英语拼读不一致的根源以及潜在的规则

The Root and Rules in the Irregularities of English Spelling and Sounds

英语是表音文字,但英语的拼法看来很不规则,字母与音素不相对应的现象不少,然而,有些语言学家认为英语拼写优点很多,几近最佳的拼写法,英语拼写中的不规则现象是出于某种需要而产生的,并不是任意的变化无常的。许多表面看似古怪难解的拼写和读音现象,实则为有趣的音系规则所致。当我们懂得了其中的奥妙,那些古怪的现象非但不怪,而成了妙不可言,美不胜收的语言现象。拟探讨英语拼读不一致的根源和潜在的规则,认为探讨英语的拼写与读音的深层次的规则和联系对于英语词汇的教学有重要的意义。

English letters represent sound. But the spelling of English looks so irregular and lacks grapheme - phoneme correspondence. However, some linguists argue that the current English spelling system comes ＇ close to being an optimal orthographic system for English＇ The irregularities, which result from a certain need, are motivated but not arbitrary. Deeper probing into the English spelling system reveals that it is related to the phonology of the language in interesting ways, and that most of the apparent idiosyncrasies cease being so when we are aware of the reasons behind the idiosyncrasies. This paper examines the root and the rules in the irregularities of English spelling and sounds and shows the wonderful relationship between letters and sounds. We believe such an examination and an exploration of underlying rules and relationship between letters and sounds of English words is important to the teaching of English words.