Saaspel lives!

Following yesterday's post about saaspel, it so happened that I started to read 'Reading in the Brain' by Stanislas Dehaene, who appears to be a Frenchman who writes in English, at least on this occasion.

He explains that there is rather more to changing the spelling of English than I had realised, observing, for example, that the various different spellings of homonyms - such as draft and draught - have an important function in facilitating the comprehension of written English. Even more so in Chinese, which is awash with the things. Also that US English, unlike UK English, is moving in the right direction, with that movement being accelerated by youth texting habits on telephones.

In support of further change & progress, he cites first the precedent of overnight alphabet & spelling change in Turkey in 1925 or so. Maybe spelling reform is not just the province of cranks. And second, the much reduced incidence of dyslexia and other reading problems in countries where they have sensible spelling.

The piece illustrated is alleged to be circulating somewhere in Brussels.