January 04, 2010, 07:16
zmježdto eng or to en
We've discussed before how the sound at the end of gerunds and present participles in English represented by {ng} (/ŋ/ a velar nasal) in the suffix -
ing is a single sound, and how for those who pronounce this final sound as a simple alveolar nasal {n} /n/, they are not really dropping a
g but substituting a different nasal sound. What I hadn't realized until today was that this
eng {ŋ} was one of seven new letters (and one ligature of two existing letters) proposed by Benjamin Franklin as part of his proposed spelling reform (
link). While living in London in 1768, Franklin wrote
A Scheme for a New Alphabet and a Reformed Mode of Spelling (
link) which he latter published in his 1779
Political, Miscel laneous, and Philosophical Pieces.
January 04, 2010, 21:10
KallehInteresting. I wonder why he "lost interest" in it. It surely seemed as though he was linguistically talented.
In the second link, there was a letter to Mrs. Deborah Franklin, and I see he spelled "though" as "tho," among other things. Funny, now we see the peevologists ranting about that.
January 05, 2010, 00:20
zmježd I see he spelled "though" as "tho," among other things.And, more often than not, assigning this abbreviation / respelling to teens using txt.