SR1

Spelling Reform 1 or Spelling Reform step 1 (more commonly known as SR1) is an English spelling reform proposal advocated by British/Australian linguist Harry Lindgren. It calls for the short /ɛ/ sound (as in bet) to always be spelt with E. For example, friend would become frend and head would become hed. SR1 was part of a 50-stage reform that Lindgren advocated in his book Spelling Reform: A New Approach (1969).

Spelling Reform 1 had some success in Australia. In 1975, the Australian Teachers' Federation adopted SR1 as a policy,^[1] although the Federation dissolved in 1987.^[2] However, there is no evidence outside this text that the system was "adopted widely" or indeed at all.

Examples:

/ɛ/ represented by a: any→eny
/ɛ/ represented by ai: said→sed
/ɛ/ represented by ea: ready→redy
/ɛ/ represented by ei: heifer→hefer
/ɛ/ represented by eo: jeopardy→jepardy
/ɛ/ represented by ie: friend→frend
/ɛ/ represented by u: bury→bery
/ɛ/ represented by ue: guess→gess

The following short poem is an example of SR1:

Draw a breth for progress,
Tred abrest ahed.
Fight agenst old spelling,
Better "red" than "read".
Spred the words at brekfast,
Mesure them in bed,
Dream of welth and tresure,
Better "ded" than "dead".^[3]

Stage 1

Using SR1 as a starting point, the Simplified Spelling Society (SSS) created a five-part reform proposal called Stage 1.^[4] The proposals were first printed in the November 1983 edition of the society's newsletter.^[4] In April 1984, they were adopted as the 'house style' of the SSS at its yearly meeting.^[4] The SSS said that the reforms could be used either together or individually (as a step-by-step change).^[5]

Their four extra proposals are:

DUE

DUE stands for "Drop Useless Es". This proposal would remove the letter E from words where it is unneeded or misleading. This would mean dropping the E at the end of have but not at the end of behave, because the E makes the A sound longer (see "magic e").

Thus: are→ar, were→wer, give→giv, have→hav, some→som, because→becaus, gauze→gauz, leave→leav, freeze→freez, sleeve→sleev, valley→vally, achieve→achiev, examine→examin, practise→practis, opposite→opposit, involve→involv, serve→serv, heart→hart.

ph

Change 'ph' to 'f' when it is sounded as /f/ .

Thus: photo→foto, telephone→telefone, physical→fysical.

augh

Shorten 'augh' to 'au' when it is sounded as /ɔː/.

Thus: caught→caut, fraught→fraut, daughter→dauter.

Change 'augh' to 'af' when the sound is /f/.

Thus: laugh→laf.

ough

Shorten 'ough' to 'u' when it is sounded as /u/.

Thus: through→thru.

Shorten 'ough' to 'o' when it is sounded as /əʊ/.

Thus: though→tho, although→altho (but doh for dough).

Shorten 'ough' to 'ou' when it is sounded as /aʊ/.

Thus: bough→bou, drought→drout, plough→plou.

Change 'ough' to 'au' when it is sounded as /ɔː/.

Thus: bought→baut, ought→aut, thought→thaut.

Change 'ough' to 'of' or 'uf' (depending on the pronunciation) when there is the sound /f/.

Thus: cough→cof, enough→enuf, tough→tuf.

References

Sources

Lindgren, Harry. Spelling Reform: A New Approach. Alpha Books, 1969.

Citations

^ "Spelling Reform 1 - And Nothing Else!"
^ Australian Teachers Federation (1937 - 1987). Australian Trade Union Archives.
^ The Simplified Spelling Society. Newsletter Winter 1982. Simplified Spelling Society.
^ ^a ^b ^c "The Society's 1984 Proposals". Journal of the Simplified Spelling Society (February 1988).
^ "Tough Though Thought - and we call it correct spelling!". Simplified Spelling Society (1986).

[1] "Spelling Reform 1 - And Nothing Else!"

[2] Australian Teachers Federation (1937 - 1987). Australian Trade Union Archives.

[3] The Simplified Spelling Society. Newsletter Winter 1982. Simplified Spelling Society.

[gibbs1-4] "The Society's 1984 Proposals". Journal of the Simplified Spelling Society (February 1988).

[5] "Tough Though Thought - and we call it correct spelling!". Simplified Spelling Society (1986).

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[2]

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[5]

Stage 1

See also

References