The English Spelling Society is an international organisation, based in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It was founded in 1908 as the Simplified Spelling Society. It primarily aims to raise awareness of problems caused by English spelling's irregularity and to improve

literacy Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

and reduce learning costs, including through the use of

spelling reform A spelling reform is a deliberate, often authoritatively sanctioned or mandated change to spelling rules. Proposals for such reform are fairly common, and over the years, many languages have undergone such reforms. Recent high-profile examples a ...

. The Society publishes leaflets, newsletters, journals, books, and bulletins. Its spokespeople feature regularly on TV, radio, and in print.

Structure

The Society is based in the

, but has a worldwide membership, including

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, the United States,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

.N. Paterson. The English Spelling Society, http://spellingsociety.org/about-us, accessed 20 Sep 2021. It is governed by a committee elected at its Annual General Meeting. The Society maintains links with the American Literacy Council, which has similar objectives.

Aims

The English Spelling Society primarily aims to make known the problems caused by English spelling's irregularity in an effort to improve

and reduce learning costs, including through the use of

. It also wishes to raise awareness of the

alphabetic principle According to the alphabetic principle, letters and combinations of letters are the symbols used to represent the speech sounds of a language based on systematic and predictable relationships between written letters, symbols, and spoken words. T ...

and its "corruption during the long history of written English" and to prepare a graded set of proposals for a more regular English orthography. The Society believes that both recent research and the continuing governmental concern about literacy rates in the

English-speaking world The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English language, English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the ...

strengthen its position. In particular, it points to evidence that

Anglophone The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the largest language ...

children have a harder time learning to read and

write Writing is the act of creating a persistent representation of language. A writing system includes a particular set of symbols called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every written language ...

than do

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

children. It also quotes evidence that

dyslexia Dyslexia (), previously known as word blindness, is a learning disability that affects either reading or writing. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, wri ...

is less of a problem in Italy and linguistically similar countries which have more

phonemic A phoneme () is any set of similar speech sounds that are perceptually regarded by the speakers of a language as a single basic sound—a smallest possible phonetic unit—that helps distinguish one word from another. All languages con ...

writing systems than English. Finally, it points to a recent study by the KPMG Foundation that estimates the total costs to the public purse till age 37 arising from failure to read in the primary school years at £1.73 billion to £2.05 billion a year.

Specific reform systems

As of September 2021, the Society has not endorsed any specific alternative English spelling system. However, through its "Personal View" series, it provides a forum for authors of alternative systems to publish their work and submit them to peer review. The forum includes resources for Simple-Fonetik and SoundSpel, among others. Its listed proposals vary in their recommendations from regularising only a few words to making English almost completely phonemically written. In the November 1983 edition of the Society's

newsletter A newsletter is a printed or electronic report containing news concerning the activities of a business or an organization that is sent to its members, customers, employees or other subscribers. Newsletters generally contain one main topic of ...

, it printed a five-part reform proposal called "Stage 1". One of these was Harry Lindgren's SR1 proposal."The Society's 1984 Proposals"
. ''Journal of the Simplified Spelling Society'' (February 1988). In April 1984, SR1 was adopted as the Society's house style at its yearly meeting. The Society said that the newsletter's proposed reforms could be used either together or individually (as a step-by-step change). In April 2021, Stephen Linstead's Traditional Spelling Revised (TSR) was approved by the International English Spelling Congress as the best alternative to

English Orthography English orthography comprises the set of rules used when writing the English language, allowing readers and writers to associate written graphemes with the sounds of spoken English, as well as other features of the language. English's orthograp ...

. The Society, sponsor of the Congress, is affording TSR a degree of support and publicity.

Spelling bee protests

Protesters from the Society have regularly taken good-humoured action against orthodox English spelling and its promotion (e.g. by demonstrating, most conspicuously in the form of 'BeeMan,' at the annual

Scripps National Spelling Bee The Scripps National Spelling Bee, formerly the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee and often referred to as the National Spelling Bee or simply “the Spelling Bee” in the United States, is an annual spelling bee held in the United States. ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Presidents

The Society has had 8 presidents to date since its creation in 1908. With the exception of the politician Sir James Pitman, all of the presidents have been academics.

Books

* ''Jolly Dictionary—''Sue Lloyd and Sara Wernham * ''Future of Fonics—''Isobel Raven * ''Spelling for the 21st century—''Sanford S. Silverman * ''Spelling Dearest (The Down and Dirty, Nitty-Gritty History of English Spelling)—''Niall McLeod Waldman * ''The Book of Spells & Misspells—''Valerie Yule * ''Lets End Our Literacy Crisis''—Bob C. Cleckler

References

External links

Spelling Society Home pageAmerican Literacy Council
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100626091721/http://www.barnsdle.demon.co.uk/spell/histsp.html , date=2010-06-26

Educational organisations based in the United Kingdom 1908 establishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1908 English-language spelling reform advocates