Monday, March 13, 2017
Well, not really self-organizing
The headline at RCS struck me as interesting: English Spelling Is More Organized Than Thought.
The article discusses convergence in spelling of suffixes, and postulates that spelling is 'self-organizing' because English has never been ruled by a central Academie.
We certainly have no evidence of such a conscious effort, even among grammarians. Instead, this is an instance of a system organizing itself.
I'll buy the convergence, but not itself.
This table shows convergence per century. Look at the last row. When did the convergence happen? After printing was well under way. Printing involved typesetters and proofreaders. Typesetters were organized in guilds from the start, which later turned into unions. As guild members matured through the journeyman stage, they were expected to move around and gain experience in different cities. Any printshop that deviated from the norm was pulled in by the journeymen serving as 'social media'.
Printed books were the biggest standardizing force. Most publishers were in London, so their dialectal variance was small to start with. Churches used the same Bible with the same spellings.
In America standardization was intentional and semi-official. Schools everywhere used the same spelling texts and dictionaries. Lexicographers tried hard to regularize spelling, and generally succeeded.
This table shows convergence per century. Look at the last row. When did the convergence happen? After printing was well under way. Printing involved typesetters and proofreaders. Typesetters were organized in guilds from the start, which later turned into unions. As guild members matured through the journeyman stage, they were expected to move around and gain experience in different cities. Any printshop that deviated from the norm was pulled in by the journeymen serving as 'social media'.
Printed books were the biggest standardizing force. Most publishers were in London, so their dialectal variance was small to start with. Churches used the same Bible with the same spellings.
In America standardization was intentional and semi-official. Schools everywhere used the same spelling texts and dictionaries. Lexicographers tried hard to regularize spelling, and generally succeeded.
Labels: Language update
¶ 3:40 PM
