out certain word that i hear, with my toes (as if Im typing on a keyboard with my feet)?
Everytime I hear certain words from people speaking on tv or when talking to people (usually when my feet are bare), a word will attract me and I must spell it out with my toes. And if I don't spell the word enough times than I feel anxiety and I must redo it the correct number of times and than I feel relieved. It keeps me up at night, because I think of past/recent problems I've had, conversations I had with ppl and than a word that I said in my mind catches me and I have to spell it repeatedly until the anxiety is gone and I feel relieved. Than I gotta just ignore the thoughts going through my mind in order to get to sleep.
Why are certain words in Asian languages spelled oddly in the english alphabet?
It's because this is a Romanisation system for Latin transliteration in general, not English-specific transliteration, which is actually much more accurate and far more convenient to the hundreds of other languages that use Latin. Much more accurate because English simply cannot distinguish amongst the various phonemes, so writing the four distinct types of "ch" sounds, for instance, with the only English equivalent would be worthless to trying to figure out the meaning (imagine if the English "ch"/"j"/"sh/s" sounds were written with the same letter. "chin/shin/gin/sin" would be indistinguishable). This transliteration method uses all the Latin letters (except V, although some people even use that to represent the "Ü") to represent every Chinese phoneme without any confusion. As I mentioned before, there are four different "ch" sounds: a pair of palatals, and a pair of retroflex, each pair coming in the aspirated and unaspirated variety. Regular palatal is "j", and aspirated palatal is "q", while the retroflex counterpart is "zh" and "ch". And there's even the regular fricative version of both of these sounds ("sh"): "x" and "sh" (although thankfully no aspirated distinctions). As for Nguyen, they actually do pronounce all of those sounds. Starting with the velar nasal ("ng"), which is both labialized and palatalized by the "U" and the "Y" respectively. The "E" is the only vowel in that word. It's hard for an English speaker to detect, let alone pronounce all those sounds, but rest assured that there is a purpose for their orthography, it's just based on phonology that is hard to detect and reproduce by many Westerners. And unlike Pinyin (the Chinese romanisation system), the Vietnamese writing system IS their writing system.
Repeatedly spelling words out in my head?
When certain words stick out to me in sentences I spell them over and over again in my head. It's usually the same couple of words, can't remember them specifically right now. Does anyone else do this? Is this normal?
How do you spell this word?
This is probably going to be hard to ask. But I'm trying to figure out how to spell a certain word so i can google more info on it. I think it might be spelled cerriouses. But it's obviously wrong and I can find a spell check that even knows what I'm trying to spell. But it's something my boyfriend has. I thought it was dandruff when I first saw it. But he named what it is (the word I don't know how to spell). But he says it's painfull and it makes your skin dry and scaly, but it's only where his hair is. So if any one know what I'm even asking about, please help me with the spelling. And if you know any way to help with treating it that would be an awesome too.