The flavor of the Chronicles of Local Space includes some social reforms such as a revised calendar, the use of decimal time on some colony worlds, and other similar changes. Another such social change that is shown are changes to the orthography of the English language, which is represented by the intentional use of variant spellings for some words to show that the English language has undergone some spelling modernization. It is possible that some time in the future the orthography of the English language will be systematically amended to make it more consistent and to realign it with the pronunciation of the day. Such orthographical maintenance is a part of the great majority of the most widely-spoken languages of the world. These variant spellings are a window into a future world where the orthography of English receives regular maintenance and consequently is more consistent and logical than it is now.
The organization that has the task of maintaining the English Language in the Local Space universe is the Academy of the English Language (AEL). This organization has the authority to promulgate changes to the orthography of the English language, and the responsibility to maintain a Standard for English. It is based on the Académie française and other similar language academies that have the authority to promulgate orthographic changes, rather than the weaker role of dictionary publishers in English that can only describe the written English language but are unable to amend it.
After a meeting in 2085 in Philadelphia, USA attended by representatives of the governments of most of the major English-speaking countries, these representatives signed the Philadelphia Agreement which mandated the establishment of the Academy of the English Language. This non-governmental organization was founded in Oxford, England in 2086 with the responsibility of maintaining standards for the English language with a particular focus on revising the orthography.
In 2099 the Academy published the first edition of its soon-to-be definitive Dictionary of the English Language containing 75,000 words with a particular focus on those words that were problematic in the traditional orthography. About six per cent of the words in this dictionary had amended spellings, including over 300 heterophonic homographs, and a small number of words where variant spellings were deemed to be acceptable. The first edition of the dictionary introduced revised spellings for about 4,600 words. Subsequent editions of the dictionary greatly expanded the number of words, and also introduced new orthographical revisions.
At first, many found that the amended spellings were controversial, mainly due to the firm hold that the older spellings had on the English-speaking world. Eventually, as the new spellings were shown to be easier to use even among those familiar with the older spellings, the spellings became accepted, mainly due to the care with which the new spellings were chosen. The new spellings were constructed from the existing rules of English orthography with only one necessary novelty, the use of a circumflex u (û) to distinguish the vowels in the words budding and pûdding, but in the first edition this was only used in words that were spelt with a u in the older spellings such as pût and pûll.
By the end of the 22nd century, the AEL had published three editions of its dictionary with each edition revising the spellings of additional words with some changes being more controversial than others. Overall about 14 per cent of the words were respelt, with the majority of the changes being one-letter additions, deletions or substitutions.
The sample pronunciations shown are for British Received Pronunciation and General American. Other pronunciations are also possible.
| Old Spelling | Pronunciation | New Spelling | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General American |
Received Pronunciation |
|||
| camel | /ˈkæml/ | /ˈkæml/ | cammel | Doubled consonants follow short vowels more consistently. |
| colonel | /ˈkɝnl/ | /ˈkɜnl/ | curnel | Pronunciation presumed to be distinct from the pronunciation of kernel in Irish and Scottish English. |
| cruiser | /ˈkɹuːzəɹ/ | /ˈkɹuːzə/ | cruzer | |
| frigate | /ˈfɹɪgət/ | /ˈfɹɪgɪt/ | friggit | |
| lead | /ˈliːd/ | /ˈliːd/ | lead | Cable |
| /ˈlɛd/ | /ˈlɛd/ | led | Dense metal of atomic number 82. Distinguished from the verb by context. | |
| led | /ˈlɛd/ | /ˈlɛd/ | led | Past tense and past participle of the verb to lead. (No change in spelling.) |
| learned | /ˈlɝnd/ | /ˈlɜnd/ | lerned | Past tense of learn. The silent e is retained for orthographic reasons. |
| /ˈlɝnəd/ | /ˈlɜnɪd/ | lernèd | Adjective: scholarly. Where two words would otherwise be spelt the same, the grave accent is always placed on the vowel with the “stronger” pronunciation. In this example, a weak vowel is deemed to be stronger than a silent letter. | |
| lieutenant | /luːˈtɛnənt/ | — | lutenant | American English |
| — | /lɛfˈtɛnənt/ | leftenant | British English. Similar spellings have a pedigree dating back to the 14th century. | |
| putting | /ˈpʌtɪŋ/ | /ˈpʌtɪŋ/ | putting | Strike a golf ball (putt) |
| /ˈpʊtɪŋ/ | /ˈpʊtɪŋ/ | pûtting | Lay an object down somewhere (put) | |
| sergeant | /ˈsɑːɹʤənt/ | /ˈsɑːʤənt/ | sarjent | |
In the future, the words themselves will change over time. Some words will have changes to pronunciation, or may even be new.
| Modern English | Future English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| February | Febry | |
| you (plural) | yaul | from southern US English “y’all” |
Other words may be used differently.
The technical usage of the word “mass” will become used more in everyday usage. In an era when space travel is more commonplace, the difference between mass and weight become better understood among the general public. The current modern usage of “weight” when “mass” is intended will eventually be perceived as incorrect in the future when the two words will become used every day in their strict scientific definitions.
