Re: Plausibility Check

DJensen wrote:
> It follows then, at least in my mind, that if an International
Auxiliary Alphabet were introduced (by the right people) and promoted
(to the right people), languages would begin to converge as they
started sharing more and more vocabulary and phrases.

There is a history of languages already having writing systems *diverging*: Germanic, Romance, Slavic.

I'm aware that converting certain languages to a phonetic alphabet
wouldn't work very smoothly, while other languages are written more
or less phonetically already (Spanish, Korean) or have writing systems
that offer little phonetic information. So I propose that initially it
would be introduced with numerous compromises and exceptions between
phonetics and existing spelling. Here I'm thinking mostly of English:
people all around the world, native speakers and as-a-second-language
speakers, can pronounce the same word very differently. However,
regardless of the differences in stress patterns, rhoticity, etc,
everyone agrees how to _spell_ the word. (With the exception of a few
ou/o, s/z, and or/re/er here and there.) The problem of
heteronyms-are-now-homonyms could be resolved with certain compromises
that would keep words visually distinct but similar looking. Over the
generations reforms could weed out the non-phonetic elements of the
writing system to match usage, and homo/heteronyms could be reduced
with synonyms originating in other languages. Some non-phonetic
elements would likely remain.

People don't learn the pronunciation of their native language from written material. They learn it as they learn to speak, from their parents and others in their early childhood environment.
.

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