Ghoti

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Ghoti is a creative respelling of the word fish , used to illustrate irregularities in English spelling and pronunciation.

Contents

Explanation

The word is intended to be pronounced in the same way as fish ( /fɪʃ/ ), using these sounds:

The key to the phenomenon is that the pronunciations of the constructed word's three parts are inconsistent with how they would ordinarily be pronounced in those placements. To illustrate: gh can only resemble f when following the letters ou or au at the end of certain morphemes ("tough", "cough", "laugh"), while ti would only resemble sh when followed by a vowel sound. The expected pronunciation in English would sound like "goatee" /ˈɡoʊti/ , not "fish". [1]

Both of the digraphs in the spelling — gh and ti — are examples of consonant shifts, the gradual transformation of a consonant in a particular spoken context while retaining its identity in writing. Specifically, "nation" reflects the softening of t before io in late Latin and early French, [2] while "enough" reflects the softening of a terminal g in West Germanic languages. [3] In contrast, North Germanic languages such as Danish and Swedish retain a harder pronunciation in their corresponding words (nok and nog).

History

In 1815, there were several examples of absurd spellings given in a book by Alexander J. Ellis, A Plea for Phonotypy and Phonography, which advocated spelling reform. However, ghoti was not among the examples, which were all relatively lengthy and thus harder to remember. [4]

The first confirmed use of ghoti is in a letter dated 11 December 1855 from Charles Ollier to Leigh Hunt. On the third page of the letter, Ollier explains that his son William, who was 31, had "hit upon a new method of spelling Fish." Ollier then demonstrates the rationale, "So that ghoti is fish." [5] [4] [6]

An early known published reference is an October 1874 article by S. R. Townshend Mayer in St. James's Magazine , which cites the letter. [6]

Another relatively early appearance of ghoti was in a 1937 newspaper article, [4] and the term is alluded to in the 1939 James Joyce experimental work of fiction Finnegans Wake . [7]

Ghoti is often cited to support English spelling reform, and is often attributed to George Bernard Shaw, [8] a supporter of this cause. However, the word does not appear in Shaw's writings, [4] and a biography of Shaw attributes it instead to an anonymous spelling reformer. [9] Similar constructed words exist that demonstrate English idiosyncrasies, but ghoti is one of the most widely recognized. [1]

Notable usage

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Zimmer, Ben (25 June 2010). "Ghoti". The New York Times . Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  2. ↑ Solodow, Joseph B. (2010). Latin Alive: The Survival of Latin in English and the Romance Languages.
  3. ↑ Agate, Dendy (1919). A Guide to the English Language: Its History, Development, and Use.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Zimmer, Ben (23 April 2008). ""Ghoti" before Shaw". Language Log . Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  5. ↑ The original letter is housed in the British Library.
  6. 1 2 Mayer, S. R. Townshend (October 1874). "Leigh Hunt and Charles Ollier". St. James's Magazine. p. 406.
  7. ↑ McHugh, Roland (24 February 2016). Annotations to Finnegans Wake. JHU Press. ISBN   9781421419077.
  8. ↑ Holroyd, Michael (1994). Bernard Shaw: Volume III: 1918–1950: The Lure of Fantasy. Random House. ISBN   0517130351.
  9. ↑ Scobbie, Jim. "What is "ghoti"?". Archived from the original on 25 February 2001. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  10. ↑ "Klingon Language Institute" . Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  11. ↑ Teleplay by Stanley Ralph Ross, Story by Ed Self (19 October 1966). "An Egg Grows in Gotham". Batman. Season 2. Episode 13. Event occurs at 13 minutes. American Broadcasting Company . Retrieved 23 May 2019.[ dead YouTube link ]
  12. ↑ Kevelson, Morton (January 1986). "Speech Synthesizers for the Commodore Computers / Part II". Ahoy!. p. 32. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  13. ↑ "Re: Spelling Bees". Archived from the original on 20 January 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  14. ↑ @YuGiOh_TCG (20 June 2022). "The Power of the Elements Premiere! Event is coming up July 30-31! You can be entered into a drawing to win exclusive prizes, like this Ultra Rare copy of Ghoti of the Deep Beyond (while supplies last)!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  15. ↑ Hoffman, Tim (24 June 2022). "ALBUM REVIEW: Lupe Fiasco makes a salient statement with 'Drill Music In Zion'". RIFF Magazine. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  16. ↑ NILFRUITS (9 June 2018). "∴flower 『 HUNGRY NICOLE 』【Official】". YouTube. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
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