Ghoti
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Ghoti is a constructed example used to illustrate irregularities in English spelling. It is a respelling of the word fish, and like fish is pronounced /ˈfɪʃ/. It has,
- gh, pronounced [f] as in tough [tʌf];
- o, pronounced [ɪ] as in women [ˈwɪmɪn]; and
- ti, pronounced [ʃ] as in nation [ˈneɪʃən].
The first known published reference is in 1874, citing an 1855 letter that credits ghoti to one William Ollier (born 1824).[1] Ghoti is often cited to support English spelling reform, and is often attributed to George Bernard Shaw,[2] a supporter of this cause. However, a biography of Shaw attributes it instead to an anonymous spelling reformer.[3]
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[edit] Purpose of irregularities
It has also been noted[4] that many of the irregularities that do exist in English spelling serve to preserve visual graphemic reminders of the word's history and etymology. For example, the word "electrician," in which the ci is pronounced [ʃ] due to palatalization, retains a graphemic linkage to its root "electricity," which would be lost if the different forms of the word were spelled "elektrishun," "elektrisity," and "elektrik." However, many other words in English have spellings that do obscure the word roots with more phonemically-accurate spellings, such as clear/clarify and deceit/deception.
The [ʃ] sound can be spelled eleven ways in English:[5] shirt, sugar, chute, action, issue, ocean, conscious, mansion, schwa, anxious, and special. It is spelled 'ti' only when the 'ti' comes before a vowel, as in nation and initial.
Likewise, "gh" can represent [f] at the end or middle of the word, as in "tough" or "laughter", but not at the beginning of the word. The consonant cluster "gh" represents a "g" sound at the beginning of words such as "ghost", and may be silent in the middle of words such as "right".
[edit] Cultural references
- In Finnegans Wake, James Joyce alludes to ghoti: "Gee each owe tea eye smells fish." (p. 299)
- In the constructed language of Klingon, ghotI' is the word for fish.[6]
- In the episode of Batman "An Egg Grows in Gotham", Egghead uses Ghoti Oeuf as the name for his caviar business, and Batman explains the reference to Robin.
- Ghoti Hook is a 1990s Christian punk band.
- The Speech! allophone-based speech synthesiser ROM for the BBC Micro was tweaked to pronounce "ghoti" as "fish". [7] Examination of the ROM's code reveals the string GHOTI used to identify the special case.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Benjamin Zimmer. "Ghoti before Shaw". Language Log. http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=81. Cites S. R. Townshend Mayer, “Leigh Hunt and Charles Ollier”, St. James’s Magazine, October 1874, page 406 (itself citing a 1855 letter from Ollier to Hunt).
- ^ Holroyd, Michael, Bernard Shaw: Volume III: 1918–1950: The Lure of Fantasy, Random House, 1994, ISBN 0-517-13035-1
- ^ See Jim Scobbie's article at alt-usage-english.org, citing Holroyd, page 501
- ^ Venezky, Richard L., The American Way of Spelling, Guilford Press, 1999, ISBN 1-572-30469-3, as cited in Venezky's English Spelling by Cook, Vivian
- ^ Sadoski, Mark in Erlbaum, Lawrence; Imagery and text: A dual coding theory of reading and writing, 2001
- ^ Klingon Language Institute
- ^ "Re: Spelling Bees" Discussion of speech synthesis programs
[edit] External links
- How to pronounce "ghoti"
- Hau tu pranownse Inglish, an essay on spelling-to-sound rules that discusses "ghoti"
- "What is ghoti?" by Jim Scobbie
- Information on the phonetic Shaw Alphabet
