Date: Thu, 4 Jan 1996 14:03:37 -0700
From: Rudy Troike RTROIKE[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: Re: Respelling
The spelling Neandertal has been around a long time in arch(a)eological
writings. The th spelling in German represents a /t/ pronunciation, which
Americans are woefully ignorant of, and thus pronounce with /Theta/ as in
English. Dropping the h helps get rid of this inaccurate spelling-pronuncia-
tion. Thanks for bringing up this example -- it will be useful in teaching.
Inka was used in the title of a book published a couple of years
ago by University of Texas Press, which has probably infected others who have
read it. Spanish generally lacks the k grapheme, and various Latin American
Indian language speakers have from time to time adopted the letter in order
to visually distinguish their language from Spanish, in a sort of linguistic
nationalism. In turn, they have been attacked as tools of the CIA trying to
overthrow the established social order, which keeps the Indians in a permanent
serfdom. Sometimes North American linguists encourage the adoption of k and
w as "more phonemically accurate", without considering the sociolinguistic
and educational aspects (easing readers in a bilingual education program into
the reading of Spanish). It's a VERY complex issue.
--Rudy Troike (rtroike[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ccit.arizona.edu)