Actually I did know the facts that you include but thought it might be interesting for the web site viewers to learn how our spelling came about so am posting it.

I am guessing, by what you say and how you seem to think that you have been diagnosed and helped by the Ron Davies system. The dyslexics I teach are not like his dyslexics. He is actually more of an Asperges Syndrome person and they learn in a very different way to the conventional dyslexic identified by centres all over the world.

Most Centres consider true dyslexics to be people who cannot recall or visualize the look of a word. These people learn to spell by the use of phonics. They have to work out how to spell every word and therefore have a lot of problems with words that do not obey the phonic rules.

More importantly they consider themselves to be stupid and many have been told so, because they cannot spell words like “right” and “once”, which should be spelt, according to the basic rules of spelling. as “rite” and “wuns”. By calling such words “stupid words” I am saying that it is the words that are stupid rather than the kid. This helps to raise their self esteem and makes them laugh at the spelling rather than worrying about it.
cheers
dawn

i do however have some concerns with the supposed problems or rather “stupiditys” of the english language, as you have deemed them. I do not study english as a specific subject and wouldn’t dream to suggest that i am an authority on our language but beleave i could offer some insight if not just personal oppinion on this matter.

Firstly i beleave english to be a beautiful, emotive, patchwork language allowing us to express ourselves and communicate in a multitude of ways. Drawing from the many languages of our countrys history. Latin, Saxon and French to name but a few, it is this depth to our language that gives us such a rich choice of words where as in other languages you may only have the choice of one. A comparison may be made to an artist using paint, with just one tone of blue in his pallet painting the ocean would be a dull afare but with an array of shades and tones the final result is far more impressive. An example of this in the english language is the variety of words we have to describe a “small” object . tiny.petite.little.minuscle.minute…..but i am wondering from my original concerns and shall return.

1. your use of the word “stupid” to describe some words confuses me. For a word it’s self carnt be stupid, can it?. a word can be used stupidly or have stupid conatations or even sound stupid but not its self be stupid. Its origins or construction may appear stupid but the word itself can not be. e.g a maths equation that reads 5+5=11 is a “stupid” equation but the number 5 itself isn’t stupid or the problem rather the method that lead to the incorrect answer.

2.”sore” “saw” and “saw” as far as i am aware the existance of homonyms is a logical process. two words that sound the same but are spelt differnetly or spelt the same and sound the same come into existance to through the evolution of a language. Those that sound the same but are spelt differently tend to have different historical back grounds or are spelt differently to allow the reader to identify them without having to use the context of the passage. Thoses that sound and are spelt identical to each other come from those words having been used for such a period of time that everyone is aware of their identical properties and so if they are ever confused the user looks for the context in which the word is being used to find its meaning.

3.”sure” this stems from the human abiltity to create vocal sounds. if you look at differnet languages you will notices they differ hugely in how they are pronounced/sound. In comparision to english some languages are of a far higher pitch (asian), some much lower (dutch) others use far more clicking sounds (african) whilst others seem to rasp (arabic). This is all stems back to their individual origins, but as far as english is concerned there is a limited combination of sounds that amount to language this means that we can spell more words than we can sound. It is easyier to visable identify a single letter change in word than a slight vocal difference in the proˌnunciˈation of a word. In order to have unified vocal language that can be identified as either being spoken correctly or wrongly there is a limited number of sounds that can be used.

4.”night” If you pronounce this word correctly it doesnt sound the same as how you would pronounce “nite” although it would sound very simular. I am unable to offer a logical explaination as to the construction of this word but asure you that it is pronouced differnetly. The use of “ght” instead of “te” extrends the proˌnunciˈation of the word if only by a fraction of a second. As for the word “knight” i would love to know who you refer to as “they” when questioning the placing of the letter K infrount of the word night as this is not the case. The origins of this particular word has been dicovered as relates to the colouful history of our language. It derives from a melding of the old english word “cniht” which meant boy or servant and the german word “Knecht ” which meant servant or bondsman. With this in mind the existance of the letter K in the word knight if far more understandable.

5.”once” this again relates to the history of our language and the proˌnunciˈation of words. The concept of the numeral digit 1 (one) has been around for a very long time and the word once relates to the idea of a beginning or start very simalar to the caracteristics of the number 1. The adding of a letter or letters to a word to give it new meaning is a very old but also a very simple an logical idea. In doing so a new word and meaning is created out of an old word people already recognize and understand with very little being done to the recognizable proˌnunciˈation of that word. Reducing the effort needed to learn that word, keeping in mind that for the prodominate part of any languages history the vast majority of people have spoken and language but not read or wrote it.

6.“though”, “through” and “thought”. Again to describe these words as stupid is to do the very word stupid an injustice. Those silent “g”s and “h”s are again due to combination of other languages into the english language through out history, as in the word knight. As for the different sounding “ough” s in these words this is directly related to those silent “G”s and “H”s the best way to explain this is to use math once again.
1+1+1=3 but if u place a 2 in the equation you get something differnt 1+1+1+2=5 same equation with a single difference gives you a different result.

7. “minute” and “minute” this to me is the most unreasonable or your “stupid” word list, this is beacuse the reason for the existance of these words is down to two hugely important factors of the english language. The combination of differnt languges into enlglish throughout history and the importance of correct proˌnunciˈation. “minute” in reference to size is directly related to “minute” in refernce to time. “minute” in refernce to size is taken from the latin and then later french refernce to something very small or of small stature this and its meaning then was then applied to a measuement of time which we all know as a “minute”. They are both very simular and very differnt words. Simular in contextual meaning but very different as far as verbal proˌnunciˈation goes. this however is the beauty of the english language not only do words have historical context and signifacance but becayse of proper proˌnunciˈation management and education we have a word for the measurement of time and another wonderful descriptive word for somethings size !

Please dont take this comment as an attack or as being negative, (although it may seem it at times) i have written this beacuse i have had and do have many problems with my dyslexia but have found the best way to deal with it is to explore the english language, youll be amazed at what you find. to the person who put this list together i congradulate and wish you every success in helping those you teach with their dyslexia your helping people reach their true potential and to those that have dyslexia dont see it as a burden or disabilty, its just one of lifes many challenges and what makes you, you.
And remeber Albert Einstein had dyslexia so if he can do what he did immagine what we can do !!!

1 in “though” it is sounded as an “O”

read the last line, a Four Foot box, a Foot For every year

I wonder if you and your older students (14+) might enjoy Louisa Cook Moats’ Speech to Print: Language Essentials for Teachers. I’m having my 18 yo dyslexic daughter work through it. It’s giving her a clearer view.

Speech to Print
ISBN 1-55766-387-4
Paperback
304 pages / 7 x 10
2000 / $29.95