In this study of the English language as it is spelled in America, D. W. Cummings demonstrates that behind the apparent disorder of spelling in American English lies a self-regulating and self-reorganizing system that is responsive to four kinds of imperative: phonetic, semantic, etymological, and systemic. Cummings offers a systematic theory of orthography and applies this theory to the American English vocabulary with numerous examples. Cummings also describes the explication of written words into their elements, particles, and processes, and he sets out the tactical and procedural rules that control the distribution and sequencing of vowels and consonants. In the largest section of the book, he provides an exhaustive description of the major and minor correspondences between the sounds of American English words and their spellings. An essential reference work, American English Spelling moves beyond questions of how words are spelled to an understanding of why they are spelled as they are.
D. W. Cummings is emeritus professor of English at Central Washington University. He can be contacted through his website, www.dwcummings.com.
Detailed Table of ContentsPrefaceNotes on UsagePart I: AnalysisChapter 1. Spelling as SystemChapter 2. The Explication of Written WordsPart II: TacticsChapter 3. Sequences and DistributionsChapter 4. String Patterns and RulesChapter 5. Suffix RulesChapter 6. VCV in DisyllablesChapter 7. The Third Syllable RulesPart III: ProceduresChapter 8. Silent Final e and Its Deletion RuleChapter 9. The Twinning RulesChapter 10. Assimilated PrefixesPart IV: CorrespondencesChapter 11. The Sounds and Letters of EnglishChapter 12. Short a, /a/Chapter 13. Short e, /e/Chapter 14. Short i, /i/Chapter 15. The Short o's, /ä/ and /ó/Chapter 16. High Short u, /ú/Chapter 17. Low Short u, /u/Chapter 18. Long a, /ā/Chapter 19. Long e, /ē/Chapter 20. Long i, /ī/Chapter 21. Long o, /ō/Chapter 22. The Simple Long u, /ū/Chapter 23. The Complex Long u, /yū/Chapter 24. The Diphthongs, /òi/ and /aú/Chapter 25. Vowels before /r/Chapter 26. The Front Stops: /b/, /p/, /d/, and /t/Chapter 27. The Velar Stops, /g/ and /k/Chapter 28. The Simple Fricatives /v/, /f/, /th/, /th/, and /h/Chapter 29. The Simple Fricatives /z/ and /s/Chapter 30. The Palatal Sibilants: /sh/, /ch/, /j/, and /zh/Chapter 31. The Nasals: /m/, /n/, and /n/Chapter 32. The Liquids, /l/ and /r/Chapter 33. The Semivowels, /w/ and /y/Chapter 34. ConclusionBibliographyIndex of WordsGeneral Index
"Until now we have had no work like this. In prose that is a pleasure to read, Cummings reveals order in a seemingly chaotic domain, an accomplishment that is surely the essence of humanistic and scientific scholarship."--Charles Read
