I wish we could adopt it in place of our present written (and printed) character. I mean simply the alphabet; simply the consonants and the vowels—I don’t mean any reductions or abbreviations of them, such as the shorthand writer uses in order to get compression and speed. No, I would spell every word out.
I will insert the alphabet here as I find it in Burnz’s Phonic Shorthand. (Figure 1) It is arranged on the basis of Isaac Pitman’s Phonography. Isaac Pitman was the originator and father of scientific phonography. It is used throughout the globe. It was a memorable invention. He made it public seventy-three years ago. The firm of Isaac Pitman & Sons, New York, still exists, and they continue the master’s work.
What should we gain?
First of all, we could spell definitely—and correctly—any word you please, just by the sound of it. We can’t do that with our present alphabet. For instance, take a simple, every-day word phthisis. If we tried to spell it by the sound of it, we should make it TYSIS, and be laughed at by every educated person.
Secondly, we should gain in reduction of labor in writing.
Simplified Spelling makes valuable reductions in the case of several hundred words, but the new spelling must be learned. You can’t spell them by the sound; you must get them out of the book.
But even if we knew the simplified form for every word in the language, the phonographic alphabet would still beat the Simplified Speller “hands down” in the important matter of economy of labor. I will illustrate:
PRESENT FORM: through, laugh, highland.
SIMPLIFIED FORM: thru, laff, hyland.
PHONOGRAPHIC FORM: (Figure 2)