Spelling and Society: The Culture and Politics of Orthography Around the World

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Illustrations......Page 10
Maps......Page 11
Diagrams......Page 12
Tables......Page 13
Acknowledgements......Page 14
Note on transcription......Page 15
Some questions about spelling......Page 23
Orthography: whose concern?......Page 27
About this book......Page 31
1. Orthography and spelling......Page 32
2. Orthography as literacy......Page 34
3. 'Autonomous' and 'ideological' models of literacy......Page 36
4. The autonomous model of orthography: phonemics as science......Page 37
5. The learnability issue......Page 40
6. Orthography for what?......Page 45
7. Conclusion......Page 47
1. A social practice?......Page 48
2.1. Variation and social meaning......Page 54
2.2. Strategies for variation......Page 55
2.2.1. Using sound-symbol correspondences which are conventional for the language, but are the 'wrong' ones for the particular word......Page 56
2.2.3. Using single letters of the alphabet or non-alphabetic symbols, especially numbers, as substitutions for letter sequences......Page 59
2.2.4. Using archaic or pseudo-archaic spellings......Page 60
2.2.5. Language-external symbolism......Page 61
3.1. Orthographic regimes......Page 63
3.2. Focussed norms and standards......Page 68
4. Case study 1: the Spanish ......Page 70
5. Case study 2: the language of Ali G websites......Page 72
6. Conclusion......Page 78
1. The role of bilinguals in the development of orthographies......Page 80
2.1. The origins of the written Manx tradition......Page 83
2.2. The role of literacy practices in the development of the Manx orthography......Page 86
3.1. Introduction......Page 88
3.2. A short history of Sranan spelling......Page 89
3.3. Orthography as practice in Sranan today......Page 93
4. Linguists as mediators in orthography development......Page 95
5. 'Transitional orthography'......Page 98
6. Conclusions: 'colonial orthography?'......Page 101
1. Nationalism 'aided by a pyre'......Page 103
2. The Haitian orthographic debates......Page 106
3. Rejecting colonial orthographies: new developments in Sranan spelling......Page 109
4. A perfect (re)marriage: Malay and Indonesian......Page 113
5. Loanwords: Trojan horse or window on the world?......Page 117
6. Conclusion......Page 122
1. Introduction......Page 124
2.1. Problem 1: Representation of 'voices'......Page 125
2.2. Problem 2: transcription......Page 127
2.3. Problem 3: Invariance and Optionality......Page 129
2.4. Problem 4: Standardisation and dialect differentiation......Page 132
2.5. Problem 5: symbolic distance and the abstand-ausbau paradox......Page 134
3. Between Ausbau and Abstand: orthographic problems and solutions for Jamaican Creole......Page 140
4. The Galician 'war of orthographies'......Page 148
5. Conclusion......Page 152
1.1. Introduction......Page 154
1.2. An approach to description: Geerts et al. (1977)......Page 157
2. Discourses of reform......Page 160
2.1. Modernisation, globalisation and technology......Page 161
2.2. Discourses of belonging, unity and separation......Page 164
2.3. Cultural heritage: creation myths, history, permanence and decline......Page 165
2.4. Economic discourses......Page 170
2.5. Pedagogical discourses......Page 172
2.6. Prescription and optionality: the discourse of conformity......Page 174
3. Conclusion......Page 176
1. Hard spelling......Page 179
2.1. Identity......Page 182
2.2. Iconicity......Page 183
2.3. Interlinguality......Page 184
2.4. Authority......Page 185
3. The role of linguists......Page 187
4. So wot …?......Page 189
Glossary......Page 190
References......Page 194
General Index......Page 205
lndex of language names......Page 208
Index of surnames......Page 210