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

211 Pages·2007·1.76 MB·English

by  Mark Sebba

This page intentionally left blank
Spelling and society
Spellingmatters to people. In America and Britain, everyday members of
the public write to the media on spelling issues, and take part in spelling
contests. In Germany, a reform of the spelling system has provoked a
constitutionalcrisis;inGalicia,a‘waroforthographies’parallelsanintense
public debate on national identity; on walls, bridges and trains globally,
PUNX and ANARKISTS proclaim their identities orthographically. The
waywespelloftenrepresentsanattempttoidentifywith,ordissociatefrom,
other languages (as in the spelling of some languages of previously
colonisedpeoples),orothergroupsofspeakersofourownlanguage(asin
the spelling of young people and subcultural groups). In Spelling and
society, Mark Sebba explores why matters of orthography are of real
concern to so many groups as a reflection of culture, history and social
practices, andas apowerful symbol ofnational or localidentity.
mark sebba Reader in Sociolinguistics and Language Contact in the
Department ofLinguistics and EnglishLanguageatLancaster University.

Spelling and society
The culture and politics of orthography
around the world
Mark Sebba
CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
TheEdinburghBuilding,CambridgeCB28RU,UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521848459
©MarkSebba2007
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexceptionandtotheprovisionof
relevantcollectivelicensingagreements,noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplace
withoutthewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublishedinprintformat 2007
ISBN-13 978-0-511-27369-8 eBook(EBL)
ISBN-10 0-511-27369-X eBook(EBL)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-84845-9 hardback
ISBN-10 0-521-84845-8 hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyofurls
forexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication,anddoesnot
guaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
For Charlotte Li-Zhe and Matthew Sing

Contents
Illustrations page viii
Maps ix
Diagrams x
Tables xi
Acknowledgements xii
Note on transcription xiii
Introduction: society and orthography 1
1 Approaching orthography 10
2 Orthography as social practice 26
3 Language contact, linguists and the emergence of orthographies 58
4 ‘Postcolonial’ Orthographies 81
5 Between language and dialect: orthography in
unstandardised and standardising vernaculars 102
6 Reform or revolution: where angels fear to tread 132
7 Why do we spell? 157
Glossary 168
References 172
General index 183
Index of language names 186
Index of surnames 188
vii
Illustrations
0.1 Bus shelter, Lancaster, 1997 page 1
0.2 Telephone booth in Manchester, 1996 2
0.3 Wall in Ripoll, Spain (1997) 4
2.1 Graffiti at a Dublin bus stop (1999) 35
2.2 Graffiti on a wall in Lancaster (1999) 35
2.3 Graffiti from a bench in York (2003) 36
2.4 Graffiti on a wall near a beach in North Wales (2002) 36
2.5 Graffiti ‘‘Wedding Fayre’’ 39
2.6 ‘‘Mature Tymes’’ – an archaic spelling of Times used to
suggest age 39
2.7 Graffiti from Hong Kong (2001) Photo: Sally Johnson 41
2.8 Graffiti from Guangzhou, China (2001): ‘I love you Jia X’ 42
2.9 Graffiti from Girona, Spain (1997) – note <KE> for
standard <QUE> 49
4.1 The Moldovan Language Festival, 1990 82
5.1 German dialect sign in Bavaria ‘‘When you are inside,
shut the door. ¼ PLEASE CLOSE THE DOOR’’ 107
viii