It has often been said that English spelling is chaotic and difficult for non-native (and even native) speakers to learn. It is true that you can look and quite a few sounds and see that they can be spelled in various ways--with little if any way to predict, from the aural sound, what the spelling should be. Here is an example, for the vowel sound in the word ear, represented by the phonetic symbol \ɚ\.
|
One common spelling of \iɚ\ |
Another, approximately as common |
Rarer spelling of this sound |
|
fear |
beer |
weir |
|
tear |
cheer |
mere |
|
clear |
leer |
|
|
hear |
deer |
|
|
near |
peer |
|
|
rear |
steer |
|
|
year |
veer |
|
|
sear |
|
|
|
smear |
|
|
There have been many calls for the reform of English spelling. There are as many reasons why no significant spelling reform has taken place. (The probably only notable exception is the reforms of Noah Webster--those which have made American spelling different from English spelling; e.g. color rather than colour, center rather than centre.)
I have often thought that there are small, isolated areas that could be made more regularized; but then I realize that a piecemeal effort at spelling reform is a bad idea.
